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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Chateau and Country Life in France, by Mary
+King Waddington
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Chateau and Country Life in France
+
+Author: Mary King Waddington
+
+Release Date: November 12, 2004  [eBook #14029]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN
+FRANCE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Richard Lammers, Stephanie Bailey, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made
+available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr
+
+
+
+CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN FRANCE
+
+by
+
+MARY KING WADDINGTON
+
+Author of _Letters Of A Diplomat's Wife_ and _Italian Letters of
+a Diplomat's Wife_
+
+Illustrated
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A country wedding]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+    I. CHÂTEAU LIFE
+   II. COUNTRY VISITS
+  III. THE HOME OF LAFAYETTE
+   IV. WINTER AT THE CHÂTEAU
+    V. CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS
+   VI. CHRISTMAS IN THE VALOIS
+  VII. A RACINE CELEBRATION
+ VIII. A CORNER OF NORMANDY
+   IX. A NORMAN TOWN
+    X. NORMAN CHÂTEAUX
+   XI. BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+A COUNTRY WEDDING
+A FINE OLD CHÂTEAU
+I LOVED TO HEAR HER PLAY BEETHOVEN AND HANDEL
+THERE WERE ALL SORTS AND KINDS
+FERDINAND
+"MERCI, JE VAIS BIEN"
+LONG PAUSES WHEN NOBODY SEEMED TO HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY
+THEN HE LIGHTED A FIRE
+I SUGGESTED THAT THE WHOLE CHASSE SHOULD ADJOURN TO THE CHÂTEAU
+SOME RED-COATED, SOME GREEN, ALL WITH BREECHES AND HIGH MUDDY BOOTS
+PEASANT WOMEN
+A VISIT AT THE CHÂTEAU
+SOLDIERS AT THE CHÂTEAU
+THE MAYOR AND A NICE, RED-CHEEKED, WRINKLED OLD WOMAN WERE WAITING FOR US
+THERE WAS ONE HANDSOME BIT OF OLD LACE ON A WHITE NAPPE FOR THE ALTAR
+THEY WERE ALL STREAMING UP THE SLIPPERY HILL-SIDE
+ALL THE CHILDREN IN PROCESSION PASSED
+THERE WAS ONE POOR OLD WOMAN STILL GAZING SPELL-BOUND
+L'ETABLISSEMENT, BAGNOLES DE L'ORNE
+IN DOMFRONT SOME OF THE OLD TOWERS ARE CONVERTED INTO MODERN DWELLINGS
+CHÂTEAU DE LASSAY
+ENTRANCE TO HÔTEL OF THE COMTE DE FLORIAN
+MARKET WOMEN, VALOGNES
+OLD GATE-WAY, VALOGNES
+
+
+[Illustration: A fine old château.]
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+CHATEAU LIFE
+
+
+My first experience of country life in France, about thirty years ago,
+was in a fine old château standing high in pretty, undulating, wooded
+country close to the forest of Villers-Cotterets, and overlooking the
+great plains of the Oise--big green fields stretching away to the
+sky-line, broken occasionally by little clumps of wood, with steeples
+rising out of the green, marking the villages and hamlets which, at
+intervals, are scattered over the plains, and in the distance the blue
+line of the forest. The château was a long, perfectly simple, white
+stone building. When I first saw it, one bright November afternoon, I
+said to my husband as we drove up, "What a charming old wooden house!"
+which remark so astonished him that he could hardly explain that it
+was all stone, and that no big houses (nor small, either) in France
+were built of wood. I, having been born in a large white wooden house
+in America, couldn't understand why he was so horrified at my
+ignorance of French architecture. It was a fine old house, high in the
+centre, with a lower wing on each side. There were three
+drawing-rooms, a library, billiard-room, and dining-room on the ground
+floor. The large drawing-room, where we always sat, ran straight
+through the house, with glass doors opening out on the lawn on the
+entrance side and on the other into a long gallery which ran almost
+the whole length of the house. It was always filled with plants and
+flowers, open in summer, with awnings to keep out the sun; shut in
+winter with glass windows, and warmed by one of the three calorifères
+of the house. In front of the gallery the lawn sloped down to the
+wall, which separated the place from the highroad. A belt of fine
+trees marked the path along the wall and shut out the road completely,
+except in certain places where an opening had been made for the view.
+
+We were a small party for such a big house: only the proprietor and
+his wife (old people), my husband and myself. The life was very
+simple, almost austere. The old people lived in the centre of the
+château, W.[1] and I in one of the wings. It had been all fitted up
+for us, and was a charming little house. W. had the ground-floor--a
+bedroom, dressing-room, cabinet de travail, dining-room, and a small
+room, half reception-room, half library, where he had a large
+bookcase filled with books, which he gave away as prizes or to school
+libraries. The choice of the books always interested me. They were
+principally translations, English and American--Walter Scott,
+Marryat, Fenimore Cooper, etc. The bedroom and cabinet de travail had
+glass doors opening on the park. I had the same rooms upstairs,
+giving one to my maid, for I was nervous at being so far away from
+anyone. M. and Mme. A. and all the servants were at the other end of
+the house, and there were no bells in our wing (nor anywhere else in
+the house except in the dining-room). When I wanted a work-woman who
+was sewing in the lingerie I had to go up a steep little winding
+staircase, which connected our wing with the main building, and walk
+the whole length of the gallery to the lingerie, which was at the
+extreme end of the other wing. I was very fond of my rooms. The
+bedroom and sitting-room opened on a balcony with a lovely view over
+wood and park. When I sat there in the morning with my petit
+déjeuner--cup of tea and roll--I could see all that went on in the
+place. First the keeper would appear, a tall, handsome man, rather
+the northern type, with fair hair and blue eyes, his gun always over
+his shoulder, sacoche at his side, swinging along with the free,
+vigorous step of a man accustomed to walk all day. Then Hubert, the
+coachman, would come for orders, two little fox-terriers always
+accompanying him, playing and barking, and rolling about on the
+grass. Then the farmer's wife, driving herself in her gig, and
+bringing cheese, butter, milk, and sometimes chickens when our
+bassecour was getting low. A little later another lot would appear,
+people from the village or canton, wanting to see their deputy and
+have all manner of grievances redressed. It was curious sometimes to
+make out, at the end of a long story, told in peasant dialect, with
+many digressions, what particular service notre député was expected
+to render. I was present sometimes at some of the conversations, and
+was astounded at W.'s patience and comprehension of what was
+wanted--I never understood half.
+
+  [1] W. here and throughout this volume refers to Mme. Waddington's
+  husband, M. William Waddington.
+
+We generally had our day to ourselves. We rode almost every
+morning--long, delicious gallops in the woods, the horses going easily
+and lightly over the grass roads; and the days W. was away and
+couldn't ride, I used to walk about the park and gardens. The kitchen
+garden was enormous--almost a park in itself--and in the season I eat
+pounds of white grapes, which ripened to a fine gold color on the
+walls in the sun. We rarely saw M. and Mme. A. until twelve-o'clock
+breakfast.
+
+[Illustration: I loved to hear her play Beethoven and Handel.]
+
+Sometimes when it was fine we would take a walk with the old people
+after breakfast, but we generally spent our days apart. M. and Mme. A.
+were charming people, intelligent, cultivated, reading everything and
+keeping quite in touch with all the literary and Protestant world, but
+they had lived for years entirely in the country, seeing few people,
+and living for each other. The first evenings at the château made a
+great impression upon me. We dined at 7:30, and always sat after
+dinner in the big drawing-room. There was one lamp on a round table in
+the middle of the room (all the corners shrouded in darkness). M. and
+Mme. A. sat in two arm-chairs opposite to each other, Mme. A. with a
+green shade in front of her. Her eyes were very bad; she could neither
+read nor work. She had been a beautiful musician, and still played
+occasionally, by heart, the classics. I loved to hear her play
+Beethoven and Handel, such a delicate, old-fashioned touch. Music was
+at once a bond of union. I often sang for her, and she liked
+everything I sang--Italian stornelli, old-fashioned American negro
+songs, and even the very light modern French chansonnette, when there
+was any melody in them. There were two other arm-chairs at the table,
+destined for W. and me. I will say W. never occupied his. He would sit
+for about half an hour with M. A. and talk politics or local matters
+with him, but after that he departed to his own quarters, and I
+remained with the old people. I felt very strange at first, it was so
+unlike anything I had ever seen, so different from my home life, where
+we were a happy, noisy family, always one of the party, generally two,
+at the piano, everybody laughing, talking, and enjoying life, and
+always a troop of visitors, cousins innumerable and friends.
+
+It was a curious atmosphere. I can't say dull exactly, for both M. and
+Mme. A. were clever, and the discussions over books, politics, and
+life generally, were interesting, but it was serious, no vitality,
+nothing gay, no power of enjoyment. They had had a great grief in
+their lives in the loss of an only daughter,[2] which had left
+permanent traces. They were very kind and did their best to make me
+feel at home, and after the first few evenings I didn't mind. M. A.
+had always been in the habit of reading aloud to his wife for an hour
+every evening after dinner--the paper, an article in one of the
+reviews, anything she liked. I liked that, too, and as I felt more at
+home used to discuss everything with M. A. He was quite horrified one
+evening when I said I didn't like Molière, didn't believe anybody did
+(particularly foreigners), unless they had been brought up to it.
+
+  [2] W.'s first wife.
+
+It really rather worried him. He proposed to read aloud part of the
+principal plays, which he chose very carefully, and ended by making a
+regular cours de Molière. He read charmingly, with much spirit,
+bringing out every touch of humour and fancy, and I was obliged to say
+I found it most interesting. We read all sorts of things besides
+Molière--Lundis de Ste.-Beuve, Chateaubriand, some splendid pages on
+the French Revolution, Taine, Guizot, Mme. de Staël, Lamartine, etc.,
+and sometimes rather light memoirs of the Régence and the light ladies
+of the eighteenth century, who apparently mixed up politics, religion,
+literature, and lovers in the most simple style. These last readings
+he always prepared beforehand, and I was often surprised at sudden
+transitions and unfinished conversations which meant that he had
+suppressed certain passages which he judged too improper for general
+reading.
+
+He read, one evening, a charming feuilleton of George Sand. It began:
+"Le Baron avait causé politique toute la soirée," which conversation
+apparently so exasperated the baronne and a young cousin that they
+wandered out into the village, which they immediately set by the ears.
+The cousin was an excellent mimic of all animals' noises. He barked so
+loud and so viciously that he started all the dogs in the village, who
+went nearly mad with excitement, and frightened the inhabitants out of
+their wits. Every window was opened, the curé, the garde champêtre,
+the school-master, all peering out anxiously into the night, and
+asking what was happening. Was it tramps, or a travelling circus, or a
+bear escaped from his showman, or perhaps a wolf? I have wished
+sometimes since, when I have heard various barons talking politics,
+that I, too, could wander out into the night and seek distraction
+outside.
+
+It was a serious life in the big château. There was no railway
+anywhere near, and very little traffic on the highroad. After
+nightfall a mantle of silence seemed to settle on the house and park
+that absolute silence of great spaces where you almost hear your own
+heart beat. W. went to Paris occasionally, and usually came back by
+the last train, getting to the château at midnight. I always waited
+for him upstairs in my little salon, and the silence was so oppressive
+that the most ordinary noise--a branch blowing across a window-pane,
+or a piece of charred wood falling on the hearth--sounded like a
+cannon shot echoing through the long corridor. It was a relief when I
+heard the trot of his big mare at the top of the hill, quite fifteen
+minutes before he turned into the park gates. He has often told me how
+long and still the evenings and nights were during the Franco-Prussian
+War. He remained at the château all through the war with the old
+people. After Sedan almost the whole Prussian army passed the château
+on their way to Versailles and Paris. The big white house was seen
+from a long distance, so, as soon as it was dark, all the wooden
+shutters on the side of the highroad were shut, heavy curtains drawn,
+and strict orders given to have as little light as possible. He was
+sitting in his library one evening about dusk, waiting for the man to
+bring his lamp and shut the shutters, having had a trying day with the
+peasants, who were all frightened and nervous at the approach of the
+Germans. He was quite absorbed in rather melancholy reflections when
+he suddenly felt that someone was looking in at the window (the
+library was on the ground-floor, with doors and windows opening on the
+park). He rose quickly, going to the window, as he thought one of the
+village people wanted to speak to him, and was confronted by a
+Pickelhaube and a round German face flattened against the window-pane.
+He opened the window at once, and the man poured forth a torrent of
+German, which W. fortunately understood. While he was talking W. saw
+forms, their muskets and helmets showing out quite distinctly in the
+half-light, crossing the lawn and coming up some of the broad paths.
+It was a disagreeable sight, which he was destined to see many times.
+
+It was wonderful what exact information the Germans had. They knew all
+the roads, all the villages and little hamlets, the big châteaux, and
+most of the small mills and farms. There were still traces of the
+German occupation when I went to that part of the country; on some of
+the walls and houses marks in red paint--"4 Pferde, 12 Männer." They
+generally wanted food and lodging, which they usually (not always)
+paid for. Wherever they found horses they took them, but M. A. and W.
+had sent all theirs away except one saddle-horse, which lived in a
+stable in the woods near the house. In Normandy, near Rouen, at my
+brother-in-law's place, they had German officers and soldiers
+quartered for a long time. They instantly took possession of horses
+and carriages, and my sister-in-law, toiling up a steep hill, would be
+passed by her own carriage and horses filled with German officers.
+However, on the whole, W. said, the Germans, as a victorious invading
+army, behaved well, the officers always perfectly polite, and keeping
+their men in good order. They had all sorts and kinds at the château.
+They rarely remained long--used to appear at the gate in small bands
+of four or five, with a sous-officier, who always asked to see either
+the proprietor or someone in authority. He said how many men and
+horses he wanted lodged and fed, and announced the arrival, a little
+later, of several officers to dine and sleep. They were always
+received by M. A. or W., and the same conversation took place every
+time. They were told the servant would show them their rooms, and
+their dinner would be served at any hour they wished. They replied
+that they would have the honour of waiting upon the ladies of the
+family as soon as they had made a little toilette and removed the dust
+of the route, and that they would be very happy to dine with the
+family at their habitual hour. They were then told that the ladies
+didn't receive, and that the family dined alone. They were always
+annoyed at that answer. As a rule they behaved well, but occasionally
+there would be some rough specimens among the officers.
+
+W. was coming home one day from his usual round just before nightfall,
+when he heard loud voices and a great commotion in the hall--M. A. and
+one or two German officers. The old man very quiet and dignified, the
+Germans most insulting, with threats of taking him off to prison. W.
+interfered at once, and learned from the irate officers what was the
+cause of the quarrel. They had asked for champagne (with the usual
+idea of foreigners that champagne flowed through all French châteaux),
+and M. A. had said there was none in the house. They knew better, as
+some of their men had seen champagne bottles in the cellar. W. said
+there was certainly a mistake--there was none in the house. They again
+became most insolent and threatening--said they would take them both
+to prison. W. suggested, wouldn't it be better to go down the cellar
+with him? Then they could see for themselves there was none.
+Accordingly they all adjourned to the cellar and W. saw at once what
+had misled them--a quantity of bottles of eau de Seidlitz, rather like
+champagne bottles in shape. They pointed triumphantly to these and
+asked what he meant by saying there was no champagne, and told their
+men to carry off the bottles. W. said again it was not champagne--he
+didn't believe they would like it. They were quite sure they had found
+a prize, and all took copious draughts of the water--with disastrous
+results, as they heard afterward from the servants.
+
+Later, during the armistice and Prussian occupation, there were
+soldiers quartered all around the château, and, of course, there were
+many distressing scenes. All our little village of Louvry, near our
+farm, had taken itself off to the woods. They were quite safe there,
+as the Prussians never came into the woods on account of the
+sharpshooters. W. said their camp was comfortable enough--they had all
+their household utensils, beds, blankets, donkeys, and goats, and
+could make fires in the clearing in the middle of the woods. They were
+mostly women and children, only a very few old men and young boys
+left. The poor things were terrified by the Germans and Bismarck, of
+whom they had made themselves an extraordinary picture. "Monsieur sait
+que Bismarck tue tous les enfants pour qu'il n'y ait plus de
+Français." (Monsieur knows that Bismarck kills all the children so
+that there shall be no more French.) The boys kept W. in a fever. They
+had got some old guns, and were always hovering about on the edge of
+the wood, trying to have a shot at a German. He was very uncomfortable
+himself at one time during the armistice, for he was sending off
+parties of recruits to join one of the big corps d'armée in the
+neighbourhood, and they all passed at the château to get their money
+and feuille de route, which was signed by him. He sent them off in
+small bands of four or five, always through the woods, with a line to
+various keepers and farmers along the route, who could be trusted, and
+would help them to get on and find their way. Of course, if anyone of
+them had been taken with W.'s signature and recommendation on him, the
+Germans would have made short work of W., which he was quite aware of;
+so every night for weeks his big black Irish horse Paddy was saddled
+and tied to a certain tree in one of the narrow alleys of the big
+park--the branches so thick and low that it was difficult to pass in
+broad daylight, and at night impossible, except for him who knew every
+inch of the ground. With five minutes' start, if the alarm had been
+given, he could have got away into his own woods, where he knew no one
+would follow him.
+
+Hubert, the old coachman, used often to talk to me about all that
+troubled time. When the weather was dark and stormy he used to stay
+himself half the night, starting at every sound, and there are so many
+sounds in the woods at night, all sorts of wild birds and little
+animals that one never hears in the daytime--sometimes a rabbit would
+dart out of a hole and whisk round a corner; sometimes a big buse
+(sort of eagle) would fly out of a tree with great flapping of wings;
+occasionally a wild-cat with bright-green eyes would come stealthily
+along and then make a flying leap over the bushes. His nerves were so
+unstrung that every noise seemed a danger, and he had visions of
+Germans lying in ambush in the woods, waiting to pounce upon W. if he
+should appear. He said Paddy was so wise, seemed to know that he must
+be perfectly quiet, never kicked nor snorted.
+
+It was impossible to realise those dreadful days when we were riding
+and walking in the woods, so enchanting in the early summer, with
+thousands of lilies of the valley and periwinkles growing wild, and a
+beautiful blue flower, a sort of orchid. We used to turn all the
+village children into the woods, and they picked enormous bunches of
+lilies, which stood all over the château in china bowls. I loved the
+wood life at all seasons. I often made the round with W. and his
+keepers in the autumn when he was preparing a battue. The men were
+very keen about the game, knew the tracks of all the animals, showing
+me the long narrow rabbit tracks, running a long distance toward the
+quarries, which were full of rabbit holes, and the little delicate
+hoof-marks of the chevreuil (roe-deer) just where he had jumped across
+the road. The wild boar was easy to trace--little twigs broken, and
+ferns and leaves quite crushed, where he had passed. The wild boars
+and stags never stayed very long in our woods--went through merely to
+the forest of Villers-Cotterets--so it was most important to know the
+exact moment of their passage, and there was great pride and
+excitement when one was taken.
+
+Another interesting moment was when the coupe de l'année was being
+made. Parts of the woods were cut down regularly every year, certain
+squares marked off. The first day's work was the marking of the big
+trees along the alleys which were to remain--a broad red ring around
+the trunks being very conspicuous. Then came the thinning of the
+trees, cutting off the top branches, and that was really a curious
+sight. The men climbed high into the tree, and then hung on to the
+trunk with iron clamps on their feet, with points which stuck into the
+bark, and apparently gave them a perfectly secure hold, but it looked
+dangerous to see them swinging off from the trunk with a sort of axe
+in their hands, cutting off the branches with a swift, sharp stroke.
+When they finally attacked the big trees that were to come down it was
+a much longer affair, and they made slow progress. They knew their
+work well, the exact moment when the last blow had been given, and
+they must spring aside to get out of the way when the tree fell with a
+great crash.
+
+There were usually two or three big battues in November for the
+neighbouring farmers and small proprietors. The breakfast always took
+place at the keeper's house. We had arranged one room as a
+dining-room, and the keeper's wife was a very good cook; her omelette
+au lard and civet de lièvre, classic dishes for a shooting breakfast,
+were excellent. The repast always ended with a galette aux amandes
+made by the chef of the château. I generally went down to the kennels
+at the end of the day, and it was a pretty sight when the party
+emerged from the woods, first the shooters, then a regiment of beaters
+(men who track the game), the game cart with a donkey bringing up the
+rear--the big game, chevreuil or boar, at the bottom of the cart, the
+hares and rabbits hanging from the sides. The sportsmen all came back
+to the keeper's lodge to have a drink before starting off on their
+long drive home, and there was always a great discussion over the
+entries in the game book and the number of pièces each man had killed.
+It was a very difficult account to make, as every man counted many
+more rabbits than the trackers had found, so they were obliged to make
+an average of the game that had been brought in. When all the guests
+had departed it was killing to hear the old keeper's criticisms.
+
+[Illustration: There were all sorts and kinds.]
+
+Another important function was a large breakfast to all the mayors,
+conseillers d'arrondissement, and rich farmers of W.'s canton. That
+always took place at the château, and Mme. A. and I appeared at table.
+There were all sorts and kinds--some men in dress coats and white
+gloves, some very rough specimens in corduroys and thick-nailed shoes,
+having begun life as garçons de ferme (ploughboys). They were all
+intelligent, well up in politics, and expressed themselves very well,
+but I think, on the whole, they were pleased when Mme. A. and I
+withdrew and they went into the gallery for their coffee and cigars.
+Mme. A. was extraordinarily easy--talked to them all. They came in
+exactly the same sort of equipage, a light, high, two-wheeled trap
+with a hood, except the Mayor of La Ferté, our big town, who came in
+his victoria.
+
+I went often with W. to some of the big farms to see the
+sheep-shearing and the dairies, and cheese made. The farmer's wife in
+France is a very capable, hard-working woman--up early, seeing to
+everything herself, and ruling all her carters and ploughboys with a
+heavy hand. Once a week, on market day, she takes her cheeses to the
+market town, driving herself in her high gig, and several times I have
+seen some of them coming home with a cow tied to their wagon behind,
+which they had bought at the market. They were always pleased to see
+us, delighted to show anything we wanted to see, offered us
+refreshment--bread and cheese, milk and wine--but never came to see me
+at the château. I made the round of all the châteaux with Mme. A. to
+make acquaintance with the neighbours. They were all rather far off,
+but I loved the long drives, almost always through the forest, which
+was quite beautiful in all seasons, changing like the sea. It was
+delightful in midsummer, the branches of the big trees almost meeting
+over our heads, making a perfect shade, and the long, straight, green
+alleys stretching away before us, as far as we could see. When the
+wood was a little less thick, the afternoon sun would make long
+zigzags of light through the trees and trace curious patterns upon the
+hard white road when we emerged occasionally for a few minutes from
+the depths of the forest at a cross-road. It was perfectly still, but
+summer stillness, when one hears the buzzing and fluttering wings of
+small birds and insects, and is conscious of life around one.
+
+The most beautiful time for the forest is, of course, in the autumn.
+October and November are lovely months, with the changing foliage, the
+red and yellow almost as vivid as in America, and always a foreground
+of moss and brown ferns, which grow very thick and high all through
+the forest. We used to drive sometimes over a thick carpet of red and
+yellow leaves, hardly hearing the horses' hoofs or the noise of the
+wheels, and when we turned our faces homeward toward the sunset there
+was really a glory of colour in wood and sky. It was always curiously
+lonely--we rarely met anything or anyone, occasionally a group of
+wood-cutters or boys exercising dogs and horses from the
+hunting-stables of Villers-Cotterets. At long intervals we would come
+to a keeper's lodge, standing quite alone in the middle of the forest,
+generally near a carrefour where several roads met. There was always a
+small clearing--garden and kennels, and a perfectly comfortable house,
+but it must be a lonely life for the women when their husbands are off
+all day on their rounds. I asked one of them once, a pretty, smiling
+young woman who always came out when the carriage passed, with three
+or four children hanging to her skirts, if she was never afraid, being
+alone with small children and no possibility of help, if any drunkards
+or evilly disposed men came along. She said no--that tramps and
+vagabonds never came into the heart of the forest, and always kept
+clear of the keeper's house, as they never knew where he and his gun
+might be. She said she had had one awful night with a sick child. She
+was alone in the house with two other small children, almost babies,
+while her husband had to walk several miles to get a doctor. The long
+wait was terrible. I got to know all the keepers' wives on our side of
+the forest quite well, and it was always a great interest to them when
+we passed on horseback, so few women rode in that part of France in
+those days.
+
+Sometimes, when we were in the heart of the forest, a stag with
+wide-spreading antlers would bound across the road; sometimes a pretty
+roebuck would come to the edge of the wood and gallop quickly back as
+we got near.
+
+We had a nice couple at the lodge, an old cavalry soldier who had been
+for years coachman at the château and who had married a Scotchwoman,
+nurse of one of the children. It was curious to see the tall, gaunt
+figure of the Scotchwoman, always dressed in a short linsey skirt,
+loose jacket, and white cap, in the midst of the chattering, excitable
+women of the village. She looked so unlike them. Our peasant women
+wear, too, a short; thick skirt, loose jacket, and worsted or knit
+stockings, but they all wear sabots and on their heads a turban made
+of bright-coloured cotton; the older women, of course--the girls wear
+nothing on their heads. They become bent and wrinkled very soon--old
+women before their time--having worked always in the fields and
+carried heavy burdens on their backs. The Scotchwoman kept much to
+herself and rarely left the park. But all the women came to her with
+their troubles. Nearly always the same story--the men spending their
+earnings on drink and the poor mothers toiling and striving from dawn
+till dark to give the little ones enough to eat. She was a strict
+Protestant, very taciturn and reserved, quite the type of the old
+Calvinist race who fought so hard against the "Scarlet Woman" when the
+beautiful and unhappy Mary Stuart was reigning in Scotland and trying
+to rule her wild subjects. I often went to see her and she would tell
+me of her first days at the château, where everything was so different
+from what she was accustomed to.
