Over Periscope Pond : $b Letters from two American girls in Paris October 1916-January 1918Root, Esther Sayles
History
Over Periscope Pond : $b Letters from two American girls in Paris October 1916-January 1918
Root, Esther Sayles
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I hardly saw Mrs. Bigelow and Miss Short the first two days, and so it
was natural that I should get very chummy with the Frenchman whose chair
was next to mine. He has long wiry mustaches that stick out at least
five inches on each side. He is a widower, and very small. He speaks
French the most beautifully I ever heard, and says lovely things, and
makes jokes too. When he says anything funny he lifts his feet aloft and
twinkles them very fast and goes into perfect spasms. He talks so fast
that often I don't understand him, but I laugh just the same, and the
more he laughs the more I do, because it strikes me so funny to be
making such a hullabaloo when I haven't the faintest idea what it's
about. He went up with me on the bridge for the moonlight the second
night (Mrs. Bigelow and Miss Short were laid out in a tableau barely
vivant), and we talked French and a little German--he recited
Schiller--and I told him I was going to France, and he said, "Belle a de
bon coeur," and we were bien amusés. He is French Consul at Montreal, and
is going to see his two little sons at ----.
The next day the captain asked to "be presented to" me. He invited me to
sit at his table, and oh, how I hated to refuse. All the interesting
French people sit there, and Mrs. Craigee--that lovely-looking girl that
we saw on the dock--and I could have practiced French so wonderfully.
Besides, Mrs. Bigelow and Miss Short nearly always eat on deck,--but of
course I had to sit with them. I was very much flattered, however,
although I needn't have been, for there are so few girls on board.
There are thirty-six American Ambulance men, and some of them are
dandies. About four in particular are most congenial, and we do
everything together--shuffle-board, deck-walking, afternoon-teaing,
card-playing, playing the piano, and generally exploring about the ship.
I should like to describe every one, but I feel that this is getting
boring as it is. The foreigners are delightful. Our French newspaper man
took my picture for his paper the other day. He is exactly like a
musical-comedy Frenchman--he raises his shoulders and says "la, la," and
wears checked trousers and patent leathers and gets so very
excited--such gestures!
At luncheon the other day there was great excitement--a wireless for
some one, and it was for me! From Robert and Harris and Johnny. Really,
I was so pleased. We were nine hundred miles out, and it seemed almost
like seeing them to have it come. I walked on air all afternoon. At
dinner that night the steward came around again, saying, "Télégramme
sans fil pour Mlle. Root,"--and there was a plate of salted almonds with
the cards the Ambulance men had stuck in it, with all sorts of crazy
messages written on them. I wirelessed back a poem as soon as I could
gather my senses sufficiently, and a good time was had by all.
It is now Sunday and our last day. It is a glorious blue morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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