LITTLE ALLIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3186, 10 September 1917, Page 2

LITTLE ALLIES

FIiMCH CHILDREN ON NEW '. ZEALAND. . An interesting littlo incident happened in a toivn in Northern Franco not long •'go.. Two New Zealand soldiers, of ,C'hristchurch, made some frionds in this place, and one day they visited tho school to ofl'cr prizes to tho children l'or tlio best essays on New Zealand. The com-' petition turned out to be a highly"successful one, and ;i number of children wrote some very good, littlo essays, which 1 aro thus referred to by the Christchurch' "Press":— ; The. French children have pretty names—'Marguerite. Marie, Angelc, Fernando, Baymonde, Christiane, Madeleine, Louise, Amelic. Tho eldest child who coinpotod was only twelve years old, and sho wrote very correctly, and made no mistakes in the facts which she had learned conccrning oiir country; Christchurch people will be sorry to iearn.that Christchurch was in almost every caso omitted from tho list of the chief'towns. Auckland was always included—fact which may be a testimonial to the vaiuo of aggressive self-advertisement (says the "Pres^"). It may comfort the New Zealand children who are struggling with "French proses" to know that even tho little French children can make very 6erious mistakes in grammar and in spellingmistakes, some of them, which are not easily explainable. One child, - for example, contrasting the seasons, wrote: "Do maime pour la. saison, qunnd il fait.' chaux par isis. il fait bicn frois de notre cote." But this was a littlo nine-year-old. ■' But the. most striking and charming feature of these little essays is the manner in which they end. Ono finds in tlio conclusions a very hearty enthusiasm for "ces cbeirs soldats Neo Zelandias." They, all wish the. men a happy return, and they express their prayers and wishes very prettily.' We print somo of their final salutes-.—■ "Honneur ot .gloiro a. nos chers allies les Neo Zelandais." "Honneur a lenr patrie;" "Vive la. Nouvelle Zelande." "Good luck and wishes to' the Soldiers New; Zealande soldiers. N. . Z.' is the Best soldiers and good, fighting for tlio people in France. - I hope the terrible war get 'finish very- soon—good for soldiers and good for me. Good bless you." ". . . Sweet home en N. Z. Vive la Nouvelle Zelande for aver." "Tout le mondo dit que les soldats sont tres bon pour les tranchees. Vivent les Neo Zelandais courage." : "Your 'little allied Margaret Mary Pochex x x x x x x x. Good luck to you." . (Marguerite, with her kisses, is a ten-year-old.) "... Une Petite admil'atrice des Neo Zelandais." The children, i\;hen the prizes-were in due course, awarded, sang for the New Zealanders an up-to-date version of "Malbrouck"; "Tommy s'en va fen guerre." Of sixteen verses, it is too long,to quote, but one verse may be gii'en here. Tommy has reached his trench and finds that anyway water is not lacking! ' Et. joyoux il murmura; ■•. . " lirrontori, ton,'ton, mirontainej Et joyeux, il murmure, —All right! J'aurai mon bath. 1