The French “kiddies” all love the British Tommy, and would do anything
to have a ride on one of our shoulders or hold our hands, and they
stand on their heads with delight to receive a cap badge or something
as a souvenir. Their bacca, which they call “tabac,” is cruel, and
it costs more than English bacca in the long run, as it smokes so
quickly and you have to smoke all day to get a smoke, whereas our
bacca satisfies us in a minute or two. Their matches are horrible.
“Allumettes” they call them, and they are a hundred a penny, and you
have to wait half a minute for them to light and get asphyxiated in the
bargain: _A Private, from Mons_.