With the Doughboy in France: A Few Chapters of an American EffortHungerford, Edward
History
With the Doughboy in France: A Few Chapters of an American Effort
Hungerford, Edward
American National Red Cross; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
"If one is restless there are rocks to climb and fascinating paths to
explore. One leads over the rocks, around a wall, and up through a
jungle-like tangle of neglected gardens and walks into the estate
belonging to the King of the Belgians. The villa, begun before the war,
is unfinished now, but a truly adventurous spirit will go on past it and
be well rewarded. In what was once a formal garden, hyacinths and many
colored anemones are blooming in the long grass; roses nod gayly from
the walls, and almond blossoms lift their delicate pink flowers against
that glorious sky. In a grove of olive trees near by, narcissus and
daffodils are scattered in thick clumps here and there. There is a
fragrance in the air that is like spring at home.
"Noon at Cap d'Antibes brings every one together for lunch and after
that some go back to the rocks, others to their rooms, and still more
take the afternoon bus to Cannes. You can shop there and get your films
developed and your hair washed, but of course there are far greater
attractions. From three until four an American band plays in the
pavilion and all the world walks down the promenade to hear--'Smiles,'
'The Long, Long Trail,' and 'Over There.' Just such a band played just
such tunes last summer at lunch time on the White House lot in
Washington--only there the audience was composed of hundreds and
hundreds of women and girls--war workers--with a few men in uniform,
while at Cannes it is the other way about. The place simply swarms with
American boys on leave or convalescence, officers and men, and besides
their familiar khaki there is plenty of horizon blue and the
mustard-colored coats of Moroccans, with red fezzes atop. There are
French women, of course, and then a handful of Red Cross and 'Y' girls,
nurses, and foreign sisters.
"There are a variety of places to go for tea--from the conventional,
cosmopolitan rooms of the Carlton or Rumplemeyer's to the 'Y' canteen
where one can get good hot chocolate and bread and jam for forty-five
centimes. This 'Y,' by the way, is considered their star establishment.
There are reading and billiard rooms, movies and dancing; and on
Sundays, services are held where one used to play roulette.
"There is also a Y. M. C. A. club for officers, and here there is
dancing to be had as well as tea. But at five o'clock the girls for the
Cap must run, or they will miss the bus going back. No one wants to do
that, and miss, too, the pleasant ride along the coast with the sunset
glowing back of the Esperal Mountains and shimmering in a thousand
colors across the ripples of the quiet sea; especially when the
alternative to missing the bus is an hour's ride on a French 'tram.' So,
singing as a rule, the busload swings along the smooth white road with
twenty-five or thirty girls, as like as not, in the places where fifteen
are supposed to be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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