Item 04: John Duncan McRae diary, 6 May-18 September 1917 - Page 31

[Page 31]

French Piccaninnies who clustered themselves around my feet. They were very interesting to watch & to hear talking & I got my full money's worth from them. At 6.30 I returned to the house where I had left Mademoiselle & she harassed the horse & drove me back as far as St. Gratien. There I helped her unload the sugar etc. that she had bought & then walked home the rest of the way after having squeezed her little nut-brown hand, and called forth a twinkle from the deeps of her blue eyes.

On the way back I got very hot & thirsty, but all the shops had closed & so I took the bull by the horns & asked an old gentleman, who was having an airing outside his homestead, for a drink. He took me in & sat me at a large table where the farm hands were having dinner (9.30) and put a glass & a jug of good cider before me. I drank all I wanted, said "bon soir", "au revoir" etc. &