Argonne

“ I — A FIGHT IN THE FOREST OF THE ARGONNE
Just to the north of Chatel Chehery, in the Argonne Forest in France, is a hill which was known to the American soldiers as "Hill No. 223." Fronting its high wooded knoll, on the way to Germany, are three more hills. The one in the center is rugged. Those to the right and left are more sloping, and the one to the left—which the people of France have named "York's Hill"—turns a shoulder toward Hill No. 223. The valley which they form is only from two to three hundred yards wide. ”

“ So presently they were seated once more in the ambulance along with the nurses and heading for the spot where the humble sheds and tents stood which constituted the American field hospital in that sector of the Argonne.
"Now tell me all that's happened since I saw you last, Jack," demanded Bessie, with a little show of authority that amused, yes, and also pleased the other; for boys like to be domineered over at times by a pretty tyrant. ”

“ The labor is hard and discouraging—like trench warfare. It differs no whit from the struggle which every individual faces in his own soul against the enemies within. But it is a man's fight. It is the cause for which Americans fell at Concord Bridge, at Gettysburg, in the Argonne. It knows armistices but no real cessation. If the gains are small they are real, not the mirages of dreams. They are, as the sober opinion of the world is coming to believe, the only possible gains. ”

“ For weeks at Romagne we watched these [237] men fare forth with the dawn to find the dead on the 480 square miles of battlefield of the Meuse-Argonne. At eventide we would see them return and reverently remove the boxes from the long lines of trucks and place them on the hillside beside the waiting trenches that other soldiers had been digging all the long busy day. Far into the night we would sit in our darkened tent looking out on the electric-lighted cemetery, watching the men as they lowered the boxes into the trenches. ”

“ At the edge of the plateau look behind for a view of the Aire valley and Vauquois Hill. About 3 kilometres past Varennes, a road leads right to some German dug-outs said to be those of the Crown Prince.
Return to the Vienne-le-Château road.
One kilometre further and 200 metres beyond the highest point of the road, the Haute-Chevauchée road branches off right and left, an old Roman road running along the central ridge of the Argonne plateau.
Turn left and drive carefully for the first two kilometres which are in pretty bad repair. ”

“ When the relief by units of the 4th Division was complete at noon, November 12th, the Company left behind it the bloody fields of the Argonne-Meuse battle and began its long hike to the south. The trip was made in easy stages. Passing down through the valley of the Meuse the route followed took the Battalion to the Ninth Training Area, southwest of Neufchateau, and November 23 billets were assigned in the village of Poulangy, fifteen kilometers north of Chaumont, in Haute Marne. ”

“ Over there with the Marines at Chateau Thierry.
2. Over there with the Canadians at Vimy Ridge.
3. Over there with the Pershing’s heroes at Cantigny.
4. Over there with the doughboys at St. Mihiel.
5. Over there with the engineers at Cambrai.
6. Over there with the Yanks in the Argonne Forest.
Rand, E. A.
Look ahead series:—
1. Making the best of it.
2. Up North in a whaler.
3. Too late for the tide mill. ”

“ The party that evening consisted all of men: Francis and Angus, and a writer, James Argyle, and little Algy Constable, and tiny Louis Mee, and deaf Walter Rosen. They all snapped and rattled at one another, and were rather spiteful but rather amusing. Francis and Angus had to leave early. They had another appointment. And James Argyle got quite tipsy, and said to Aaron:
"But, my boy, don't let yourself be led astray by the talk of such people as Algy. Beware of them, my boy, if you've a soul to save. If you've a soul to save!" ”

“ Algernon was captain of a troop of horse in the regiment, and probably landed in Ireland with his brother in April 1642 (Carte, Ormonde, ii. 255; Coxe, Hibernia Anglicana, ii. 87) . Nothing is known of his services except a general statement that Lord Lisle and his brother Algernon behaved with great spirit and resolution (Ewald, i. 76) . On 18 June 1643, when Ormonde was negotiating with the Irish leaders for a cessation of arms, Sidney wrote to his mother for leave to return to England. Fighting was over, and if he remained he would run into debt. ”

