Houdelainecourt at this time was on the main road travelled by trucks, taking supplies by train from the railroad at Gondrecourt to the front. Truck drivers invariably made it a point to stop at “Ma’s” hut and here they were always sure to receive a welcome and the most delicious doughnuts and pies and hot biscuit which loving hands could make. Not satisfied with this service alone, she undertook to fry pancakes for the officers’ breakfast. It was through these kindly services, ungrudgingly done, at any time of the day or night, that her name was established as one of the most potent factors in contributing to the comfort and welfare of the men, and there was no hole or tear of the men’s clothes that “Ma” could not mend. A short time after the pie contest over at Gondrecourt, “Ma” and one of her lassie helpers set out to break the record of 316 pies as a day’s work. Their oven would hold but six pies at a time; their hut had but just been opened and all their equipment had not yet arrived, so they were short a rolling pin, which had to be carved from a broken wagon-shaft with a jack-knife before they could begin; but they achieved the baking of 324 pies between 6 A.M. and 6 P.M. that day. It is fair to state for the sake of the doubter, however, that the pie fillers, both pumpkin and apple, were all prepared and piping hot on the stove ready to be poured into the pastry as it was put into the oven, which, of course, helped a good deal. A sign was put out announcing that pie would be served at seven o’clock, but the lines formed long before that. [Illustration: “Ma”] [Illustration: “They had a pie-baking contest in Gondrecourt one day”—the renowned “Aunt Mary” in the right-hand corner] The pies were unusually large and cut into fifths, but even at that they were much larger pieces than are usually served at the ordinary restaurant. By half-past eight some men were falling in for a second helping, but “Ma” had been watching long a little company of men off to one side who hovered about yet never dropped into line themselves, and made up her mind that these were some of those who perhaps sent much of their money home and found it a long time between pay-days. Casting her kindly eye comprehendingly toward these men she mounted a chair and requested: “All of the men who have already had pie, please step out of the line; and all of those boys who want coffee and pie but have no money, step into line and get some, _anyhow!_”