In the Foreign Legion

the commander of the Old Guard said at Waterloo : Old and young légionnaires : The canteen : Madame la Cantinière : The regimental feast : Strange men an

way with those thrice confounded recruits-ces malheureux bleus. A corporal, two sergeants, a sergeant-major and half a dozen légionnaires detached for storeroom work continually fell over each other in their haste to get done at last with the trying on of uniforms and with the issue of the kit. Countless jackets and pants were tried on; they put n

or. Here, Corporal Wassermann, take them away. Voilà! Off with your mess of recruits. Try and make lég

ers of the storeroom told us exactly what they thought of us and where they wish

and the passing légionnaires of the

room stood two big wooden tables and long benches, scoured gleaming white. Everything in the place was scrupulously neat and clean. A rack in the corner held our rifles. Suspended from the ceiling, over the tables, there was a cupboard-the "pantry" of our qu

puffing a cigarette, took a good long l

t way to go about it. We shall begin drilling to-morrow. To-day you will have to arrange your bunks and things. I shall arrange your bunks in such a fashion that each of you shall be placed be

ch of us and went off whistli

bunk over there at the window. Take the one next. It's been given to a recruit already, you say? Oh, kick him out, kick him out. What do you suppose the corporal c

liking to this man with the sharply cut features and the curiou

No 10247, solda

adagascar and won the French medal for bravery on colonial service. During this campaign he had been shot in the shoulder and had had a severe attack of jungle fever. There was no garrison in Algeria, be it on the Morocco frontier, be it on the Sahara line, where he had not been stationed once at least. He was a perfect encyclop?dia of all things conne

t a man well

ifornia and had "seen a few things in his life." I answered with the bare statement that I was a German, and had lived in the Un

tried to get some order in

een drilled into shape

y we

ate

Ger

ht have been in the U.S. ar

e Legion's tobacco

ched himself comfortably on his bunk with his knees drawn up, his cap pulled down o

t look at things in the right way. Legion life can be stood right enough, if you don't let yourself be worried by anything at all, if you're as ice-cold as Chicago in January, and if you're lucky enough to see something doing. Whether we march against the Arabs or Chinese (there's a battalion of us in Indo-China, you know) or to 'Maroc' at last, that's all the same, but it's good to be on the move in the Legion. Then a légionnaire's life ain't half bad. Don't ever forget, though, to have your feelings frozen into an iceblock. Don't let anything bother you. No use getting mad about things here. Ju

ded rapidly, smoothing every crease with almost ridiculous care. Each of the folded pieces he measured, giving each the same length, from the tips of his fingers to his elbow. Finally he erected with these bundles, upon the shelf at the wall over my bed, an ingenious structure of unifor

er stood in front of my bunk

tchy dear. Making 'fantasie'[2] it is called in the Legion, if one tries to be always 'très chic' and 'parfait

his letters, his books, for the few other articles of private property he possesses, he finds room in his knapsack; his brushes and his polishing-rags are carefully stored away in a littl

and the sheets I had spread out away again and started showing me how to make a bed "à la Légion." Bed-making was another of the Legion's tricks.

how we légionnaires fix ou

"what does 'merd

gly. Naturally I thought that it must be some especially forceful invective, the more so as the sergeant-major in the storeroom (who certainly had not been in good humou

at is thi

early h

had suddenly gone crazy, "what 'merd

olite society, an old Anglo-Saxon substantive, describing a most nat

enjoys his malignant hissing "caracho," and the légionnaire is distinctly unhappy without his well-beloved "merde." It's the most used word in the Foreign Legion. It has suffered curious derivations: Merdant, merdable.... It has a happy home i

'enme

tive of disgust is very ancient. It

e challenge to surrender, pompously: "The Old Guard dies, but it does not surre

er

em, of their past, of their families, of their future. They felt very sorry (so they said) for the poor old eleventh company having been buncoed into taking such an awful pack of useless recruits. Many were the fools they

onkey doing on my bunk? Get off! Get off quick, son of a jackal! Do

ctical results. So they explained to the "bleus" that recruits, and especially such recruits as now presen

égionnaires will help you-we who know everything and can fix anything. But we're thirsty, you see. Tant de soif! Such a thirst. I put it to you: Is it right that recruits, recrui

llons donc pour un litre-let's

ers to pay a visit to the canteen and render homage to the immortal "litre" of the Foreign Legion. The whole performance wa

sappeared. Almost everything was gone. A complete uniform, a fatigue suit, an overcoat and several other things were

t one must look after one's kit in the Legion. If he could not find the missing uniforms, he would be certain to be sent to prison at the very le

airs hunting for his lost unifor

s talked to him. They pla

company's storeroom is a pretty decent fellow. He'll do something for an old légionnaire. We'll try him. There's just the chance that he will give us the stuff you have lost from his stock

off with paying five francs. It was

a sergeant had given them everything needed! Faultless new uni

had then sold him back his own things! It certainly was no business of mine, and I did not interfere. In a way the comic side of the thing appealed to my sense of humour, but it

my bed!

nt was written o

or a raw recruit.

now you raised a row because one of us was sitting

gionnaire

yard with me. I'll teach you that a good-for-nothin

, a few other légionnaires follo

he said. "Look

as bad enough to be in the Legion, b

upper hand, now the other. My antagonist's strength surpassed mine by far. I could do but very little in his iron grip. I began to wonder how many of my ribs would survive the fray. But all at once I got the upper hand. Again and again he tried to get a grip of my throat, but I caught his hand every ti

he yelled

ooking old légionnai

I wonder why the people here can't box like Christians instead of rol

e with some difficulty and walk

with the stone. Eh, you'll be a good légionnaire very soon. We men of the Legion quarrel often,

he dust from each other's un

id the bugler with a grin.

