Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/100/1 - February 1918 - Part 4

101                                        40

were Australians

here & there walking

in t Cathedral or just

leaving it - wherever

there is anything to be

seen you see them.

They are most eager

travellers. As a boy

who ws having tea near

the Place de la Concorde

said to us: "I have been

away two years & a

half & of course I'm

pretty tired of war - but

if I'd had it over again

I would have liked to have

 

101                                       41

it just t same - "I reckon

its been an education."

He ws a private in the

32nd & he ws taking

his leave in France instead

of England or Scotland. He

had spent his last leave

over there, he sd. Now

he ws going to spend

one day in Paris & then

off t t Riviera. His

mate ws from t Queensland

bush - he had seen

Sydney, & had slept

(when his holiday & his

money ended) in the

 

101                                  42

Domain & lived on 6d

a day (including two

biers) - & a very decent

fellow too; he ws taking

8 days in paris & then due

for his English leave in

England in March (14

days). They sd tt they

weren't sure they didn't

like France t better o t

two to live in because t

people were so much

more homely & natural

w them tho' t English

had bn very kind - they

like t absence of class

 

101                   43

distinctions here.

Later at Versailles

amongst t great crowds

of all sorts - even Italians

& Portuguese - we found

Australians walking with

some well dressed guides -

some kindly French man

or American or Englishman

who ws showing them

t p sights. It ws a

crowd just as full of

nations as tt o t Follies

Bergeres. I can see why

t French spirit cannot

go down, these days. It

 

101                                 44

wd be impossible, w

all t world pouring in

to Paris to help them

win t war. Paris sees

crowds of them every

day - men on leave from

all these army; &

always more & more

Americans. And as 

long as Paris keeps its

pecker up (it cdnt help

it, w t Americans here)

the rest of France will

not be dispirited.

We saw t Trianon -

 

101                                   45

w its beautiful marble 

- I had never seen those

colours except in painted

stage scenery before; &

the exquisite Petit Trianon 

- you cannot help

feeling sorry for the poor

Marie Antoinette when

you see the Belvidere

where she sat reading

tt last day of her

happiness when they told

her tt t crowd ws on 

its way from Paris.

And we have

just finished up w an

 

101                                46

air raid; as rich

as any London one

(so far as we felt it here

at t Quai Voltaire).

But t people o t hotel

all came to t ground

floor (where I am writing)

& there ws as much

excitement & stress &

trembling of voices &

strained cheerfulness

as in any London

raid.

Old Cutlack is as simple

as a child. At nine tonight

 

 

101                         47

as we came home he

wanted to find a chemist

to get some cough lozenges.

He asked a cabman 

- much gesticulation -

& finally heard of one at

the corner of the Boulevard

Montmartre. It was

to four, so we were

going home by the Rue

de l'Opera, in t hope

of finding one there, when

a lady in widows weeds

overtook us (we were walking

fast). She stopped Cutlack

& sd she had heard him

ask for a chemist but

 

101                        48

tt he ws going t

wrong way for Montmartre.

She sd tt t 

Montmartre Boulevard

shop ws t only chemists

open on Sunday night -

& tt she wd show him

where it was. She did

not tumble to it in t

least but walked half a

way mile before he

realised tt she ws not

merely a kindly stranger

who had chased him to

put him on his way -

Opening the French paper today

with our coffee rolls we saw:

 

101                              49

"Demission de Sir William

Robertson". England, which

has been full of political

intrigue, of late, agst

Lloyd George has also been

full of rumours that

"Wally" Robertson had

resigned from his positn as

chief o t Imperial General

Staff owing to differences

about the War Council at

Versailles. The newspapers -

which mostly know "damn

all" (as soldiers say) about

what t army thinks, have

mostly been rather hostile

towards any increase of

the powers of the council o t

allies at Versailles. I