+
+She didn't tell me what Mme. A. did--that she was a very handsome girl
+and all the men of the establishment fell in love with her. There were
+dramas of jealousy when she finally decided to marry the coachman. Our
+chef had learned how to make various English cakes in London, and
+whenever he made buns or a plum-pudding we used to take some to her.
+She was a great reader, and we always kept the _Times_ for her, and
+she and I sympathised with each other--two Anglo-Saxons married in
+France.
+
+Some of the traditions of the château were quite charming. I was
+sitting in the lodge one day talking to Mme. Antoine, when the baker
+appeared with what seemed to me an extraordinary provision of bread. I
+said, "Does he leave the bread for the whole village with you?" "It is
+not for me, madame, it is for the traînards (tramps) who pass on the
+road," and she explained that all the châteaux gave a piece of bread
+and two sous to any wayfarer who asked for food. She cut the bread
+into good thick slices, and showed me a wooden bowl on the chimney,
+filled with two-sous pieces. While I was there two men appeared at the
+big gates, which were always open in the day. They were strong young
+fellows carrying their bundles, and a sort of pitchfork slung over
+their shoulders. They looked weary and footsore, their shoes worn in
+holes. They asked for something to drink and some tobacco, didn't care
+very much for the water, which was all that Mme. Antoine had to give
+them, but thanked her civilly enough for the bread and sous.
+
+The park wall was a good vantage-ground to see all (and that wasn't
+much) that went on on the highroad. The diligence to Meaux passed
+twice a day, with a fine rattle of old wheels and chains, and cracking
+of whips. It went down the steep hill well enough, but coming up was
+quite another affair. All the passengers and the driver got out
+always, and even then it was difficult to get the heavy, cumbersome
+vehicle up the hill, in winter particularly, when the roads were muddy
+and slippery. The driver knew us all well, and was much interested in
+all that went on at the château. He often brought parcels, and
+occasionally people from the village who wanted to see W.--sometimes a
+blind piano-tuner who came from Villers-Cotterets. He was very kind to
+the poor blind man, helped him down most carefully from the diligence,
+and always brought him through the park gates to the lodge, where he
+delivered him over to Antoine. It was curious to see the blind man at
+work. Once he had been led through the rooms, he was quite at home,
+found the pianos, fussed over the keys and the strings, exactly as if
+he saw everything. He tuned all the pianos in the country, and was
+much pleased to put his hands on one that wasn't fifty years old. I
+had brought down my new Erard.
+
+Sometimes a country wedding passed, and that was always a pretty
+sight. A marriage is always an important affair in France in every
+class of life. There are long discussions with all the members of the
+two families. The curé, the notary, the patron (if the young man is a
+workman), are all consulted, and there are as many negotiations and
+agreements in the most humble families as in the grand monde of the
+Faubourg St. Germain. Almost all French parents give a dot of some
+kind to their children, and whatever the sum is, either five hundred
+francs or two thousand, it is always scrupulously paid over to the
+notary. The wedding-day is a long one. After the religious ceremony in
+the church, all the wedding party--members of the two families and a
+certain number of friends--adjourn to the hotel of the little town for
+a breakfast, which is long and most abundant. Then comes the crowning
+glory of the day--a country walk along the dusty highroad to some wood
+or meadow where they can spend the whole afternoon. It is pretty to
+see the little procession trudging along--the bride in all her wedding
+garments, white dress, white shoes, wreath, and veil; the groom in a
+dress coat, top-hat, white cravat and waistcoat, with a white ribbon
+bow on his sleeve. Almost all the girls and young women are dressed in
+white or light colours; the mothers and grandmothers (the whole family
+turns out) in black with flowers in their bonnets. There is usually a
+fiddler walking ahead making most remarkable sounds on his old cracked
+instrument, and the younger members of the party take an occasional
+gallop along the road. They are generally very gay; there is much
+laughing, and from time to time a burst of song. It is always a
+mystery to me how the bride keeps her dress and petticoat so clean,
+but she does, with that extraordinary knack all Frenchwomen seem to
+have of holding up their skirts. They passed often under the wall of
+the château, for a favourite resting-place was in our woods at the
+entrance of the allée verte, where it widens out a little; the moss
+makes a beautiful soft carpet, and the big trees give perfect shade.
+We heard sounds of merriment one day when we were passing and we
+stopped to look on, from behind the bushes, where we couldn't be seen.
+There was quite a party assembled. The fiddler was playing some sort
+of country-dance and all the company, except the very old people, were
+dancing and singing, some of the men indulging in most wonderful steps
+and capers. The children were playing and running under the trees. One
+stout man was asleep, stretched out full length on the side of the
+road. I fancy his piquette, as they call the ordinary white wine of
+the country, had been too much for him. The bride and groom were
+strolling about a little apart from the others, quite happy and
+lover-like, his arm around her waist, she blushing and giggling.
+
+The gendarmes passed also very regularly. They always stopped and
+talked, had a drink with Antoine, and gave all the local news--how
+many braconniers (poachers) had been caught, how long they were to
+stay in prison, how some of the farmers' sheep had disappeared, no one
+knew how exactly--there were no more robbers. One day two of them
+passed, dragging a man between them who had evidently been struggling
+and fighting. His blouse was torn, and there was a great gash on his
+face. We were wildly excited, of course. They told us he was an old
+sinner, a poacher who had been in prison various times, but these last
+days, not contented with setting traps for the rabbits, he had set
+fire to some of the hay-stacks, and they had been hunting for him for
+some time. He looked a rough customer, had an ugly scowl on his face.
+One of the little hamlets near the château, on the canal, was a
+perfect nest of poachers, and I had continual struggles with the
+keepers when I gave clothes or blankets to the women and children.
+They said some of the women were as bad as the men, and that I ought
+not to encourage them to come up to the house and beg for food and
+clothing; that they sold all the little jackets and petticoats we gave
+them to the canal hands (also a bad lot) for brandy. I believe it was
+true in some cases, but in the middle of winter, with snow on the
+ground (we were hardly warm in the house with big fires everywhere), I
+couldn't send away women with four or five children, all
+insufficiently clothed and fed, most of them in cotton frocks with an
+old worn knit shawl around their shoulders, legs and arms bare and
+chapped, half frozen. Some of them lived in caverns or great holes in
+the rocks, really like beasts. On the road to La Ferté there was a big
+hole (there is no other word for it) in the bank where a whole family
+lived. The man was always in prison for something, and his wife, a
+tall, gaunt figure, with wild hair and eyes, spent most of her time in
+the woods teaching her boys to set traps for the game. The curé told
+us that one of the children was ill, and that there was literally
+nothing in the house, so I took one of my cousins with me, and we
+climbed up the bank, leaving the carriage with Hubert, the coachman,
+expostulating seriously below. We came to a rickety old door which
+practically consisted of two rotten planks nailed together. It was
+ajar; clouds of black smoke poured out as we opened it, and it was
+some time before we could see anything. We finally made out a heap of
+filthy rags in one corner near a sort of fire made of charred pieces
+of black peat. Two children, one a boy about twelve years old, was
+lying on the heap of rags, coughing his heart out. He hardly raised
+his head when we came in. Another child, a girl, some two years
+younger, was lying beside him, both of them frightfully thin and
+white; one saw nothing but great dark eyes in their faces. The mother
+was crouched on the floor close to the children. She hardly moved at
+first, and was really a terrifying object when she got up; half
+savage, scarcely clothed--a short petticoat in holes and a ragged
+bodice gaping open over her bare skin, no shoes or stockings; big
+black eyes set deep in her head, and a quantity of unkempt black hair.
+She looked enormous when she stood up, her head nearly touching the
+roof. I didn't feel very comfortable, but we were two, and the
+carriage and Hubert within call. The woman was civil enough when she
+saw I had not come empty-handed. We took her some soup, bread, and
+milk. The children pounced upon the bread like little wild animals.
+The mother didn't touch anything while we were there--said she was
+glad to have the milk for the boy. I never saw human beings living in
+such utter filth and poverty. A crofter's cottage in Scotland, or an
+Irish hovel with the pigs and children all living together, was a
+palace compared to that awful hole. I remonstrated vigorously with W.
+and the Mayor of La Ferté for allowing people to live in that way,
+like beasts, upon the highroad, close to a perfectly prosperous
+country town. However, they were vagrants, couldn't live anywhere, for
+when we passed again, some days later, there was no one in the hole.
+The door had fallen down, there was no smoke coming out, and the
+neighbours told us the family had suddenly disappeared. The
+authorities then took up the matter--the holes were filled up, and no
+one was allowed to live in them. It really was too awful--like the
+dwellers in caves of primeval days.
+
+We didn't have many visits at the château, though we were so near
+Paris (only about an hour and a half by the express), but the old
+people had got accustomed to their quiet life, and visitors would have
+worried them. Sometimes a Protestant pasteur would come down for two
+days. We had a nice visit once from M. de Pressensé, father of the
+present deputy, one of the most charming, cultivated men one could
+imagine. He talked easily and naturally, using beautiful language. He
+was most interesting when he told us about the Commune, and all the
+horrors of that time in Paris. He was in the Tuileries when the mob
+sacked and burned the palace; saw the femmes de la halle sitting on
+the brocade and satin sofas, saying, "C'est nous les princesses
+maintenant"; saw the entrance of the troops from Versailles, and the
+quantity of innocent people shot who were merely standing looking on
+at the barricades, having never had a gun in their hands. The only
+thing I didn't like was his long extempore (to me familiar) prayers at
+night. I believe it is a habit in some old-fashioned French Protestant
+families to pray for each member of the family by name. I thought it
+was bad enough when he prayed for the new ménage just beginning their
+married life (that was us), that they might be spiritually guided to
+do their best for each other and their respective families; but when
+he proceeded to _name_ some others of the family who had strayed a
+little from the straight and narrow path, hoping they would be brought
+to see, by Divine grace, the error of their ways, I was horrified, and
+could hardly refrain from expressing my opinion to the old people.
+However, I was learning prudence, and when my opinion and judgment
+were diametrically opposed to those of my new family (which happened
+often) I kept them to myself. Sunday was strictly kept. There was no
+Protestant church anywhere near. We had a service in the morning in M.
+A.'s library. He read prayers and a short sermon, all the household
+appearing, as most of the servants were Swiss and Protestants. In the
+afternoon Mme. A. had all the village children at the château. She had
+a small organ in one of the rooms in the wing of the dining-room,
+taught them hymns and read them simple little stories. The curé was
+rather anxious at first, having his little flock under such a
+dangerous heretic influence, but he very soon realized what an
+excellent thing it was for the children, and both he and the mothers
+were much disappointed when anything happened to put off the lesson.
+They didn't see much of the curé. He would pay one formal visit in the
+course of the year, but there was never any intimacy.
+
+We lived much for ourselves, and for a few months in the year it was a
+rest and change from Paris, and the busy, agitated life, social and
+political, that one always led there. I liked the space, too, the
+great high, empty rooms, with no frivolous little tables and screens
+or stuff on the walls, no photograph stands nor fancy vases for
+flowers, no bibelot of any kind--large, heavy pieces of furniture
+which were always found every morning in exactly the same place. Once
+or twice, in later years, I tried to make a few changes, but it was
+absolutely useless to contend with a wonderful old servant called
+Ferdinand, who was over sixty years old, and had been brought up at
+the château, had always remained there with the various owners, and
+who knew every nook and corner of the house and everything that was in
+it. It was years before I succeeded in talking to him. I used to meet
+him sometimes on the stairs and corridors, always running, and
+carrying two or three pails and brooms. If he could, he dived into any
+open door when he saw me coming, and apparently never heard me when I
+spoke, for he never answered. He was a marvellous servant, cleaned the
+whole house, opened and shut all the windows night and morning (almost
+work enough for one man), lit the calorifères, scrubbed and swept and
+polished floors from early dawn until ten o'clock, when we left the
+salon. He never lived with the other servants, cooked his own food at
+his own hours in his room, and his only companion was a large black
+cat, which always followed him about. He did W.'s service, and W. said
+that they used to talk about all sorts of things, but I fancy master
+and servant were equally reticent and understood each other without
+many words.
+
+I slipped one day on the very slippery wooden steps leading from W.'s
+little study to the passage. Baby did the same, and got a nasty fall
+on the stone flags, so I asked W. if he would ask Ferdinand to put a
+strip of carpet on the steps (there were only four). W. gave the
+order, but no carpet appeared. He repeated it rather curtly. The old
+Ferdinand made no answer, but grumbled to himself over his broom that
+it was perfectly foolish and useless to put down a piece of carpet,
+that for sixty years people and children, and babies, had walked down
+those steps and no one had ever thought of asking for carpets. W. had
+really rather to apologize and explain that his wife was nervous and
+unused to such highly polished floors. However, we became great
+friends afterward, Ferdinand and I, and when he understood how fond I
+was of the château, he didn't mind my deranging the furniture a
+little. Two grand pianos were a great trial to him. I think he would
+have liked to put one on top of the other.
+
+[Illustration: Ferdinand.]
+
+The library, quite at one end of the house, separated from the
+drawing-room we always sat in by a second large salon, was a
+delightful, quiet resort when any one wanted to read or write. There
+were quantities of books, French, English, and German--the classics in
+all three languages, and a fine collection of historical memoirs.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+COUNTRY VISITS
+
+
+We didn't pay many visits; but sometimes, when the weather was fine
+and there was no hunting, and W. gone upon an expedition to some
+outlying village, Mme. A. and I would start off for one of the
+neighbouring châteaux. We went one day to the château de C, where
+there was a large family party assembled, four generations--the old
+grandmother, her son and daughter, both married, the daughter's
+daughter, also married, and her children. It was a pretty drive,
+about an hour all through the forest. The house is quite modern, not
+at all pretty, a square white building, with very few trees near it,
+the lawn and one or two flower-beds not particularly well kept. The
+grounds ran straight down to the Villers-Cotterets forest, where M.
+M. has good shooting. The gates were open, the concierge said the
+ladies were there. (They didn't have to be summoned by a bell. That
+is one of the habits of this part of the country. There is almost
+always a large bell at the stable or "communs," and when visitors
+arrive and the family are out in the grounds, not too far off, they
+are summoned by the bell. I was quite surprised one day at
+Bourneville, when we were in the woods at some little distance from
+the château, when we heard the bell, and my companion, a niece of
+Mme. A., instantly turned back, saying, "That means there are visits;
+we must go back.") We found all the ladies sitting working in a
+corner salon with big windows opening on the park. The old
+grandmother was knitting, but she was so straight and slight, with
+bright black eyes, that it wouldn't have seemed at all strange to see
+her bending over an embroidery frame like all the others. The other
+three ladies were each seated at an embroidery frame in the
+embrasures of the windows. I was much impressed, particularly with
+the large pieces of work that they were undertaking, a portière,
+covers for the billiard-table, bed, etc. It quite recalled what one
+had always read of feudal France, when the seigneur would be off with
+his retainers hunting or fighting, and the châtelaine, left alone in
+the château, spent her time in her "bower" surrounded by her maidens,
+all working at the wonderful tapestries one sees still in some of the
+old churches and convents. I was never much given to work, but I made
+a mental resolve that I, too, would set up a frame in one of the
+drawing-rooms at home, and had visions of yards of pale-blue satin,
+all covered with wonderful flowers and animals, unrolling themselves
+under my skilful fingers--but I must confess that it remained a
+vision. I never got further than little crochet petticoats, which
+clothed every child in the village. To make the picture complete
+there should have been a page in velvet cap and doublet, stretched on
+the floor at the feet of his mistress, trying to distract her with
+songs and ballads. The master of the house, M. M., was there, having
+come in from shooting. He had been reading aloud to the
+ladies--Alfred de Musset, I think. That part of the picture I could
+never realize, as there is nothing W. loathes like reading aloud
+except, perhaps, being read to.
+
+They were very friendly and easy, showed us the downstairs part of the
+house, and gave us goûter, not tea, wine and cake. The house looked
+comfortable enough, nothing picturesque; a large square hall with
+horns, whips, foxes' brushes, antlers, and all sorts of trophies of
+the chase on the walls. They are sporting people; all ride. The
+dining-room, a large bright room, was panelled with life-size
+portraits of the family: M. and Mme. M. in hunting dress, green coats,
+tricorne hats, _on_ their horses; the daughter of the house and one of
+her brothers, rowing in a boat on a small lake; the eldest son in
+shooting dress, corduroys, his gun slung over his shoulder, his dog by
+his side. They were all very like.
+
+[Illustration: "Merci, je vais bien."]
+
+We strolled about the garden a little, and saw lots of pheasants
+walking peacefully about at the edge of the woods. They made me
+promise to come back one day with W., he to shoot and I to walk about
+with the ladies. We saw the children of the fourth generation, and
+left with the impression of a happy, simple family party. M. M. was a
+conseiller général of the Aisne and a colleague of W.'s. They always
+stayed at the same hotel (de la Hure) in Laon at the time of the
+conseil général, and M. M. was much amused at first with W.'s baggage:
+a large bath-tub, towels (for in small French provincial hotels towels
+were microscopic and few in number), and a package of tea, which was
+almost an unknown commodity in those days. None of our visitors ever
+took any, and always excused themselves with the same phrase, "Merci,
+je vais bien," evidently looking upon it as some strange and hurtful
+medicine. That has all changed, like everything else. Now one finds
+tea not only at all the châteaux, with brioches and toast, but even in
+all the hotels, but I wouldn't guarantee what we get there as ever
+having seen China or Ceylon, and it is still wiser to take chocolate
+or coffee, which is almost always good. We had a lovely drive back.
+The forest was beautiful in the waning light. As usual, we didn't meet
+any vehicle of any kind, and were quite excited when we saw a carriage
+approaching in the distance--however, it proved to be W. in his
+dog-cart. We passed through one or two little villages quite lost in
+the forest--always the same thing, one long, straggling street, with
+nobody in it, a large farm at one end and very often the church at the
+other. As it was late, the farm gates were all open, the cattle
+inside, teams of white oxen drinking out of a large trough.
+
+In a large farm near Boursonne there was much animation and
+conversation. All the beasts were in, oxen, cows, horses, chickens,
+and in one corner, a flock of geese. The poor little "goose girl," a
+child about ten years old with bright-blue eyes and a pig-tail like
+straw hanging down her back, was being scolded violently by the
+farmer's wife, who was presiding in person over the rentrée of the
+animals, for having brought her geese home on a run. They wouldn't
+eat, and would certainly all be ill, and probably die before morning.
+There is a pretty little old château at Boursonne; the park, however,
+so shut in by high walls that one sees nothing in passing. W. had shot
+there once or twice in former years, but it has changed hands very
+often.
+
+[Illustration: Long pauses when nobody seemed to have anything to say.]
+
+Sometimes we paid more humble visits, not to châteaux, but to the
+principal people of the little country town near, from which we had
+all our provisions. We went to see the doctor's wife, the notary's
+wife, the mayor's wife, and the two schools--the asile or infant
+school, and the more important school for bigger girls. The old doctor
+was quite a character, had been for years in the country, knew
+everybody and everybody's private history. He was the doctor of the
+château, by the year, attended to everybody, masters and servants, and
+received a regular salary, like a secretary. He didn't come very often
+for us in his medical capacity, but he often dropped in at the end of
+the day to have a talk with W. The first time I saw him W. presented
+him to me, as un bon ami de la famille. I naturally put out my hand,
+which so astonished and disconcerted him (he barely touched the tips
+of my fingers) that I was rather bewildered. W. explained after he had
+gone that in that class of life in France they never shook hands with
+a lady, and that the poor man was very much embarrassed. He was very
+useful to W. as a political agent, as he was kind to the poor people
+and took small (or no) fees. They all loved him, and talked to him
+quite freely. His women-kind were very shy and provincial. I think our
+visits were a great trial to them. They always returned them most
+punctiliously, and came in all their best clothes. When we went to see
+them we generally found them in short black skirts, and when they were
+no longer very young, with black caps, but they always had handsome
+silk dresses, velvet cloaks, and hats with flowers and feathers when
+they came to see us. Some of them took the cup of tea we offered, but
+they didn't know what to do with it, and sat on the edge of their
+chairs, looking quite miserable until we relieved them of the burden
+of the tea-cup. Mme. A. was rather against the tea-table; she
+preferred the old-fashioned tray handed around with wine and cakes,
+but I persuaded her to try, and after a little while she acknowledged
+that it was better to have the tea-table brought in. It made a
+diversion; I got up to make the tea. Someone gave me a chair, someone
+else handed the cups. It made a little movement, and was not so stiff
+as when we all sat for over an hour on the same chairs making
+conversation. It is terrible to have to make conversation, and
+extraordinary how little one finds to say. We had always talked easily
+enough at home, but then things came more naturally, and even the
+violent family discussions were amusing, but my recollection of these
+French provincial visits is something awful. Everybody so polite, so
+stiff, and the long pauses when nobody seemed to have anything to say.
+I of course was a novelty and a foreign element--they didn't quite
+know what to do with me. Even to Mme. A., and I grew very fond of her,
+and she was invariably charming to me, I was something different. We
+had many talks on every possible subject during our long drives, and
+also in the winter afternoons. At first I had my tea always upstairs
+in my own little salon, which I loved with the curtains drawn, a
+bright wood-fire burning, and all my books about; but when I found
+that she sat alone in the big drawing-room, not able to occupy herself
+in any way, I asked her if I might order my tea there, and there were
+very few afternoons that I didn't sit with her when I was at home. She
+talked often about her early married life--winters in Cannes and in
+Paris, where they received a great deal, principally Protestants, and
+I fancy she sometimes regretted the interchange of ideas and the
+brilliant conversation she had been accustomed to, but she never said
+it. She was never tired of hearing about my early days in America--our
+family life--the extraordinary liberty of the young people, etc. We
+often talked over the religious question, and though we were both
+Protestants, we were as far apart almost as if one was a pagan.
+Protestantism in France always has seemed to me such a rigid form of
+worship, so little calculated to influence young people or draw them
+to church. The plain, bare churches with white-washed walls, the long
+sermons and extempore prayers, speaking so much of the anger of God
+and the terrible punishments awaiting the sinner, the trials and
+sorrows that must come to all. I often think of a sermon I heard
+preached in one Protestant church, to the boys and girls who were
+making their first communion--all little things, the girls in their
+white frocks and long white veils, the boys with white waistcoats and
+white ribbons on their arms, making such a pretty group as they sat on
+the front benches listening hard to all the preacher said. I wondered
+that the young, earnest faces didn't suggest something to him besides
+the horrors of eternal punishment, the wickedness and temptations of
+the world they were going to face, but his only idea seemed to be that
+he must warn them of all the snares and temptations that were going to
+beset their paths. Mme. A. couldn't understand my ideas when I said I
+loved the Episcopal service--the prayers and litany I had always
+heard, the Easter and Christmas hymns I had always sung, the carols,
+the anthems, the great organ, the flowers at Easter, the greens at
+Christmas. All that seemed to her to be a false sentiment appealing to
+the senses and imagination. "But if it brings people to church, and
+the beautiful music elevates them and raises their thoughts to higher
+things--" "That is not religion; real religion means the prayer of St.
+Chrysostom, 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name I
+will grant their requests.'" "That is very well for really religious,
+strong people who think out their religion and don't care for any
+outward expression of it, but for weaker souls who want to be helped,
+and who are helped by the beautiful music and the familiar prayers,
+surely it is better to give them something that brings them to church
+and makes them better men and women than to frighten them away with
+such strict, uncompromising doctrines--" "No, that is only sentiment,
+not real religious feeling." I don't think we ever understood each
+other any better on that subject, and we discussed it so often.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mme. A., with whom I made my round of calls at the neighbouring
+châteaux, was a charming companion. She had lived a great deal in
+Paris, in the Protestant coterie, which was very intellectual and
+cultivated. The salons of the Duchesse de Broglie, Mmes. de Staël,
+d'Haussonvìlle, Guizot, were most interesting and recherchés, very
+exclusive and very serious, but a centre for all political and
+literary talk. I have often heard my husband say some of the best
+talkers in society s'étaient formés dans ces salons, where, as young
+men, they listened modestly to all the brilliant conversation going on
+around them.
+
+It was an exception when we found anyone at home when we called in the
+neighbourhood, and when we did, it was evident that afternoon visits
+were a rarity. We did get in one cold November afternoon, and our
+visit was a sample of many others that we paid.
+
+The door was opened by a footman struggling into his coat, with a
+handful of faggots in his arms. He ushered us through several bare,
+stiff, cold rooms (proportions handsome enough) to a smaller salon,
+which the family usually occupied. Then he lighted a fire (which
+consisted principally of smoke) and went to summon his mistress. The
+living-room was just as bare and stiff as the others, no trace of
+anything that looked like habitation or what we should consider
+comfort--no books nor work nor flowers (that, however, is
+comparatively recent in France). I remember quite well Mme.
+Casimir-Périer telling me that when she went with her husband to St.
+Petersburg about fifty years ago, one of the things that struck her
+most in the Russian salons, was the quantity of green plants and cut
+flowers--she had never seen them in France. There were often fine
+pictures, tapestries, and furniture, all the chairs in a row against
+the wall.
+
+[Illustration: Then he lighted a fire.]
