COVETED RED RIBBON.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 64, 15 March 1916, Page 2

COVETED RED RIBBON.

.FRENCH LEGION OF HONOUR, The red ribbon on increasing numbers of weather-stained blue jackets, and the frequent appeals to popular imagination by the military parades behind the war zone, incidental to the decoration of heroes from the front, hav e given a remarkable increase of popularity of the Legion of Honour This Imperial institution, handed down through Restoration, the Second Republic, and the Second Empire, was not' accepted without reserve by t-ae more democratic Third Republic, and has gone through some vicissitudes since. Besides pensions to crippled members, the Legion of Honour educates the daughters of its legionaries in three different institutions, the original of which was established at Ecoun in ISOS. The second was organised in t-he ancient abbey of St. Denis in 1809, and became th e principal institution. Others were founded in LSIO. but three only survived. St. Denis, Ecoun, and Des Logos. Each institution has accommodations for 400 fre<places for daughters of members with the rank of captain or equivalent, without fortunes. Daughters, granddaughters, sisters, and nieces of members are admitted to 75 places in each institution at the expense of the family. T-he date of admission is from nine to 12 years, and th e girls graduate in seven years.