BEDROOM OF NAPOLEON : VERSAILLES, FRANCE 



The over-seas soldiers on leave and off for a "look-see" at Versailles have no compunction 

 about referring to Louis XIV as "the kink who was responsible," but in the simple apartments 

 of the "Little Corporal" their bearing is always one of respectful admiration. 



"Boys, the French have a pretty saying 

 that 'the smaller the ivy leaf, the dearer 

 the love.' So I want each one of you to 

 find the tiniest leaf possible and send it 

 to the one that's waiting at home." Be- 

 fore I have finished I find myself alone. 

 Every homesick soldier is keen in his 

 search, sure that his leaf is going to be the 

 smallest. One after another comes to me 

 and asks, "How about this one?" or 

 "Won't you please look at mine?" And 

 the lump in my throat gets bigger and 

 bigger as I watch these hardened warriors 

 so intent upon his foolish, though touch- 

 ing, little game; for I know that every 

 lonely fellow is thinking, not that in one 

 or two or more days he's going back to 

 what in stoic derision he terms "home," 

 but that some one, somewhere, is thinking 

 about him and worrying about him and 

 loving him too. 



The joker of the party comes to me 

 with a perfectly enormous leaf, which 

 he informs me he has plucked for his 



mother-in-law; and when I ask him if 

 he has a mother-in-law, he answers : "No, 

 but I might have one some day." An- 

 other young devil shows me a leaf even 

 larger, and when I naturally ask who is 

 to get that, he says, "It's for the Kaiser." 

 And a third presents a leaf so small that 

 I smile at its absurdity in a hand so big 

 and hard. His mouth quivers ever so 

 slightly as he tells me it is for his mother, 

 who is the only one on earth who cares 

 for him. 



By and by thirty-two infinitesimal ivy 

 leaves are carefully placed in thirty-two 

 safe places. Did I say thirty-two ? Well, 

 I should have said thirty-four, for I catch 

 one chap hoarding away three. I laugh- 

 ingly admonish him to be careful not to 

 send them all to the same town, for "girls 

 will tell, you know." By way of reply he 

 pulls a post-card photograph out of his 

 pocket and says, "Here's why I must have 

 three," and I see the picture of a nice- 

 looking young woman and two babies. 



545 



