In Peace 



primarily to intemperance nor vice nor 

 prudence nor misdirected education, the 

 rush to " ready-made careers," but to in- 

 herited deficiencies of the people them- 

 selves. It is not a matter of the cities 

 alone, but of the whole body of French 

 peasantry. Legoyt, in his study of 

 " the alleged degeneration of the French 

 people," tells us that " it will take long 

 periods of peace and plenty before 

 France can recover the tall statures 

 mowed down in the wars of the repub- 

 lic and the First Empire/' though how 

 plenty can provide for the survival of 

 the tallest this writer does not expkin. 

 Peace and plenty may preserve, but they 

 can not restore. 



It is claimed, on authority which I 

 have failed to verify, that the French 

 soldier of to-day is nearly two inches 

 shorter than the soldier of a century 

 ago. One of the most clever of 

 recent French books, by Edmond De- 



17 