+
+Our visits were always long, as most of the châteaux were at a certain
+distance, and we were obliged to stay an hour and a half, sometimes
+longer, to rest the horses. It was before the days of five-o'clock
+tea. A tray was brought in with sweet wine (Malaga or Vin de Chypre)
+and cakes (ladies'-fingers) which evidently had figured often before
+on similar occasions. Conversation languished sometimes, though Mme.
+A. was wonderful, talking so easily about everything. In the smaller
+places, when people rarely went to Paris, it ran always in the same
+grooves--the woods, the hunting (very good in the Villers-Cotterets
+forest), the schoolmaster (so difficult to get proper books for the
+children to read), the curé, and all local gossip, and as much about
+the iniquities of the republic as could be said before the wife of a
+republican senator. Wherever we went, even to the largest châteaux,
+where the family went to Paris for the season, the talk was almost
+entirely confined to France and French interests. Books, politics,
+music, people, nothing existed apparently au-delà des frontières.
+America was an unknown quantity. It was strange to see intelligent
+people living in the world so curiously indifferent as to what went on
+in other countries. At first I used to talk a little about America and
+Rome, where I had lived many years and at such an interesting
+time--the last days of Pio Nono and the transformation of the old
+superstitious papal Rome to the capital of young Italy--but I soon
+realized that it didn't interest any one, and by degrees I learned to
+talk like all the rest.
+
+I often think of one visit to a charming little Louis XV château
+standing quite on the edge of the forest--just room enough for the
+house, and the little hamlet at the gates; a magnificent view of the
+forest, quite close to the lawn behind the château, and then sweeping
+off, a dark-blue mass, as far as one could see. We were shown into a
+large, high room, no carpet, no fire, some fine portraits, very little
+furniture, all close against the wall, a round table in the middle
+with something on it, I couldn't make out what at first. Neither
+books, reviews, nor even a photographic album--the supreme resource of
+provincial salons. When we got up to take leave I managed to get near
+the table, and the _ornament_ was a large white plate with a piece of
+fly-paper on it. The mistress of the house was shy and uncomfortable;
+sent at once for her husband, and withdrew from the conversation as
+soon as he appeared, leaving him to make all the "frais." We walked a
+little around the park before leaving. It was really a lovely little
+place, with its background of forest and the quiet, sleepy little
+village in front; very lonely and far from everything, but with a
+certain charm of its own. Two or three dogs were playing in the
+court-yard, and one curious little animal who made a rush at the
+strangers. I was rather taken aback, particularly when the master of
+the house told me not to be afraid, it was only a marcassin (small
+wild boar), who had been born on the place, and was as quiet as a
+kitten. I did not think the great tusks and square, shaggy head looked
+very pleasant, but the little thing was quiet enough, came and rubbed
+itself against its master's legs and played quite happily with the
+dogs. We heard afterward that they were obliged to kill it. It grew
+fierce and unmanageable, and no one would come near the place.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I took Henrietta with me sometimes when I had a distant visit to pay;
+an hour and a half's drive alone on a country road where you never
+meet anything was rather dull. We went one cold December afternoon to
+call upon Mme. B., the widow of an old friend and colleague of W.'s.
+We were in the open carriage, well wrapped up, and enjoyed the drive
+immensely. The country looked beautiful in the bright winter sunshine,
+the distant forest always in a blue mist, the trees with their
+branches white with "givre" (hoarfrost), and patches of snow and ice
+all over the fields.
+
+For a wonder we didn't go through the forest--drove straight away from
+it and had charming effects of colour upon some of the thatched
+cottages in the villages we passed through; one or two had been mended
+recently and the mixture of old brown, bright red and glistening white
+was quite lovely.
+
+We went almost entirely along the great plains, occasionally small
+bits of wood and very fair hills as we got near our destination. The
+villages always very scattered and almost deserted--when it is cold
+everybody stays indoors--and of course there is no work to be done on
+the farms when the ground is hard frozen. It is a difficult question
+to know what to do with the men of all the small hamlets when the real
+winter sets in; the big farms turn off many of their labourers, and as
+it is a purely agricultural country all around us there is literally
+nothing to do. My husband and several of the owners of large estates
+gave work to many with their regular "coupe" of wood, but that only
+lasts a short time, and the men who are willing to work but can find
+nothing drift naturally into cafés and billiard saloons, where they
+read cheap bad papers and talk politics of the wildest description.
+
+We found our château very well situated on the top of a hill, a good
+avenue leading up to the gate, a pretty little park with fine trees at
+the back, the tower of the village church just visible through the
+trees at the end of the central alley. It was hardly a château--half
+manor, half farm. We drove into a large courtyard, or rather farmyard,
+quite deserted; no one visible anywhere; the door of the house was
+open, but there was no bell nor apparently any means of communicating
+with any one. Hubert cracked his whip noisily several times without
+any result--and we were just wondering what we should do (perhaps put
+our cards under a stone on the steps) when a man appeared, said Mme.
+B. was at home, but she was in the stable looking after a sick cow--he
+would go and tell her we were there. In a few minutes she appeared
+attired in a short, rusty-black skirt, sabots on her feet, and a black
+woollen shawl over her head and shoulders. She seemed quite pleased to
+see us--was not at all put out at being caught in such very simple
+attire--begged us to come in and ushered us through a long, narrow
+hall and several cold, comfortless rooms, the shutters not open and no
+fire anywhere, into her bedroom. All the furniture--chairs, tables and
+bed--was covered with linen. She explained that it was her "lessive"
+(general wash) she had just made, that all the linen was _dry_, but
+she had not had time to put it away. She called a maid and they
+cleared off two chairs--she sat on the bed.
+
+It was frightfully cold--we were thankful we had kept our wraps on.
+She said she supposed we would like a fire after our long, cold drive,
+and rang for a man to bring some wood. He (in his shirt sleeves)
+appeared with two or three logs of wood and was preparing to make a
+fire with them all, but she stopped him, said one log was enough, the
+ladies were not going to stay long--so, naturally, we had no fire and
+clouds of smoke. She was very talkative, never stopped--told us all
+about her servants, her husband's political campaigns and how W. would
+never have been named to the Conseil Général if M.B. hadn't done all
+his work for him. She asked a great many questions, answering them all
+herself; then said, "I don't offer you any tea, as I know you always
+go back to have your tea at home, and I am quite sure you don't want
+any wine."
+
+There was such an evident reluctance to give us anything that I didn't
+like to insist, and said we must really be going as we had a long
+drive before us, though I should have liked something hot; tea, of
+course, she knew nothing about, but even a glass of ordinary hot wine,
+which they make very well in France, would have been acceptable.
+Henrietta was furious; she was shivering with cold, her eyes smarting
+with the smoke, and not at all interested in M.B.'s political career,
+or Madame's servants, and said she would have been thankful to have
+even a glass of vin de Chypre.
+
+It was unfortunate, perhaps, that we had arrived during the "lessive";
+that is always a most important function in France. In almost all the
+big houses in the country (small ones, too) that is the way they do
+their washing; once a month or once every three months, according to
+the size of the establishment, the whole washing of the household is
+done; all the linen: master's, servants', guests'; house is turned
+out; the linen closets cleaned and aired! Every one looks busy and
+energetic. It is quite a long affair--lasts three or four days. I
+often went to see the performance when we made our "lessive" at the
+château every month.
+
+It always interested our English and American friends, as the washing
+is never done in that way in either of their countries. It was very
+convenient at our place as we had plenty of room. The "lavoir" stood
+at the top of the steps leading into the kitchen gardens; there was a
+large, square tank sunk in the ground, so that the women could kneel
+to their work, then a little higher another of beautiful clear water,
+all under cover. Just across the path there was a small house with a
+blazing wood fire; in the middle an enormous tub where all the linen
+was passed through wood ashes. There were four "lessiveuses"
+(washerwomen), sturdy peasant women with very short skirts, sabots,
+and turbans (made of blue and white checked calico) on their heads,
+their strong red arms bared above the elbow. The Mère Michon, the
+eldest of the four, directed everything and kept them well at work,
+allowed very little talking; they generally chatter when they are
+washing and very often quarrel. When they are washing at the public
+"lavoir" in the village one hears their shrill voices from a great
+distance. Our "lingère," Mme. Hubert, superintended the whole
+operation; she was very keen about it and remonstrated vigorously when
+they slapped the linen too hard sometimes with the little flat sticks,
+like spades, they use. The linen all came out beautifully white and
+smooth, hadn't the yellow look that all city-washed clothes have.
+
+I think Mme. B. was very glad to get rid of us, and to begin folding
+her linen and putting it back in the big wooden wardrobes, that one
+sees everywhere in France. Some of the old Norman wardrobes, with
+handsome brass locks and beautifully carved doors, are real works of
+art--very difficult to get and very expensive. Fifty years ago the
+peasant did not understand the value of such a "meuble" and parted
+with it easily--but now, with railways everywhere and strangers and
+bric-à-brac people always on the lookout for a really old piece of
+furniture, they understand quite well that they possess a treasure and
+exact its full value.
+
+Our drive back was rather shorter, downhill almost all the way, the
+horses going along at a good steady trot, knowing they were going
+home.
+
+When we drew up at our own door Hubert remarked respectfully that he
+thought it was the first time that Madame and Mademoiselle had ever
+been received by a lady in sabots.
+
+We wondered afterward if she had personally attended to the cow--in
+the way of poulticing or rubbing it. She certainly didn't wash her
+hands afterward, and it rather reminded me of one of Charles de
+Bunsen's stories when he was Secretary of Legation at Turin. In the
+summer they took a villa in the country just out of the town and had
+frequent visitors to lunch or dinner. One day two of their friends,
+Italians, had spent the whole day with them; had walked in the garden,
+picked fruit and flowers, played with the child and the dogs and the
+pony, and as they were coming back to the house for dinner, Charles
+suggested that they might like to come up to his dressing-room and
+wash their hands before dinner--to which one of them replied, "Grazie,
+non mi sporco facilmente" (literal translation, "Thanks, I don't dirty
+myself easily"), and declined the offer of soap and water.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We paid two or three visits one year to the neighbouring châteaux, and
+had one very pleasant afternoon at the Château de Pinon, belonging to
+the Courval family. W. had known the late proprietor, the Vicomte de
+Courval, very well. They had been colleagues of the Conseil Général of
+the Aisne, were both very fond of the country and country life, and
+used to have long talks in the evening, when the work of the day was
+over, about plantation, cutting down trees, preservation of game, etc.
+Without these talks, I think W. would have found the evenings at the
+primitive little Hôtel de la Hure, at Laon, rather tedious.
+
+The château is not very old and has no historic interest. It was built
+by a Monsieur du Bois, Vicomte de Courval, at the end of the
+seventeenth century. He lived at first in the old feudal château of
+which nothing now remains. Already times were changing--the thick
+walls, massive towers, high, narrow windows, almost slits, and deep
+moat, which were necessary in the old troubled days, when all isolated
+châteaux might be called upon, at any time, to defend themselves from
+sudden attack, had given way to the larger and more spacious
+residences of which Mansard, the famous architect of Louis XIV, has
+left so many chefs d'oeuvre. It was to Mansard that M. de Courval
+confided the task of building the château as it now stands, while the
+no less famous Le Notre was charged to lay out the park and gardens.
+
+It was an easy journey from B----ville to Pinon. An hour's drive through
+our beautiful forest of Villers-Cotterets and another hour in the
+train. We stopped at the little station of Anizy just outside the
+gates of the park; a brougham was waiting for us and a very short
+drive through a stately avenue brought us to the drawbridge and the
+iron gates of the "Cour d'honneur." The house looked imposing; I had
+an impression of a very high and very long façade with two towers
+stretching out into the court-yard, which is very large, with fine old
+trees and broad parterres of bright-coloured flowers on either side of
+the steps. There was a wide moat of running water, the banks covered
+with shrubs and flowers--the flowers were principally salvias and
+chrysanthemums, as it was late in the season, but they made a warm bit
+of colour. The house stands low, as do all houses surrounded by a
+moat, but the park rises a little directly behind it and there is a
+fine background of wood.
+
+We drew up at a flight of broad, shallow steps; the doors were open.
+There were three or four footmen in the ante-room. While we were
+taking off our wraps Mme. de Courval appeared; she was short, stout,
+dressed in black, with that terrible black cap which all widows wear
+in France--so different from the white cap and soft white muslin
+collar and cuffs we are accustomed to. She had a charming, easy manner
+and looked very intelligent and capable. It seems she managed the
+property extremely well, made the tour of the house, woods and garden
+every day with her "régisseur." W. had the highest opinion of her
+business capacity--said she knew the exact market value of everything
+on the place--from an old tree that must be cut down for timber to the
+cheeses the farmer's wife made and sold at the Soissons market.
+
+She suggested that I should come upstairs to leave my heavy coat. We
+went up a broad stone staircase, the walls covered with pictures and
+engravings; one beautiful portrait of her daughter, the Marquise de
+Chaponay, on horseback. There were handsome carved chests and china
+vases on the landing, which opened on a splendid long gallery, very
+high and light--bedrooms on one side, on the other big windows (ten or
+twelve, I should think) looking over the park and gardens. She took me
+to a large, comfortable room, bright wood fire blazing, and a pretty
+little dressing-room opening out of it, furnished in a gay,
+old-fashioned pattern of chintz. She said breakfast would be ready in
+ten minutes--supposed I could find my way down, and left me to my own
+devices.
+
+I found the family assembled in the drawing-room; four women: Mme. de
+Courval and her daughter, the Marquise de Chaponay, a tall handsome
+woman, and two other ladies of a certain age; I did not catch their
+names, but they looked like all the old ladies one always sees in a
+country house in France. I should think they were cousins or habituées
+of the château, as they each had their embroidery frame and one a
+little dog. I am haunted by the embroidery frames--I am sure I shall
+end my days in a black cap, bending over a frame making portières or a
+piano-cover.
+
+We breakfasted in a large square dining-room running straight through
+the house, windows on each side. The room was all in wood
+panelling--light gray--the sun streaming in through the windows. Mme.
+de Courval put W. on her right, me on her other side. We had an
+excellent breakfast, which we appreciated after our early start. There
+was handsome old silver on the table and sideboard, which is a rare
+thing in France, as almost all the silver was melted during the
+Revolution. Both Mme. de Courval and her daughter were very easy and
+animated. The Marquise de Chaponay told me she had known W. for years,
+that in the old days before he became such a busy man and so engrossed
+in politics he used to read Alfred de Musset to her, in her atelier,
+while she painted. She supposed he read now to me--which he certainly
+never did--as he always told me he hated reading aloud. They talked
+politics, of course, but their opinions were the classic Faubourg St.
+Germain opinions: "A Republic totally unfitted for France and the
+French"--"none of the gentlemen in France really Republican at heart"
+(with evidently a few exceptions)--W.'s English blood and education
+having, of course, influenced him.
+
+As soon as breakfast was over one of the windows on the side of the
+moat was opened and we all gave bread to the carp, handed to us by the
+butler--small square pieces of bread in a straw basket. It was funny
+to see the fish appear as soon as the window was opened--some of them
+were enormous and very old. It seems they live to a great age; a
+guardian of the Palace at Fontainebleau always shows one to tourists,
+who is supposed to have been fed by the Emperor Napoleon. Those of
+Pinon knew all about it, lifting their brown heads out of the water
+and never missing their piece of bread.
+
+We went back to the drawing-room for coffee, passing through the
+billiard room, where there are some good pictures. A fine life-size
+portrait of General Moreau (father of Mme. de Courval) in uniform, by
+Gerard--near it a trophy of four flags--Austrian, Saxon, Bavarian, and
+Hungarian--taken by the General; over the trophy three or four "lames
+d'honneur" (presentation swords) with name and inscription. There are
+also some pretty women's portraits in pastel--very delicate colours in
+old-fashioned oval frames--quite charming.
+
+The drawing-room was a very handsome room also panelled in light gray
+carved wood; the furniture rather heavy and massive, curtains and
+coverings of thick, bright flowered velvet, but it looked suitable in
+that high old-fashioned room--light modern furniture would have been
+out of place.
+
+As soon as we had finished our coffee we went for a walk--not the two
+old ladies, who settled down at once to their embroidery frames; one
+of them showed me her work--really quite beautiful--a church ornament
+of some kind, a painted Madonna on a ground of white satin; she was
+covering the whole ground with heavy gold embroidery, so thick it
+looked like mosaic.
+
+The park is splendid, a real domain, all the paths and alleys
+beautifully kept and every description of tree--M. de Courval was
+always trying experiments with foreign trees and shrubs and apparently
+most successfully. I think the park would have been charming in its
+natural state, as there was a pretty little river running through the
+grounds and some tangles of bushes and rocks that looked quite
+wild--it might have been in the middle of the forest but everything
+had been done to assist nature. There were a "pièce d'eau," cascades,
+little bridges thrown over the river in picturesque spots, and on the
+highest point a tower (donjon), which was most effective, looked quite
+the old feudal towers of which so few remain now. They were used as
+watch towers, as a sentinel posted on the top could see a great
+distance over the plains and give warning of the approach of the
+enemy. As the day was fine--no mist--we had a beautiful view from the
+top, seeing plainly the great round tower of Coucy, the finest ruin in
+France--the others made out quite well the towers of the Laon
+Cathedral, but those I couldn't distinguish, seeing merely a dark spot
+on the horizon which might have been a passing cloud.
+
+Coming back we crossed the "Allée des Soupirs," which has its legend
+like so many others in this country: It was called the "Allée des
+Soupirs" on account of the tragedy that took place there. The owner of
+the château at that time--a Comte de Lamothe--discovered his wife on
+too intimate terms with his great friend and her cousin; they fought
+in the Allée, and the Comte de Lamothe was killed by his friend. The
+widow tried to brave it out and lived on for some time at the château;
+but she was accursed and an evil spell on the place--everything went
+wrong and the château finally burnt down. The place was then sold to
+the de Courval family.
+
+At the end of an hour the Marquise had had enough; I should not think
+she was much of a walker; she was struggling along in high-heeled
+shoes and proposed that she and I should return to the house and she
+would show me her atelier. W. and Mme. de Courval continued their tour
+of inspection which was to finish at the Home Farm, where she wanted
+to show him some small Breton cows which had just arrived. The atelier
+was a charming room; panelled like all the others in a light grey
+wood. One hardly saw the walls, for they were covered with pictures,
+engravings and a profusion of mirrors in gilt oval frames. It was
+evidently a favourite haunt of the Marquise's: books, papers and
+painting materials scattered about; the piano open and quantities of
+music on the music-stand; miniatures, snuff-boxes and little
+old-fashioned bibelots on all the tables, and an embroidery frame, of
+course, in one of the windows, near it a basket filled with bright
+coloured silks. The miniatures were, almost all, portraits of de
+Courvals of every age and in every possible costume: shepherdesses,
+court ladies of the time of Louis XV, La Belle Ferronnière with the
+jewel on her forehead, men in armour with fine, strongly marked faces;
+they must have been a handsome race. It is a pity there is no son to
+carry on the name. One daughter-in-law had no children; the other one,
+born an American, Mary Ray of New York, had only one daughter, the
+present Princesse de Poix, to whom Pinon now belongs.
+
+We played a little; four hands--the classics, of course. All French
+women of that generation who played at all were brought up on strictly
+classical music. She had a pretty, delicate, old-fashioned touch; her
+playing reminded me of Madame A.'s.
+
+When it was too dark to see any more we sat by the fire and talked
+till the others came in. She asked a great deal about my new life in
+Paris--feared I would find it stiff and dull after the easy happy
+family life I had been accustomed to. I said it was very different, of
+course, but there was much that was interesting, only I did not know
+the people well enough yet to appreciate the stories they were always
+telling about each other, also that I had made several "gaffes" quite
+innocently. I told her one which amused her very much, though she
+could not imagine how I ever could have said it. It was the first year
+of my marriage; we were dining in an Orleanist house, almost all the
+company Royalists and intimate friends of the Orléans Princes, and
+three or four moderate, _very_ moderate Republicans like us. It was
+the 20th of January and the women were all talking about a ball they
+were going to the next night, 21st of January (anniversary of the
+death of Louis XVI). They supposed they must wear mourning--such a
+bore. Still, on account of the Comtesse de Paris and the Orléans
+family generally, they thought they must do it--upon which I asked,
+really very much astonished: "On account of the Orléans family? but
+did not the Duc d'Orléans vote the King's execution?" There was an
+awful silence and then M. Leon Say, one of the cleverest and most
+delightful men of his time, remarked, with a twinkle in his eye: "Ma
+foi; je crois que Mme. Waddington a raison." There was a sort of
+nervous laugh and the conversation was changed. W. was much annoyed
+with me, "a foreigner so recently married, throwing down the gauntlet
+in that way." I assured him I had no purpose of any kind--I merely
+said what I thought, which is evidently unwise.
+
+Mme. de Chaponay said she was afraid I would find it very difficult
+sometimes. French people--in society at least--were so excited against
+the Republic, anti-religious feeling, etc. "It must be very painful
+for you." "I don't think so; you see I am American, Republican and a
+Protestant; my point of view must be very different from that of a
+Frenchwoman and a Catholic." She was very charming, however;
+intelligent, cultivated, speaking beautiful French with a pretty
+carefully trained voice--English just as well; we spoke the two
+languages going from one to the other without knowing why. I was quite
+sorry when we were summoned to tea. The room looked so pretty in the
+twilight, the light from the fire danced all over the pictures and
+gilt frames of the mirrors, leaving the corners quite in shadow. The
+curtains were not drawn and we saw the darkness creeping up over the
+lawn; quite at the edge of the wood the band of white mist was rising,
+which we love to see in our part of the country, as it always means a
+fine day for the morrow.
+
+We had a cheery tea. W. and Mme. de Courval had made a long "tournée,"
+and W. quite approved of all the changes and new acquisitions she had
+made, particularly the little Breton cows. We left rather hurriedly as
+we had just time to catch our train.
+
+Our last glimpse of the château as we looked back from the turn in the
+avenue was charming; there were lights in almost all the windows,
+which were reflected in the moat; the moon was rising over the woods
+at the back, and every tower and cornice of the enormous pile stood
+out sharply in the cold clear light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We didn't move often once we were settled in the château for the
+autumn. It was very difficult to get W. away from his books and coins
+and his woods; but occasionally a shooting party tempted him. We went
+sometimes, about the Toussaint when the leaves were nearly fallen, to
+stay with friends who had a fine château and estate about three hours
+by rail from Paris, in the midst of the great plains of the Aube. The
+first time we went, soon after my marriage, I was rather doubtful as
+to how I should like it. I had never stayed in a French country house
+and imagined it would be very stiff and formal; however, the
+invitation was for three days--two days of shooting and one of
+rest--and I thought that I could get through without being too
+homesick.
+
+We arrived about 4.30 for tea; the journey from Paris was through just
+the same uninteresting country one always sees when leaving by the
+Gare de l'Est. I think it is the ugliest sortie of all Paris. As we
+got near the château the Seine appeared, winding in and out of the
+meadows in very leisurely fashion. We just saw the house from the
+train, standing rather low. The station is at the park gates--in fact,
+the railway and the canal run through the property. Two carriages were
+waiting (we were not the only guests), and a covered cart for the
+maids and baggage. A short drive through a fine avenue of big trees
+skirting broad lawns brought us to the house, which looked very
+imposing with its long façade and rows of lighted windows. We drove
+through arcades covered with ivy into a very large court-yard, the
+château stables and communs taking three sides. There was a pièce
+d'eau at one end, a colombier at the other. There was no perron or
+stately entrance; in one corner a covered porch, rather like what one
+sees in England, shut in with glass door and windows and filled with
+plants, a good many chrysanthemums, which made a great mass of colour.
+The hall doors were wide open as the carriage drove up, Monsieur A.
+and his wife waiting for us just inside, Mme. A. his mother, the
+mistress of the château, at the door of the salon. We went into a
+large, high hall, well lighted, a bright fire burning, plenty of
+servants. It looked most cheerful and comfortable on a dark November
+afternoon. We left our wraps in the hall, and went straight into the
+drawing-room. I have been there so often since that I hardly remember
+my first impression. It was a corner room, high ceiling, big windows,
+and fine tapestries on the walls; some of them with a pink ground
+(very unusual), and much envied and admired by all art collectors.
+Mme. A. told me she found them all rolled up in a bundle in the garret
+when she married. A tea-table was standing before the sofa, and
+various people working and having their tea. We were not a large
+party--Comte and Comtesse de B. (she a daughter of the house) and
+three or four men, deputies and senators, all political. They counted
+eight guns. We sat there about half an hour, then there was a general
+move, and young Mme. A. showed us our rooms, which were most
+comfortable, fires burning, lamps lighted. She told us dinner was at
+7.30; the first bell would ring at seven. I was the only lady besides
+the family. I told my maid to ask some of the others what their
+mistresses were going to wear. She said ordinary evening dress, with
+natural flowers in their hair, and that I would receive a small
+bouquet, which I did, only as I never wear anything in my hair, I put
+them on my corsage, which did just as well.
+
+The dinner was pleasant, the dining-room a fine, large hall (had been
+stables) with a fireplace at each end, and big windows giving on the
+court-yard. It was so large that the dinner table (we were fourteen)
+seemed lost in space. The talk was almost exclusively political and
+amusing enough. All the men were, or had been, deputies, and every
+possible question was discussed. Mme. A. was charming, very
+intelligent, and animated, having lived all her life with clever
+people, and having taken part in all the changes that France has gone
+through in the last fifty years. She had been a widow for about two
+years when I first stayed there, and it was pretty to see her children
+with her. Her two sons, one married, the other a young officer, were
+so respectful and fond of their mother, and her daughter perfectly
+devoted to her.
