d Courouve.

Benoite Vaux was a quiet hamlet of a score of peasant homes and an old
stone church. The 2nd Battalion was stationed in and about the town;
Battery D was assigned to barracks that formerly were used as a French
army hospital. The 1st Battalion was scattered here and there on the
hills and in the woods outside the village.

CHAPTER XXI.

WAR ORPHANS AND HORSE SHOWS.

Almost every outfit of the A. E. F., in France, adopted a mascot--a
real, live mascot, to be sure; not out of mere pet fancy, but the
natural outcrop of the American spirit of benevolence. Through the
Bureau of War Orphans of the American Red Cross, units of the A. E. F.
made contributions to the Adoption Fund for French War Orphans. The
aid in each case was administered by the Red Cross to the welfare of
an orphan.

The members of Battery D adopted little four-year-old Denise Ferron
during the month of February, 1919, as their mascot, and, by
additional contributions a ward was selected in memory of First
Sergeant James J. Farrell. The second ward was three-year-old Georges
Lemoine, who was much in need of assistance.

Denise Ferron, with brown eyes and brown hair, was born April 25,
1914, the daughter of Madame Vve Ferron, of Fericy, Seine et Marne,
France.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferron had just established a butcher shop when war came
on. The father was then mobilized at the first call. He went to the
front where he was wounded. In 1916 at Verdun, he held the Croix de
Guerre and was mortally wounded in April, 1918.

When he joined his regiment his wife was left with no resources,
having given all of their earnings for the purchase of the butcher
shop. The difficulty to find meat and some one to help her, forced her
to give up her business.

She had another child, Simonne, who was born July 8, 1917. This
blonde, grey eyed brother of Denise was cared for by another A. E. F.
unit. As her children were too small, Mme. Ferron was not able to take
any work and her only means of support was a military allocation
amounting to 105 francs monthly.

Although his body rests in the American military cemetery at La
Courtine, France, the memory of James J. Farrell is revered in unison
by all who knew him and the family of Vve Memoine, Ville Billy, St.
Lunaire, Ille et Vilaine, France, who have come to know him in spirit
since the youngest son, Georges, was adopted. Georges Lemoine was born
February 1, 1915. He had five other brothers and sister