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i

The Origins of Secular Institutions

ii
iii

The Origins
of Secular
Institutions
Ideas, Timing, and Organization
z
H. ZEYNEP BULUTGIL

1
iv

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

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© Oxford University Press 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
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address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 978–​0–​19–​759845–​0 (pbk.)

ISBN 978–​0–​19–​759844–​3 (hbk.)

DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197598443.001.0001

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America

Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
v

For Yvan
vi
vi

Contents

Figures  ix
Tables  xi
Acknowledgments  xiii

Introduction  1
Defining Institutional Secularization 3
Theoretical and Empirical Evaluation of the Literature 6
The Argument: Ideas, Timing, and Organization 10
The Research Design 13
The Plan of the Book 16

1. Theory  18
The Historical Baseline 19
Types of Reformism: Religious and Secular 20
Timeline of Secular Reformism: The Puzzle of Resilience and Spread 22
Causes of Resilience and Spread: Printing and Levels of Repression 28
Secular Ideas, Initial Organization, and Spread of Secular
Reformism: The Linkage 32
Institutional Secularization: Comparative Disadvantage and Timing 34
Conclusion 39

2. Cross-​National Analysis  42
The Dependent Variables 43
The Explanatory Variables 45
The Analysis 49
Conclusion 61
vi

viii Contents

3. Comparative Historical Analysis I: France and Spain  63

France 64
Spain 91
Conclusion 117

4. Comparative Historical Analysis II: Turkey and Morocco  119

Turkey 120
Morocco 150
Conclusion 169

5. Analyzing the Conceptual Border: United Kingdom and Tunisia  172

The United Kingdom 174
Tunisia 182
Conclusion 189

Conclusion  192
Multiple Types of Reformism 192
The Role of Ideas and Their Dissemination 196
Civil Society Organizations 199
Timing, Sequence, and Path Dependence 201

Appendices  207
Appendix 1: List of Secular Countries 1800–​2000  209
Appendix 2: Sources Used to Code Institutional Secularization  213
Appendix 3: Additional Robustness Checks  219
Notes  221
Bibliography  231
Index  255
ix

Figures

I.1 Percentage of States with Secular Institutions 1850–​2000 2

I.2 Emergence of Secularizing Political Movements 10
I.3 Success of Secularizing Political Movements: Institutional
Secularization 11
2.1 Relative Timing of Secular and Religious Parties and Probability of
Institutional Secularization 58
2.2 Civil Society Freedom and Probability of Institutional Secularization 59
x
xi

Tables

1.1 Testable Empirical Implications 40

2.1 Emergence of First Secularizing Parties 1800–​2000 50
2.2 Emergence of First Secularizing Parties in Europe 1800–​2000 52
2.3 Institutional Secularization 1850–​2000 55
2.4 Institutional Secularization 1850–​2000 57
2.5 Institutional Secularization 1850–​2000 (Different Operationalizations
of Institutional Secularization) 60
xi
xi

Acknowledgments

As a political scientist, I have been driven primarily by my curiosity about

big questions on how societies and institutions change over time. My previous
book on ethnic cleansing was my first attempt to answer such a big question; this
book on institutional secularization constitutes the second. As perhaps in any
project, my motivation for studying the process of secularization is dual. I am
intrigued by the remarkable variation in the official role that religion plays in the
public and private lives of individuals, a variation that ranges from contexts in
which the most basic rights and intimate decisions are influenced, if not deter-
mined, by religious dictates to contexts in which religion has long ceased to play
a noteworthy role. At the same time, my curiosity on the subject has been inevita-
bly triggered by my own experience of growing up in a society in which the mean-
ing and contours of secularism have been in constant contestation.
In the couple of years that I have been working on this book, I have accrued
many debts. I am grateful for the Mid-​Career Fellowship that I received from the
British Academy, which allowed me to take the critical time I needed to put the
argument and empirics together and conclude the project. I would also like to
express my thanks to the Remarque Institute at New York University for hosting
me at the very beginning of the project. I am deeply indebted to Anna Grzymala-​
Busse, Ahmet Kuru, and Tomila Lankina, who read the manuscript and gave me
invaluable comments. At the University College London (UCL) Department of
Political Science, I have been privileged to be part of an exceptional community
of scholars who are both intellectually stimulating and generous with their time.
My colleagues and PhD students in the Conflict and Change Cluster at UCL—​
Rod Abouharb, Kristin Bakke, Inken von Borzyskowski, Sam Erkiletiyan, Adam
Harris, Jennifer Hodge, Nils Metternich, Neil Mitchell, Kit Rickard, Katerina
Tertytchnaya, and Manuel Vogt—​all read parts of the manuscript and gave
me helpful feedback and suggestions. Earlier versions of the argument also
benefited from the comments of David Art, Carles Boix, Nathan Brown, Dan
Drezner, Nancy Hite-​Rubin, Jeremy Menchik, and Harris Mylonas and from the
xvi

