Page:Ambulance 464 by Julien Bryan.djvu/50

 and before I had finished a group of wondering children had gathered around. They were amazed that anyone should wash in the open or even bother with keeping clean at all in such weather. I shall never forget how they looked in their black aprons with their clumsy school packs hanging over their shoulders, as they stood beside my car. I pestered them with simple little questions, just to help my French; and oh, how they laughed when they found I didn't know an easy word like "cat" or "barn."

Almost every day now we hear the big guns along the Saint Mihiel sector; and tonight some very heavy shelling is going on. The nearest guns are about twenty miles away.

I tried developing a few films last evening in the loft in the barn. It was certainly working under difficulties. The temperature of the room was a couple of degrees below freezing and although I had some luke-warm water when I started, it went down to forty five degrees while the films were developing. Of course, I spoiled a number of mighty good pictures which I had taken on the ride out from Paris. I managed to save just two or three mediocre negatives out of the whole lot.

We got our gas masks and helmets today. I came a little late and had to be content with a big affair which comes way down over my ears.