c'est, hère, because

Page 54. — 1. à trois brisques, with three stripes on his sleeve, showing that he had already served three terms in the army, i.e. 21 years, according to the law prior to 1870.

Page 55. — 1. Borny . . . Gravelotte, two villages near Metz, in Lorraine, where, on August i-(.th and iôth, 1870, two of the bloodiest battles of the Franco-German war were fought.

2. Metz, a fortified town in Lorraine on the river Moselle, was annexed to Germany in 1871.

Page 56. — i. Bazaine, a field-marshal who was commanderin-chief of one of the French armies and surrendered it and the city of Metz to Germany. He was tried for treason and condemned to death, but this sentence was commuted into life imprisonment. He succeeded in escaping from prison and died in Spain in 1888. During the Mexican war (1862-1867) he also was at the head of the French army and won several victories over the Mexicans commanded by Juarez.

2. Enlevons-le, ht us take him away; a colloquial and rather common phrase.

3. Tonnerre de Dieu, do not translate; this phrase sounds mild when translated into English, but to the French it is strong and coarse.