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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



© Committee on Public Information 



Y. M. C. A. BARRACKS FOR AMERICAN FIGHTERS IN PARIS 



Here is a home for the soldier "just in," where he can realize the dreams of months at 

 the front and enjoy freedom from discipline, hot baths, and sleep in the morning! "Freshly 

 shaven, uniforms brushed and pressed, boots of a dazzling brilliance, happy faces, happy 

 laughter, happy hearts" — by these signs ye shall know those who are "just in." 



and that there wasn't a Canuck amongst 

 them. You see, I know Irish eyes when 

 I see them." 



I don't answer because my attention 

 is fixed on a rough-looking individual 

 who is making a violent arraignment 

 against America and all things American. 

 He is saying : 



AN ATTACK ON F00IJSH AMERICAN BOYS 



"They make me sick with their talk 

 about their umpteen million men and 

 their steen billion airplanes. And they 

 send a handful of toy soldiers to France, 

 and these guys sit in cafes and tell about 

 how, since we couldn't finish the war our- 

 selves, they've come over to do it for us, 

 and that if they can't win Belgium back 

 they'll buy it back, and that if their 

 fathers' incomes could be added together 

 it 'ud make something like" — 



Here I can stand no more. "But 

 surely you don't hold a whole nation re- 

 sponsible for the talk of a few foolish 

 boys?" I demand as calmly as possible. 



Furious at being interrupted, he wants 

 to know why it's my funeral to "stick up 

 for the rotten Yanks." 



And when I reply, "Because I happen 

 to be one myself," he only whispers, 

 "Well, I'll be double damned." 



As he goes out, however, he stops for 

 a second to hiss into the ear of the first 

 speaker, "You and your Irish eyes!" 



An alert, middle-aged man is on my 

 right, seated between two clear-eyed, up- 

 standing boys. He introduces me, oh 

 how proudly, to what he terms his "off- 

 springs." All three are in the same regi- 

 ment, and Eddie is twenty-one — cele- 

 brated his birthday day before yesterday, 

 right here in Paris. What do you know 