“ The rampaging stead of death having taken of Grignr for the moment, left the barbarian free to the exploitation of his other perusials. Towering over his head was the misshaped image of the cult's hideous diety - - - Argon. The fantastic size of the idol in consideration of its being of pure jade was enough to cause the senses of any man to stagger and reel, yet thus was not the case for the behemoth. ”

“ But, darling, there’s plenty of time before you.
Oh, if you but knew, dear, you’d run like the kitten,
And scamper away from a future that waits:—
If you knew the dry nonsense the big folks have written
On purpose to pester the little folks’ pates.
We want all poor Algernon’s deepest attention,
You see his sad case by the way that he frowns;
He’s fighting a thing that they call a declension—
A sort of a regiment of soldiers called nouns.
He’ll beat them, you know, for he’s brave and he’s willing ”

“ And his grey hair, almost gone white, was still handsome.
"And what are you going to do in Florence?" asked Argyle.
Aaron explained.
"Well," said Argyle. "Make what you can out of them, and then go. Go before they have time to do the dirty on you. If they think you want anything from them, they'll treat you like a dog, like a dog. Oh, they're very frightened of anybody who wants anything of them: frightened to death. I see nothing of them.—Live by myself—see nobody. Can't stand it, you know: their silly little teaparties—simply can't stand it. ”

“ He left behind him at Paris at least one person who would watch his career with lively interest. In 1718, in the salon of Madame de Lambert, he had been introduced to a man, whose recent expulsion from the [Pg 41] French Academy for some shrewd criticisms of the late reign had given him credit among the younger spirits—the Abbé de St. Pierre. [113] We can easily imagine how d'Argenson must have been attracted to a man, who had his own breadth and generosity of mind, and who was crippled like himself by the lack of those social arts which would have secured for his opinions a perilous respect. ”

“ I said, feeling guiltily conscious of what Agnes had told me. "And I daresay we shall like it very much when we are grown-up."
'"Of course," replied Algernon. "And in the meantime it does not much matter, because I don't suppose we shall see each other very often."
'"Oliver thought you would come here and stay with us sometimes," I remarked. "He is always wishing for a boy of his own age for a companion, because Miles and Roger are so little."
'"Ah! I should like that," said Algernon, who evidently regarded a brother-in-law as a much more interesting and valuable acquisition than a wife. ”

“ Argelouse is literally one of the ends of the earth,—one of those places beyond which you cannot go; in those parts they call them “Quartiers.” A few farms, with no church or cemetery, scattered round a field of rye, over five miles from the market-town of Saint Clair, with which it is connected by a single road in very bad repair. This road, such as it is, fades away beyond Argelouse into sandy tracks: and thence, until the sea, there is nothing but fifty miles of marshes, lagoons, young pines, and sandy heath; and by the end of winter the very sheep look as grey as that bleak landscape. ”

“ D'Argenson accepted his fate. He shut himself up on his country estates, consoling himself with the thought that he was an injured man. [10] But he was not of the men who [Pg 13] can sit down and nurse their disappointments. Though cruelly broken, he set to work to repair his fortune and to repair his life. In the provinces of France, on the slopes of Touraine, there was plenty of work for a willing hand, as events too clearly proved. In that work d'Argenson found refuge from his manifold chagrins. ”

“ That is the thing I cannot get over; you have divested yourself in favour of the public of the dearest prejudice to which men can cling.... Good-bye. Go and make the French loved in Portugal, and leave me the hope that I shall see again a man who does so much honour to France. An Englishman had put upon his tomb: 'Here lies the friend of Philip Sidney;' allow me to write my own epitaph: 'Here lies the friend of the Marquis d'Argenson.'" [251]
"There is a place that one does not procure for cash down, and that I merit by the most respectful attachment and the most high esteem." ”

