[Illustration: DECORATION OF CAREY AND HALE]
[Illustration]
_From Day to Day_
_October 26._ The head of the Sanitary Service of the French
Government, accompanied by three generals, made a tour of inspection
of all the units in this Sector to-day. Mr. L----, accompanied by
Lieutenant K----, went to B----, where a formal inspection was held.
Mr. L---- was thanked as Section Commander for the service rendered
by Section Sanitaire Américaine N{o} 2. The remarks were exceedingly
complimentary. General L---- and the _médecin divisionnaire_, who
accompanied the party as representatives of the Sanitary Service in
this Sector, added their compliments to those of General L----.
_November 14._ We had the first snow of the season to-day. All the
morning it snowed and covered the fields and trees with a thick coating
of white. In the roads it melted and they became stretches of yellow
slush.
B---- broke his arm cranking his car this morning. He will be out of
commission for three weeks, so the surgeon who set it informed him.
_November 16._ We received a phone message in the morning asking us
to go to the "Mairie" to meet a high official. Four of us went over.
A number of large cars were drawn up in the Place D----. One bore
the flag of the President of France. We were to meet Poincaré. We
formed a line inside the sandbag barricaded arcade. The President and
his _entourage_ passed. He stopped in front of us. "One finds you
everywhere," he said; "you are very devoted." Then he shook hands with
each of us and passed on. We wandered on down the arcade to watch the
party go down into the shelled area of the town. A sentry standing near
us entered into conversation. He addressed himself to Pottle: "Did he
shake hands with you?" he asked. "Oh, yes," replied Pottle. "Hell,"
said the sentry; "he isn't a bit proud, is he?"
_November 25._ Thanksgiving--and we celebrated it in the American
style. We had purchased and guarded the turkeys, and they were prime.
C---- did wonders with the army food, and it is doubtful if any finer
Thanksgiving dinner was eaten any place in the world than the one we
enjoyed two thousand yards from the Huns.
_November 26._ An enemy plane, flying high above us this morning, was
forced to make a sudden descent to a height of three hundred metres
from earth. He was either touched by shrapnel or his mixture froze and
he had to seek a new level. He passed very low over us. One of the
Frenchmen attached to our Section fired at him with a rifle, but did
not get him.
_November 30._ B---- was shelled and a few stray shots were sent into
town and on the troop roads near us.
Under S---- the meals have been sumptuous repasts and we marvel at the
change.
The writer, with two others of the Section, was crossing the Place ----
after dark. As we passed the breach in the sandbag barricaded roads
made by Rue ----, we were lighted up by the yellow glare coming from
the shops next to the "Mairie." The sentry there on duty saw us. "Pass
along, my children, and good luck--you are more devoted than we are,"
he cried to us.
I was startled by the voice out of the darkness and the surprising
remarks. I glanced towards the sentry's post, but the light blinded me
and I could not see him. From his voice I knew he was old--one of the
aged Territorials.
"Oh, no!" I answered, for lack of anything better to say.
"Yes, you are. We all thank you. You are very devoted," he said.
"No, not that, but I thank you," I said; and we were swallowed up in
the darkness. Then I was sorry one of us hadn't gone back to shake
hands with the kind-hearted old fellow. It seemed to me that it was
the spirit of France speaking through him, voicing as usual her
appreciation for any well-intentioned aid, and that we should have
replied a little more formally.