xiv Acknowledgments

feedback I received at the Comparative Politics Workshop at the University of

Chicago, Comparative Politics Seminar at George Washington University, the
Departmental Colloquium at the Graduate Institute, Geneva (IHEID), and the
Comparative Political Economy Cluster Seminar at UCL.
I owe heartfelt thanks to the anonymous reviewers, whose comments much
improved the manuscript and prompted me to pay closer attention to softer ver-
sions of secularism. I would also like to thank Dave McBride and the editorial
team at Oxford University Press for the smooth, effective, and transparent way in
which they have guided the manuscript despite the extraordinary circumstances
generated by the pandemic.
I have been incredibly lucky to have the support and affection of close friends
and family both during and before the writing of the book. My friends Gretchen
Baumgardt and Rhodora Beaton not only have always been there for me, but they
have also been patiently answering my many questions about Catholicism for the
last twenty years. My sister, Ipek, and my parents continue to be an enormous
source of support and affection despite our being physically separated these two
years. My father, Candan Bulutgil, read the entire manuscript and provided com-
ments and suggestions. My mother, Neşe Bulutgil, inspired my early interest in a
broad understanding of secularism when at age thirteen she offered me Giovanni
Guareschi’s Don Camillo books, which were not only an endless source of fun
but also made me realize that contention around religion and secularism was by
no means unique to Turkey. Finally, I am grateful on a daily basis for the love and
joy that my two wonderful daughters, Eda and Viviane, and my husband, Yvan
Chaxel, bring to my life. This book is dedicated to Yvan for everything.
1

Introduction

Why do some countries adopt institutions that allow their populations to live
independent of religious dictates while others do not? How do political groups
with the aim to separate the state from religious actors and rules emerge? And
under what conditions do they succeed in removing the official role of religion
from the public and private lives of individuals? These questions matter for the-
oretical, empirical, and practical reasons. Theoretically, they relate to a critical
dimension of state formation and historical institutional development, which
has thus far been on the margins of political science and comparative politics.1
Empirically, there is significant contextual and temporal variation in whether
states acquire a system of secular institutions, including a general, though increas-
ingly less noticeable, trend toward secularization (see Figure I.1).2 Practically,
whether states adopt secularized institutions has far-​reaching implications for
who has access to political, economic, and social power as well as for the extent to
which individuals have control over their personal lives.
This book offers an argument that combines ideational and organizational
mechanisms to understand the historical roots of institutional secularization.
The argument proceeds in two moves. First, it focuses on how and why political
groups with a secularizing political agenda emerge. Briefly, I argue that the early
circulation of Enlightenment literature among the literate elite and the existence
of formal or informal associations through which this elite could exchange ideas
were the main factors that influenced the early emergence of secularizing politi-
cal movements in some contexts. Second, the argument turns to the conditions
under which these movements succeed in fulfilling their goal of reforming the
institutional structure of the state. I argue that, all else being equal, secularizing
political groups are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting grassroots sup-
port because, unlike religious actors and their lay allies, they cannot rely on a
readymade preexisting institutional structure. Secularizing groups become more
2 T he Origins of Secul ar Inst it u t ions

70

60

50

40
%

30

20

10
0
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000

Figure I.1 Percentage of States with Secular Institutions, 1850–​2000

Note: The figure includes all countries with majority monotheistic populations including those
with more than one monotheistic religion.