+
+The men all went off to smoke after coffee, and we women were left to
+ourselves for quite a long time. The three ladies all had
+work--knitting or crochet--and were making little garments,
+brassieres, and petticoats for all the village children. They were
+quite surprised that I had nothing and said they would teach me to
+crochet. The evening was not very long after the men came back. Some
+remained in the billiard-room, which opens out of the salon, and
+played cochonnet, a favourite French game. We heard violent
+discussions as to the placing of the balls, and some one asked for a
+yard measure, to be quite sure the count was correct. Before we broke
+up M. A. announced the programme for the next day. Breakfast for all
+the men at eight o'clock in the dining-room, and an immediate start
+for the woods; luncheon at the Pavilion d'Hiver at twelve in the
+woods, the ladies invited to join the shooters and follow one or two
+battues afterward. It was a clear, cold night, and there seemed every
+prospect of a beautiful day for the battues.
+
+The next morning was lovely. I went to my maid's room, just across the
+corridor to see the motors start. All our rooms looked out on the
+park, and on the other side of the corridor was a succession of small
+rooms giving on the court-yard, which were always kept for the maids
+and valets of the guests. It was an excellent arrangement, for in some
+of the big châteaux, where the servants were at the top of the house,
+or far off in another wing, communications were difficult. There were
+two carriages and a sort of tapissière following with guns, servants,
+and cartridges. I had a message from Mme. A. asking if I had slept
+well, and sending me the paper; and a visit from Comtesse de B. who, I
+think, was rather anxious about my garments. She had told me the night
+before that the ploughed fields were something awful, and hoped I had
+brought short skirts and thick boots. I think the sight of my short
+Scotch homespun skirt and high boots reassured her. We started about
+11.30 in an open carriage with plenty of furs and wraps. It wasn't
+really very cold--just a nice nip in the air, and no wind. We drove
+straight into the woods from the park. There is a beautiful green
+alley which faces one just going out of the gate, but it was too steep
+to mount in a carriage. The woods are very extensive, the roads not
+too bad--considering the season, extremely well kept. Every now and
+then through an opening in the trees we had a pretty view over the
+plains. As we got near the pavilion we heard shots not very far
+off--evidently the shooters were getting hungry and coming our way. It
+was a pretty rustic scene as we arrived. The pavilion, a log house,
+standing in a clearing, alleys branching off in every direction, a
+horse and cart which had brought the provisions from the château tied
+to one of the trees. It was shut in on three sides, wide open in
+front, a bright fire burning and a most appetizing table spread. Just
+outside another big fire was burning, the cook waiting for the first
+sportsman to appear to begin his classic dishes, omelette au lard and
+ragoât de mouton. I was rather hungry and asked for a piece of the
+pain de ménage they had for the traqueurs (beaters). I like the brown
+country bread so much better than the little rolls and crisp loaves
+most people ask for in France. Besides our own breakfast there was an
+enormous pot on the fire with what looked like an excellent
+substantial soup for the men. In a few minutes the party arrived;
+first the shooters, each man carrying his gun; then the game cart,
+which looked very well garnished, an army of beaters bringing up the
+rear. They made quite a picturesque group, all dressed in white. There
+have been so many accidents in some of the big shoots, people
+imprudently firing at something moving in the bushes, which proved to
+be a man and not a roebuck, that M. A. dresses all his men in white.
+The gentlemen were very cheerful, said they had had capital sport, and
+were quite ready for their breakfast. We didn't linger very long at
+table, as the days were shortening fast, and we wanted to follow some
+of the battues. The beaters had their breakfast while we were having
+ours--were all seated on the ground around a big kettle of soup, with
+huge hunks of brown bread on their tin plates.
+
+We started off with the shooters. Some walking, some driving, and had
+one pretty battue of rabbits; after that two of pheasants, which were
+most amusing. There were plenty of birds, and they came rocketing over
+our heads in fine style. I found that Comtesse de B. was quite right
+about the necessity for short skirts and thick boots. We stood on the
+edge of a ploughed field, which we had to cross afterward on our way
+home, and I didn't think it was possible to have such cakes of mud as
+we had on our boots. We scraped off some with sticks, but our boots
+were so heavy with what remained that the walk home was tiring.
+
+Mme. A. was standing at the hall-door when we arrived, and requested
+us not to come into the hall, but to go in by the lingerie entrance
+and up the back stairs, so I fancy we hadn't got much dirt off. I had
+a nice rest until 4.30, when I went down to the salon for tea. We had
+all changed our outdoor garments and got into rather smart day dresses
+(none of those ladies wore tea-gowns). The men appeared about five;
+some of them came into the salon notwithstanding their muddy boots,
+and then came the livre de chasse and the recapitulation of the game,
+which is always most amusing. Everyman counted more pieces than his
+beater had found.
+
+The dinner and evening were pleasant, the guests changing a little.
+Two of the original party went off before dinner, two others arrived,
+one of them a Cabinet minister (Finances). He was very clever and
+defended himself well when his policy was freely criticised. While we
+women were alone after dinner, Mme. A. showed me how to make crochet
+petticoats. She gave me a crochet-needle and some wool and had
+wonderful patience, for it seemed a most arduous undertaking to me,
+and all my rows were always crooked; however, I did learn, and have
+made hundreds since. All the children in our village pull up their
+little frocks and show me their crochet petticoats whenever we meet
+them. They are delighted to have them, for those we make are of good
+wool (not laine de bienfaisance, which is stiff and coarse), and last
+much longer than those one buys.
+
+The second day was quite different. There was no shooting. We were
+left to our own devices until twelve o'clock breakfast. W. and I went
+for a short stroll in the park. We met M. A., who took us over the
+farm, all so well ordered and prosperous. After breakfast we had about
+an hour of salon before starting for the regular tournée de
+propriétaire through park and gardens. The three ladies--Mme. A., her
+daughter, and daughter-in-law--had beautiful work. Mme. A. was making
+portières for her daughter's room, a most elaborate pattern, reeds and
+high plants, a very large piece of work; the other two had also very
+complicated work--one a table-cover, velvet, heavily embroidered, the
+other a church ornament (almost all the Frenchwomen of a certain monde
+turn their wedding dresses, usually of white satin, into a priest's
+vêtement). The Catholic priests have all sorts of vestments which they
+wear on different occasions; purple in Lent, red on any martyr's fête,
+white for all the fêtes of the Virgin. Some of the churches are very
+rich with chasubles and altar-cloths trimmed with fine old lace, which
+have been given to them. It looks funny sometimes to see a very
+ordinary country curé, a farmer's son, with a heavy peasant face,
+wearing one of those delicate white-satin chasubles.
+
+Before starting to join the shooters at breakfast Mme. A. took me all
+over the house. It is really a beautiful establishment, very large,
+and most comfortable. Quantities of pictures and engravings, and
+beautiful Empire furniture. There is quite a large chapel at the end
+of the corridor on the ground-floor, where they have mass every
+Sunday. The young couple have a charming installation, really a small
+house, in one of the wings--bedrooms, dressing-rooms, boudoir, cabinet
+de travail, and a separate entrance--so that M. A. can receive any one
+who comes to see him on business without having them pass through the
+château. Mme. A. has her rooms on the ground-floor at the other end of
+the house. Her sitting-room with glass door opens into a winter garden
+filled with plants, which gives on the park; her bedroom is on the
+other side, looking on the court-yard; a large library next it, light
+and space everywhere, plenty of servants, everything admirably
+arranged.
+
+The evening mail goes out at 7.30, and every evening at seven exactly
+the letter-carrier came down the corridor knocking at all the doors
+and asking for letters. He had stamps, too, at least _French_ stamps.
+I could never get a foreign stamp (twenty-five centimes)--had to put
+one of fifteen and two of five when I had a foreign letter. I don't
+really think there were any in the country. I don't believe they had a
+foreign correspondent of any description. It was a thoroughly French
+establishment of the best kind.
+
+We walked about the small park and gardens in the afternoon. The
+gardens are enormous; one can drive through them. Mme. A. drove in her
+pony carriage. They still had some lovely late roses which filled me
+with envy--ours were quite finished.
+
+The next day was not quite so fine, gray and misty, but a good
+shooting day, no wind. We joined the gentlemen for lunch in another
+pavilion farther away and rather more open than the one of the other
+day. However, we were warm enough with our coats on, a good fire
+burning, and hot bricks for our feet. The battues (aux échelles) that
+day were quite a new experience for me. I had never seen anything like
+it. The shooters were placed in a semicircle, not very far apart. Each
+man was provided with a high double ladder. The men stood on the top
+(the women seated themselves on the rungs of the ladders and hung on
+as well as they could). I went the first time with W., and he made me
+so many recommendations that I was quite nervous. I mustn't sit too
+high up or I would gêner him, as he was obliged to shoot down for the
+rabbits; and I mustn't sit too near the ground, or I might get a shot
+in the ankles from one of the other men. I can't say it was an
+absolute pleasure. The seat (if seat it could be called) was anything
+but comfortable, and the detonation of the gun just over my head was
+decidedly trying; still it was a novelty, and if the other women could
+stand it I could.
+
+For the second battue I went with Comte de B. That was rather worse,
+for he shot much oftener than W., and I was quite distracted with the
+noise of the gun. We were nearer the other shooters, too, and I
+fancied their aim was very near my ankles. It was a pretty view from
+the top of the ladder. I climbed up when the battues were over. We
+looked over the park and through the trees, quite bare and stripped of
+their leaves, on the great plains, with hardly a break of wood or
+hills, stretching away to the horizon. The ground was thickly carpeted
+with red and yellow leaves, little columns of smoke rising at
+intervals where people were burning weeds or rotten wood in the
+fields; and just enough purple mist to poetize everything. B. is a
+very careful shot. I was with him the first day at a rabbit battue
+where we were placed rather near each other, and every man was asked
+to keep quite to his own place and to shoot straight before him. After
+one or two shots B. stepped back and gave his gun to his servant. I
+asked what was the matter. He showed me the man next, evidently not
+used to shooting, who was walking up and down, shooting in every
+direction, and as fast as he could cram the cartridges into his gun.
+So he stepped back into the alley and waited until the battue was
+over.
+
+The party was much smaller that night at dinner. Every one went away
+but W. and me. The talk was most interesting--all about the war, the
+first days of the Assemblée Nationale at Bordeaux, and the famous
+visit of the Comte de Chambord to Versailles, when the Maréchal de
+MacMahon, President of the Republic, refused to see him. I told them
+of my first evening visit to Mme. Thiers, the year I was married. Mme.
+Thiers lived in a big gloomy house in the Place St. Georges, and
+received every evening. M. Thiers, who was a great worker all his life
+and a very early riser, always took a nap at the end of the day. The
+ladies (Mlle. Dosne, a sister of Mme. Thiers, lived with them)
+unfortunately had not that good habit. They took their little sleep
+after dinner. We arrived there (it was a long way from us, we lived
+near the Arc de l'Étoile) one evening a little before ten. There were
+already four or five men, no ladies. We were shown into a large
+drawing-room, M. Thiers standing with his back to the fireplace, the
+centre of a group of black coats. He was very amiable, said I would
+find Mme. Thiers in a small salon just at the end of the big one; told
+W. to join their group, he had something to say to him, and I passed
+on. I did find Mme. Thiers and Mlle. Dosne in the small salon at the
+other end, both asleep, each in an arm-chair. I was really
+embarrassed. They didn't hear me coming in, and were sleeping quite
+happily and comfortably. I didn't like to go back to the other salon,
+where there were only men, so I sat down on a sofa and looked about
+me, and tried to feel as if it was quite a natural occurrence to be
+invited to come in the evening and to find my hostess asleep. After a
+few minutes I heard the swish of a satin dress coming down the big
+salon and a lady appeared, very handsome and well dressed, whom I
+didn't know at all. She evidently was accustomed to the state of
+things; she looked about her smilingly, then came up to me, called me
+by name, and introduced herself, Mme. A. the wife of an admiral whom I
+often met afterward. She told me not to mind, there wasn't the
+slightest intention of rudeness, that both ladies would wake up in a
+few minutes quite unconscious of having really slept. We talked about
+ten minutes, not lowering our voices particularly. Suddenly Mme.
+Thiers opened her eyes, was wide awake at once--how quietly we must
+have come in; she had only just closed her eyes for a moment, the
+lights tired her, etc. Mlle. Dosne said the same thing, and then we
+went on talking easily enough. Several more ladies came in, but only
+two or three men. _They_ all remained in the farther room talking, or
+rather listening, to M. Thiers. He was already a very old man, and
+when he began to talk no one interrupted him; it was almost a
+monologue. I went back several times to the Place St. Georges, but
+took good care to go later, so that the ladies should have their nap
+over. One of the young diplomat's wives had the same experience,
+rather worse, for when the ladies woke up they didn't know her. She
+was very shy, spent a wretched ten minutes before they woke, and was
+too nervous to name herself. She was half crying when her husband came
+to the rescue.
+
+We left the next morning early, as W. had people coming to him in the
+afternoon. I enjoyed my visit thoroughly, and told them afterward of
+my misgivings and doubts as to how I should get along with strangers
+for two or three days. I think they had rather the same feeling. They
+were very old friends of my husband's, and though they received me
+charmingly from the first, it brought a foreign and new element into
+their circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another interesting old château, most picturesque, with towers, moat,
+and drawbridge, is Lorrey-le-Bocage, belonging to the Comte de S. It
+stands very well, in a broad moat--the water clear and rippling and
+finishing in a pretty little stream that runs off through the meadows.
+The place is beautifully kept--gardens, lawns, courts, in perfect
+order. It has no particular _historic_ interest for the family, having
+been bought by the parents of the present owner.
+
+I was there, the first time, in very hot weather, the 14th of July
+(the French National fête commemorating the fall of the Bastille). I
+went for a stroll in the park the morning after I arrived, but I
+collapsed under a big tree at once--hadn't the energy to move.
+Everything looked so hot and not a breath of air anywhere. The moat
+looked glazed--so absolutely still under the bright summer sun--big
+flies were buzzing and skimming over the surface, and the flowers and
+plants were drooping in their beds.
+
+Inside it was delightful, the walls so thick that neither heat nor
+cold could penetrate. The house is charming. The big drawing-room--where
+we always sat--was a large, bright room with windows on each side and
+lovely views over park and gardens; and all sorts of family portraits
+and souvenirs dating from Louis XV to the Comte de Paris. The men of
+the family--all ardent Royalists--have been, for generations,
+distinguished as soldiers and statesmen.
+
+One of them--a son of the famous Maréchal de S, brought up in the last
+years of the reign of Louis XV--carried his youthful ardour and dreams
+of liberty to America and took part, as did so many of the young
+French nobles, in the great struggle for independence that was being
+fought out on the other side of the Atlantic. Soon after his return to
+France he was named Ambassador to Russia to the court of Catherine II,
+and was supposed to have been very much in the good graces of that
+very pleasure-loving sovereign. He accompanied her on her famous trip
+to the Crimea, arranged for her by her minister and favourite,
+Potemkin--when fairy villages, with happy populations singing and
+dancing, sprang up in the road wherever she passed as if by
+magic--quite dispelling her ideas of the poverty and oppression of
+some of her subjects.
+
+Among the portraits there is a miniature of the Empress Catherine. It
+is a fine, strongly marked face. She wears a high fur cap--a sort of
+military pelisse with lace jabots and diamond star. The son of the
+Maréchal, also soldier and courtier, was aide-de-camp to Napoleon and
+made almost all his campaigns with him. His description of the Russian
+campaign and the retreat of the "Grande Armée" from Moscow is one of
+the most graphic and interesting that has ever been written of those
+awful days. His memoirs are quite charming. Childhood and early youth
+passed in the country in all the agonies of the Terror--simply and
+severely brought up in an atmosphere absolutely hostile to any
+national or popular movement.
+
+The young student, dreaming of a future and regeneration for France,
+arrived one day in Paris, where an unwonted stir denoted that
+something was going on. He heard and saw the young Republican General
+Bonaparte addressing some regiments. He marked the proud bearing of
+the men--even the recruits--and in an explosion of patriotism his
+vocation was decided. He enlisted at once in the Republican ranks. It
+was a terrible decision to confide to his family, and particularly to
+his grandfather, the old Maréchal de S. a glorious veteran of many
+campaigns and an ardent Royalist. His father approved, although it was
+a terrible falling off from all the lessons and examples of his
+family--but it was a difficult confession to make to the Maréchal. I
+will give the scene in his own words (translated, of course--the
+original is in French).
+
+"I was obliged to return to Châlenoy to relate my 'coup-de-tête' to my
+grandfather. I arrived early in the morning and approached his bed in
+the most humble attitude. He said to me, very sharply, 'You have been
+unfaithful to all the traditions of your ancestors--but it is done.
+Remember that you have enlisted voluntarily in the Republican army;
+serve it frankly and loyally, for your decision is made, you cannot
+now go back on it.' Then seeing the tears running down my cheeks (he
+too was moved), and taking my hand with the only one he had left, he
+drew me to him and pressed me on his heart. Then giving me seventy
+louis (it was all he had), he added, 'This will help you to complete
+your equipment--go, and at least carry bravely and faithfully, under
+the flag it has pleased you to choose, the name you bear and the
+honour of your family.'"
+
+The present Count, too, has played a part in politics in these
+troublous times, when decisions were almost as hard to take, and one
+was torn between the desire to do something for one's country and the
+difficulty of detaching oneself from old traditions and memories.
+People whose grandfathers have died on the scaffold can hardly be
+expected to be enthusiastic about the Republic and the Marseillaise.
+Yet if the nation wants the Republic, and every election accentuates
+that opinion, it is very difficult to fight against the current.
+
+When I first married, just after the Franco-Prussian War, there seemed
+some chance of the moderate men, on both sides, joining in a common
+effort against the radical movement, putting themselves at the head of
+it and in that way directing and controlling--but very soon the
+different sections in parliament defined themselves so sharply that
+any sort of compromise was difficult. My host was named deputy,
+immediately after the war, and though by instinct, training, and
+association a Royalist and a personal friend of the Orléans family, he
+was one of a small group of liberal-patriotic deputies who might have
+supported loyally a moderate Republic had the other Republicans not
+made their position untenable. There was an instinctive, unreasonable
+distrust of any of the old families whose names and antecedents had
+kept them apart from any republican movement.
+
+We had pleasant afternoons in the big drawing-room. In the morning we
+did what we liked. The Maîtresse de Maison never appeared in the
+drawing-room till the twelve o'clock breakfast. I used to see her from
+my window, coming and going--sometimes walking, when she was making
+the round of the farm and garden, oftener in her little pony carriage
+and occasionally in the automobile of her niece, who was staying in
+the house. She occupied herself very much with all the village--old
+people and children, everybody. After breakfast we used to sit
+sometimes in the drawing-room--the two ladies working, the Comte de S.
+reading his paper and telling us anything interesting he found there.
+Both ladies had most artistic work--Mme. de S. a church ornament,
+white satin ground with raised flowers and garlands, stretched, of
+course, on the large embroidery frames they all use. Her niece,
+Duchesse d'E., had quite another "installation" in one of the
+windows--a table with all sorts of delicate little instruments. She
+was book-binding--doing quite lovely things in imitation of the old
+French binding. It was a work that required most delicate
+manipulation, but she seemed to do it quite easily. I was rather
+humiliated with my little knit petticoats--very hot work it is on a
+blazing July day.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE HOME OF LAFAYETTE
+
+
+La Grange was looking its loveliest when I arrived the other day. It
+was a bright, beautiful October afternoon and the first glimpse of the
+château was most picturesque. It was all the more striking as the run
+down from Paris was so ugly and commonplace. The suburbs of Paris
+around the Gare de l'Est--the Plain of St. Denis and all the small
+villages, with kitchen gardens, rows of green vegetables under glass
+"cloches"--are anything but interesting. It was not until we got near
+Gréty and alongside of Ferrières, the big Rothschild place, that we
+seemed to be in the country. The broad green alleys of the park, with
+the trees just changing a little, were quite charming. Our station was
+Verneuil l'Etang, a quiet little country station dumped down in the
+middle of the fields, and a drive of about fifty minutes brought us to
+the château. The country is not at all pretty, always the same
+thing--great cultivated fields stretching off on each side of the
+road--every now and then a little wood or clump of trees. One does not
+see the château from the high road.
+
+We turned off sharply to the left and at the end of a long avenue saw
+the house, half hidden by the trees. The entrance through a low
+archway, flanked on each side by high round towers covered with ivy,
+is most picturesque. The château is built around three sides of a
+square court-yard, the other side looking straight over broad green
+meadows ending in a background of wood. A moat runs almost all around
+the house--a border of salvias making a belt of colour which is most
+effective. We found the family--Marquis and Marquise de Lasteyrie and
+their two sons--waiting at the hall door. The Marquis, great-grandson
+of the General Marquis de Lafayette, is a type of the well-born,
+courteous French gentleman (one of the most attractive types, to my
+mind, that one can meet anywhere). There is something in perfectly
+well-bred French people of a certain class that one never sees in any
+other nationality. Such refinement and charm of manner--a great desire
+to put every one at their ease and to please the person with whom they
+are thrown for the moment. That, after all, is all one cares for in
+the casual acquaintances one makes in society. From friends, of
+course, we want something deeper and more lasting, but life is too
+short to find out the depth and sterling qualities of the world in
+general.
+
+The Marquise is an Englishwoman, a cousin of her husband, their common
+ancestor being the Duke of Leinster; clever, cultivated, hospitable,
+and very large minded, which has helped her very much in her married
+life in France during our troubled epoch, when religious questions and
+political discussions do so much to embitter personal relations. The
+two sons are young and gay, doing the honours of their home simply and
+with no pose of any kind. There were two English couples staying in
+the house.
+
+We had tea in the dining-room downstairs--a large room with panels and
+chimney-piece of dark carved wood. Two portraits of men in armour
+stand out well from the dark background. There is such a wealth of
+pictures, engravings, and tapestries all over the house that one
+cannot take it all in at first. The two drawing-rooms on the first
+floor are large and comfortable, running straight through the house;
+the end room in the tower--a round room with windows on all sides--quite
+charming. The contrast between the modern--English--comforts (low,
+wide chairs, writing-table, rugs, cushions, and centre-table covered
+with books in all languages, a very rare thing in a French château,
+picture papers, photographs, etc.) and the straight-backed,
+spindle-legged old furniture and stiff, old-fashioned ladies and
+gentlemen, looking down from their heavy gold frames, is very
+attractive. There is none of the formality and look of not being lived
+in which one sees in so many French salons, and yet it is not at all
+modern. One never loses for a moment the feeling of being in an old
+château-fort.
+
+It was so pretty looking out of my bedroom window this morning. It was
+a bright, beautiful autumn day, the grass still quite green. Some of
+the trees changing a little, the yellow leaves quite golden in the
+sun. There are many American trees in the park--a splendid Virginia
+Creeper, and a Gloire de Dijon rose-bush, still full of bloom, were
+sprawling over the old gray walls. Animals of all kinds were walking
+about the court-yard; some swans and a lame duck, which had wandered
+up from the moat, standing on the edge and looking about with much
+interest; a lively little fox-terrier, making frantic dashes at
+nothing; one of the sons starting for a shoot with gaiters and
+game-bag, and his gun over his shoulder, his dog at his heels
+expectant and eager. Some of the guests were strolling about and from
+almost all the windows--wide open to let in the warm morning
+sun--there came cheerful greetings.
+
+I went for a walk around the house before breakfast. There are five
+large round towers covered with ivy--the walls extraordinarily
+thick--the narrow little slits for shooting with arrows and the round
+holes for cannon balls tell their own story of rough feudal life. On
+one side of the castle there is a large hole in the wall, made by a
+cannon ball sent by Turenne. He was passing one day and asked to whom
+the château belonged. On hearing that the owner was the Maréchal de la
+Feuillade, one of his political adversaries, he sent a cannon ball as
+a souvenir of his passage, and the gap has never been filled up.
+
+I went all over the house later with the Marquis de Lasteyrie. Of
+course, what interested me most was Lafayette's private
+apartments--bedroom and library--the latter left precisely as it was
+during Lafayette's lifetime; bookcases filled with his books in their
+old-fashioned bindings, running straight around the walls and a
+collection of manuscripts and autograph letters from kings and queens
+of France and most of the celebrities of the days of the Valois--among
+them several letters from Catherine de Medicis, Henry IV, and la Reine
+Margot. One curious one from Queen Margot in which she explains to the
+Vicomte de Chabot (ancestor of my host) that she was very much
+preoccupied in looking out for a wife for him with a fine dot, but
+that it was always difficult to find a rich heiress for a poor
+seigneur.
+
+There are also autographs of more modern days, among which is a letter
+from an English prince to the Vicomte de Chabot (grandfather of the
+Marquis de Lasteyrie), saying that he loses no time in telling him of
+the birth of a very fine little girl. He certainly never realized when
+he wrote that letter what would be the future of his baby daughter.
+The writer was the Duke of Kent--the fine little girl, Queen Victoria.
+
+In a deep window-seat in one corner, overlooking the farm, is the
+writing-table of Lafayette. In the drawers are preserved several books
+of accounts, many of the items being in his handwriting. Also his
+leather arm-chair (which was exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair),
+and a horn or speaking-trumpet through which he gave his orders to the
+farm hands from the window. The library opened into his bedroom--now
+the boudoir of the Marquise de Lasteyrie--with a fine view over moat
+and meadow. In this room there have been many changes, but the old
+doors of carved oak still remain.
