Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1919 — KEPT SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM [ARTICLE]

KEPT SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM

How Children of Brittany Were Accustomed to Look Forward to Day of Alsace’s Liberation. How the spirit of loss concerning Alsace-Lorraine has been kept alive! in the younger generation in Brittany can be seen from the following story, writes a correspondent of the Manchester <Eng.)~ Guardian: A little French boy of six was excessively bellicose during the war, and he said ’ ominously of his still smaller sister’s dolls that he did not know what might happen should he discover them to be spies. An English woman who was staying in the house was much surprised, therefore, one morning to see him embracing passionately a large and beautiful She teased him about it. whereupon he rounded upon her in a fury, crying: “It’s not a doll; it’s ma belle couslne I’Alsace!” Explanation revealed that in numbers of Breton families existed a doll —“ma belle cousine I’Alsace” —representing Alsace, which children were taught to love and embrace when they were good. It was on a rare occasion of goodness that “ma belle cousine I'Alsace” was receiving the salutations of the little Breton.