I have read with the keenest interest your sketch of the life of Marshal Foch. It is not yet history: we are too close to events to write it now, but it is the story of a great leader of men on which I felicitate you because of your real understanding of his character.
Christian, Frenchman, soldier, Foch will be held up as an example for future generations as much for his high moral standard as for his military genius.
It seems that in writing about him the style rises with the noble sentiments which inspire him.
Thus in form of presentation as well as in substance you convey admirably the great lesson which applies to each one of us from the life of Marshal Foch.
Please accept, Mademoiselle, this expression of my respectful regards.
LT.-COLONEL E. RÉQUIN.
"THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"
Three Spirits stood on the mountain peak
And gazed on a world of red,--
Red with the blood of heroes,
The living and the dead;
A mighty force of Evil strove
With freemen, mass on mass.
Three Spirits stood on the mountain peak
And cried: "They shall not pass!"
The Spirits of Love and Sacrifice,
The Spirit of Freedom, too,--
They called to the men they had dwelt among
Of the Old World and the New!
And the men came forth at the trumpet call,
Yea, every creed and class;
And they stood with the Spirits who called to them,
And cried: "They shall not pass!"
Far down the road of the Future Day
I see the world of Tomorrow;
Men and women at work and play,
In the midst of their joy and sorrow.
And every night by the red firelight,
When the children gather 'round
They tell the tale of the men of old.
These noble ancestors, grim and bold,
Who bravely held their ground.
In thrilling accents they often speak
Of the Spirits Three on the mountain peak.