+
+There are many interesting family portraits--one of the father of
+Lafayette, killed at Minden, leaving his young son to be brought up by
+two aunts, whose portraits are on either side of the fireplace.
+
+It is curious to see the two portraits of the same epoch so absolutely
+unlike. Mme. de Chavagnac, an old lady, very simply dressed, almost
+Puritanical, with a white muslin fichu over her plain black silk
+dress--the other, Mademoiselle de Lafayette, in the court dress of the
+time of Louis XVI, pearls and roses in the high, powdered coiffure and
+a bunch of orange flowers on one shoulder, to indicate that she was
+not a married woman.
+
+There were pictures and souvenirs of all the Orléans family--the
+Lasteyries having been always faithful and devoted friends of those
+unfortunate princes; a charming engraving of the Comte de Paris, a
+noble looking boy in all the bravery of white satin and feathers--the
+original picture is in the possession of the Duc de Chartres. It was
+sad to realize when one looked at the little prince with his bright
+eyes and proud bearing, that the end of his life would be so
+melancholy--exile and death in a foreign land.
+
+There are all sorts of interesting pictures and engravings scattered
+about the house in the numberless corridors and anterooms. One most
+interesting and very rare print represents a review at Potsdam held by
+Frederick the Great. Two conspicuous figures are the young Marquis de
+Lafayette in powdered wig and black silk ribbon, and the English
+General Lord Cornwallis, destined to meet as adversaries many years
+later during the American Revolution. There are many family pictures
+on the great stone staircase, both French and English, the Marquis de
+Lasteyrie, on the maternal side, being a great-grandson of the Duke of
+Leinster. Some of the English portraits are very charming, quite
+different from the French pictures.
+
+In the centre panel is the well-known portrait of Lafayette by Ary
+Scheffer--not in uniform--no trace of the dashing young soldier; a
+middle-aged man in a long fur coat, hat and stick in his hand;
+looking, as one can imagine he did when he settled down, after his
+brilliant and eventful career, to the simple patriarchal life at La
+Grange, surrounded by devoted children, grandchildren, and friends.
+
+We were interrupted long before I had seen all the interesting part of
+the house and its contents, as it was time to start for La Houssaye,
+where all the party were expected at tea. We went off in three
+carriages--quite like a "noce," as the Marquise remarked. The drive
+(about an hour) was not particularly interesting. We were in the heart
+of the great agricultural district and drove through kilometres of
+planted fields--no hills and few woods.
+
+We came rather suddenly on the château, which stands low, like all
+châteaux surrounded by moats, turning directly from the little village
+into the park, which is beautifully laid out with fine old trees. We
+had glimpses of a lovely garden as we drove up to the house, and of
+two old towers--one round and one square. The château stands well--a
+very broad moat, almost a river, running straight around the house and
+gardens. We crossed the drawbridge, which always gives me a sensation
+of old feudal times and recalls the days of my childhood when I used
+to sit under the sickle-pear tree at "Cherry Lawn" reading Scott's
+"Marmion"--"Up drawbridge, grooms--what, Warder, ho! Let the
+portcullis fall!" wondering what a "portcullis" was, and if I should
+ever see one or even a château-fort.
+
+La Houssaye is an old castle built in the eleventh century, but has
+passed through many vicissitudes. All that remains of the original
+building are the towers and the foundations. It was restored in the
+sixteenth century and has since remained unchanged. During the French
+Revolution the family of the actual proprietor installed themselves in
+one of the towers and lived there many long weary weeks, never daring
+to venture out, show any lights, or give any sign of life--in daily
+terror of being discovered and dragged to Paris before the dreaded
+revolutionary tribunals. Later it was given, by Napoleon, to the
+Marshall Augereau, who died there. It has since been in the family of
+the present proprietor, Monsieur de Mimont, who married an American,
+Miss Forbes.
+
+The rain, which had been threatening all the afternoon, came down in
+torrents just as we crossed the drawbridge, much to the disappointment
+of our host and hostess, who were anxious to show us their garden,
+which is famous in all the countryside. However, in spite of the
+driving rain, we caught glimpses through the windows of splendid
+parterres of salvias and cannas, making great spots of colour in a
+beautiful bit of smooth green lawn. In old days the château was much
+bigger, stretching out to the towers. Each successive proprietor has
+diminished the buildings, and the present château, at the back, stands
+some little distance from the moat, the vacant space being now
+transformed into their beautiful gardens.
+
+We only saw the ground-floor of the house, which is most comfortable.
+We left our wraps in the large square hall and passed through one
+drawing-room and a small library into another, which is charming--a
+corner room looking on the gardens--the walls, panels of light gray
+wood, prettily carved with wreaths and flowers.
+
+We had tea in the dining-room on the other side of the hall; a curious
+room, rather, with red brick walls and two old narrow doors of carved
+oak. The tea--most abundant--was very acceptable after our long damp
+drive. One dish was rather a surprise--American waffles--not often to
+be found, I imagine, in an old French feudal castle, but Madame de
+Mimont's nationality explained it. I was very sorry not to see the
+park which is beautifully laid out, but the rain was falling straight
+down as hard as it could--almost making waves in the moat, and a
+curtain of mist cut off the end of the park.
+
+Our dinner and evening at La Grange were delightful. The dining-room
+is particularly charming at night. The flowers on the table, this
+evening, were red, and the lights from the handsome silver candélabres
+made a brilliant spot of warmth and colour against the dark panelled
+walls--just shining on the armour of the fine Ormond portraits hanging
+on each side of the fireplace. The talk was always easy and pleasant.
+
+One of the guests, the naval attache to the British Embassy to France,
+had been "en mission" at Madrid at the time of the Spanish Royal
+marriage. The balcony of the English Embassy overlooked the spot where
+the bomb was thrown. In eighty-five seconds from the time they heard
+the detonation (in the first second they thought it was a salute), the
+Ambassador, followed by his suite, was at the door of the royal
+carriage. He said the young sovereigns looked very pale but calm; the
+king, perhaps, more agitated than the Queen.
+
+We finished the evening with music and dumb crambo--that particularly
+English form of amusement, which I have never seen well done except by
+English people. It always fills me with astonishment whenever I see
+it. It is so at variance with the English character. They are usually
+so very shy and self-conscious. One would never believe they could
+throw themselves into this really childish game with so much entrain.
+The performance is simple enough. Some of the company retire from the
+drawing-room; those who remain choose a word--chair, hat, cat, etc.
+This evening the word was "mat." We told the two actors--Mrs. P. and
+the son of the house--they must act (nothing spoken) a word which
+rhymed with _hat_. I will say they found it very quickly, but some of
+their attempts were funny enough--really very cleverly done. It amused
+me perfectly, though I must frankly confess I should have been
+incapable of either acting or guessing the word. The only one I made
+out was fat, when they both came in so stuffed out with pillows and
+bolsters as to be almost unrecognizable. The two dogs--a beautiful
+little fox-terrier and a fine collie--went nearly mad, barking and
+yapping every time the couple appeared--their excitement reaching a
+climax when the actors came in and stretched themselves out on each
+side of the door, having finally divined the word mat. The dogs made
+such frantic dashes at them that M. and Mme. de Lasteyrie had to carry
+them off bodily.
+
+The next morning I went for a walk with M. de Lasteyrie. We strolled
+up and down the "Allée des Soupirs," so called in remembrance of one
+of the early chatelaines who trailed her mourning robes and widow's
+veil over the fallen leaves, bemoaning her solitude until a favoured
+suitor appeared on the scene and carried her away to his distant
+home--but the Allée still retains its name.
+
+The park is small, but very well laid out. Many of the memoirs of the
+time speak of walks and talks with Lafayette under the beautiful
+trees.
+
+During the last years of Lafayette's life, La Grange was a
+cosmopolitan centre. Distinguished people from all countries came
+there, anxious to see the great champion of liberty; among them many
+Americans, who always found a gracious, cordial welcome; one silent
+guest--a most curious episode which I will give in the words of the
+Marquis de Lasteyrie:
+
+"One American, however, in Lafayette's own time, came on a lonely
+pilgrimage to La Grange; he was greeted with respect, but of that
+greeting he took no heed. He was a silent guest, nor has he left any
+record of his impressions; in fact, he was dead before starting on his
+journey. He arrived quite simply one fine autumn morning, in his
+coffin, accompanied by a letter which said: 'William Summerville,
+having the greatest admiration for the General Lafayette, begs he will
+bury him in his land at La Grange.' This, being against the law, could
+not be done, but Lafayette bought the whole of the small cemetery of
+the neighbouring village and laid the traveller from over the sea to
+rest in his ground indeed, though not under one of the many American
+trees at La Grange itself, of which the enthusiastic wanderer had
+probably dreamed."
+
+They told me many interesting things, too long to write, about the
+last years of Lafayette's life spent principally at La Grange. A
+charming account of that time and the lavish hospitality of the
+château is given by Lady Morgan, in her well-known "Diary." Some of
+her descriptions are most amusing; the arrival, for instance, of Lady
+Holland at the home of the Republican General. "She is always preceded
+by a fourgon from London containing her own favourite meubles of
+Holland House--her bed, fauteuil, carpet, etc., and divers other
+articles too numerous to mention, but which enter into her Ladyship's
+superfluchoses très nécessaires, at least to a grande dame one of her
+female attendants and a groom of the chambers precede her to make all
+ready for her reception. However, her original manner, though it
+startles the French ladies, amuses them."
+
+Her Irish ladyship (Lady Morgan) seems to have been troubled by no
+shyness in asking questions of the General. She writes: "Is it true,
+General, I asked, that you once went to a bal masque at the opera with
+the Queen of France--Marie Antoinette--leaning on your arm, the King
+knowing nothing of the matter till her return? I am afraid so, said
+he. She was so indiscreet, and I can conscientiously add--so innocent.
+However, the Comte d'Artois was also of the party, and we were all
+young, enterprising, and pleasure-loving. But what is most absurd in
+the adventure was that, when I pointed out Mme. du Barry to her--whose
+figure and favourite domino I knew--the Queen expressed the most
+anxious desire to hear her speak and bade me intriguer her. She
+answered me flippantly, and I am sure if I had offered her my other
+arm, the Queen would not have objected to it. Such was the esprit
+d'aventure at that time in the court of Versailles and in the head of
+the haughty daughter of Austria."
+
+I remember quite well the parents of my host. The Marquise, a type of
+the grande dame, with blue eyes and snow white hair survived her
+husband many years. During the war of 1870 they, like many other
+châtelains, had Prussian soldiers in their house. The following
+characteristic anecdote of the Marquise was told to me by her son:
+
+"There are still to be seen at La Grange two little cannon which
+had been given to Lafayette by the Garde Nationale. One December
+morning, in 1870, when the house was full of German troops, Madame de
+Lasteyrie was awakened by a noise under the archway, and looking out
+of her window saw, in the dim light, the two guns being carried off by
+the German soldiers. In an instant, her bare feet hastily thrust into
+slippers, her hair like a long white mane hanging down her back, with
+a dressing gown thrown over her shoulders, she started in pursuit. She
+followed them about three miles and at last came upon them at the top
+of a hill. After much persuasion and after spiking the guns (in no
+case could they have done great damage), the soldiers were induced to
+give them up, and departed, leaving her alone in the frost and
+starlight waiting for the morning. She sat bare-footed (for she had
+lost her shoes) but triumphant on her small cannon in the deep snow
+till the day came and the farm people stole out and dragged them
+all--the old lady and the two guns--back to the house."
+
+I was sorry to go--the old château, with its walls and towers soft and
+grey in the sunlight, seems to belong absolutely to another century. I
+felt as if I had been transported a hundred years back and had lived a
+little of the simple patriarchal life that made such a beautiful end
+to Lafayette's long and eventful career. The present owner keeps up
+the traditions of his grandfather. I was thinking last night what a
+cosmopolitan group we were. Three or four different nationalities,
+speaking alternately the two languages--French and English--many of
+the party having travelled all over the world and all interested in
+politics, literature, and music; in a different way, perhaps, but
+quite as much as the "belles dames et beaux esprits" of a hundred
+years ago. Everything changes as time goes on (I don't know if I would
+say that _everything_ improves), but I carried away the same
+impression of a warm welcome and large hospitable life that every one
+speaks of who saw La Grange during Lafayette's life.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+WINTER AT THE CHATEAU
+
+
+We had a very cold winter one year--a great deal of snow, which froze
+as it fell and lay a long time on the hard ground. We woke up one
+morning in a perfectly still white world. It had snowed heavily during
+the night, and the house was surrounded by a glistening white carpet
+which stretched away to the "sapinette" at the top of the lawn without
+a speck or flaw. There was no trace of path or road, or little low
+shrubs, and even the branches of the big lime-trees were heavy with
+snow. It was a bright, beautiful day--blue sky and a not too pale
+winter sun. Not a vehicle of any kind had ventured out. In the middle
+of the road were footprints deep in the snow where evidently the
+keepers and some workmen had passed. Nothing and no one had arrived
+from outside, neither postman, butcher, nor baker. The chef was in a
+wild state; but I assured him we could get on with eggs and game, of
+which there was always a provision for one day at any rate.
+
+About eleven, Pauline and I started out. We thought we would go as far
+as the lodge and see what was going on on the highroad. We put on
+thick boots, gaiters and very short skirts, and had imagined we could
+walk in the footsteps of the keepers; but, of course, we couldn't take
+their long stride, and we floundered about in the snow. In some places
+where it had drifted we went in over our knees.
+
+There was nothing visible on the road--not a creature, absolute
+stillness; a line of footprints in the middle where some labourer had
+passed, and the long stretch of white fields, broken by lines of black
+poplars running straight away to the forest.
+
+While we were standing at the gate talking to old Antoine, who was all
+muffled up with a woollen comforter tied over his cap, and socks over
+his shoes, we saw a small moving object in the distance. As it came
+nearer we made out it was the postman, also so muffled up as to be
+hardly recognizable. He too had woollen socks over his shoes, and said
+the going was something awful, the "Montagne de Marolles" a sheet of
+ice; he had fallen twice, in spite of his socks and pointed stick. He
+said neither butcher nor baker would come--that no horse could get up
+the hill.
+
+We sent him into the kitchen to thaw, and have his breakfast. That was
+one also of the traditions of the château; the postman always
+breakfasted. On Sundays, when there was no second delivery, he brought
+his little girl and an accordion, and remained all the afternoon. He
+often got a lift back to La Ferté, when the carriage was going in to
+the station, or the chef to market in the donkey-cart. _Now_ many of
+the postmen have bicycles.
+
+We had a curious feeling of being quite cut off from the outside
+world. The children, Francis and Alice, were having a fine time in the
+stable-yard, where the men had made them two snow figures--man and
+woman (giants)--and they were pelting them with snowballs and tumbling
+headlong into the heaps of snow on each side of the gate, where a
+passage had been cleared for the horses.
+
+We thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little coasting and
+inaugurate a sled we had had made with great difficulty the year
+before. It was rather a long operation. The wheelwright at Marolles
+had never seen anything of the kind, had no idea _what_ we wanted.
+Fortunately Francis had a little sled which one of his cousins had
+sent him from America; and with that as a model, and many
+explanations, the wheelwright and the blacksmith produced really a
+very creditable sled--quite large, a seat for two in front, and one
+behind for the person who steered. Only when the sled was finished the
+snow had disappeared! It rarely lasts long in France.
+
+We had the sled brought out--the runners needed a little
+repairing--and the next day made our first attempt. There was not much
+danger of meeting anything. A sort of passage had been cleared, and
+gravel sprinkled in the middle of the road; but very few vehicles had
+passed, and the snow was as hard as ice. All the establishment
+"assisted" at the first trial, and the stable-boy accompanied us with
+the donkey who was to pull the sled up the hill.
+
+We had some little difficulty in starting, Pauline and I in front,
+Francis behind; but as soon as we got fairly on the slope the thing
+flew. Pauline was frightened to death, screaming, and wanted to get
+off; but I held her tight, and we landed in the ditch near the foot of
+the hill. Half-way down (the hill is steep but straight, one sees a
+great distance) Francis saw the diligence arriving; and as he was not
+quite sure of his steering-gear, he thought it was better to take no
+risks, and steered us straight into the ditch as hard as we could go.
+The sled upset; we all rolled off into the deep soft snow, lost our
+hats, and emerged quite white from head to foot.
+
+The diligence had stopped at the foot of the hill. There were only two
+men in it besides the driver, the old Père Jacques, who was
+dumbfounded when he recognized Madame Waddington. It seems they
+couldn't think what had happened. As they got to the foot of the hill,
+they saw a good many people at the gate of the château; then suddenly
+something detached itself from the group and rushed wildly down the
+hill. They thought it was an accident, some part of a carriage broken,
+and before they had time to collect their senses the whole thing
+collapsed in the ditch. The poor old man was quite disturbed--couldn't
+think we were not hurt, and begged us to get into the diligence and
+not trust ourselves again to such a dangerous vehicle. However we
+reassured him, and all walked up the hill together, the donkey pulling
+the sled, which was tied to him with a very primitive arrangement of
+ropes, the sled constantly swinging round and hitting him on the legs,
+which he naturally resented and kicked viciously.
+
+We amused ourselves very much as long as the snow lasted, about ten
+days--coasted often, and made excursions to the neighbouring villages
+with the sled and the donkey. We wanted to skate, but that was not
+easy to arrange, as the ponds and "tourbières" near us were very deep,
+and I was afraid to venture with the children. I told Hubert, the
+coachman, who knew the country well, to see what he could find. He
+said there was a very good pond in the park of the château of La
+Ferté, and he was sure the proprietor, an old man who lived there by
+himself, would be quite pleased to let us come there.
+
+The old gentleman was most amiable--begged we would come as often as
+we liked--merely making one condition, that we should have a man on
+the bank (the pond was only about a foot deep) with a rope in case of
+accidents.... We went there nearly every afternoon, and made quite a
+comfortable "installation" on the bank: a fire, rugs, chairs and a
+very good little goûter, the grocer's daughter bringing us hot wine
+and biscuits from the town.
+
+It was a perfect sight for La Ferté. The whole town came to look at
+us, and the carters stopped their teams on the road to look on--one
+day particularly when one of our cousins, Maurice de Bunsen,[3] was
+staying with us. He skated beautifully, doing all sorts of figures,
+and his double eights and initials astounded the simple country folk.
+For some time after they spoke of "l'Anglais" who did such wonderful
+things on the ice.
+
+  [3] To-day British Embassador at Madrid.
+
+They were bad days for the poor. We used to meet all the children
+coming back from school when we went home. The poor little things
+toiled up the steep, slippery hill, with often a cold wind that must
+have gone through the thin worn-out jackets and shawls they had for
+all covering, carrying their satchels and remnants of dinner. Those
+that came from a distance always brought their dinner with them,
+generally a good hunk of bread and a piece of chocolate, the poorer
+ones bread alone, very often only a stale hard crust that couldn't
+have been very nourishing. They were a very poor lot at our little
+village, St. Quentin, and we did all we could in the way of warm
+stockings and garments; but the pale, pinched faces rather haunted me,
+and Henrietta and I thought we would try and arrange with the school
+mistress who was wife of one of the keepers, to give them a hot plate
+of soup every day during the winter months. W., who knew his people
+well, rather discouraged us--said they all had a certain sort of
+pride, notwithstanding their poverty, and might perhaps be offended at
+being treated like tramps or beggars; but we could try if we liked.
+
+We got a big kettle at La Ferté, and the good Mère Cécile of the Asile
+lent us the tin bowls, also telling us we wouldn't be able to carry
+out our plan. She had tried at the Asile, but it didn't go; the
+children didn't care about the soup--liked the bread and chocolate
+better. It was really a curious experience. I am still astonished when
+I think of it. The soup was made at the head-keeper's cottage,
+standing on the edge of the woods.
+
+We went over the first day about eleven o'clock--a cold, clear day, a
+biting wind blowing down the valley. The children were all assembled,
+waiting impatiently for us to come. The soup was smoking in a big pot
+hung high over the fire. We, of course, tasted it, borrowing two bowls
+from the children and asking Madame Labbey to cut us two pieces of
+bread, the children all giggling and rather shy. The soup was very
+good, and we were quite pleased to think that the poor little things
+should have something warm in their stomachs. The first depressing
+remark was made by our own coachman on the way home. His little
+daughter was living at the keeper's. I said to him, "I did not see
+Celine with the other children." "Oh, no, Madame; she wasn't there. We
+pay for the food at Labbey's; she doesn't need charity."
+
+The next day, equally cold, about half the children came (there were
+only twenty-seven in the school); the third, five or six, rather
+shamefaced; the fourth, not one; and at the end of the week the
+keeper's wife begged us to stop the distribution; all the parents were
+hurt at the idea of their children receiving _public_ charity from
+Madame Waddington. She had thought some of the very old people of the
+village might like what was left; but no one came except some tramps
+and rough-looking men who had heard there was food to be had, and they
+made her very nervous prowling around the house when she was alone,
+her husband away all day in the woods.
+
+W. was amused--not at all surprised--said he was quite sure we
+shouldn't succeed, but it was just as well to make our own experience.
+We took our bowls back sadly to the Asile, where the good sister shook
+her head, saying, "Madame verra comme c'est difficile de faire du bien
+dans ce paysci; on ne pense qu'à s'amuser." And yet we saw the
+miserable little crusts of hard bread, and some of the boys in linen
+jackets over their skin, no shirt, and looking as if they had never
+had a good square meal in their lives.
+
+I had one other curious experience, and after that I gave up trying
+anything that was a novelty or that they hadn't seen all their lives.
+The French peasant is really conservative; and if left to himself,
+with no cheap political papers or socialist orators haranguing in the
+cafes on the eternal topic of the rich and the poor, he would be quite
+content to go on leading the life he and his fathers have always
+led--would never want to destroy or change anything.
+
+I was staying one year with Lady Derby at Knowsley, in Christmas week,
+and I was present one afternoon when she was making her annual
+distribution of clothes to the village children. I was much pleased
+with some ulsters and some red cloaks she had for the girls. They were
+so pleased, too--broad smiles on their faces when they were called up
+and the cloaks put on their shoulders. They looked so warm and
+comfortable, when the little band trudged home across the snow. I had
+instantly visions of my school children attired in these cloaks,
+climbing our steep hills in the dark winter days.
+
+I had a long consultation with Lady Margaret Cecil, Lady Derby's
+daughter--a perfect saint, who spent all her life helping other
+people--and she gave me the catalogue of "Price Jones," a well-known
+Welsh shop whose "spécialité" was all sorts of clothes for country
+people, schools, workmen's families, etc. I ordered a large collection
+of red cloaks, ulsters, and flannel shirts at a very reasonable price,
+and they promised to send them in the late summer, so that we should
+find them when we went back to France.
+
+We found two large cases when we got home, and were quite pleased at
+all the nice warm cloaks we had in store for the winter.
+
+As soon as the first real cold days began, about the end of November,
+the women used to appear at the château asking for warm clothes for
+the children. The first one to come was the wife of the "garde de
+Borny"--a slight, pale woman, the mother of nine small children
+(several of them were members of the school at St. Quentin, who had
+declined our soup, and I rather had _their_ little pinched, bloodless
+faces in my mind when I first thought about it). She had three with
+her--a baby in her arms, a boy and a girl of six and seven, both
+bare-legged, the boy in an old worn-out jersey pulled over his chest,
+the girl in a ragged blue and white apron, a knitted shawl over her
+head and shoulders. The baby had a cloak. I don't believe there was
+much on underneath, and the mother was literally a bundle of rags, her
+skirt so patched one could hardly make out the original colour, and a
+wonderful cloak all frayed at the ends and with holes in every
+direction. However, they were all clean.
+
+The baby and the boy were soon provided for. The boy was much pleased
+with his flannel shirt. Then we produced the red cloak for the girl.
+The woman's face fell: "Oh, no, Madame, I couldn't take that; my
+little girl couldn't wear it." I, astounded: "But you don't see what
+it is--a good, thick cloak that will cover her all up and keep her
+warm." "Oh, no, Madame, she couldn't wear that; all the people on the
+road would laugh at her! Cela ne se porte pas dans notre pays" (that
+is not worn in our country).
+
+I explained that I had several, and that she would see all the other
+little girls with the same cloaks; but I got only the same answer,
+adding that Madame would see--no child would wear such a cloak. I was
+much disgusted--thought the woman was capricious; but she was
+perfectly right; not a single mother, and Heaven knows they were poor
+enough, would take a red cloak, and they all had to be transformed
+into red flannel petticoats. Every woman made me the same answer:
+"Every one on the road would laugh at them."
+
+I was not much luckier with the ulsters. What I had ordered for big
+girls of nine and ten would just go on girls of six and seven. Either
+French children are much stouter than English, or they wear thicker
+things underneath. Here again there was work to do--all the sleeves
+were much too long; my maids had to alter and shorten them, which they
+did with rather a bad grace.
+
+A most interesting operation that very cold year was taking ice out of
+the big pond at the foot of the hill. The ice was several inches
+thick, and beautifully clear in the middle of the pond; toward the
+edges the reeds and long grass had all got frozen into it, and it was
+rather difficult to get the big blocks out. We had one of the farm
+carts with a pair of strong horses, and three or four men with axes
+and a long pointed stick. It was so solid that we all stood on the
+pond while the men were cutting their first square hole in the middle.
+It was funny to see the fish swimming about under the ice.
+
+The whole village of course looked on, and the children were much
+excited, and wanted to come and slide on the ice, but I got nervous as
+the hole got bigger and the ice at the edges thinner, so we all
+adjourned to the road and watched operations from there.
