© H. C. White Company 



THE ROYAL PALACE FROM THE PLACE d'aRMES : VERSAILLES, FRANCE 



Le Grand Monarque, as French historians have dubbed Louis XIV, employed 36,000 men 

 and 6,000 horses for years in leveling the ground for the gardens and park and in building 

 the Aoueduc de Maintenon, which supplies the Palace of Versailles and its famous fountaina 

 with water from the Eure. 



thirty-five minutes they revel in the nearly 

 forgotten luxury of red plush seats. 



THE PERSONNEL OF THE PARTY 



An absurd little whistle goes "toot, 

 toot" and the train pulls out. I close my 

 eyes for a minute ; for the placing of the 

 men in the taxis ; the wrangling with the 

 drivers who don't want to take us because 

 it is the lunch hour, and who demand, 

 "Is it that a human being must not eat 

 at this hour?" the buying of the tickets 

 to the accompaniment of the remarks of 

 the people around me; the blowing of 

 cheap smoke into my face during the pro- 

 ceeding, and my fear that one of my boys 

 will make good his threat and "knock 

 their dern nuts off ;" the dealing out of 

 the tickets with the admonition of "Don't 

 lose this, for you'll have to give it up at 

 the gate ;" the seeing that every chap has 

 a seat — well, as I said above, I lean back 

 and close my eyes for a minute. 



Then I sit up and look about me to dis- 

 cover how many Canadians, how many 



New Zealanders, and how many Aus- 

 tralians are with me today. I usually 

 have a goodly sprinkling of "Scotties," 

 too. But they tell me they are not Scotch 

 at all — just plain, ordinary "Canucks," 

 or, in loving soldier slang, "Nadies." 



When every window has been pried 

 open, every cap or large felt hat has been 

 placed in the racks, on the floor, or far 

 back on close-cropped heads, and es- 

 pecially when cigarettes and pipes are 

 burning merrily, I begin to feel Ave are 

 really started. 



Invariably at this time one will come 

 to me and say longingly: "Say, lady, 

 don't you know any new rag time ?" And 

 when I must reluctantly admit that I 

 don't, because "I have been over here as 

 long as you," he murmurs something 

 about "You, too, doing your bit," and 

 begins to "tear off an old one." So. to 

 the accompaniment of the turning wheels 

 the lusty young voices roar such old 

 stand-bys as "Iv'e got a sneaky feelin' 

 round my heart that I want to settle 



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