A child of fifteen years enlisted as a Volunteer in 1806.  Junot found him intelligent, made him his secretary, and took him to Spain.  The young man won his epaulettes under Colonel Hugo in 1811.  He was made prisoner on the capitulation of Guadalajara in 1812, but escaped with two of his comrades whom he saved at the peril of his own life.  Love, or pity, led a young Spanish girl to aid in this heroic episode, and for several days the legend threatened to become a romance.  But the young soldier reappeared in 1813 at the passage of the Bidassoa, where he was promoted lieutenant in the 4th Hussars, and was given the Cross by the Emperor, who seldom awarded it.  The return of the Bourbons suddenly interrupted this career, so well begun.  The young cavalry officer then undertook the business of maritime insurance, earning honorably a large fortune, which he spent with truly military generosity, strewing his road with good deeds.  He continued working up to the very threshold of death, for he resigned only a month ago, and it was yesterday, Thursday, that we laid him in his tomb at the age of seventy-five.

His name was Achille Guynemer.  His family is related to the Benoist d’Azy, the Dupre de Saint-Maur, the Cochin, de Songis, du Tremoul and Vasselin families, who have left memories of many exemplary legal careers passed in Paris.  His son, who wept yesterday as a child weeps before the tomb of such a father, is the new Sub-Prefect of Saverne, the young and laborious administrator who, from the beginning, won our gratitude and friendship.

The story of the escape from Spain contributes another page to the family traditions.  The young Spanish girl had sent the prisoner a silken cord concealed in a pie.  A fourth companion in captivity was unfortunately too large to pass through the vent-hole of the prison, and was shot by the English.  It was August 31, 1813, after the passage of the Bidassoa, that Lieutenant Achille Guynemer was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor.  He was then twenty-one years of age.  His greatgrandson, who resembled the portraits of Achille (especially a drawing done in 1807), at least in the proud carriage of the head, was to receive the Cross at an even earlier age.

There were other epic souvenirs which awakened Georges Guynemer’s curiosity in childhood.  He was shown the sword and snuffbox of General Count de Songis, brother of his paternal grandmother.  This sword of honor had been presented to the general by the Convention when he was merely a captain of artillery, for having saved the cannon of the fortress at Valenciennes,—­though it is quite true that Dumouriez, for the same deed, wished to have him hanged.  The snuffbox was given him by the Emperor for having commanded the passage of the Rhine during the Ulm campaign.