+
+There were plenty of fish in the pond, and once a year it was
+thoroughly drained and cleaned--the water drawn off, and the bottom of
+the pond, which got choked up with mud and weeds, cleared out. They
+made a fine haul of fish on those occasions from the small pools that
+were left on each side while the cleaning was going on.
+
+Our ice-house was a godsend to all the countryside. Whenever any one
+was ill, and ice was wanted, they always came to the château. Our good
+old doctor was not at all in the movement as regarded fresh air and
+cold water, but ice he often wanted. He was a rough, kindly old man,
+quite the type of the country practitioner--a type that is also
+disappearing, like everything else. Everybody knew his cabriolet (with
+a box at the back where he kept his medicine chest and instruments),
+with a strong brown horse that trotted all day and all night up and
+down the steep hills in all weathers. A very small boy was always with
+him to hold the horse while he made his visits.
+
+Our doctor was very kind to the poor, and never refused to go out at
+night. It was funny to see him arrive on a cold day, enveloped in so
+many cloaks and woollen comforters that it took him some time to get
+out of his wraps. He had a gruff voice, and heavy black overhanging
+eyebrows which frightened people at first, but they soon found out
+what a kind heart there was beneath such a rough exterior, and the
+children loved him. He had always a box of liquorice lozenges in his
+waistcoat pocket which he distributed freely to the small ones.
+
+The country doctors about us now are a very different type--much
+younger men, many foreigners. There are two Russians and a Greek in
+some of the small villages near us. I believe they are very good. I
+met the Greek one day at the keeper's cottage. He was looking after
+the keeper's wife, who was very ill. It seemed funny to see a Greek,
+with one of those long Greek names ending in "popolo," in a poor
+little French village almost lost in the woods; but he made a very
+good impression on me--was very quiet, didn't give too much medicine
+(apothecaries' bills are always such a terror to the poor), and spoke
+kindly to the woman. He comes still in a cabriolet, but his Russian
+colleague has an automobile--indeed so have now many of the young
+French doctors. I think there is a little rivalry between the
+Frenchmen and the foreigners, but the latter certainly make their way.
+
+What is very serious now is the open warfare between the curé and the
+school-master. When I first married, the school-masters and mistresses
+took their children to church, always sat with them and kept them in
+order. The school-mistress sometimes played the organ. Now they not
+only don't go to church themselves, but they try to prevent the
+children from going. The result is that half the children don't go
+either to the church or to the catechism.
+
+I had a really annoying instance of this state of things one year when
+we wanted to make a Christmas tree and distribution of warm clothes at
+Montigny, a lonely little village not far from us. We talked it over
+with the curé and the school-master. They gave us the names and ages
+of all the children, and were both much pleased to have a fête in
+their quiet little corner. I didn't suggest a service in the church,
+as I thought that might perhaps be a difficulty for the school-master.
+
+Two days before the fête I had a visit from the curé of Montigny, who
+looked embarrassed and awkward; had evidently something on his mind,
+and finally blurted out that he was very sorry he couldn't be present
+at the Christmas tree, as he was obliged to go to Reims that day. I,
+much surprised and decidedly put out: "You are going to Reims the one
+day in the year when we come and make a fête in your village? It is
+most extraordinary, and surprises me extremely. The date has been
+fixed for weeks, and I hold very much to your being there."
+
+He still persisted, looking very miserable and uncomfortable, and
+finally said he was going away on purpose, so as not to be at the
+school-house. He liked the school-master very much, got on with him
+perfectly; he was intelligent and taught the children very well; but
+all school-masters who had anything to do with the Church or the curé
+were "malnotés." The mayor of Montigny was a violent radical; and
+surely if he heard that the curé was present at our fête in the
+school-house, the school-master would be dismissed the next day. The
+man was over thirty, with wife and children; it would be difficult for
+him to find any other employment; and he himself would regret him, as
+his successor might be much worse and fill the children's heads with
+impossible ideas.
+
+I was really very much vexed, and told him I would talk it over with
+my son and see what we could do. The poor little curé was much
+disappointed, but begged me not to insist upon his presence.
+
+A little later the school-master arrived, also very much embarrassed,
+saying practically the same thing--that he liked the curé very much.
+He never talked politics, nor interfered in any way with his
+parishioners. Whenever any one was ill or in trouble, he was always
+the first person to come forward and nurse and help. But he saw him
+very little. If I held to the curé being present at the Christmas
+tree, of course he could say nothing; but he would certainly be
+dismissed the next day. He was married--had nothing but his salary; it
+would be a terrible blow to him.
+
+I was very much perplexed, particularly as the time was short and I
+couldn't get hold of the mayor. So we called a family council--Henrietta
+and Francis were both at home--and decided that we must let our fête
+take place without the curé. The school-master was very grateful, and
+said he would take my letter to the post-office. I had to write to the
+curé to tell him what we had decided, and that he might go to Reims.
+
+One of our great amusements in the winter was the hunting. We knew
+very well the two gentlemen, Comtes de B. and de L., who hunted the
+Villers-Cotterets forest, and often rode with them. It was beautiful
+riding country--stretches of grass alongside the hard highroad, where
+one could have a capital canter, the only difficulty being the
+quantity of broad, low ditches made for the water to run off. Once the
+horses knew them they took them quite easily in their stride, but they
+were a little awkward to manage at first. The riding was very
+different from the Roman Campagna, which was my only experience. There
+was very little to jump; long straight alleys, with sometimes a big
+tree across the road, occasionally ditches; nothing like the very
+stiff fences and stone walls one meets in the Campagna, or the
+slippery bits of earth (tufa) where the horses used to slide sometimes
+in the most uncomfortable way. One could gallop for miles in the
+Villers-Cotterets forest with a loose rein. It was disagreeable
+sometimes when we left the broad alleys and took little paths in and
+out of the trees. When the wood was thick and the branches low, I was
+always afraid one would knock me off the saddle or come into my eyes.
+Some of the meets were most picturesque; sometimes in the heart of the
+forest at a great carrefour, alleys stretching off in every direction,
+hemmed in by long straight lines of winter trees on each side, with a
+thick, high undergrowth of ferns, and a broad-leaved plant I didn't
+know, which remained green almost all winter. It was pretty to see the
+people arriving from all sides, in every description of
+vehicle--breaks, dog-carts, victorias, farmer's gigs--grooms with led
+horses, hunting men in green or red coats, making warm bits of colour
+in the rather severe landscape. The pack of hounds, white with brown
+spots, big, powerful animals, gave the valets de chiens plenty to do.
+Apparently they knew all their names, as we heard frequent admonitions
+to Comtesse, Diane (a very favourite name for hunting dogs in France),
+La Grise, etc., to keep quiet, and not make little excursions into the
+woods. As the words were usually accompanied by a cut of the whip, the
+dogs understood quite well, and remained a compact mass on the side of
+the road. There was the usual following of boys, tramps, and stray
+bûcherons (woodmen), and when the day was fine, and the meet not too
+far, a few people would come from the neighbouring villages, or one or
+two carriages from the livery stables of Villers-Cotterets, filled
+with strangers who had been attracted by the show and the prospect of
+spending an afternoon in the forest. A favourite meet was at the
+pretty little village of Ivors, standing just on the edge of the
+forest not far from us. It consisted of one long street, a church, and
+a château at one end. The château had been a fine one, but was fast
+going to ruin, uninhabited, paint and plaster falling off, roof and
+walls remaining, and showing splendid proportions, but had an air of
+decay and neglect that was sad to see in such a fine place. The owner
+never lived there; had several other places. An agent came down
+occasionally, and looked after the farm and woods. There was a fine
+double court-yard and enormous "communs," a large field only
+separating the kitchen garden from the forest. A high wall in fairly
+good condition surrounded the garden and small park. On a hunting
+morning the little place quite waked up, and it was pretty to see the
+dogs and horses grouped under the walls of the old château, and the
+hunting men in their bright coats moving about among the peasants and
+carters in their dark-blue smocks.
+
+The start was very pretty--one rode straight into the forest, the
+riders spreading in all directions. The field was never very
+large--about thirty--I the only lady. The cor de chasse was a
+delightful novelty to me, and I soon learned all the calls--the
+débouché, the vue and the hallali, when the poor beast is at the last
+gasp. The first time I saw the stag taken I was quite miserable. We
+had had a splendid gallop. I was piloted by one of the old stagers,
+who knew every inch of the forest, and who promised I should be in at
+the death, if I would follow him, "mais il faut me suivre partout,
+avez-vous peur?" As he was very stout, and not particularly well
+mounted, and I had a capital English mare, I was quite sure I could
+pass wherever he could. He took me through all sorts of queer little
+paths, the branches sometimes so low that it didn't seem possible to
+get through, but we managed it. Sometimes we lost sight of the hunt
+entirely, but he always guided himself by the sound of the horns,
+which one hears at a great distance. Once a stag bounded across the
+road just in front of us, making our horses shy violently, but he said
+that was not the one we were after. I wondered how he knew, but didn't
+ask any questions. Once or twice we stopped in the thick of the woods,
+having apparently lost ourselves entirely, not hearing a sound, and
+then in the distance there would be the faint sound of the horn,
+enough for him to distinguish the vue, which meant that they were
+still running. Suddenly, very near, we heard the great burst of the
+hallali--horses, dogs, riders, all joining in; and pushing through the
+brushwood we found ourselves on the edge of a big pond, almost a lake.
+The stag, a fine one, was swimming about, nearly finished, his eyes
+starting out of his head, and his breast shaken with great sobs. The
+whole pack of dogs was swimming after him, the hunters all swarming
+down to the edge, sounding their horns, and the master of hounds
+following in a small flatboat, waiting to give the coup de grâce with
+his carbine when the poor beast should attempt to get up the bank. It
+was a sickening sight. I couldn't stand it, and retreated (we had all
+dismounted) back into the woods, much to the surprise and disgust of
+my companion, who was very proud and pleased at having brought me in
+at the death among the very first. Of course, one gets hardened, and a
+stag at bay is a fine sight. In the forest they usually make their
+last stand against a big tree, and sell their lives dearly. The dogs
+sometimes get an ugly blow. I was really very glad always when the
+stag got away. I had all the pleasure and excitement of the hunt
+without having my feelings lacerated at the end of the day. The sound
+of the horns and the unwonted stir in the country had brought out all
+the neighbourhood, and the inhabitants of the little village,
+including the curé and the châtelaine of the small château near, soon
+appeared upon the scene. The curé, a nice, kindly faced old man, with
+white hair and florid complexion, was much interested in all the
+details of the hunt. It seems the stag is often taken in these ponds,
+les étangs de la ramée, which are quite a feature in the country, and
+one of the sights of the Villers-Cotterets forest, where strangers are
+always brought. They are very picturesque; the trees slope down to the
+edge of the ponds, and when the bright autumn foliage is reflected in
+the water the effect is quite charming.
+
+Mme. de M., the châtelaine, was the type of the grande dame Française,
+fine, clear-cut features, black eyes, and perfectly white hair, very
+well arranged. She was no longer young, but walked with a quick, light
+step, a cane in her hand. She, too, was much interested, such an
+influx of people, horses, dogs, and carriages (for in some mysterious
+way the various vehicles always seemed to find their way to the
+finish). It was an event in the quiet little village. She admired my
+mare very much, which instantly won my affections. She asked us to
+come back with her to the château--it was only about a quarter of an
+hour's walk--to have some refreshment after our long day; so I held up
+my skirt as well as I could, and we walked along together. The château
+is not very large, standing close to the road in a small park, really
+more of a manor house than a château. She took us into the
+drawing-room just as stiff and bare as all the others I had seen, a
+polished parquet floor, straight-backed, hard chairs against the wall
+(the old lady herself looked as if she had sat up straight on a hard
+chair all her life). In the middle of the room was an enormous
+palm-tree going straight up to the ceiling. She said it had been there
+for years and always remained when she went to Paris in the spring.
+She was a widow, lived alone in the château with the old servants. Her
+daughter and grandchildren came occasionally to stay with her. She
+gave us wine and cake, and was most agreeable. I saw her often
+afterward, both in the country and Paris, and loved to hear her talk.
+She had remained absolutely ancien régime, couldn't understand modern
+life and ways at all. One of the things that shocked her beyond words
+was to see her granddaughters and their young friends playing tennis
+with young men in flannels. In her day a young man in bras de chemise
+would have been ashamed to appear before ladies in such attire. We
+didn't stay very long that day, as we were far from home, and the
+afternoon was shortening fast. The retraite was sometimes long when we
+had miles of hard road before us, until we arrived at the farm or
+village where the carriage was waiting. When we could walk our horses
+it was bearable, but sometimes when they broke into a jog-trot, which
+nothing apparently could make them change, it was very fatiguing after
+a long day.
+
+Sometimes, when we had people staying with us, we followed the hunt in
+the carriage. We put one of the keepers of the Villers-Cotterets
+forest on the box, and it was wonderful how much we could see. The
+meet was always amusing, but when once the hunt had moved off, and the
+last stragglers disappeared in the forest, it didn't seem as if there
+was any possibility of catching them; and sometimes we would drive in
+a perfectly opposite direction, but the old keeper knew all about the
+stags and their haunts when they would break out and cross the road,
+and when they would double and go back into the woods. We were waiting
+one day in the heart of the forest, at one of the carrefours, miles
+away apparently from everything, and an absolute stillness around us.
+Suddenly there came a rush and noise of galloping horses, baying
+hounds and horns, and a flash of red and green coats dashed by,
+disappearing in an instant in the thick woods before we had time to
+realize what it was. It was over in a moment--seemed an hallucination.
+We saw and heard nothing more, and the same intense stillness
+surrounded us. We had the same sight, the stag taken in the water,
+some years later, when we were alone at the château. Mme. A. was dead,
+and her husband had gone to Paris to live. We were sitting in the
+gallery one day after breakfast, finishing our coffee, and making
+plans for the day, when suddenly we saw red spots and moving figures
+in the distance, on the hills opposite, across the canal. Before we
+had time to get glasses and see what was happening, the children came
+rushing in to say the hunt was in the woods opposite, the horns
+sounding the hallali, and the stag probably in the canal. With the
+glasses we made out the riders quite distinctly, and soon heard faint
+echoes of the horn. We all made a rush for hats and coats, and started
+off to the canal. We had to go down a steep, slippery path which was
+always muddy in all weathers, and across a rather rickety narrow
+plank, also very slippery. As we got nearer, we heard the horns very
+well, and the dogs yelping. By the time we got to the bridge, which was
+open to let a barge go through, everything had disappeared--horses,
+dogs, followers, and not a sound of horn or hoof. One solitary
+horseman only, who had evidently lost the hunt and didn't know which
+way to go. We lingered a little, much disgusted, but still hoping we
+might see something, when suddenly we heard again distant sounds of
+horns and yelping dogs. The man on the other side waved his cap
+wildly, pointed to the woods, and started off full gallop. In a few
+minutes the hill slope was alive with hunters coming up from all
+sides. We were nearly mad with impatience, but couldn't swim across
+the canal, the bridge was still open, the barge lumbering through. The
+children with their Fräulein and some of the party crossed a little
+lower down on a crazy little plank, which I certainly shouldn't have
+dared attempt, and at last the bargeman took pity on us and put us
+across. We raced along the bank as fast as we could, but the canal
+turns a great deal, and a bend prevented our seeing the stag, with the
+hounds at his heels, galloping down the slope and finally jumping
+into the canal, just where it widens out and makes a sort of lake
+between our hamlet of Bourneville and Marolles. It was a pretty sight,
+all the hunters dismounted, walking along the edge of the water,
+sounding their hallali, the entire population of Bourneville and
+Marolles and all our household arriving in hot haste, and groups of
+led horses and valets de chiens in their green coats half-way up the
+slope. The stag, a very fine one, was swimming round and round, every
+now and then making an effort to get up the bank, and falling back
+heavily--he was nearly done, half his body sinking in the water, and
+his great eyes looking around to see if any one would help him. I went
+back to the barge (they had stayed, too, to see the sight), and the
+woman, a nice, clean, motherly body with two babies clinging to her,
+was much excited over the cruelty of the thing.
+
+[Illustration: I suggested that the whole chasse should adjourn to the
+château.]
+
+"Madame trouve que c'est bien de tourmenter une pauvre bête qui ne
+fait de mal à personne, pour s'amuser?" Madame found that rather
+difficult to answer, and turned the conversation to her life on the
+barge. The minute little cabin looked clean, with several pots of red
+geraniums, clean muslin curtains, a canary bird, and a nondescript
+sort of dog, who, she told me, was very useful, taking care of the
+children and keeping them from falling into the water when she was
+obliged to leave them on the boat while she went on shore to get her
+provisions. I asked: "_How_ does he keep them from falling into the
+water--does he take hold of their clothes?" "No, I leave them in the
+cabin, when I am obliged to go ashore, and he stands at the door and
+barks and won't let them come out." While I was talking to her I heard
+a shot, and realised that the poor stag had been finished at last. It
+was early in the afternoon--three o'clock, and I suggested that the
+whole chasse should adjourn to the château for goûter. This they
+promptly accepted, and started off to find their horses. Then I had
+some misgivings as to what I could give them for goûter. We were a
+small party, mostly women and children. W. was away, and I thought
+that probably the chef, who was a sportsman as well as a cook, was
+shooting (he had hired a small chasse not far from us); I had told him
+there was nothing until dinner. I had visions of twenty or thirty
+hungry men and an ordinary tea-table, with some thin bread and butter,
+a pot of damson jam, and some sables, so I sent off Francis's tutor,
+the stable-boy, and the gardener's boy to the château as fast as their
+legs could carry them, to find somebody, anybody, to prepare us as
+much food as they could, and to sacrifice the dinner at once, to make
+sandwiches--tea and chocolate, of course, were easily provided.
+
+We all started back to the house up the steep, muddy path, some of the
+men with us leading their horses, some riding round by Marolles to
+give orders to the breaks and various carriages to come to the
+château. The big gates were open, Hubert there to arrange at once for
+the accommodation of so many horses and equipages, and the billiard
+and dining-rooms, with great wood-fires, looking most comfortable. The
+chasseurs begged not to come into the drawing-room, as they were
+covered with mud, so they brushed off what they could in the hall, and
+we went at once to the goûter. It was funny to see our quiet
+dining-room invaded by such a crowd of men, some red-coated, some
+green, all with breeches and high muddy boots. The master of hounds,
+M. Menier, proposed to make the curée on the lawn after tea, which I
+was delighted to accept. We had an English cousin staying with us who
+knew all about hunting in her own country, but had never seen a French
+chasse à courre, and she was most keen about it. The goûter was very
+creditable. It seems that they had just caught the chef, who had been
+attracted by the unusual sounds and bustle on the hillside, and who
+had also come down to see the show. He promptly grasped the situation,
+hurried back to the house, and produced beef and mayonnaise
+sandwiches, and a splendid savarin with whipped cream in the middle
+(so we naturally didn't have any dessert--but nobody minded), tea,
+chocolate, and whiskey, of course. As soon as it began to get dark we
+all adjourned to the lawn. All the carriages, the big breaks with four
+horses, various lighter vehicles, grooms and led horses were massed at
+the top of the lawn, just where it rises slightly to meet the woods. A
+little lower down was Hubert, the huntsman (a cousin of our coachman,
+Hubert, who was very pleased to do the honours of his stable-yard),
+with one or two valets de chiens, the pack of dogs, and a great whip,
+which was very necessary to keep the pack back until he allowed them
+to spring upon the carcass of the stag. He managed them beautifully.
+Two men held up the stag--the head had already been taken off; it was
+a fine one, with broad, high antlers, a dix cors. Twice Hubert led his
+pack up, all yelping and their eyes starting out of their heads, and
+twice drove them back, but the third time he let them spring on the
+carcass. It was an ugly sight, the compact mass of dogs, all snarling
+and struggling, noses down and tails up. In a few minutes nothing was
+left of the poor beast but bones, and not many of them. Violet had les
+honneurs du pied (the hoof of one of the hind legs of the stag), which
+is equivalent to the "brush" one gives in fox-hunting. She thanked M.
+M., the master of hounds, very prettily and said she would have it
+arranged and hang it up in the hall of her English home, in
+remembrance of a lovely winter afternoon, and her first experience of
+what still remains of the old French vénerie. The horns sounded again
+the curée and the depart, and the whole company gradually dispersed,
+making quite a cortège as they moved down the avenue, horses and
+riders disappearing in the gray mist that was creeping up from the
+canal, and the noise of wheels and hoofs dying away in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Some red-coated, some green, all with breeches and high
+muddy boots.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We were pottering about in our woods one day, waiting for Labbez (the
+keeper) to come and decide about some trees that must be cut down,
+when a most miserable group emerged from one of the side alleys and
+slipped by so quickly and quietly that we couldn't speak to them. A
+woman past middle age, lame, unclothed really--neither shoes nor
+stockings, not even a chemise--two sacks of coarse stuff, one tied
+around her waist half covering her bare legs, one over her shoulders;
+two children with her, a big overgrown girl of about twelve, equally
+without clothing, an old black bodice gaping open over her bare skin,
+held together by one button, a short skirt so dirty and torn that one
+wondered what kept it on, no shoes nor stockings, black hair falling
+straight down over her forehead and eyes; the boy, about six, in a
+dirty apron, also over his bare skin. I was horrified, tried to make
+them turn and speak to me, but they disappeared under the brushwood as
+quickly as they could, "evidently up to no good," said W. In a few
+moments the keeper appeared, red and breathless, having been running
+after poachers--a woman the worst of the lot. We described the party
+we had just seen, and he was wildly excited, wanted to start again in
+pursuit, said they were just the ones he was looking for. The woman
+belonged to a band of poachers and vagabonds they could not get hold
+of. They could trace her progress sometimes by the blood on the grass
+where the thorns and sharp stones had torn her feet. It seems they
+were quite a band, living anywhere in the woods, in old
+charcoal-burners' huts or under the trees, never staying two nights in
+the same place. There are women, and children, and babies, who appear
+and disappear, in the most extraordinary manner. Many of them have
+been condemned, and have had two weeks or a month of prison. One
+family is employed by one of the small farmers near, who lets them
+live in a tumbledown hut in the midst of his woods, and that is their
+centre. We passed by there two or three days later, when we were
+riding across the fields, and anything so miserable I never saw; the
+house half falling to pieces, no panes of glass, dirty rags stuffed in
+the windows, no door at all, bundles of dirty straw inside, a pond of
+filthy water at one side of the house, two or three dirty children
+playing in it, and inside at the opening, where the door should have
+been, the same lame woman in her two sacks. She glowered at us,
+standing defiantly at the opening to prevent our going in, in case we
+had any such intention. I suppose she had various rabbits and hares
+hung up inside she couldn't have accounted for. There was no other
+habitation anywhere near; no cart or vehicle of any kind could have
+got there. We followed a narrow path, hardly visible in the long
+grass, and the horses had to pick their way--one couldn't imagine a
+more convenient trysting-place for vagabonds and tramps. It seems
+incredible that such things should go on at our doors, so to speak,
+but it is very difficult to get at them. Our keepers and M. de M.,
+whose property touches ours, have had various members of the gang
+arrested, but they always begin again. The promiscuity of living is
+something awful, girls and young men squatting and sleeping in the
+same room on heaps of dirty rags. There have been some arrests for
+infanticide, when a baby's appearance and disappearance was too
+flagrant, but the girls don't care. They do their time of prison, come
+out quite untamed by prison discipline, and begin again their wild,
+free life. One doesn't quite understand the farmer who gives any
+shelter to such a bad lot, but I fancy there is a tacit understanding
+that his hares and rabbits must be left unmolested.
+
+It is amusing to see the keepers when they suspect poachers are in
+their woods. When the leaves are off they can see at a great distance,
+and with their keen, trained eyes make out quite well when a moving
+object is a hare, or a roebuck, or a person on all fours, creeping
+stealthily along. They have powerful glasses, too, which help them
+very much. They, too, have their various tricks, like the poachers. As
+the gun-barrel is seen at a great distance when the sun strikes it,
+they cover it with a green stuff that takes the general tint of the
+leaves and the woods, and post themselves, half hidden in the bushes,
+near some of the quarries, where the poachers generally come. Then
+they give a gun to an under-strapper, telling him to stand in some
+prominent part of the woods, _his_ gun well in sight. That, of course,
+the poachers see at once, so they make straight for the other side,
+and often fall upon the keepers who are lying in wait for them. As a
+general rule, they don't make much resistance, as they know the
+keepers will shoot--not to kill them, but a shot in the ankle or leg
+that will disable them for some time. I had rather a weakness for one
+poaching family. The man was young, good-looking, and I don't really
+believe a bad lot, but he had been unfortunate, had naturally a high
+temper, and couldn't stand being howled at and sworn at when things
+didn't go exactly as the patron wanted; consequently he never stayed
+in any place, tried to get some other work, but was only fit for the
+woods, where he knew every tree and root and the habits and haunts of
+all the animals. He had a pretty young wife and two children, who had
+also lived in the woods all their lives, and could do nothing else.
