seem to shine with a somber brilliance. These eyes, which, eight or ten
years later, were to hunt and pursue so many enemy airplanes, are
passionately self-willed. The same temperament is evident in a snapshot
of this same period, in which Georges is seen playing at war. The
college registers of this year tell us that he had a clear, active,
well-balanced mind, but that he was thoughtless, mischief-making,
disorderly, careless; that he did not work, and was undisciplined,
though without any malice; that he was very proud, and 'ambitious to
attain first rank': a valuable guide in understanding the character of
one who became 'the ace of aces.' In fact, at the end of the year young
Guynemer received the first prize for Latin translation, the first prize
for arithmetic, and four honorable mentions."

The author of the _Débats_ article, who is a scholar, recalls Michelet's
_mot_: "The Frenchman is that naughty child characterized by the good
mother of Duguesclin as 'the one who is always fighting the others....'"
But the best portrait of Guynemer as a child I find in the unpublished
notes of Abbé Chesnais, who was division prefect at Stanislas College
during the four years which Guynemer passed there. The Abbé Chesnais had
divined this impassioned nature, and watched it with troubled sympathy.

"His eyes vividly expressed the headstrong, fighting nature of the boy,"
he says of his pupil. "He did not care for quiet games, but was devoted
to those requiring skill, agility, and force. He had a decided
preference for a game highly popular among the younger classes--_la
petite guerre_. The class was divided into two armies, each commanded by
a general chosen by the pupils themselves, and having officers of all
ranks under his orders. Each soldier wore on his left arm a movable
brassard. The object of the battle was the capture of the flag, which
was set up on a wall, a tree, a column, or any place dominating the