ESTAMINETS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 247, 6 July 1918, Page 9

ESTAMINETS

t A SKETCH FROM THE WAR ZONE. 1 (By C.H.D., in tho "Daily Mail.") "Hon soir, Jack. Comment allez-vous?" "Tres-benns, Julie, but plenty fatiguo ' and boco soif." "Better the war finish, oh, m'sieurs? ; When you think?" "Finish to-morrow—peut-ctre," grins ; Jack. 1 For bringing a beer Julio receives a "Alerei cocoa" and 2jd. The evening 1 usually starts with some such libretto ' of the Fronch-English comic opera that holds sway nightly in tho numerous cstaminets up and down the front. Tho estaminet floor is stone-flagged and provides standing for tables covered with 1 gaily painted leatherette, chairs, .1 pram-sha-ped stove which juts out into tho room at. tho end of a huge pipe, and a tiny buffet in one corner. From this doll's counter and a caso of shelves behind, roinforccd by a pocket cellar, issue tho staplo drinks at tho front—red and white wine, Porto, light stout and beer. The eslaminct, corresjiomliiiK (o our English tavern, has always an immense coffee-pot on the stove, can supply an omelette, and is tho national bouse of ( ciill in Belgium and Northern France. Two men under full pack enter. The elder, glancing humorously over his glass, says: "Bonne saute, jn'sello? Promenade with you ce soir trcs-bon, eh?" "I no promenade with you," promptly retorts Julie, picking up tho gago thrown down. "You married." "Soldiers never married—jamais," Julie is gravely assured. "Ale promenade with you after the war!" says Julie. And with thai clinching phrase—"upres In. guerre"—always effective, (he bout of chaffing is closed. Suddenly the coinyade rises. ''Silence for a good song and "a good singer," calls the married one. Tho friend hangs his head and bays forth, perspiring, in a mournful key,'a deeply sentimental lay. A lean man then launches solemnly' into falsetto—great npplnus". Tho fat comedian contributes a tuneless song, to which (he accompaniment is vamped with muscular monotony, and a dark Irishman follows, with a long, tricky chorus to his ditty. Such is a typical estaminet evening. Some estaminels are more boisterous. Here the sturdy waitress, chaff-hardened, almost commits assault and battery on the unfortunate soldier who tenders a, five-franc note. "You jio_ change?" she bawls. (You feel her voice liko a bludgeon.) "Hola! I'm givo all my change away. You no change, no glass beer!" But, if Ibis threat be unproductive she contrives to ferret out the required sous and various current franc notes, soiled issued by towns of the' province. "'Tis eight o'clock!'' is her next slogan. "Time to close. Hurry up, if you piense. Polico come tout-de-suite. "Tis eight o'clock. Allez!" And sho sweeps the glasses away and propels her clients doorward, while the canary family, wlpch every estaminet sacredly maintains, flutter in their fine cage over tho clamour of tho departing guests. Estaminet hours for the British -Armv are from 12 to 2 and "from (j to S, anil during these four crowded hours tJie twostory, red-tiled buildings often extract from a generous and passive soldiery tho profits of a small goldmine. Our favourite resort last year had its , ebony piano, walnut-wood gramophone, , stove polished liko a dynamo, and daintv , casement curtains. The nainted motto 111 Flemish, "Hier vloekt men niet" ("No bad language, please!") sounded from its cosy corner the keynote of the room. Scrupulously conducted by two comely ■ girls (worthy parents in the background), ' it was the home of sood snu<j and good champagne, where troops goini to and coming from the line could shed tho coarse and the crude and feel for an hour an English refinement. Between this and the fantastic wooden shacks built, by refugees at the roadside the contrast is extreme. Their walls J are built of staves purloined iron Army stores boxes,, their roofs of felt with flashings and spouts turned from Army biscuit tins. On t'.ie door is the lescnii, "Coffee, esq*, chips, beer. Washing done for soldiers." But though within the floor be earthen 0 and the benches bard, the welcome is c 'varni. and 'tommy is soon "quids in," „ ■fotiernusly forgoing unfair comparison ' with his imlive inn.s so easeful and pro-; ligal of habit in Bligntv's dnvs of per.ee j