+The wife came to see me one day to ask for some clothes for herself
+and the children, which I gave, of course, and then tried mildly to
+speak to her about her husband, who spent half his time in prison, and
+was so sullen and scowling when he came out that everybody gave him a
+wide berth. The poor thing burst into a passion of tears and
+incoherent defence of her husband. Everybody had been so hard with
+him. When he had done his best, been up all night looking after the
+game, and then was rated and sworn at by his master before every one
+because un des Parisiens didn't know what to do with a gun when he had
+one in his hand, and couldn't shoot a hare that came and sat down in
+front of him, it was impossible not to answer un peu vivement
+peut-être, and it was hard to be discharged at once without a chance
+of finding anything else, etc., and at last winding up with the
+admission that he did take hares and rabbits occasionally; but when
+there was nothing to eat in the house and the children were crying
+with hunger, what was he to do? Madame would never have known or
+missed the rabbits, and after all, le Bon Dieu made them for
+everybody. I tried to persuade W. to take him as a workman in the
+woods, with the hope of getting back as under-keeper, but he would not
+hear of it, said the man was perfectly unruly and violent-tempered,
+and would demoralize all the rest. They remained some time in the
+country, and the woman came sometimes to see me, but she had grown
+hard, evidently thought I could have done something for her husband,
+and couldn't understand that as long as he went on snaring game no one
+would have anything to do with him--always repeating the same thing,
+that a Bon Dieu had made the animals pour tout le monde. Of course it
+must be an awful temptation for a man who has starving children at
+home, and who knows that he has only to walk a few yards in the woods
+to find rabbits in plenty; and one can understand the feeling that le
+Bon Dieu provided food for all his children, and didn't mean some to
+starve, while others lived on the fat of the land.
+
+It was a long time before I could get accustomed to seeing women work
+in the fields (which I had never seen in America). In the cold autumn
+days, when they were picking the betterave (a big beet root) that is
+used to make sugar in France, it made me quite miserable to see them.
+Bending all day over the long rows of beets, which required quite an
+effort to pull out of the hard earth, their hands red and chapped,
+sometimes a cold wind whistling over the fields that no warm garment
+could keep out, and they never had any really warm garment. We met an
+old woman one day quite far from any habitation, who was toiling home,
+dragging her feet, in wretched, half-worn shoes, over the muddy
+country roads, who stopped and asked us if we hadn't a warm petticoat
+to give her. She knew me, called me by name, and said she lived in the
+little hamlet near the château. She looked miserably cold and tired. I
+asked where she came from, and what she had been doing all day.
+"Scaring the crows in M. A.'s fields," was the answer. "What does your
+work consist of?" I asked. "Oh, I just sit there and make a
+noise--beat the top of an old tin kettle with sticks and shake a bit
+of red stuff in the air." Poor old woman, she looked half paralyzed
+with cold and fatigue, and I was really almost ashamed to be seated so
+warmly and comfortably in the carriage, well wrapped up in furs and
+rugs, and should have quite understood if she had poured out a torrent
+of abuse. It must rouse such bitter and angry feeling when these poor
+creatures, half frozen and half starved, see carriages rolling past
+with every appliance of wealth and luxury. I suppose what saves us is
+that they are so accustomed to their lives, the long days of hard
+work, the wretched, sordid homes, the insufficient meals, the
+quantities of children clamouring for food and warmth. Their parents
+and grandparents have lived the same lives, and anything else would
+seem as unattainable as the moon, or some fairy tale. There has been
+one enormous change in all the little cottages--the petroleum lamp.
+All have got one--petroleum is cheap and gives much more light and
+heat than the old-fashioned oil lamp. In the long winter afternoons,
+when one must have light for work of any kind, the petroleum lamp is a
+godsend. We often noticed the difference coming home late. The
+smallest hamlets looked quite cheerful with the bright lights shining
+through the cracks and windows. I can't speak much from _personal_
+experience of the _inside_ of the cottages--I was never much given to
+visiting among the poor. I suppose I did not take it in the right
+spirit, but I could never see the poetry, the beautiful, patient
+lives, the resignation to their humble lot. I only saw the dirt, and
+smelt all the bad smells, and heard how bad most of the young ones
+were to all the poor old people. "Cela mange comme quatre, et cela
+n'est plus bon à rien," I heard one woman remark casually to her poor
+old father sitting huddled up in a heap near the fire. I don't know,
+either, whether they liked to have us come. What suited them best was
+to send the children to the château. They always got a meal and a warm
+jacket and petticoat.
+
+[Illustration: Peasant women.]
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS
+
+
+We were very particular about attending all important ceremonies at La
+Ferté, as we rarely went to church there except on great occasions. We
+had our service regularly at the château every Sunday morning. All the
+servants, except ours, were Protestants, Swiss generally, and very
+respectable they looked--all the women in black dresses and white
+caps--when they assembled in M. A.'s library, sitting on cane chairs near
+the door.
+
+Some, in fact most, Protestants in France attach enormous importance to
+having all their household Protestant. A friend of mine, a Protestant,
+having tea with me one day in Paris was rather pleased with the bread or
+little "croissants," and asked me where they came from. I said I didn't
+know, but would ask the butler. That rather surprised her. Then she
+said, "Your baker of course is a Protestant." That I didn't know either,
+and, what was much worse in her eyes, I didn't care. She was quite
+distressed, gave me the address of an excellent Swiss Protestant baker
+and begged me to sever all connection with the Catholic at once. I asked
+her if she really thought dangerous papist ideas were kneaded in with
+the bread, but she would not listen to my mild "persiflage," and went
+away rather anxious about my spiritual welfare.
+
+We went always to the church at La Ferté for the fête of St. Cécile, as
+the Fanfare played in the church on that day. The Fanfare was a very
+important body. Nearly all the prominent citizens of La Ferté, who had
+any idea of music, were members--the butcher, the baker, the coiffeur,
+etc. The Mayor was president and walked at the head of the procession
+when they filed into the church. I was "Présidente d'Honneur" and always
+wore my badge pinned conspicuously on my coat. It was a great day for
+the little town. Weeks before the fête we used to hear all about it from
+the coiffeur when he came to the château to shave the gentlemen. He
+played the big drum and thought the success of the whole thing depended
+on his performance. He proposed to bring his instrument one morning and
+play his part for us. We were very careful to be well dressed on that
+day and discarded the short serge skirts we generally wore. All the La
+Ferté ladies, particularly the wives and sisters of the performers, put
+on their best clothes, and their feelings would have been hurt if we had
+not done the same.
+
+In fact it was a little difficult to dress up to the occasion. The older
+women all had jet and lace on their dresses, with long trailing skirts,
+and the younger ones, even children, had wonderful hats with
+feathers--one or two long white ones.
+
+It was a pretty, animated sight as we arrived. All along the road we had
+met bands of people hurrying on to the town--the children with clean
+faces and pinafores, the men with white shirts, and even the old
+grandmothers--their shawls on their shoulders and their turbans starched
+stiff--were hobbling along with their sticks, anxious to arrive. We
+heard sounds of music as we got to the church--the procession was
+evidently approaching. The big doors were wide open, a great many people
+already inside. We looked straight down the nave to the far end where
+the high altar, all flowers and candles, made a bright spot of colour.
+Red draperies and banners were hanging from the columns--vases and
+wreaths of flowers at the foot of the statues of the saints; chairs and
+music-stands in the chancel. We went at once to our places. The curé,
+with his choir boys in their little short white soutanes, red petticoats
+and red shoes, was just coming out of the sacristy and the procession
+was appearing at the bottom of the church. First came the Mayor in a
+dress coat and white cravat--the "Adjoint" and one of the municipal
+council just behind, then the banner--rather a heavy one, four men
+carried it. After that the "pompiers," all in uniform, each man carrying
+his instrument; they didn't play as they came up the aisle, stopped
+their music at the door; but when they did begin--I don't know exactly
+at what moment of the mass--it was something appalling. The first piece
+was a military march, executed with all the artistic conviction and
+patriotic ardour of their young lungs (they were mostly young men). We
+were at the top of the church, very near the performers, and the first
+bursts of trumpets and bugles made one jump. They played several times.
+It didn't sound too badly at the "Elevation" when they had chosen rather
+a soft (comparatively) simple melody. The curé preached a very pretty,
+short sermon, telling them about Saint Cécile, the delicately nurtured
+young Roman who was not afraid to face martyrdom and death for the sake
+of her religion. The men listened most attentively and seemed much
+interested when he told them how he had seen in Rome the church of St.
+Cécile built over the ruin of the saint's house--the sacristy just over
+her bath-room. I asked him how he could reconcile it to his conscience
+to speak of the melodious sounds that accompanied the prayers of the
+faithful, but he said one must look sometimes at the intention more than
+at the result.
+
+There was a certain _harmony_ among the men when they were practising
+and preparing their music for the church, and as long as they held to
+coming and gave up their evenings to practising, instead of spending
+them in the wine shops, we must do all we could to encourage them.
+
+The procession went out in the same order--halted at the church door and
+then W. made them a nice little speech, saying he was pleased to see how
+numerous they were and how much improved--they would certainly take an
+honourable place in the concours de fanfares of the department. They
+escorted the Mayor back to his house playing their march and wound up
+with a copious déjeuner at the "Sauvage." Either the Mayor or the
+"Adjoint" always went to the banquet. W. gave the champagne, but
+abstained from the feast.
+
+They really did improve as they went on. They were able to get better
+instruments and were stimulated by rival fanfares in the neighbourhood.
+They were very anxious to come and play at the château, and we promised
+they should whenever a fitting occasion should present itself.
+
+We had a visit from the Staals one year. The Baron de Staal was Russian
+Ambassador in England, and we had been colleagues there for many years.
+We asked the Fanfare to come one Sunday afternoon while they were there.
+We had a little difficulty over the Russian National Hymn, which they,
+naturally, wanted to play. The Chef de Fanfare came to see me one day
+and we looked over the music together. I had it only for the piano, but
+I explained the tempo and repetitions to him and he arranged it very
+well for his men. They made quite an imposing entrance. Half the
+population of La Ferté escorted them (all much excited by the idea of
+seeing the Russian Ambassador), and they were reinforced by the two
+villages they passed through. We waited for them in the gallery--doors
+and windows open. They played the spirited French march "Sambre et
+Meuse" as they came up the avenue. It sounded quite fine in the open
+air. They halted and saluted quite in military style as soon as they
+came in front of the gallery--stopped their march and began immediately
+the Russian Hymn, playing it very well.
+
+They were much applauded, we in the gallery giving the signal and their
+friends on the lawn joining in enthusiastically. They were a motley
+crowd--over a hundred I should think--ranging from the municipal
+councillor of La Ferté, in his high hat and black cloth Sunday coat, to
+the humpbacked daughter of the village carpenter and the idiot boy who
+lived in a cave on the road and frightened the children out of their
+wits by running out and making faces at them whenever they passed. They
+played three or four times, then W. called up one or two of the
+principal performers and presented them to the Staals. Mme. de Staal
+spoke to them very prettily, thanked them for playing the Russian Hymn
+and said she would like to hear the "Sambre et Meuse" again. That, of
+course, delighted them and they marched off to the strains of their
+favourite tune. About half-way down the avenue we heard a few cries of
+"Vive la Russie," and then came a burst of cheers.
+
+Our dinner was rather pleasant that evening. We had the Préfet, M.
+Sebline; Senator of the Aisne, Jusserand, present Ambassador to
+Washington; Mme. Thénard, of the Comédie Française, and several young
+people. Jusserand is always a brilliant talker--so easy--no pose of any
+kind, and Sebline was interesting, telling about all sorts of old
+customs in the country.
+
+Though we were so near Paris, hardly two hours by the express, the
+people had remained extraordinarily primitive. There were no
+manufacturing towns anywhere near us, nothing but big farms, forests and
+small far-apart villages. The modern socialist-radical ideas were
+penetrating very slowly into the heads of the people--they were quite
+content to be humble tillers of the soil, as their fathers had been
+before them. The men had worked all their lives on the farms, the women
+too; beginning quite young, taking care of cows and geese, picking
+beet-root, etc.
+
+What absolutely changed the men was the three years military service.
+After knocking about in garrison towns, living with a great many people
+always, having all sorts of amusements easily at hand and a certain
+independence, once the service of the day was over, they found the dull
+regular routine of the farm very irksome. In the summer it was well
+enough--harvest time was gay, everyone in the fields, but in the short,
+cold winter days, with the frozen ground making all the work doubly
+hard, just enough food and no distraction of any kind but a pipe in the
+kitchen after supper, the young men grew terribly restive and
+discontented. Very few of them remain, and the old traditions handed
+down from father to son for three or four generations are disappearing.
+After dinner we had music and some charming recitations by Mme. Thénard.
+Her first one was a comic monologue which always had the wildest success
+in London, "Je suis veuve," beginning it with a ringing peal of laughter
+which was curiously contagious--everyone in the room joined in. I like
+her better in some of her serious things. When she said "le bon gite"
+and "le petit clairon," by Paul Déroulède, in her beautiful deep
+voice, I had a decided choke in my throat.
+
+We often had music at the château. Many of our artist friends came
+down--glad to have two or three days rest in the quiet old house. We had
+an amusing experience once with the young organist from La Ferté--almost
+turned his hair gray. He had taught himself entirely and managed his old
+organ very well. He had heard vaguely of Wagner and we had always
+promised him we would try and play some of his music with two
+pianos--eight hands. Four hands are really not enough for such
+complicated music. Mlle. Dubois, premier prix du conservatoire--a
+beautiful musician--was staying with us one year and we arranged a
+concert for one evening, asking the organist to come to dinner. The poor
+man was rather terrified at dining at the château--had evidently taken
+great pains with his dress (a bright pink satin cravat was rather
+striking) and thanked the butler most gratefully every time he handed
+him a dish--"Je vous remercie beaucoup, Monsieur." We had our two grand
+pianos and were going to play the overture of Tannhäuser, one of the
+simplest and most melodious of Wagner's compositions. The performers
+were Francis and I, Mlle. Dubois and the organist. It was a little
+difficult to arrange who he should play with. He was very nervous at the
+idea of playing with Mlle. Dubois--rather frightened of me and in
+absolute terror at the idea of playing before W. Finally it was decided
+that he and I should take the second piano--he playing the bass. It was
+really funny to see him; his eyes were fixed on the music and he counted
+audibly and breathlessly all the time, and I heard him muttering
+occasionally to himself, "Non ce n'est pas possible," "Non ce n'est pas
+cela."
+
+I must say that the Walpurgis Night for a person playing at sight and
+unaccustomed to Wagner's music is an ordeal--however, he acquitted
+himself extremely well and we got through our performance triumphantly,
+but great drops of perspiration were on his forehead. W. was very nice
+to him and Mlle. Dubois quite charming, encouraging him very much. Still
+I don't think his evening at the château was one of unmixed pleasure,
+and I am sure he was glad to have that overture behind him.
+
+We saw our neighbours very rarely; occasionally some men came to
+breakfast. The sous-préfet, one or two of the big farmers or some local
+swells who wanted to talk politics to W. One frequent visitor was an
+architect from Château-Thierry, who had built W.'s farm. He was an
+enormous man, very stout and red, always attired in shiny black
+broadcloth. He was a very shrewd specimen, very well up in all that
+went on in the country and very useful to W. He had a fine appetite,
+always tucking his napkin carefully under his chin when he sat down to
+table. He talked a great deal one day about his son, who had a good
+tenor voice and had just got an engagement at the Opéra Comique. Said he
+would like us to hear him sing--might he bring him some day to
+breakfast?
+
+He came back two or three weeks later with the young man, who was a
+great improvement upon his father. The Paris boulevards and the
+coulisses of the opera had quite modified the young provincial. He
+talked a good deal at table, was naturally much pleased to have got into
+the Opéra Comique. As it is a "théâtre subventionné" (government
+theatre), he considered himself a sort of official functionary. After
+breakfast he asked us if we would like to hear him sing--sat down to the
+piano, accompanying himself very simply and easily and sang extremely
+well. I was much astonished and Mme. A. was delighted, especially when
+he sang some old-fashioned songs from the "Dame Blanche" and the "Domino
+Noir." The old father was enchanted, a broad smile on his face. He
+confided to W. that he had hoped his son would walk in his footsteps and
+content himself with a modest position as architect in the country, but
+after six months in Paris where he had sent him to learn his
+profession his ideas had completely changed and he would not hear of
+vegetating in the country.
+
+[Illustration: A visit at the château.]
+
+We had, too, sometimes a doctor from one of the neighbouring villages.
+He had married an Englishwoman. They had a nice house and garden and he
+often had English boys over in the summer to learn French. He brought
+them occasionally to us for tea and tennis, begging us not to speak
+English to them. But that was rather difficult, with the English terms
+at tennis--horses and dogs always spoken to in English. One could not
+speak French to a fox-terrier bred in Oxfordshire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another pretty, simple fête was the Blessing of the Flag given by
+Francis to the Pompiers of Montigny, our little village in the woods
+just above the château. My husband had always promised them a flag, but
+he died before their society was formed. Three years after his death,
+when we were living in the small place which now belongs to my son, a
+deputation arrived from Montigny one Sunday afternoon to ask if Francis
+would give the flag his father had promised. This of course he was
+delighted to do. He knew all the men and they all knew him--had seen him
+since he was a baby--all of them had worked in his father's woods, and
+two or three of the older ones had taken care of him and his gun when he
+first began to shoot.
+
+His father gave him a gun when he was twelve years old--had it made at
+Purdy's in London, a reduced model of his own. No one is allowed to
+shoot in France till he is sixteen years old and then must have his
+"permis de chasse" duly signed by the Mayor. So it was rather difficult
+to get Francis and his gun into the woods--once there they were safe.
+Nothing would have induced him to let any of the men carry it. He walked
+beside the keeper with his gun over his shoulder just like him; they did
+meet two gendarmes one day and quickly the gun was given to some one
+else. I think the gendarmes quite realised the situation (Labbey, the
+keeper, said they knew all about it), but they were friends of the
+family, W.'s appointment, probably, and asked no questions.
+
+It was necessary of course to consult the local authorities before
+deciding such an important question as the presentation of a flag to the
+Pompiers. Francis went over two or three days later and interviewed the
+curé, the Mayor and the school-master, found out where the flag must be
+ordered in Paris and decided the day a fortnight later, a Sunday, of
+course. The function was to consist of a service and sermon at the
+church and a "vin d'honneur" offered by the Pompiers at the Mairie,
+which they hoped Madame Waddington would grace by her presence.
+
+The flag was duly ordered, sent direct to Montigny and everything was
+ready on the appointed day. We had fine weather, a bright, cold November
+afternoon; the country looked beautiful, all the trees red and yellow, a
+black line of pines in the middle of the woods. The long straggling
+village street, ending at the church on the top of the hill, was full of
+people; all the children in the middle of the road, their mothers
+dashing after them when they heard the horn of the auto.
+
+We were quite a large party, as the house was full, and we brought all
+our guests with us, including an American cousin, who was much
+interested in the local festivities. The Pompiers were drawn up in the
+court-yard of the Mairie, their beautiful new flag well to the front.
+Almost all were in uniform, and those who had not yet been able to get
+one wore a clean white shirt and the Pompier's red belt. There was a
+cheer and a broad smile on all their faces when we drove up. Francis got
+out, as he was to head the procession with the Mayor and the curé. We
+went on to the church and stationed ourselves on the steps of the Infant
+School to see the cortège arrive.
+
+It was quite a pretty sight as it wound up the hill: first the banner of
+blue silk with gold cords, which was held proudly aloft by two tall
+young fellows, then Francis walking between the curé and the Mayor, the
+Pompiers immediately behind them, then the Municipal Council, the usual
+escort of children that always turns out on such occasions bringing up
+the rear. We let the procession pass into the church and then took our
+places; a front pew was reserved for the family, but Francis and I sat
+on two arm-chairs inside the chancel, just behind the Pompiers.
+
+The fine old church, which is rather large for such a small village, was
+crowded; they told me many people had come from the neighbouring
+hamlets. The Montigny people had done their best to beautify their
+church; there were a few plants and flowers and some banners and
+draperies--church property, which always figured upon any great
+occasion. They told us with pride that the school-master had arranged
+the music. I suppose the poor man did what he could with the material he
+had, but the result was something awful. The chorister, a very old man,
+a hundred I should think, played the harmonium, which was as old as he
+was. It groaned and wheezed and at times stopped altogether. He started
+the cantique with a thin quavering voice which was then taken up by the
+school-children, particularly the boys who roared with juvenile
+patriotism and energy each time they repeated the last line, "pour notre
+drapeau, pour notre patrie."
+
+The sermon was very good--short and simple. It was preached by the Doyen
+of Neuilly--a tall, strong, broad-shouldered man who would have seemed
+more at home in a dragoon's uniform than in the soutane. But he knew his
+business well, had a fine voice and very good delivery; his peroration
+and appeal to the men to "remember always that the flag was the symbol
+of obedience, of loyalty, of devotion, to their country and their God,"
+was really very fine. I almost expected to hear cheers. The French are
+very emotional, and respond instantly to any allusion to country or
+flag. The uniform (even the Pompier's) has an enormous prestige. Then
+came the benediction, the flag held high over the kneeling congregation,
+and the ceremony was ended.
+
+We stopped a few moments after the service to let the procession pass
+out and also to thank the preacher and one or two curés who had assisted
+on the occasion; they did not come to the "vin d'honneur."
+
+We walked down to the Mairie, where the Mayor and his Adjoint were
+waiting for us; they conducted us to a large room upstairs where there
+was a table with champagne bottles, glasses and a big brioche. As soon
+as we had taken our places at the top of the room, the Pompiers and
+Municipal Council trouped in and Francis made quite a pretty little
+speech. It was the first time I had ever heard him speak in public; he
+did it very well, was not at all shy. Then there was a pause--the Mayor
+filled a glass of champagne, handed it to me, took one himself and we
+"trinqué'd" solemnly. Still there seemed a little hitch, no one else
+took any and there was an air of expectancy. I made a sign to the
+school-master, who was also the Adjoint, and he explained to me in a low
+voice that he thought it would give great pleasure if I would shake
+hands and trinquer with all the Pompiers. So I asked to have all the
+glasses filled and made the round, shaking hands with every one.
+
+Some of them were very shy, could hardly make up their minds to put out
+their big, rough hands; some of the old ones were very talkative: "C'est
+moi qui suis Jacques, Madame, j'ai nettoyé le premier fusil de M.
+Francis." Another in a great hurry to get to me: "C'est moi qui ai
+remassé le premier lièvre de M. Francis," etc. I remember the "premier
+lièvre" quite well; Francis carried it home himself and dashed into his
+father's study swinging the poor beast by its long ears, the blood
+dripping from a hole in its neck. It was difficult to scold, the child
+was so enchanted, even old Ferdinand did not grumble but came to the
+rescue at once with brushes and "savon noir."
+
+The wine had loosened the tongues and made every one more at ease. I
+asked that Hubert (our coachman who had been in W.'s service for
+thirty-one years) should be invited to come up and have a glass of
+champagne. He knew everybody, having driven W. about in his dog-cart all
+over the country. He was delighted to take part in the fête and made his
+little speech, saying he had seen Monsieur Francis when he was only a
+few hours old, and that he had _grown since_--which joke was received
+with great applause.
+
+Then some of the young men went off with Francis to look at the
+automobile, a great novelty at that time. We went out and talked to the
+women who were waiting in the street. Every one looked smiling and
+pleased to see us; the men all formed again in procession and escorted
+us to the end of the street, the whole village naturally following. They
+stopped at the foot of the hill, giving us a ringing cheer as we left.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never but once saw the whole neighbourhood assembled--when the only
+son of the Baron de L. married. The Baron and his wife were very good
+specimens of provincial _noblesse_. He was a tall, heavily-built man,
+square-shouldered, with the weather-beaten complexion of a man who spent
+all his days riding about his fields and woods; a pleasant, jovial
+manner, quite the type of the country gentleman.
+
+They lived in a charming old Louis XV. château almost in the forest of
+Villers-Cotterets--their park touching the line of wood. They went
+rarely to Paris; lived almost all the year in the country and were
+devoted to their place. One just saw the pointed red roof of the château
+in the trees as one passed on the road. It stood high, a very steep road
+leading up to it. At the foot of the hill were market gardens, which
+made a very curious effect from a distance--the long rows of glass
+"cloches" making huge white spots. The vegetables always looked very
+tempting as we passed in the early summer. They were all "primeurs"--the
+gardens lying in full sun and were sent off to the Paris market.
+Half-way up the slope was a pretty little church almost hidden in the
+trees, and a tiny village struggled up the hill and along the road.
+
+The bride, dressed in white--a slight girlish figure--was standing near
+her mother-in-law and had a pretty smile of welcome for all the guests.
+It was rather an ordeal for her, as she was a stranger in the country
+(she came from the south of France) and every one was looking at the
+newcomer.
+
+It was in the first year of my marriage, my first appearance in the
+country, and I was rather puzzled about my dress for the occasion. We
+were asked to dinner at seven o'clock. My first idea was to wear full
+dress--light-blue satin and diamonds--but a niece of Mme. A.'s, who was
+staying with us and who had been to some entertainments in that part of
+the country, advised me strongly to dress more simply. "They would not
+understand that sort of toilette and I would be overdressed and probably
+uncomfortable." So I compromised with a high white dress, no diamonds
+and one string of pearls.
+
+We had a short hour's drive. It was a clear, cold night and we saw the
+château from a great distance. It was brilliantly lighted. The lights
+twinkling through the trees looked like huge fireflies. As we drove into
+the rather small court-yard there was quite a stir of carriages arriving
+and backing out. The hall doors were wide open; a flood of light
+streaming out over the steps--Baron de L. and his son at the door. There
+was a hum of voices in the drawing-room and there seemed to be a great
+many people. The rooms were handsome--plenty of light, the old tapestry
+furniture looked very well, standing straight and stiff against the
+wall, and the number of people took away the bare unused look they
+generally had.
+
+All the châteaux of the neighbourhood were represented: The Comte de
+Lubersac and his sister had come over from their fine place, Maucreux.
+He was a very handsome young man--a great hunter and master of hounds of
+the stag hunting in the forest of Villers-Cotterets; his sister, Mlle.