likely to overcome this obstacle if they have time to build a robust organization
before religious actors become involved in grassroots politics and if the social
landscape includes civil society organizations that such groups can utilize. The
existence of a competitive organization on the ground allows the secularizing
political groups to capture power through elections or through revolutionary
means during periods of political instability.
Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on state formation and
political institutions. Political scientists have long been highly interested in the
emergence of and variation in political institutions. Yet, the relevant research has
asymmetrically focused on some dimensions of political institutions rather than
others. On questions that relate to the rise of nation-​states and the development
of democratic institutions, the field of political science includes theoretically and
empirically vibrant literatures that adjudicate between competing explanations
by using systematic historical evidence as well as in-​depth case studies.3 Indeed,
the debates around these two questions have reached the status of independent
subfields within comparative politics and international relations.4 In contrast,
with notable exceptions, political scientists have largely overlooked the question
on the conditions under which state institutions become divorced from religious
actors and regulations.5 By providing and evaluating a theory of institutional sec-
ularization, this book advances toward a more complete understanding of how
political institutions emerge and why they differ from one another.
The book also contributes to and builds on the literature on religion and poli-
tics. Three strands of related existing work have potential implications for when
secular political institutions emerge. One, inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville’s
classic works, links the existence of a historically close relationship between
 Introduction 3

the throne and the dominant religious organization to institutional seculariza-

tion.6 Another, inspired by rational choice theory, emphasizes the importance
of competition among religious organizations and the role of power-​maximizing
political leaders.7 The last potentially relevant body of work suggests that differ-
ent aspects of modernization (i.e., urbanization, industrialization, literacy, tech-
nological developments, etc.) culminate in social and, indirectly, institutional
secularization.8
This study contributes to and diverges from these strands both theoretically
and empirically. First, it develops an argument that accounts for why reformist
groups with a specifically secularizing agenda emerge. This step is salient as the
reformist reaction to close throne-​altar relations can take the form of restructur-
ing rather than eliminating or minimizing the role of religion in the state. Second,
this study analytically decouples the emergence of secularizing groups from their
ability to achieve their goals. This approach allows the argument to problematize
and account for why secular reformist groups vary in their organizational capac-
ity and ultimate success. Third, the book treats the ideological distinction and
organizational competition between religious and secular political groups as a
critical part of its argument. In this respect, it builds on the rationalist arguments
that emphasize competition but also deviates from them by focusing on religious-​
secular rivalry and by incorporating ideological commitments into the theory.9
Finally, the book makes significant empirical contributions by analyzing original
historical data that I have compiled on the emergence of secularizing parties as
well as on institutional secularization. The research design combines the analysis
of this original historical data with in-​depth comparative historical analysis that
evaluates the more detailed empirical implications of the argument.
The rest of this chapter proceeds as follows. In the first section, I clarify the
conceptual and operational definition of institutional secularization that the
book uses. Next, I provide a summary and critical assessment of the existing lit-
erature that relates to institutional secularization. In the subsequent two sections,
I present the argument in more detail and discuss the research design. In the final
section, I outline the book’s organization.

Defining Institutional Secularization

At its core, this study is interested in how and why states adopt an institutional
structure that enables those living within their territory to lead public and private
lives that are free of religious dictates.10 Given this core interest, the study con-
ceptualizes institutional secularization according to two criteria that both need
to exist for a context to count as secular: (1) the absence of religious or religiosity
4 T he Origins of Secul ar Inst it u t ions

