Georges Guynemer | Page 8

mot: "The Frenchman is that naughty child characterized by the good
mother of Duguesclin as 'the one who is always fighting the others....'"
But the best portrait of Guynemer as a child I find in the unpublished
notes of Abbé Chesnais, who was division prefect at Stanislas College
during the four years which Guynemer passed there. The Abbé
Chesnais had divined this impassioned nature, and watched it with
troubled sympathy.
"His eyes vividly expressed the headstrong, fighting nature of the boy,"
he says of his pupil. "He did not care for quiet games, but was devoted
to those requiring skill, agility, and force. He had a decided preference
for a game highly popular among the younger classes--_la petite
guerre_. The class was divided into two armies, each commanded by a
general chosen by the pupils themselves, and having officers of all
ranks under his orders. Each soldier wore on his left arm a movable
brassard. The object of the battle was the capture of the flag, which was
set up on a wall, a tree, a column, or any place dominating the
courtyard. The soldier from whom his brassard was taken was
considered dead.
"Guynemer, who was somewhat weak and sickly, always remained a
private soldier. His comrades, appreciating the value of having a
general with sufficient muscular strength to maintain his authority,
never dreamed of placing him at their head. The muscle, which he

lacked, was a necessity. But when a choice of soldiers had to be made,
he was always counted among the best, and his name called among the
first. Although he had not much strength, he had agility, cleverness, a
quick eye, caution, and a talent for strategy. He played his game
himself, not liking to receive any suggestions from his chiefs, intending
to follow his own ideas. The battle once begun, he invariably attacked
the strongest enemy and pursued those comrades who occupied the
highest rank. With the marvelous suppleness of a cat, he climbed trees,
flung himself to the ground, crept along barriers, slipped between the
legs of his adversaries, and bounded triumphantly off with a number of
brassards. It was a great joy to him to bring the trophies of his struggles
to his general. With radiant face, and with his two hands resting on his
legs, he looked mockingly at his adversaries who had been surprised by
his cleverness. His superiority over his comrades was especially
apparent in the battles they fought in the woods of Bellevue.[7] There
the field was larger, and there was a greater variety of chances for
surprising the enemy. He hid himself under the dead leaves, lay close to
the branches of trees, and crept along brooks and ravines. It was often
he who was selected to find a place of vantage for the flag. But he was
never willing to act as its guardian, for he feared nothing so much as
inactivity, preferring to chase his comrades through the woods. The
short journey to the Bellevue woods was passed in the elaboration of
various plans, and arguing about those of his friends; he always wanted
to have the last word. The return journey was enlivened by biting
criticism, which often ended in a quarrel."[8]
[Footnote 7: The country house of Stanislas College is at Bellevue.
[Translator's note.]]
[Footnote 8: Unpublished notes by Abbé Chesnais.]
This is an astonishing portrait, in which nearly all the characteristics of
the future Guynemer, Guynemer the fighter, are apparent. He does not
care to command, he likes too well to give battle, and is already the
knight of single combats. His method is personal, and he means to
follow his own ideas. He attacks the strongest; neither size nor number
stops him. His suppleness and skill are unequaled. He lacks the muscle

for a good gymnast, and at the parallel bars, or the fixed bar, he is the
despair of his instructors. How will he supply this deficiency? Simply
by the power of his will. All physical games do not require physical
strength, and he became an excellent shot and fencer. Furious at his
own weakness, he outdid the strong, and, like Diomede and Ajax,
brought back his trophies laughing. A college courtyard was not
sufficient for him: he needed the Bellevue woods, while he waited to
have all space, all the sky, at his disposal. So the warlike infancy of a
Guynemer is like that of a Roland, a Duguesclin, a Bayard,--all are
ardent hearts with indomitable energy, upright souls developing early,
whose passion it was only necessary to control.
The youth of Guynemer was like his childhood. As a student of higher
mathematics his combative tendencies were not at all changed. "At
recreation he was very fond of roller-skating, which in his case gave
rise to many disputes and much pugilism.