“ The look-out is a wide one indeed; but it is now easier to get it from the road going back to Argentan than from the top of the hill itself. The eye ranges over a vast space chiefly to the north-west, over the great forest of Gouffers, over plains and undulating ground, a wide and striking view, but in which no remarkable object rises up to catch the eye. We look forth with the special hope of getting a distant glimpse of Falaise and its donjon. Perhaps not the donjon itself, but the high ground about it is said to be seen from the tower of Saint German at Argentan. ”

“ There entered a tall, elegant woman, leaning on the arm of a short, stout, benevolent-looking man in spectacles. To these personages Algernon was duly presented, being introduced, much to his gratification, by Lady Seely, as "A young cousin of mine, Mr. Ancram Errington, who has just come to town." Then, having made his bow to General Dormer, who smiled and shook hands with him, Algernon stood opposite to the graceful Lady Harriet, and was talked to very kindly and pleasantly, and felt extremely content with himself and his surroundings. ”

“ Sir Harry's complimentary remarks hardly made up for Algernon's indifference; but when she ended, I forgot his offences in pity for one whose only companions were a tutor and Lady Mountfort, whose stiff figure and severe expression of countenance had filled me with awe and dislike the moment I saw her. "How dreadful!" I exclaimed. "What should Oliver and I do if we had to live like that?"
'"Hush!" said Agnes; "don't speak so loud, or my aunt will hear you. She says children ought never to speak when they are in the same room as their elders, unless they are spoken to." ”

“ Such fancies may seem childish, but it was a fact that Algernon had indulged in them. With all his tact, he had a considerable strain of his mother's Ancramism in his blood. And the contrast between those former day-dreams and the present reality was so terrible, so mortifying, so ridiculous (direst and most soul-chilling word of all to Algernon!) that he was unable to face it. Some way out must be found. It was impossible, on any tenable theory of society, that he should be permanently consigned to oblivion and the daily round of inglorious duties. ”

“ Orgon, who has seen at church a young man who conducts himself with such a devout air that he believes in its genuineness, and receives him into his own family, which he neglects in his great admiration for Tartufe. He is on the point even of proposing to give him his daughter in marriage, when, hidden under a table, concealed by a deep, trailing tablecloth, he overhears his protégé’s declaration of passion for Elmire, his own wife. ”

“ We say Algernon experienced much the same sense of relief as the awakened dreamer; but unlike the latter, his was only momentary; for yell upon yell still sounded in his ear; and plunge after plunge into the stream, followed quickly by a rustling of the bushes around, the trampling of many feet close by, and the war-whoops of his enemies, warned him, that, if he had escaped one, there were hundreds yet to be eluded before he could consider himself as safe. ”

“ Madame did not like to ask anything of M. d'Argenson, and, being pressed by my family, who could not imagine that, situated as I was, it could be difficult for me to obtain a command for a good soldier, I determined to go and ask the Comte d'Argenson. I made my request, and presented my memorial. He received me coldly, and gave me vague answers. I went out, and the Marquis de V——-, who was in his closet, followed me. "You wish to obtain a command," said he; "there is one vacant, which is promised me for one of my proteges ”

“ And the daily routine was no less imposing. In toil unceasing, he forgets the distinction between night and day, [24] eats when he must, sleeps when he can. We see him dictating letters to four secretaries at a time, [25] dining in his carriage as it rattles over the stones, [26] vouchsafing an audience to a La Rochefoucauld at two in the morning. [27] His pleasures when he could snatch them were rich and strong. He had a lusty interest in life and living, and a hearty contempt for the Talon Rouge. D'Argenson's heels were of good cow-hide, and not wholly free from the mould of Touraine. ”

“ Covered by a dense fog, they crept through the French lines, a woeful wreck and remnant, flying to their hill hiding-places, afraid lest word or step should betray them to immediate slaughter. Southwards they fled; down through Prali towards the mountains of Angrogna.
‘Mother,’ said Rénée, ‘this wild journeying will kill thee. We women can never keep up with the march of our troops. Is it not better to stay here where we stand? ”