tests for fundamental political rights and (2) the existence of a legal structure
(including family law) that is not based on religious rules and doctrine.
The nonexistence of religious tests means that basic political rights including
citizenship, voting, and becoming a public servant do not depend on whether
individuals belong to a specific religion (or sect). In addition, the absence of a reli-
giosity test implies that the same rights are independent of whether individuals
regularly follow the rules and regulations of the religious organization of which
they are a member. Examples that violate these criteria include contexts such as
the Maldives, where only Muslims are given citizenship rights, and Sweden up to
1863, where all citizens were required to take communion at least once a year.11
The existence of a legal structure that is officially free of religious rules implies
two observable characteristics. First, religious actors or established religious regu-
lations do not play an explicit role in the creation, application, or supervision
of the laws of the land. This criterion excludes the cases in which the constitu-
tion identifies a religion or religious denomination as a source for the laws of the
land, cases in which the clergy play primary executive functions, as well as cases in
which ecclesiastics have the power to make, amend, or reject laws. Examples that
violate this criterion include Pakistan, where constitutions do not allow laws to
contravene Islam, or the Papal States until their incorporation into Italy, where
the ecclesiastics served as the main rulers. Second, laws that relate to the family
do not rely on religious rules and regulations. Specifically, the book categorizes
family law as nonsecular if the laws that relate to the initiation, regulation, or dis-
solution of marriage are subject to religious rather than civic rules. For example,
according to this criterion, countries such as Israel, Morocco, Chile (until 2004),
and Lebanon would not count as cases of institutional secularization. By con-
trast, contexts in which marriage can be officiated by a religious actor but, once
officiated, becomes subject to the same rules as civil marriage count as secular as
long as they satisfy the other requirements I have listed.
Two further points of clarification are in order. The first pertains to the rela-
tionship between the concept of institutional secularization and the notion of
religious freedom. Scholars of political philosophy identify two interpretations
of religious freedom going back to the seventeenth century, one narrow and the
other broad ( Jacob 1981; Israel 1999; Israel 2001). In the narrow version, religious
freedom implies the freedom to belong to (and by extension convert to) the reli-
gion or sect of one’s choice. In its broad version, religious freedom entails not
only the liberty to pick a religion but also the freedom to avoid belonging to
any religious belief system. The concept of institutional secularization introduced
here has close affinity with the broad notion of religious freedom as both ideas
cover the possibility of nonbelief in organized religion. But there is also a clear
distinction between the two concepts. By definition, the cases in which the broad
 Introduction 5

version of religious freedom is in place would include secularized institutions that

empower individuals to conduct their affairs independent of religious rules. The
opposite, however, would not hold. That is, it would be possible for institution-
ally secularized states to deny religious freedom to their citizens by rendering it
excessively difficult or impossible for them to choose and/​or practice any specific
religion. One extreme example of this type of context was communist Albania,
which banned organized religion between 1967 and 1990.12
The other point that deserves further attention is the underlying conceptual-
ization of institutional secularization as a binary outcome. One might question
this approach on two grounds. To begin with, many of those states that meet both
the criteria introduced earlier and therefore count as secular in this study nev-
ertheless retain some links between religion and state. Some have official estab-
lished religions (e.g., England within the United Kingdom; Denmark); others
devote state bureaucracies to overseeing religious affairs (e.g., Turkey); yet others
provide subsidies or vouchers for private religious schools (e.g., France since 1959;
United States; Germany); and, finally, some ban or severely restrict rights that
pertain to abortion, gay marriage, or inheritance rights at least partially based on
religious justification (e.g., Poland; Tunisia). To continue, the countries that this
study categorizes as nonsecular also display significant variation. Some possess
secular institutions with the exception of civil divorce (e.g., Chile until 2004;
Ireland until 1996); others exhibit mostly secular institutions outside of family
law (e.g., Israel; Lebanon); and yet others heavily rely on religious doctrine and
rules for almost all aspects of governance (e.g., Saudi Arabia; Kuwait).
This study offers two responses to these observations, one analytical and the
other practical. Analytically, the book starts with the notion that those con-
texts in which individuals are free from official religious influence both in the
private and public sphere are fundamentally different from those in which they
are subject to this type of influence in either or both of these spheres. Put oth-
erwise, the study conceptualizes the distinction between these two categories as
a difference in kind and not just degree. The variation within each category or
gray areas around the cutoff point between the two categories might complicate
the operationalization of the concept but they do not negate it. On this point,
the conceptualization here follows Giovanni Sartori’s powerful arguments and
advice against uncritical degreeism and the misleading notion that “differences in
kind are best conceived as differences in degree” (Sartori 1991, 248; Sartori 1970).
Practically, this study follows a two-​pronged approach. First, in Chapter 2,
which presents the cross-​national statistical analysis, the operationalization of the
concept incorporates the two fundamental criteria that together define institu-
tional secularization. Despite the ambiguities discussed earlier, the twin criteria
of the basic political rights and the legal system (including family law) being free
Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Joyce Kilmer
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
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are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Joyce Kilmer

poems, essays and letters in two volumes. Volume 2,
prose works

Author: Joyce Kilmer

Editor: Robert Cortes Holliday

Release date: September 28, 2023 [eBook #71748]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: George H. Doran, 1918

Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOYCE

KILMER ***
 Transcriber’s Note
Larger versions of the illustrations may be seen by right-
clicking them and selecting an option to view them separately,
or by double-tapping and/or stretching them.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted
to the public domain.
Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.
 JOYCE KILMER
POEMS, ESSAYS
AND LETTERS
IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME TWO: PROSE WORKS

SERGEANT JOYCE KILMER
165TH INFANTRY (69TH NEW YORK),
A. E. F., FRANCE, MAY, 1918
 JOYCE KILMER
EDITED WITH A MEMOIR
BY ROBERT CORTES HOLLIDAY
VOLUME TWO
PROSE WORKS

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN
COMPANY
 Copyright, 1914, 1917, 1918
By George H. Doran Company
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS—VOLUME TWO
PAGE
ESSAYS
Holy Ireland 11
The Gentle Art of Christmas Giving 26
A Bouquet for Jenny 39
The Inefficient Library 49
The Poetry of Hilaire Belloc 62
The Catholic Poets of Belgium 78

LETTERS
To Charles Willis Thompson 101
To Shaemas O’Sheel 101
To Louis Bevier, Jr. 103
To Sara Teasdale Filsinger 104
To Katherine Brégy 105
To Amelia Josephine Burr 107
To Howard W. Cook 108
To Thomas Walsh 111
To Robert Cortes Holliday 114
To Reverend Edward F. Garesché, S.J. 116
To Reverend James J. Daly, S.J. 119
To His Mother 144
To Kenton Kilmer 163
To Deborah Kilmer 165
To His Wife 166

