In sending his permission to use this sharp flash of the spirit of France, Mr. Dodd wrote: "It may interest you to know that the little grimy-fingered girl is real, and that I bought L'Intrans' from her every evening for many months during the dark days of last springin Paris." The spring referred to being that of 1918, when the Germans were only a few miles from the city.
A LITTLE grimy--fingered girl
In stringy black and broken shoes
Stands where sharp human eddies whirl
And offers--news:
News from the front. "'L'Intransigeant',
M'sieu, comme d'ordinaire?" Her smile
Is friendly though her face is gaunt;
There is no guile,
No mere mechanic flash of teeth,
No calculating leer of glance...
You wear your courage like a wreath,
Daughter of France.
Back of old sorrow in tired eyes
Back of endurance, through the night
That wearies you and makes you wise,
I see a light
Unshaken, proud, that does not pale,
--And you are nobody, my dear;
"Une vraie gamine," who does not quail,
Who knows not fear.
Rattle your sabers, Lords of Hate,
Ye shall not force them to their knees!
A street-girl scorns your God, your State--
The least of these....
