Henriette Cuvru-Magot

“ I cannot keep still, but go back and forth from Quincy to Esbly to get news, and more especially to try to send news to my brother. I seem to be the only human being on the roads.
What a feeling of sadness it gives one to go through these empty villages. Every house is like a tomb. ”

“ In her village, cut off from the rest of the world, she finds herself almost alone with those who are most dear to her—too weak to protect them, powerless on the other hand to sacrifice herself, to give all her strength, all her sympathy to the soldiers wounded in the battle that is being waged there, a few steps from her door. ”

“ Mattresses, beds, old furniture—the most absurd and unlikely things—are carried from one end of the village to the other to be hidden in the underground passages which abound in Voisins and Huiry.
Holes are dug to contain barrels crammed with linen and household goods. In all this extraordinary activity there is very little reason or method. People are half crazed. They even hide furniture and various other objects in the tunnels of the plaster quarries! ”

“ We are none of us terrified as yet. Though I have a feeling that the battle will not come as far as this, I am doing all I can to persuade my mother to leave. It is only when I speak of the safety of the children that I succeed in shaking her determination to stay. Meanwhile, the danger does not seem imminent, and we keep putting off our departure till the morrow.
At the turning of the road that leads from Demi-Lune to Voisins, on the hilltop overlooking the valley of the Marne, one of the humble dwellings of the hamlet of Huiry was transformed a few months ago into a beautiful cottage. ”

“ The trains are crammed with people and stacked on top of each other are bundles and boxes of all shapes and sizes. From the boxes come the whining of dogs, the screeching of birds, and the mewing of cats. It is indescribable.
On the way back I have the luck to get a train which takes seven hours from Paris to Esbly, being side-tracked all along the line to make way for trains carrying wounded, war supplies, or troops on their way to or from the front. ”

“ Trains do not stop long enough at the station to allow the women of the Red Cross to go through all the cars. Even though it is against the rules, we reach the platform from the railroad-crossing and distribute fruit, bread, and chocolate to the children.
Our brave soldiers, for all their wounds and their weariness, look confident, and the ones we are able to approach assure us that they do not doubt our victory for a single instant. ”

“ EVERY day some of the men about here start for the front, but it is at the Esbly station, where I have just been, that the leave-takings are the most heart-rending.
The men are very grave, but they start off without a complaint, without a murmur. And if they are courageous, the women who accompany them, understanding fully their own great duty, do not give way to their feelings for a single instant. They are determined that no tears of theirs shall make harder the task of father or husband. ”

“ The trains crawl along at a snail's pace, gathering up everyone in their path. Refugees wait all along the track, and at the stations are jammed together pell-mell in the midst of all sorts of luggage and supplies.
The station at Esbly is to be closed and the hospital moved away.
We accept Madame Benoist's offer with gratitude, for we must make sure that the children are safe.
So we pack up hastily and load the carriage, which we have no small difficulty in finding, as it is haled in every direction by people who are trying to escape. Everyone is getting more and more distracted. ”

“ It is impossible, even if we wished it, to leave by way of Esbly. There are no more trains! Impossible to leave on foot—the roads are choked with troops and supplies. Moreover, all the bridges are destroyed, the bridge of Lagny along with the rest. So we shall stay. God be merciful to us!
There is no more mail—not the [47] slightest communication with the outside. We are completely cut off from the rest of the world.
The new English General Staff has taken up headquarters at the château of Quincy. The English are camping along State road number 36, between Quincy and Voisins. ”

“ Now the setting sun stains the sky with crimson, and forms, with bands of azure and of white, an immense standard which it spreads like a winding-sheet over those glorious heroes who have entered upon the eternal life. ”

“ The English are digging trenches at Demi-Lune in Mareuil Street, near the State road. Trenches are being made also beyond the Quincy plaster quarry, near the road to Mont and at Ségy.
There is an encampment in the plain in front of the park of the château. It is meal time. With very evident pleasure the men are eating raw tomatoes. They are also taking great satisfaction in some jam that looks most appetizing. The jam comes in large cans decorated with pictures of the fruit of which it is made.
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Every little while the earth trembles under our feet. ”

“ Quincy is not entirely fitted up. Pont-aux-Dames is organized, and the branch at the station is already at work.
Trains keep rushing to the Eastern frontier in an endless procession. [20] The roar is incessant, especially at night, and a dismal sound it is.
Terrace of the Actors' Home at Couilly, established by Coquelin, who died here
Refugees in even greater numbers throng the roads. The towns on the other side of the Marne are beginning to be evacuated. It is a desolate sight.
Old people manage with difficulty to keep their balance on carts piled high with household goods and fodder. ”

“ TRAIN loads of wounded keep passing through Esbly. We all flock to the station, in the hope of bringing back good news. Alas, nothing comes but great numbers of refugees and wounded. The hospital installed in the waiting-room of the station is not large enough to care for all the wounded and provide comforts for the refugees. There are many young girls, but not enough to attend to all these unfortunates. While some of us are busy dressing wounds, others hasten to carry sandwiches and drink to the refugees on [16] the trains, many of whom have had nothing to eat or drink for twenty hours. ”

“ Civilization seems nothing but an empty word, that no longer has the slightest meaning. We are not, alas, ripe for universal peace. And yet, how happy nations could be if these mountains of gold that are being melted up for their destruction could be used for their well-being! ”

“ Houses are in flames, and forests. Here and there in the distance camp-fires are burning and trench-rockets burst in showers, making the valley seem like [68] a great fiery furnace, an ocean of flame.
How insignificant are our own troubles in the presence of these heaped up ruins, this destruction of men and things!
On the highest tree of the Aulnois woods I have just seen a little light, square in shape, which alternately appears and disappears. ”

