Introduction xxi 



fatherland that animates the French people, even in provinces 

 such as Alsace, was indelibly marked in the writer's memory 

 during the period immediately following the annexation of that 

 province to the German Empire by hearing Alsatian peasants, 

 unable even to express themselves in French, exclaim, in 

 German, " Ninimer will ich Deutsch sein." 



THOMAS OKEY. 



Note. — The author's spelling of place and other names has been main- 

 tained throughout except where it might be misleading or unintelligible 

 to the reader: in such cases the modern equivalent is given in a note. 



