The long, two story house took up most of the left hand side of the courtyard. The officers had two rooms here, one of which we used for a mess. The family lived mostly in the big kitchen, where a little fire burned on the great hearth. On the other two sides were stables, some of which were used as billets, storeroom and orderly room. The manure heap adorned the center of the courtyard. Behind lay a small but important yard, which in turn opened on the big field where two platoons were in pup tents around the border, and where the company formed. The people here were dull, homely, grasping and churlish. I do not recollect ever having been given a pleasant word by one of them; but of complaints and claims for damages there was no lack. They seemed to resent our presence from the very first; we were apparently as much intruders to them as German troops could have been. The men soon began to resent this attitude, and to reciprocate in kind. Soldiers are apt to be heedless, and are of course a nuisance to the people they are quartered on; but at Rety they had greeted us in the main as friends, and we in turn tried to give as little trouble as possible. Here our notions of being the welcome young warriors got a good severe jolt. We on our side took some time to learn how to conduct ourselves. How were we to know that a French peasant would far rather have you walk over him than over one of his fields? Why was it a crime to cut down a stunted dead tree for the company kitchen? And where, oh, where were the pretty mademoiselles? But even in Northern France all the people were not like this. Remember the old woman just down the road, who lived with her daughters in the cottage which was battalion headquarters? They were very poor, and worked very hard; all the long summer day--and it was light from 4:30 A. M. to 9:00 P. M.--they were busy, indoors and out. Her three sons were in the army, one a prisonier de guerre, two at the front. When one of them, only a young lad, came home for a few days’ permission, he went out every morning at 6:00 o’clock and worked until dusk. How many of us would have done as much? And the old lady and girl always had a smile and cheery word, and would give soldiers a drink of milk and insisted on having officers going to bn. hdq. stop for a cup of coffee. Even the pretty little goat in the yard grew friendly with olive drab, and would romp with us like a dog. For several days we used whatever little fields we could for drill; every square foot of land that was suitable seemed to be under cultivation. This was unsatisfactory, to say the least. Finally Col. Meyers arranged for us to have the use of the top of the great hill. It was a splendid place to drill--after you got there. But oh, that hike up that young mountain and down again, twice a day! Will we ever forget it?