no obj

" he declared, as we c

h surprised. There was an awful noise in the little room. A great many soldiers were talking and laughing and singing and yelling in many lan

r noch ein

einen Henk

s ... a

Frenchman sang the refrain

foi, toujou

or in blue jackets sat on the long benches, drinking, laughing. On the woode

o room her

'un pétard, what do we want room for?

ing a word she took three copper pieces from the bugler, giving him in exchange a full bottle of wine and two glasses. "Madame la Cantinière" could not be over twenty years ol

me la Cantinière de la Légion" usually is married, but she is the official head of the canteen and not her husband. The business belo

ig glasses filled (the Legion does not waste time drinking out o

as luck in this place, but one keeps on wishi

is soft fair moustache in great satisfac

ound near the Thessala mountains is a single large vineyard. There are times in Algeria when they let the wine run on the street.

quietly spoken word would have been lost in the turmoil. Everybody was yelling and everybody seemed to be in high glee. The légionnaires were having what they considered a good time. They jumped on the tables, kicking and dancing, jingled their gla

zement. A légionnaire sang for his comrades, in a beautiful tenor voice, in a voice reminding me of great singers I had heard long ago

m'a rend

of love and ladies, of love's delights and love's

red and blue until I saw nothing but their shadowy outlines l

s spellbound; the glorious mellow voice, now clear as a trumpet, now low and swe

m'a rend

en one would think that these men were ashamed of having bee

re fool songs for

e bent backwards, high-stepping grotesquely. Blacky was much applauded and seemed to be a very happy nigger. Madame la Cantinière did a roaring trade. The copper pieces were continually jingling on the tin-covered surface of the bar. La Cantinière was a very busy woman this evening

mptied glass after glass a

regiment's holid

m in view of the fact that pay in the Legion meant but five centimes a day, twenty-five centimes for the pay-roll perio

when two comrades could buy exactly five "litres" of wine for their joint pay. Certainly such frivolity punished itself: there was no money left for the next five days' tobacco. So wise men in the Legion buy the c

ts out! Madame la Cantinière held up her hand,

ieurs.-Good ni

seconds the canteen was empty and everybody w

night. The still of night lay over the barrack-yard. The white moonlight shone on the bare walls of the barracks. The stars of far sout

somewhere on the other side. And over th

m'a rend

ouched in a corner of t

Sometimes it seemed to me as if my nerves were quite dulled. Every day brought monstrous sights and hideous impressions. I shuddered at unh

ound the barrack-yard one could meet wit

hed with blood. He had cut off the forefinger and middle fi

. In his hands he carried a Standard oil-can. A Standard oil-tin as receptacle for food in connection with an Arab, Algeria and t

Cigarette! Ick sein deuts

Franco-German war and had been i

n his forehead! He smiled at my frightened face and was evidently very pleased at the impression he had made. I remember saying to the bugler ho

ooing of that kind is quite customary

horrible tattoo-mark. To me it spoke of hope lost for ever, of a life

he légionnaire with the skull on his fo

see something that very old

-pouch, apparently mad

"It is a very good tobacco-pouch. Made it myself. There are only seven in

of vanity he

reast-my God, what is the meanin

Arabian women had horribly mutilated the bodies of légionnaires and inflicted horrible tortures on the wounded. The soldiers of the Legion, maddened, thirsting for r

the first time the prisoners' ma

etween barrack building and wall, about thirty men were marchi

-droit; right about, ma

h sand and stones, every man carrying a burden of from seventy to eighty pounds. All the prisoners had a hard strained look on their faces.

or small offences in the matters of discipline. They were not only put into prison, but also had to march on their ridiculous march of punishment for three hours every day, the stone

a sandsack were put on my back and I were driven round in this

rison some time or another and it's not right to st

rroundings were many of the

e pasteboard card customary in the L

RAS

2

PREMIER

ld, throwing his things pell-mell on the bed. In a very few moments he had put on the uniform prescribed for town. For the "soup" he didn't care. He never had his meals in quarters. He went away at once after he had changed his uniform and never returne

care for anythin

he got the news of the death of a rich relative, who had left him all his wealth.... So Monsieur Rassedin, légionnaire, had become rich. He always carried a few thousands francs about him. Three men of the company were employed by him to keep his things in order and to do all the cleaning and polishing for him. In the regimental office he paid the other clerks to do his work. He naturally preferred rea

re

the Legion that the man from California could not answer. "The poor devil's suffering from syphilis

fool's remarks. There is poison in my body and in a few years I shall be very sick. No, I prefer putting a bullet through my brains in the Legion to returning to my country and th

the little black children in the streets. Many a

the reputation of fighting on the least provocation. But he could be very good-natured. Hardly a day passed without some

t d' soif.-Hea

and searched his pocke

the Foreign Legion; love-letters from a woman who was waiting for him five long years. Latour, who had committed

d such a man very seldom succeeds in finding work. It is a barbarous system. Ten years must elapse before such a man is considered rehabilitated and "clean papers" are issued to him. If a man is willing to serve i

gionnaires, Latour was se

that he actually loved the Legion, that he could not part from the strange life there. He could speak Arabic like a native. Many a time whe

m a bit off my base. I

t down beside me, talking of strange things, r

ing about the Chapter of

on't?

id: 'I have loved the love of things of this earth more than I have loved all thoughts of the things of heaven, and I have wasted the time in feasting my

g interesting." Many chapters of t

ascination. A host of new impressions were forced upon me, until the senses w