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country. The men (old, they were) who gathered  in little discussion groups in the saloon bars in general ordered sips which contained vermouth. The consumption of beer has materially increased, I am told, since the American Army has invested itself on this soil.

I walked about the town and noted the abrupt hill to the north, the quaint old-fashioned streets, the little oddities of French life, the preponderance of black in the women's dress, the huge wheeled drays, the old wrinkled faces of the elderly, and particularly the solid construction of the ancient houses in which wood apparently has ^[[little]] place [[strikethrough]] [[?]] the external [[?]] [[/strikethrough]].

After a desultory meal of nuts and figs which I did acquire unto myself, I left for Paris on the State Railway. The train was slow and lights were heavily dulled with blue paint smeared over the globes - a safety factor against a German airman's eyes