alarm to put on their masks. There is no need to tell the children to
hurry home. They realise that it is not wise to loiter in the streets for
fear of the whistling shells. They are remarkably plucky, these
small men and women of France.

During one furious bombardment the children were safe in the
vaults, but one small citizen began to cry bitterly. He was
reproached by his comrades for cowardice, but he replied
indignantly: "I fear nothing for myself. I am safe here, but there is
no cellar to our house, and oh, what will happen to the little
mother?" The teacher reassured him by telling him that his mother
would certainly take refuge in somebody's else cellar.

On leaving Rheims we passed through various small hamlets
where the houses had been entirely destroyed, and which now
had the appearance of native villages, as the soldiers had
managed to place thatched roofs on any place which had any
semblance of walls standing.

At Villars Coterets the Guard Champetre sounded the "Gare a
Vous!" Four Taubes were passing overhead, so we took refuge in
the hotel for tea. The enemy did no damage in that particular
village, but in the next village of Crepy-en-Valois a bomb killed one
child and injured five women.




At The Headquarters Of The Generalissimo