We have just received a letter from Mme. Joannie dated at Bar-le-Duc, recounting at length her terror and vexation happily over. She must have left so precipitously the necessaries and also the superfluities! She requested us to make a visit to her room and forward the more important objects we should come across.
We then entered her room and apart from a few broken glasses everything was still arranged as it was on the day of her departure. Dresses, trinkets, yellow photographs, stuffed animals, dignifiedly seemed to be awaiting her return----
In a corner of the sideboard--her false teeth! Poor, poor Mme. Joannie, you must have been afraid to have abandoned them!
"She was afraid of swallowing them," said Habert, between his teeth.
THE POILU WHO LOOKED FOR A "GOOD" WOUND, VERDUN (RIGHT BANK). _March_, 1916.
We are at work in a narrow position, at the entrance to Tavannes Tunnel. The bombardment is incessant and the air this morning is saturated with that odor of ether and sour apples which we have all breathed down there----
One of my _poilus_, his helmet resting on his ears, strikes a blow with ardor, although he appears to be in a very bad humor, I assure you--There is no doubt about it for a single instant, seeing him sink the stakes anchoring the wire entanglement with heavy blows of the hammer as if he wanted to smash them----
A 105 arrived, breaking a few yards from him, a large fragment skidded on the ground, hitting him on the head----
I see the man make a bound and fall flat on the ground----
With his two hands he tears off his blue helmet, completely crushed, and, contemplating it with bitterness, cries out:
"Damn!--with that, I'll never be sent to the rear!"
In a dirty sector on a beautiful, sunshiny day----
"Ah! there you are, _mon gros_, why are you all dressed up?"
"Lucky fellow! When you get there what will give you the greatest pleasure after all the hardships you have endured?"
THE POILU WHO NEVER SMILES, VERDUN. _March_, 1916.
This morning I was with a group of soldiers, laughing and joking with them. The newspapers had brought us good news and our joy manifests itself in loud bursts of laughter----
A man was seated aside from the others and had an absent and gloomy look. My attention had been drawn immediately by the expression of despair which one could easily read on his features. I lowered my voice and said: