Franklin. No one who has been privileged to meet and know M. Lauzanne
can fail to be impressed with his fine urbanity, his _savoir faire_
and his perfect tact. Without any attempt at propaganda, he has
greatly impressed American public opinion by his contributions to our
press and his many public addresses. In none of them has he ever made
a false step or uttered a tactless note. His words have always been
those of a sane moderation and the influence that he has wielded has
been that of truth. Apart from the vigor and calm persuasiveness of
his utterances, his winning personality has made a deep impression
upon all Americans who have been privileged to come in contact with
him. The highest praise that can be accorded to him is that he has
been a true representative of his own noble, generous and chivalrous
nation. Its sweetness and power have been exemplified by his charming
personality.

Although he has taken a forceful part in possibly the greatest
intellectual controversy that has ever raged among men, he has from
first to last been the gentleman and it has been his quiet dignity and
gentleness that has added force to all that he has written and
uttered, especially at the time when America was the greatest neutral
forum of public opinion.

If "good wine needs no bush and a good play needs no epilogue," then a
good book needs no prologue. Therefore I shall not refer to the
simplicity and charm, with which M. Lauzanne has told the story with
which this book deals. The reader will judge that for himself; and
unless the writer of this foreword is much mistaken, that judgment
will be wholly favorable. There have been many war books--a very
deluge of literature in which thinking men have been hopelessly
submerged--but most books of wartime reminiscences do not ring true.