The STRANGEST

War I

Story Of World War

The Romance of "La Belle Suzzanne."

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The following, apparently true story, first appeared in an English magazine in 1940. Unfortunately, the name of the magazine is unknown.

Ehen the battle of the Somme was raging in 1916, one of the many thousands of soldiers who were reported miss- ing was a young French Corporal named Paul Grappe. His widow, after some time had elapsed, obtained a pension; and the corporal's mother, who lived close to her daughter- in-law in Paris, was also awarded a small allowance.

The widow bore her bereavement with patriotic forti- tude. "Paul dies like so many thousands, for France," she said. "The dead were to be honoured, not mourned for."

The elder Madame Grappe, on the contrary, was incon- solate for the loss of her only son. On All Soul's day in No- vember 1916, she, like other pious French people, visited the famous cemetary of Pere La Chaise, to pray for the dead and to deposit wreaths on the tombs. He grief was particularly poignant. Her son had no grave she could pray by. His body rested in some unknown morass. The poor woman broke down and went into the chapel to weep, where she was met by her daughter-in-law, still dressed in deep mourning, who was ac- companied by an attractive young woman who was introduced to her as Suzanne.

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