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES
A Ballad of New Sins 227
War Songs 230
“Try a Tin To-Day:” A Short Story 233
Some Mischief Still: A Play in One Act 252
 ILLUSTRATIONS
Sergeant Joyce Kilmer Frontispiece
PAGE
Joyce Kilmer, Age 5 120
Joyce Kilmer’s Grave 222
ESSAYS
 HOLY IRELAND
WE HAD hiked seventeen miles that stormy December day—the
third of a four days’ journey. The snow was piled high on our packs,
our rifles were crusted with ice, the leather of our hob-nailed boots
was frozen stiff over our lamed feet. The weary lieutenant led us to
the door of a little house in a side street.
“Next twelve men,” he said. A dozen of us dropped out of the
ranks and dragged ourselves over the threshold. We tracked snow
and mud over a spotless stone floor. Before an open fire stood
Madame and the three children—a girl of eight years, a boy of five, a
boy of three. They stared with round frightened eyes at les soldats
Americains, the first they had ever seen. We were too tired to stare
back. We at once climbed to the chill attic, our billet, our lodging for
the night. First we lifted the packs from one another’s aching
shoulders; then, without spreading our blankets, we lay down on the
bare boards.
For ten minutes there was silence, broken by an occasional
groan, an oath, the striking of a match. Cigarettes glowed like
fireflies in a forest. Then a voice came from the corner.
“Where is Sergeant Reilly?” it said. We lazily searched. There
was no Sergeant Reilly to be found.
“I’ll bet the old bum has gone out after a pint,” said the voice.
And with the curiosity of the American and the enthusiasm of the
Irish we lumbered downstairs in quest of Sergeant Reilly.
He was sitting on a low bench by the fire. His shoes were off and
his bruised feet were in a pail of cold water. He was too good a
soldier to expose them to the heat at once. The little girl was on his
lap and the little boys stood by and envied him. And in a voice that
twenty years of soldiering and oceans of whisky had failed to rob of
its Celtic sweetness, he was softly singing “Ireland isn’t Ireland any
more.” We listened respectfully.
“They cheer the King and then salute him,” said Sergeant Reilly.
“A regular Irishman would shoot him,” and we all joined in the
chorus, “Ireland isn’t Ireland any more.”
“Ooh, la, la!” exclaimed Madame, and she and all the children
began to talk at the top of their voices. What they said Heaven
knows, but the tones were friendly, even admiring.
“Gentlemen,” said Sergeant Reilly from his post of honor, “the
lady who runs this billet is a very nice lady indeed. She says yez can
all take off your shoes and dry your socks by the fire. But take turns
and don’t crowd or I’ll trun yez all upstairs.”
Now Madame, a woman of some forty years, was a true
bourgeoise, with all the thrift of her class. And by the terms of her
agreement with the authorities she was required to let the soldiers
have for one night the attic of her house to sleep in—nothing more;
no light, no heat. Also, wood is very expensive in France—for
reasons that are engraven in letters of blood on the pages of history.
Nevertheless—
“Assez-vous, s’il vous plait,” said Madame. And she brought
nearer to the fire all the chairs the establishment possessed and
some chests and boxes to be used as seats. And she and the little
girl, whose name was Solange, went out into the snow and came
back with heaping armfuls of small logs. The fire blazed merrily—
more merrily than it had blazed since August, 1914, perhaps. We
surrounded it, and soon the air was thick with steam from our drying
socks.
Meanwhile Madame and the Sergeant had generously admitted
all eleven of us into their conversation. A spirited conversation it was,
too, in spite of the fact that she knew no English and the extent of his
French was “du pain,” “du vin,” “cognac” and “bon jour.” Those of us
who knew a little more of the language of the country acted as
interpreters for the others. We learned the names of the children and
their ages. We learned that our hostess was a widow. Her husband
had fallen in battle just one month before our arrival in her home.
She showed us with simple pride and affection and restrained grief
his picture. Then she showed us those of her two brothers—one now
fighting at Salonica, the other a prisoner of war—of her mother and
father, of herself dressed for First Communion.
This last picture she showed somewhat shyly, as if doubting that
we would understand it. But when one of us asked in halting French
if Solange, her little daughter, had yet made her First Communion,
then Madame’s face cleared.
“Mais oui!” she exclaimed. “Et vous, ma foi, vous etes
Catholiques, n’est-ce pas?”
At once rosary beads were flourished to prove our right to
answer this question affirmatively. Tattered prayer-books and
somewhat dingy scapulars were brought to light. Madame and the
children chattered their surprise and delight to each other, and every
exhibit called for a new outburst.
“Ah, le bon S. Benoit! Ah, voilà, le Conception Immacule! Ooh la
la, le Sacre Coeur!” (which last exclamation sounded in no wise as
irreverent as it looks in print).
Now other treasures, too, were shown—treasures chiefly
photographic. There were family groups, there were Coney Island
snapshots. And Madame and the children were a gratifyingly
appreciative audience. They admired and sympathized; they
exclaimed appropriately at the beauty of every girl’s face, the
tenderness of every pictured mother. We had become the intimates
of Madame. She had admitted us into her family and we her into
ours.
Soldiers—American soldiers of Irish descent—have souls and
hearts. These organs (if the soul may be so termed) had been
satisfied. But our stomachs remained—and that they yearned was
evident to us. We had made our hike on a meal of hardtack and
“corned willy.” Mess call would sound soon. Should we force our wet
shoes on again and plod through the snowy streets to the temporary
mess-shack? We knew our supply wagons had not succeeded in
