Amid his country's conquerors Ferdinand Foch prepared to become a French officer.

His examination for admittance to the Polytechnique was taken in Nancy, another city held hostage by the arrogant German invader. With what bitter resolution these young Frenchmen must have tackled that examination. Foch was among the successful candidates, but little did he suppose that in the next war with Germany he would be the general in command of Nancy, and would fight his first battle not

far away.

He had never been a large boy for his age, but he had made the most of his physique. Wiry, lean and strong, he had not sacrificed exercise to study, but had contrived to do both, realizing that a sound body is the stable groundwork for a sound mind. It must often have been difficult, for so studious a youngster, to force himself to play games and take part in sports, but he was wise beyond his years, and recognized the necessity for trained muscles to back up the trained mind. To this early realization he owed his capacity, as an elderly man, in 1918, for keeping his boots on, and his mind alert four or five days and nights without rest or sleep while he raced from point to point along the hundred mile battle-front where the World War was fought to a finish, heartening his commanders, and hurling in reinforcements where they were most needed.

During the Franco-Prussian war Paris had been besieged, and the Ecole Polytechnique had been shelled. When Foch arrived in November 1871 there were still bullet holes in the walls and the roofs had been newly patched. It was at the Polytechnique that Ferdinand first met a compatriot from the south of France, who was later to play a great part in the World War. This was Joffre, later Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies in the

Field.

In their second year at the school Joffre and Foch both passed an examination which abbreviated their course, in order that they might help fill the officer gaps in the newly reorganized French army. Joffre went into the engineers and Foch into the artillery.

With a light heart Foch left Paris. He had never liked it. Its gaiety was not for him. His life was dedicated to a serious purpose, and he had neither time nor inclination for the distractions of the "capital. of Europe." Out in the beautiful forest of Fontainebleau where he became a cadet in the artillery school he was at peace with himself and the world. He had been an accomplished horseman from childhood, and here he could ride for hours through the most beautiful countryside. In the examinations at the end of this course he stood third. When he had been commissioned a second-lieutenant he was permitted to

pick his station, and chose his birthplace-Tarbes down near the Pyrenees, close to the home of his grandparents.

He remained two years at Tarbes, quietly getting his first taste of regimental duty and maneuvers, and busily studying military history and technical books on ordnance. In order to qualify for that staff work which might some day come along he obtained admission to the Saumur calvary school. Following a year's work at Saumur he was advanced to the rank of Captain in the summer of 1878, and returned to the artillery in command of a field battery of the 10th Regiment stationed at Rennes, in Brittany.

This was a fateful move. It was here that he was to meet the lady whom he married a year later— Mademoiselle Julie Bienvenue of St. Brieuc. They purchased the estate of Trefeunteuniou in Finisterre, near Morlaix in the western jut of Brittany midway between the Atlantic and the Montagne d'Arrée. The old manor house of gray stone, with its dormer windows in a sharply pointed roof, is set down in extensive forests, interspersed by meadows and ploughland. Here the future general took up scientific forestry as a recreation. Here too he put a domestic chapel at one end of his garden. Here his only son was born, and here he began his preparation, soon after the purchase,

for admission to that Staff College, through which the road leads to high command.

Success in his chosen profession must rest entirely upon himself. Of influential friends he had none. For political wire-pulling he had no taste and less talent. Moreover he was a devout Catholic, and the Church was out of fashion in France just then. Anticlericalism had chiefly a political significance, but appointments to the Staff College also had a political aspect, and Clericals, people who had Jesuit priests for brothers, were likely to be discriminated against by timid politicians afraid of their constituencies.

Ferdinand Foch's religion was not a thing he shouted about. But he professed and practised it, and made no concealment of his faith. He fully appreciated how this might militate against his advancement, but that thought gave him no qualms. "Do what you ought, come what may!" had become the rule of his life. His religion had helped to form his character, and continued to inspire and guide his daily life.

Nevertheless, for a time, the French Ministry of War is said to have kept a secret list of officers who went to mass on Sunday. Foch was doubtless on that list. Ultimately, of course, the good sense of France asserted itself against such prejudice, and the Chamber of Deputies put an end to religious spying.

A more adventurous man than Foch would probably have sought service in France's colonial armies. Wars were fought in half a dozen places in Africa, in French Indo-China and Madagascar, while he remained quietly at home, working away at his studies of that military past which must be used to illuminate the future and form the mind which can cope with emergencies. He probably knew what he was waiting for. The little African side-shows did not greatly matter. The big show in the main tent was to begin by and by. He was fully occupied getting ready for that.

The first recognition which the French Government gave of his exceptional capacity came when he was made a technical expert in the artillery branch of the War Office. At last in 1885 he secured an appointment to the Staff College and graduated fourth from the top of his class after two years. His contacts with his professors and class-mates brought him a certain sort of recognition. They sensed the power of a sinewy mind which brought original thought to bear upon every problem, took account of all difficulties, and wrestled its way to a triumphant solution of the case. Politicians might not recommend him, but, in a pinch, his brother officers would point him out later on. That much was accomplished. The