, not
of the casual housewife. The accomplished cook of the inn knew no more
about mixing and baking bread than he did of washing clothes; and
there was but this one bakery, hitherto sufficient, for the baker and
his wife had been strong and industrious. The inn was in despair. The
village was in despair. A Frenchman will go without meat, but life
without bread is unthinkable.

No one thought of the child.

It is possible that in her double grief she did not think of
herself--for twenty-four hours. But the second day after mobilization
her shop window was piled high with loaves as usual. The inn was
supplied. The village was supplied. This little girl worked steadily
and unaided at her task, until her father, a year later, returned
minus a leg to give her assistance of a sort.

The business of the bakery was nearly doubled during that time.
Automobiles containing officers, huge camions with soldiers packed
like coffee-beans, foot-weary marching regiments, with no time to stop
for a meal, halted a moment and bought the stock on hand. But with
only a few hours' sleep the girl toiled on valiantly and no applicant
for bread was turned empty-handed from the now famous bakery.

How she kept up her childish strength and courage without a moment's
change in her routine and on insufficient sleep can only be explained
by the twin facts that she came of hardy peasant stock, and, like all
French children, no matter how individual, was too thoroughly imbued
with the discipline of "The Family" to shirk for a moment the
particular task that war had brought her. This iron discipline of The
Family, one of the most salient characteristics of the French, is
largely responsible for the matter-of-fact way in which every soldier
of France, reservist or regular, and whatever his political
convictions, has risen to this ordeal. And in him as been inculcated
from birth patience and perseverance as well as loyalty to his beloved
flag.

The wives of hotel and shop keepers as well as the women of the farms
have by far the best of it in time of war. The former are always their
husband's partners, controlling the money, consulted at ever step.
When the tocsin rings and the men disappear they simply go on. Their
task may be doubled and they may be forced to employ girls instead of
men, but there is no mental readjusting.

The women of the farms have always worked as hard as the men. Their
doubled tasks involve a greater drain on their physica