“ It is the duty of everyone to the full measure of his [17] strength. No effort to help, however small, is unimportant.
Unfortunately, the hospital at Quincy is not yet completely organized, but meanwhile a branch has been fitted up at the railroad station. I am assigned to the Quincy hospital, and so am obliged to wait until it is opened.
There are moments when I could weep at not being able to do as much as I should like to relieve all this suffering—to give of my strength since I cannot give of my purse. I want to start for the hospitals near the front, but my mother absolutely forbids it. ”

“ The constable is blockading the road with carts, planks, and farming implements. I immediately start back to Voisins, and urge everyone I meet to do likewise.
In the distance an automobile coming at a rapid pace from the direction of Couilly stops suddenly at the sight of the barricade. The little group of armed civilians approach.
It is too far away for me to make out anything more, but I see a second automobile, driven at top speed, slow down, and then swiftly wheel about. In my anxiety to give the alarm in Voisins, I do not notice which way it goes. ”

“ In the midst of all these people in vehicles and on foot, terrified cattle jostle each other. Some that were in [21] leading have broken loose; others, still tied, cannot keep up, and let themselves be dragged along. Sheep and cows run about the fields or simply stop where they are and begin to graze.
As a result of the increasing difficulty in taking their cattle with them, peasants dispose of them for almost nothing: a cow, forty francs.
The hospital at Quincy, though it cannot be of service to the wounded, will at least, while waiting for them, have cared for the unfortunate refugees. ”

“ At nightfall a platoon of English come down from Huiry to search the Aulnois woods. Germans have been seen there.
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Part of the men are detailed to beat the woods while the rest with astonishing agility and suppleness lie down on the ground and crawl away to hide, either lying flat or kneeling on the edge or inside of the ditch by the road. (This road is the continuation of Huiry Street towards the Aulnois woods, and is called Cat Lane.) If the Germans are driven out of the woods they will be obliged to go along this road. ”

“ The few people still remaining in Quincy and Voisins seem to make [50] one big family. We live almost in common. The town-crier, Marin, with the help of Pron, the road-maker, kill and distribute an ox that was left behind by a refugee. Mirat, the carpenter, goes a long distance now and again to get provisions of some kind, and so renders us a very great service. Everyone is doing something to help everyone else,—holding his neighbor by the hand, as it were. ”

“ The arrow points towards Pavé-des-Roizes, and, on studying the lines, we think someone was trying [11] to point out the road to Couilly—Mareuil Street, the road of Champ-Madame (going from Demi-Lune to Huiry) , Huiry Street, Condé Street, and once more Mareuil Street (or Pavé-des-Roizes) .
We dare not say to each other what is in our minds. It occurs to one of us to follow the direction of the arrow, and, to our surprise, we find other arrows leading all the way to the Marne. What is more, they are all newly made. ”

“ Miss Aldrich, a woman of courageous soul and great heart, is an unspeakable consolation to the little group of women who have remained near her. Filled with the most generous sentiments, giving lavishly of her sympathy and guidance, she charms all who come in contact with her. ”

“ A French cavalry division on the way to Paris gave us news to-day of victory. The Germans have been pushed back forty-five miles!
Miss Aldrich came hurrying down the hill at the very moment I was starting to run up. With a single impulse, each rushes to share her joy with the other. ”

“ You might as well try to stop the waters of the sea. They pour in from everywhere—from every highway and byway and back-alley—a regular tidal wave. Unless some miracle happens they will be here by to-night. ”

“ The man speaks French a little.
Hussars on patrol on the hill at Montpichet have killed Bavarian soldiers, they say. A young Boche is brought to Pont-aux-Dames. He is wounded rather seriously, but he appears to be suffering more from fright than from pain. His fears do not subside until he sees the kind face of Sister Jules bending over him.
Our hospital—the annex at Pont-aux-Dames, which is only semi-official—is installed in a wing of the house of the great comedian, [100] Coquelin, alongside the wing where aged actors have their home. ”

“ Every movement that he makes wrings from him a groan. By a superhuman effort, goaded on by the thought of his children and his longing to see them again, he succeeds in dragging himself to the banks of the Marne, in the hope of finding help. ”

“ Route national from Couilly to the Demi-Lune, a hard, straight hill, over a mile and a quarter long
Perhaps it would be prudent to bury some of our things. I ask one of our old friends to help me dig a hole in the garden. We have planned to dig it this evening.
Meanwhile, I go to the hospital at Quincy, reaching there just as Sister Jules and Sister Marie are getting ready to go to Pont-aux-Dames. Sister Jules has arranged all her dressings and surgical instruments with the most painstaking care. [1]
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The road is almost deserted, except for an occasional refugee who goes by on foot. ”

“ A young officer is kind enough to give us news, and good news, too. The Germans are beginning to fall back. Already a pontoon-bridge has been thrown across the Marne at Meaux. After trying to cross sixteen times, and sixteen times seeing their [80] efforts of no avail, the Germans gave up the attempt to cross the river. The French General Staff has already arrived there, and Galliéni's army is advancing from Paris.
All this good news fills us with joy.
From now on we shall see no more Germans.
Troops are beginning to arrive. A regiment of infantry went through Voisins this afternoon. ”

“ I think so, for Monsieur Damoiseau, a citizen of Voisins, had the same adventure as my aunt, this time near the oak woods, above the Mareuil quarries. He also went there in the hope of finding a hiding-place for his family.
On the plateau (over opposite the [76] one where my aunt went) he saw five German soldiers observing the plain of Iles, and several others watching the road to Quincy. The hill where they were stationed overlooks Voisins and Quincy on one side, and on the other the plain which a few days later was to witness the Battle of the Marne. ”