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

101        40
were Australians
here & there walking
in / 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 / 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 to / Riviera. His
mate ws from / 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 / better o /
two to live in because /
people were so much
more homely & natural
w them tho' / English
had bn very kind - they
like / absence of class

101      43
distinctions here.

Later at Versailles
amongst / 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
/ p sights. It ws a
crowd just as full of
nations as tt o / Follies
Bergeres. I can see why
/ French spirit cannot
go down, these days. It

101      44
wd be impossible, w
all / world pouring in
to Paris to help them
win / 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 / Americans here)
the rest of France will
not be dispirited.
We saw / 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 / crowd ws on 
its way from Paris.

And we have
just finished up w an

101        46
air raid; as mild
as any London one
(so far as we felt it here
at / Quai Voltaire).
But / people o / hotel
all came to / 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
too far, so we were
going home by the Rue
de l'Opera, in / 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 /
wrong way for Montmartre.
She sd tt / 
Montmartre Boulevard
shop ws / only chemists
open on Sunday night -
& tt she wd show him
where it was. He did
not tumble to it in /
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 / Imperial General
Staff owing to differences
about the War Council at
Versailles. The newspapers -
which mostly know "damn
all" (as soldiers say) about
what / army thinks, have
mostly been rather hostile
towards any increase of
the powers of the council o /
allies at Versailles. I