True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
We coasted down the long hill on the other side of the town, glorying
in the beauty of the extended view before us. How could there be
anything but happiness in the world that brilliant morning! The Abbé
and I talked of many things and he told me how he and the Countess
planned and worked to get enough money and clothing for the hundreds of
orphans in their care. If only some of the discarded but still useful
warm clothing of my little friends in America could be sent! And think
of the untold joy some of their superfluous toys would give!
Our first stop was to see the boys, and certainly for me it was a
unique experience. The Abbé announced that a great treat was in store
for us, as we were to lunch with the priests of W----, who ran the
_orphelinat_. He told me to be sure to ask Father ----, the jolly,
fat, old fellow, to sing and recite for us. He said it would please
him enormously and would give us untold amusement, and he was right.
We entered the courtyard of an old stone house, and after shaking
off several layers of the white dust, went in to the bounteous feast
prepared in our honour. The welcome was simple and cordial. We washed
our hands in an old tin basin and used the coarsest towel I have ever
seen. I am sure it will never wear out. Then we sat down to enough
food for twenty instead of six, and how they did enjoy it! I don't
wonder Father ---- was almost as broad as he was long, if he enjoyed
every meal as much as he did this one. He ordered up _the_ wine from
the cellar, the last precious bottle he had carried away from Ypres,
and then, after much persuasion, he rose at his end of the table and
in a dear, gentle, cracked old voice, mouthing his words so that his
apparently one remaining front tooth was much in evidence, he sang the
favourite songs of his youth. I am sure they were funny because he
laughed at them so heartily himself.
Luncheon over, we walked to the boys' dormitories. How they did love
the jolly old priest, and how glad they were to see the Abbé! From all
corners of the courtyard they dropped their play or their fight, as
the case was, and came running with all the joy of a pack of little
tail-wiggling fox terriers, to throw themselves upon the two men. Where
he carried it, I do not know, but the Abbé produced cake after cake of
chocolate and every boy had a bite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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