COURTSHIPS IN WAR ZONE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14593, 1 May 1918, Page 9

COURTSHIPS IN WAR ZONE.

ENTENTE CORDIALE HAS BECOME A THING OF HEARTS

Joihbwlieru iii Franco;— Thfe soldier the girl; , It is an oldi bid story, as 'tola old -courtyard of 'the ,old building m the old French town where the scene was enacted; but the changeful time had given it a new meaning. Fbr the old French garden of the old French house had become the pleasaunce of a club for British officers, and though the girl was French the soldier was English, writes Alex. M. Thompson. Like the maid m the nursery song, she "was m the garden hanging out the clothes," and he, an officer '» bat' man, Avas collaborating. It did not appear to be a useful collaboration. On her side the work consisted mostly of i'emoristraiit cries, explanatory gesture?, and plentiful giggles j ott his side there was it steady, stolid cheerfulness of clumsiness whose consistency suggested guile.

To the superficial and sentimental observer they would have seemed to be transmuting the prosaic labor into conventional romance. As a matter of fact, between ourselves, they were making history. They /iyere perfecting th?. Cordial * Understanding, They Were broadening the base of the great democratic alliance. They were laying concrete floors fbr the structure of the future League of Nations!

In this very humanitarian work many thousands of French maidens and British Tommies m this northeast corner of France ar-a now strenuously engaged. They are throwing their hearts into it># They are grappling it, as one may say, with both hands. You shall see a bevy of merry French girls t marching — or rather dattcing^arm m arm to work m a British Military factory, and you shall hear them singing "Tipperary,;'' or '-'Blighty is the Place for Me,'* with a correctness of accent which reflects infinite credit on the painstaking patience and thoroughness of their British military instructors.-

These fantastically cosmopolitan factories contain also Hindu, Cingalese, and Chinese workers who watch the proceedings with benevolent grins. There are also German prisoners, who do not look equally pleased. For assuredly this phenomenon will beget consequences. "Do niany of our Tommies marry these French girls?" I asked my British military chauffeur^ "Rather !" he answered. "How many have you heard of?" I precised. "Oh, t should think I've .known quite a dozen among my own . pals,' 1 he replied. Which obviously means a lot. The fusion of French": mental alertness and vivacity, with British practical stolidity will benefit both peoples. Then think of the educational effect. Imagine Mrs Jeanne Smith, the Picardy farmer's daughter, installed m Oldhim or Pudsey among the wondering sisters, „c ousins, aud aunts pf Smith. Fancy the surprises awaiting Grandpa arid \ Grandma Durahd of St. Omer on their 1 first perilous adventure of travel oversea, and. their joy on finding" that their son-in-law, has not, m the case of their daughter followed the habit of the. English m selling, their wives at Smithfield. Conceive the shocks and delights' of Grandpa' and Grandma Smith when they m their turn hazard the voyage of discovery to the Continong — the strange, wicked land of which th sy would other? wise have, known .nothing exact or positive except that the natives boxed with their feet and fed on frogs. ' — As for the other couples who decide to ' rehiairi in ' France, they will settle the .French' population problem. Only think of it : French wives and British husbands ! Oh, la, la ! I referred just now to the begetting of consequences ; this, phenomenon will beget heaps and heaps of interesting and most promising little consequences. The prospect simply dazzles the faculties and confounds reckoning.: ■ s There are other factors at work m ibis war region to establish cordial'tni.- --! derstandjng . between the democracies of j France ' arid Britain, factors which will do more to realise international work-ing-class solidarity than was ever dreamt of m Karl Marx's philosophy.