climbing the last hill into town, and that therefore bread and
unsweetened coffee would be our portion. A great depression settled
upon us.
But Sergeant Reilly rose to the occasion.
“Boys,” he said, “this here lady has got a good fire going, and I’ll
bet she can cook. What do you say we get her to fix us up a meal?”
The proposal was received joyously at first. Then someone said:
“But I haven’t got any money.” “Neither have I—not a damn sou!”
said another. And again the spiritual temperature of the room fell.
Again Sergeant Reilly spoke:
“I haven’t got any money to speak of, meself,” he said. “But let’s
have a show-down. I guess we’ve got enough to buy somethin’ to
eat.”
It was long after pay-day, and we were not hopeful of the results
of the search. But the wealthy (that is, those who had two francs)
made up for the poor (that is, those who had two sous). And among
the coins on the table I noticed an American dime, an English half-
crown and a Chinese piece with a square hole in the center. In
negotiable tender the money came in all to eight francs.
It takes more money than that to feed twelve hungry soldiers
these days in France. But there was no harm in trying. So an ex-
seminarian, an ex-bookkeeper and an ex-street-car conductor aided
Sergeant Reilly in explaining in French that had both a brogue and a
Yankee twang that we were hungry, that this was all the money we
had in the world, and that we wanted her to cook us something to
eat.
Now Madame was what they call in New England a “capable”
woman. In a jiffy she had the money in Solange’s hand and had that
admirable child cloaked and wooden-shod for the street, and fully
informed as to what she was to buy. What Madame and the children
had intended to have for supper I do not know, for there was nothing
in the kitchen but the fire, the stove, the table, some shelves of
dishes and an enormous bed. Nothing in the way of a food cupboard
could be seen. And the only other room of the house was the bare
attic.
When Solange came back she carried in a basket bigger than
herself these articles: 1, two loaves of war-bread; 2, five bottles of
red wine; 3, three cheeses; 4, numerous potatoes; 5, a lump of fat; 6,
a bag of coffee. The whole represented, as was afterward
demonstrated, exactly the sum of ten francs, fifty centimes.
Well, we all set to work peeling potatoes. Then, with a veritable
French trench-knife Madame cut the potatoes into long strips.
Meanwhile Solange had put the lump of fat into the big black pot that
hung by a chain over the fire. In the boiling grease the potatoes were
placed, Madame standing by with a big ladle punched full of holes (I
regret that I do not know the technical name for this instrument) and
keeping the potato-strips swimming, zealously frustrating any
attempt on their part to lie lazily at the bottom of the pot.
We forgot all about the hike as we sat at supper that evening.
The only absentees were the two little boys, Michel and Paul. And
they were really absent only from our board—they were in the room,
in the great built-in bed that was later to hold also Madame and
Solange. Their little bodies were covered by the three-foot thick
mattress-like red silk quilt, but their tousled heads protruded and
they watched us unblinkingly all the evening.
But just as we sat down, before Sergeant Reilly began his task
of dishing out the potatoes and starting the bottles on their way,
Madame stopped her chattering and looked at Solange. And
Solange stopped her chattering and looked at Madame. And they
both looked rather searchingly at us. We didn’t know what was the
matter, but we felt rather embarrassed.
Then Madame began to talk, slowly and loudly, as one talks to
make foreigners understand. And the gist of her remarks was that
she was surprised to see that American Catholics did not say grace
before eating like French Catholics.
We sprang to our feet at once. But it was not Sergeant Reilly
who saved the situation. Instead, the ex-seminarian (he is only
temporarily an ex-seminarian, he’ll be preaching missions and giving
retreats yet if a bit of shrapnel doesn’t hasten his journey to Heaven)
said, after we had blessed ourselves: “Benedicite: nos et quae
sumus sumpturi benedicat Deus, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus.
Amen.”
Madame and Solange, obviously relieved, joined us in the Amen,
and we sat down again to eat.
It was a memorable feast. There was not much conversation—
except on the part of Madame and Solange—but there was plenty of
good cheer. Also there was enough cheese and bread and wine and
potatoes for all of us—half starved as we were when we sat down.
Even big Considine, who drains a can of condensed milk at a gulp
and has been known to eat an apple pie without stopping to take
breath, was satisfied. There were toasts, also, all proposed by
Sergeant Reilly—toasts to Madame, and to the children, and to
France, and to the United States, and to the Old Grey Mare (this last
toast having an esoteric significance apparent only to illuminati of
Sergeant Reilly’s circle).
The table cleared and the “agimus tibi gratias” duly said, we sat
before the fire, most of us on the floor. We were warm and happy
and full of good food and good wine. I spied a slip of paper on the
floor by Solange’s foot and unashamedly read it. It was an
accounting for the evening’s expenditures—totaling exactly ten
francs and fifty centimes.
Now when soldiers are unhappy—during a long, hard hike, for
instance—they sing to keep up their spirits. And when they are
happy, as on the evening now under consideration, they sing to
express their satisfaction with life. We sang “Sweet Rosie O’Grady.”
We shook the kitchen-bedroom with the echoes of “Take Me Back to
New York Town.” We informed Madame, Solange, Paul, Michel, in
fact, the whole village, that we had never been a wanderer and that
we longed for our Indiana home. We grew sentimental over “Mother
Machree.” And Sergeant Reilly obliged with a reel—in his socks—to
an accompaniment of whistling and hand-clapping.