+de Lubersac, most attractive, with the face of a saint. She was very
+simply dressed in a high black dress. She lived almost the life of a
+Sister of Charity--going about all day among the sick and poor, but she
+had promised her father, who was a great invalid, almost crippled with
+gout, to remain with him as long as he lived. It was only after his
+death that she took the vows and entered one of the strictest orders
+(Carmelites) in France.
+
+There were also the châtelaines of Thury en Valois--a fine château and
+estate, not very far from us in the other direction. They had splendid
+gardens and their fruit and vegetables were famous all over the country.
+Mme. de Thury was a compatriot--the daughter of an American general; the
+young Comte de Melun from Brumetz--very delicate looking, with a refined
+student's face. His father was a great friend of the Maréchal MacMahon
+and one of the leaders of the Catholic clerical party, and the young man
+was very religious. Their woods touched ours and once or twice when we
+were riding late, we saw him kneeling at a little old shrine, "the White
+Lady," which was almost hidden under the big trees--so little left that
+the ordinary passer-by would have seen nothing. There were also the
+owners of Colinance--rather an ugly square house standing low,
+surrounded by a marsh, but a good property--and three or four men I did
+not know--the bride's brother and one or two of her relations.
+
+There was hardly time to introduce every one, as dinner was announced
+almost immediately. We were a large party, about twenty. All the women,
+except the bride and me, were dressed in black, high or a very little
+open--no lace, nor jewels. Henriette was right. I would have looked
+absurd if I had worn a low dress. The dinner was very good, very
+abundant and very long. The men said the wines were excellent. The talk
+was animated enough--it was principally the men who talked. I didn't
+think the women said much. I listened only, as I was too new in the
+country to be at all up in local topics.
+
+After coffee the men went off to smoke and we women remained alone for
+some time. I wasn't sorry, as one had so few opportunities of seeing the
+neighbours, particularly the women, who rarely went out of their own
+places. One met the men hunting, or in the train, or at the notary's.
+
+The notary is a most important person in all small country towns in
+France. Everybody consults him, from the big landowner when he has
+discussions with his neighbour over right of way, to the peasant who
+buys a few metres of land as soon as he has any surplus funds. We were
+constantly having rows with one of our neighbours over a little strip of
+wood that ran up into ours. Whenever he was angry with us, which
+happened quite often (we never knew why), he had a deep, ugly ditch made
+just across the road which we always took when we were riding around the
+property. The woods were so thick and low, with plenty of thorns, that
+we could not get along by keeping on one side and were obliged to go
+back and make quite a long détour. The notary did his best to buy it for
+us, but the man would never sell--rather enjoyed, I think, having the
+power to annoy us.
+
+Mme. de Thury and I fraternised a little and I should have liked to see
+more of her, but soon after that evening they had great trouble. They
+had a great deal of illness and lost a son. I never saw Thury till after
+both of them were dead. The château had been sold, most of the furniture
+taken away and the whole place had a deserted, neglected look that made
+one feel quite miserable. The big drawing-room was piled up with straw,
+over the doors were still two charming dessus-de-porte, the colours
+quite fresh--not at all faded--chickens were walking about in another
+room, and upstairs in a pretty corner room, with a lovely view over
+woods and park, was a collection of photographs, engravings (one the
+mother of the late owner), a piece of unfinished tapestry, samplers,
+china vases, books, papers, two or three knots of faded ribbon, all
+tossed in a corner like a heap of rubbish. The things had evidently been
+forgotten in the big move, but it looked melancholy.
+
+The château must have been charming when it was furnished and lived in.
+Quantities of rooms, a long gallery with small rooms on one side, the
+"garçonnière" or bachelors' quarters, led directly into the church,
+where many Thurys are sleeping their last sleep. The park was beautiful
+and there was capital shooting. W. had often shot there in the old days
+when their shooting parties were famous.
+
+We ended our evening with music, the bride playing extremely well. Mme.
+de Thury also sang very well. She had learnt in Italy and sang in quite
+bravura style. The evening didn't last very long after the men came in.
+Everybody was anxious to get the long, cold drive over.
+
+I enjoyed myself very much. It was my first experience of a French
+country entertainment and it was very different from what I had
+expected. Not at all stiff and a most cordial welcome. I thought--rather
+naïvely perhaps--that it was the beginning of many entertainments of
+the same kind, but I never dined out again in the country. It is only
+fair to say that we never asked any one to dine either. It was not the
+habit of the house, and I naturally fell into their ways. Luncheon was
+what people liked best, so as not to be too late on the road or to cross
+the forest after nightfall, when the darkness was sometimes
+impenetrable. Some of the châtelaines received once a week. On that day
+a handsome and plentiful luncheon was provided and people came from the
+neighbouring châteaux, and even from Paris, when the distance was not
+too great and the trains suited.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We had quite an excitement one day at the château. Francis was riding
+with the groom one morning about the end of August, and had hardly got
+out of the gates, when he came racing back to tell us that the
+manoeuvres were to take place very near us, small detachments of troops
+already arriving; and the village people had told him that quite a large
+contingent, men and horses, were to be quartered at the château. W. sent
+him straight off again to the mayor of Marolles--our big village--to
+know if his information was correct, and how many people we must provide
+for. Francis met the mayor on the road on his way to us, very busy and
+bustled with so many people to settle. He was billeting men and horses
+in the little hamlet, and at all the farms. He told us we were to have
+thirty men and horses--six officers, twenty-four men; and they would
+arrive at sundown, in time to cook their dinner. Hubert, the coachman,
+was quite bewildered at first how to provide for so many, but
+fortunately the stables and dependencies were very large, and it was
+quite extraordinary how quickly and comfortably everything was arranged.
+Men from the farm brought in large bundles of straw, and everybody lent
+a willing hand--they love soldiers in France, and are always proud and
+happy to receive them.
+
+About 4.30, when we had just moved out to the tennis ground for tea, we
+saw an officer with his orderly riding up the avenue. He dismounted as
+soon as he caught sight of us sitting on the lawn, and introduced
+himself, said he was sent on ahead to see about lodging for himself, his
+brother-officers, and his men. They were part of a cavalry regiment,
+chasseurs, stationed at a small town in the neighbourhood. He asked W.
+if he might see the soldiers' quarters, said they brought their own food
+and would cook their dinner; asked if there was a room in the château
+where the sous-officiers could dine, as they never eat with their men.
+He, with W. and Francis, went off to inspect the arrangements and give
+the necessary orders. We had already seen to the officers' rooms, but
+hadn't thought of a separate dining-room for the sous-officiers;
+however, it was easily managed. We gave them the children's dining-room,
+in the wing near the kitchen and offices.
+
+When W. came in he told us the whole party had arrived, and we started
+off to the communs to see what was going on. The stable-yard, which is
+very large, with some fine trees and outbuildings all around it, was
+filled with blue-coated soldiers and small chestnut horses--some were
+drinking out of the troughs; some, tied to the trees, and rings on the
+wall, were being rubbed down--the men walking about with the officers'
+valises and their own kits, undoing blankets, tin plates, and cups; and
+I should think every man and boy on our place and in the small hamlet
+standing about anxious to do something. Our little fox-terriers were mad
+with excitement; even the donkey seemed to feel there was something
+different in the air. He brayed noisily, and gave little vicious kicks
+occasionally when some of the horses passed too near. A group of
+officers was standing at the door of the stables talking to Hubert, who
+had managed very well, putting all the officers' horses into a second
+stable, which was always kept for guests, and the others in the various
+sheds and outhouses, all under cover.
+
+[Illustration: Soldiers at the château.]
+
+W. introduced the officers--a nice-looking lot, chasseurs, in the
+light-blue uniform, which is so smart. He had asked permission for the
+men to dine at the château. They had their own meat and bread, but our
+chef was most anxious to cook it for them, and make them another
+substantial dish; so it was agreed that they should dine at six in the
+servants' hall. They all marched up in procession, headed by their
+sergeants; the blue tunics and red trousers looked very pretty as they
+came along the big avenue. The commandant asked W. if he would go and
+say a few words to them when they were having their coffee. They were
+very quiet; one hardly heard anything, though all the windows were open.
+W. said it was quite interesting to see all the young faces smiling and
+listening hard when he made his little speech. He asked them if they had
+had a good dinner; he hoped his man knew how to cook for soldiers. They
+all nodded and smiled at the chef, who was standing at the door looking
+very hot and very pleased. He had produced a sweet dish--I don't know
+what with, as he didn't habitually have thirty extra people to
+dinner--but I have always seen that when people _want_ to do anything it
+is usually accomplished.
+
+Our dinner was very pleasant. We were ten at table--W. and I, Henrietta,
+and a niece. The men talked easily, some of them Parisians, knowing
+every one. They knew that W. had remained at the château all during the
+Franco-German War, and were much interested in all he told them of the
+Prussian occupation. Only one of them had, as a very young fellow,
+served in 1870. All the rest were too young, and, like all young
+soldiers who have not been through a war and seen the horrors of it,
+were rather anxious to have their chance, and not spend all the best
+years of their lives in a small, dull garrison town.
+
+We discussed the plans for the next day. They were going to have a sham
+fight over all the big fields in our neighbourhood, and advised us to
+come and see it. They said the best time would be about ten in the
+morning, when they were to monter à l'assaut of a large farm with moat
+and drawbridge near Dammarie. They were to make a very early start (four
+o'clock), and said they would be very pleased to have some hot coffee
+before mounting, if it could be had at that unearthly hour. They were
+very anxious about choosing a horse out of their squadron for the
+general, who was an infantryman, very stout, very rheumatic, and a very
+bad rider. The horse must be sure-footed, an easy mouth, easy canter, no
+tricks, accustomed to drum and bugle, to say nothing of the
+musket-shots, etc.
+
+Henrietta and I rather amused ourselves after dinner teaching the
+commandant and another officer halma, which was just then at the height
+of its popularity. We had brought it over from London, where the whole
+society was mad over it. We were staying in a country house one year
+where there were seven tables of halma in the long gallery. The
+gentlemen rather disdained it at first, but as the game went on and they
+began to realise that there was really some science in it, and that our
+men were placing themselves very comfortably in their little squares,
+while theirs were wandering aimlessly about the centre of the board,
+they warmed to their task, and were quite vexed when they were badly
+beaten. They wanted their revanche. W. came in and gave a word of advice
+every now and then. The others finished their billiards, came to look
+on, each one suggesting a different move, which, of course, only
+complicated matters, and they lost again. Then some of the others tried
+with the same result. I think we played five or six games. They were so
+much pleased with the game that they asked us to write down the name and
+where to get it, and one of them afterward told my nephew, also a
+cavalry officer, that they introduced it at their mess and played every
+night instead of cards or dominoes. It was really funny to see how
+annoyed they were when their scientific combinations failed. The next
+morning was beautiful--a splendid August day, not too hot, little white
+clouds scurrying over the bright blue sky, veiling the sun. We started
+about nine, W., Francis, and I riding, the others driving. There were a
+good many people about in the fields and cross-roads, a few farmers
+riding, and everybody wildly interested telling us which way to go.
+Janet, my American niece, who was staying in the country in France for
+the first time, was horrified to see women working in the fields,
+couldn't believe that her uncle would allow it on his farm, and made
+quite an appeal to him when we all got home, to put an end to such cruel
+proceedings. It seems women never work in the fields in America, except
+negresses on some of the Southern plantations. I have been so long away
+that I had forgotten that they didn't, and I remember quite well my
+horror the first time we were in Germany, when we saw a woman and an ox
+harnessed together.
+
+We separated from the carriage at the top of the hill, as we could get a
+nice canter and shorter road across the fields. We soon came in sight of
+the farmhouse, standing low, with moat and drawbridge, in rather an
+isolated position in the middle of the fields, very few trees around it.
+There was no longer any water in the moat. It was merely a deep, wide,
+damp ditch with long, straggling vines and weeds filling it up, and a
+slippery, steep bank. Soldiers were advancing in all directions, the
+small infantrymen moving along with a light, quick step; the cavalry
+apparently had been on the ground some time, as they were all dismounted
+and their horses picketed. We didn't go very near, as W. wasn't quite
+sure how the horses would stand the bugle and firing. They were already
+pulling hard, and getting a little nervous. It was pretty to see the
+soldiers all mount when the bugle rang out, and in a moment the whole
+body was in motion. The rush of the soldiers over the wide plains and
+the drawbridge looked irresistible--the men swarmed down the bank and
+over the ditch--one saw a confused mass of red trousers and kepis. The
+cavalry came along very leisurely, guarding the rear. I looked for the
+general. He was standing with some of his staff on a small hill
+directing operations. He did look stout and very red and warm; however,
+it was the last day, so his troubles were over for the present.
+
+One of the officers saw us and came up to pay his respects; said they
+wouldn't be back at the château until about five; perhaps the ladies
+would come to the stable-yard and see the pansage. It was quite
+interesting; all the horses ranged in a semi-circle, men scrubbing and
+combing hard, the sous-officiers superintending, the officers standing
+about smoking and seeing that everything was being packed and ready for
+an early start the next morning. I was astonished to see how small the
+horses were. My English horse, also a chestnut, was not particularly
+big, but he looked a giant among the others. They admired him very much,
+and one of the officers asked Hubert if he thought I would like to sell
+him.
+
+Our dinner was again very pleasant, and we had more halma in the
+evening. W. played once or twice, and as he was a fairly good player,
+the adversaries had no chance. We broke up early, as they were to start
+again at some unearthly hour the next morning. It seems they were very
+lively in the stables after dinner--we heard sounds of merriment,
+singing, and choruses, and, I fancy, dancing. However, it made quite a
+pleasant break in our summer, and the big place seemed quieter and
+lonelier than ever after such unusual animation. W. said the war talk
+was much keener than the first day when they were smoking in the
+gallery; all the young ones so eager to earn their stripes, and so
+confident that the army had profited by its bitter experience during the
+Franco-German War.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Election day is always a very important day in France. The village
+farmers and labourers put on their best clothes--usually a black coat,
+silk hat and white shirt--and take themselves solemnly to the Mairie
+where the voting takes place. For weeks beforehand agents and lecturers
+come from Paris and bamboozle the simple village people with newspapers,
+money and wonderful promises. It is astounding how easily the French
+peasant believes all that the political agents tell him and all that he
+reads in the cheap papers, for, as a rule--taken en masse--they are very
+intelligent and at the same time suspicious (méfiants), manage their own
+little affairs very well and are rarely taken in; but there is something
+in the popular orator that carries them away and they really believe
+that a golden epoch is coming--when there will be no rich and no poor
+and plenty and equality for all. They don't care a bit what form of
+government they live under as long as their crops are good, and they can
+have regular work and no war. The political agitators understand that
+very well. They never lay any stress on Royalist or Bonapartist, or even
+a military candidate. The "People's Candidate" is always their cry--one
+of themselves who understands them and will give them all they want.
+They are disappointed _always_. The ministers and deputies change, but
+their lives don't, and run on in the same groove; but they are just as
+sanguine each time there is an election, convinced that, at last, the
+promised days of high pay and little work are coming.
+
+I tried to reason with a nice, respectable man one day, the village
+mason--one of the most fiery orators at the café, over his dominoes, but
+in everyday life a sober, hard-working man, with a sickly wife and
+several children, who are all clothed and generally looked after by us.
+His favourite theme was the owners of châteaux and big houses who lived
+in luxury and thought nothing of the poor.
+
+I said to him, "Why do you listen to all those foolish speeches that are
+made in the cafés? You know it isn't true half they say. Whenever you
+come and ask for anything for your wife and your children, it is always
+given to you. You know quite well whenever any one is ill in the
+village, they always come here for wine, old linen, or bouillon."
+
+"Oh, oui, Madame is good, but Madame does not understand."
+
+"But it is you, mon ami, who don't understand. Once the election is
+over, and they have got your vote, no one will think about you any
+more."
+
+"Oh, yes, Madame, everything will be divided--there will be no more big
+houses, every one will have a garden and rabbits--not all for the rich.
+It is not right; Madame knows it is not right." It was quite useless
+talking to him.
+
+Women in France never take the active part in elections that they do in
+England. It interested me so much when we were living in England to see
+many of the great ladies doing all they could for their candidate,
+driving all over the country, with his colours on servants and horses, a
+big bill in the windows of their carriages with "Vote for A." on it. In
+the drawing-room windows of a well-known society leader there were two
+large bills--"VOTE FOR A." I asked W. one day, when he was standing for
+the Senate, if he would like me to drive all about the country with his
+colours and "VOTE FOR WADDINGTON" on placards in the windows of the
+carriage; but he utterly declined any such intervention on my part,
+thought a few breakfasts at the château and a quiet talk over coffee and
+cigars would be more to the purpose. He never took much trouble over his
+elections the last years--meetings and speeches in all the small towns
+and "banquets de pompiers" were things of the past. He said the people
+had seen him "à l'oeuvre" and that no speeches would change a vote.
+
+The only year that we gave ourselves any trouble was during the
+Boulanger craze. W. went about a great deal and I often went with him.
+The weather was beautiful and we rode all over the country. We were
+astounded at the progress "Boulangism" had made in our quiet villages.
+Wherever we went--in the cafés, in the auberges, in the grocer's
+shop--there was a picture of Boulanger prancing on his black horse.
+
+We stopped one day at a miserable little cottage, not far from our
+place, where a workman had had a horrible accident--been caught in the
+machine of one of the sugar mills. Almost all the men in the village
+worked in W.'s woods and had always voted--as one man--for him or his
+friends. When we went into the poor little dark room, with literally
+nothing in it but the bed, a table, and some chairs, the first thing we
+saw was the well-known picture of Boulanger, on the mantelpiece. We
+talked a little to the man and his wife (the poor fellow was suffering
+terribly), and then W. said, "I am surprised to see that picture. Do you
+know General Boulanger? Have you ever seen him?" The man's face quite
+lighted up as he looked at the picture, and he answered: "Non, Monsieur,
+je ne l'ai jamais vu--mais il est crâne celui-là," and that was all that
+he could ever get out of him--"il est crâne." I don't know exactly what
+he meant. I don't think he knew himself, but he was quite excited when
+he spoke of the hero.
+
+Boulanger's campaign was very cleverly done. His agents distributed
+papers, pictures and _money_ most liberally. One of the curious features
+of that episode was the quantity of money that was given. Gold flowed
+freely in to the General's coffers from all parts of France; great
+names, grandes dames, giving largely and openly to the cause--a great
+deal sent anonymously and a great deal in very small sums.
+
+Boulanger lived in our street, and I was astounded one day when I met
+him (I did not know him) riding--always with a man on each side of him.
+Almost every one took off his hat to him, and there were a few faint
+cries of "Vive Boulanger," proceeding chiefly from the painters and
+masons who were building a house just opposite ours.
+
+Certainly for a short time he had the game in his hands--could, I think,
+have carried the country, but when the moment to act arrived, his nerve
+failed him. It is difficult to understand what made his great popularity.
+Politics had not been satisfactory. The President--Grévy--had resigned
+under unfortunate circumstances. There had been a succession of weak
+and inefficient cabinets, and there was a vague feeling of unrest in
+the country. Boulanger seemed to promise something better. He was a
+soldier (which always appeals to the French), young and dashing,
+surrounded by clever unscrupulous people of all classes. Almost all
+the young element of both parties, Radical and Conservative (few of
+the moderate Republicans), had rallied to his programme--"Révision et
+Dissolution." His friends were much too intelligent to let him issue a
+long "manifesto" (circular), promising all sorts of reforms and
+changes he never could have carried out, while his two catch words
+gave hopes to everybody. A revision of the constitution might mean a
+monarchy, empire, or military dictatorship. Each party thought its
+turn had come, and dissolving the chambers would of course bring a
+new one, where again each party hoped to have the majority.
+
+The Paris election by an overwhelming majority was his great triumph.
+The Government did all they could to prevent it, but nothing could stop
+the wave of popularity. The night of the election Boulanger and his
+État-major were assembled at Durand's, the well-known café on the corner
+of the Boulevard and the rue Royale. As the evening went on and the
+returns came in--far exceeding anything they had hoped for--there was
+but one thought in every one's mind--"A l'Élysée." Hundreds of people
+were waiting outside and he would have been carried in triumph to the
+Palace. He could not make up his mind. At midnight he still wavered. His
+great friend, the poet Déroulède, then took out his watch--waited, in
+perfect silence, until it was five minutes past twelve, and then said,
+"Général, depuis cinq minutes votre auréole baisse." Boulanger went out
+by a side door, leaving his friends--disappointed and furious--to
+announce to the waiting crowd that the General had gone home. He could
+certainly have got to the Elysée that night. How long he would have
+stayed, and whom he would have put there, we shall never know.
+
+
+MAREUIL, October 31st.
+
+It has been a beautiful, warm, bright autumn day and, for a wonder, we
+have had no frost yet, not even a white one, so that the garden is still
+full of flowers, and all day the village children have been
+coming--begging for some to decorate the graves for to-morrow. I went in
+to the churchyard this afternoon, which was filled with women and
+children--looking after their dead. It is not very pretty--our little
+churchyard--part of a field enclosed on the slope of the hill, not many
+trees, a few tall poplars and a laurel hedge--but there is a fine open
+view over the great fields and woods--always the dark blue line of the
+forest in the distance. They are mostly humble graves--small farmers and
+peasants--but I fancy they must sleep very peacefully in the fields they
+have worked in all their lives--full of poppies and cornflowers in
+summer and a soft gold brown in the autumn, when the last crops are cut
+and the hares run wild over the hills.
+
+I think these two days--the "Toussaint" and the "Jour des Morts"--are
+the two I like best in the Catholic Church, and certainly they are the
+only ones, in our part of the world, when the churches are full. I
+walked about some little time looking at all the preparations. Every
+grave had some flowers (sometimes only a faded bunch of the last field
+flowers) except one, where there were no flowers, but a little border of
+moss all around and a slip of pasteboard on a stick stuck into the
+ground with "à ma Mere" written on it. All the graves are very simple,
+generally a plain white cross with headstone and name. One or two of the
+rich farmers had something rather more important--a slab of marble, or a
+broken column when it was a child's grave, and were more ambitious in
+the way of flowers and green plants, but no show of any kind--none of
+the terrible bead wreaths one sees in large cities.
+
+There was a poor old woman, nearly bent double, leaning on a stick,
+standing at one of the very modest graves; a child about six years old
+with her, with a bunch of flowers in a broken cup she was trying to
+arrange at the foot of the grave. I suppose my face was expressive, for
+the old woman answered my unspoken thought. "Ah, yes, Madame, it is _I_
+who ought to be lying there instead of my children. All gone before me
+except this one grandchild, and I a helpless, useless burden upon the
+charity of the parish."
+
+On my way home I met all the village children carrying flowers. We had
+given our best chrysanthemums for the "pain bénit," which we offer
+to-morrow to the church. Three or four times a year, at the great fêtes,
+the most important families of the village offer the "pain bénit," which
+is then a brioche. We gave our boulanger "carte blanche," and he
+evidently was very proud of his performance, as he offered to bring it
+to us before it was sent to the church, but we told him we would see it
+there. I am writing late. We have all come upstairs. It is so mild that
+my window is open; there is not a sound except the sighing of the wind
+in the pines and the church bells that are ringing for the vigil of All
+Saints. Besides our own bells, we hear others, faintly, in the distance,
+from the little village of Neufchelles, about two miles off. It is a bad
+sign when we hear Neufchelles too well. Means rain. I should be so sorry
+if it rained to-morrow, just as all the fresh flowers have been put on
+the graves.
+
+
+November 2nd. "Jour des Morts."
+
+We had a beautiful day yesterday and a nice service in our little
+church. Our "pain bénit" was a thing of beauty and quite distracted the
+school children. It was a most imposing edifice--two large, round
+brioches, four smaller ones on top, they went up in a pyramid. The four
+small ones go to the notabilities of the village--the curé, two of the
+principal farmers and the miller; the whole thing very well arranged,
+with red and white flowers and lighted tapers. It was carried by two
+"enfants de choeur," preceded by the beadle with his cocked hat and
+staff and followed by two small girls with lighted tapers. The "enfants
+de choeur" were not in their festal attire of red soutanes and red
+shoes--only in plain black. Since the inventories ordered by the
+government in all the churches, most of the people have taken away their
+gifts in the way of vestments, soutanes, vases, etc., and the red
+soutanes, shoes and caps, with a handsome white satin embroidered
+vestment that C. gave the church when she was married, are carefully
+folded and put away in a safe place out of the church until better times
+should come.
+
+After luncheon we went over to Soissons in the auto--the most enchanting
+drive through the forest of Villers-Cotterets--the poplar trees a line
+of gold and all the others taking the most lovely colours of red and
+brown. Soissons is a fine old cathedral town with broad squares, planted
+with stiff trees like all the provincial towns in France; many large
+old-fashioned hotels, entre cour et jardin, and a number of convents and
+abbeys, now turned into schools, barracks, government offices of all
+kinds, but the fine proportions and beautiful lines are always there.
+
+The city has seen many changes since its first notoriety as the capital
+of the France of Clovis, and one feels how much has happened in the
+quiet deserted streets of the old town, where almost every corner is
+picturesque. The fine ruins of St. Jean des Vignes faced us as we drove
+along the broad boulevard. A façade and two beautiful towers with a
+cloister is all that remains of a fine old abbey begun in 1076. It is
+now an arsenal. One can not always get in, but the porter made no
+difficulty for us, and we wandered about in the court-yard and cloister.
+The towers looked beautifully grey and soft against the bright blue sky,
+and the view over Soissons, with all its churches and old houses, was
+charming. It seems that Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, lived
+at the Abbey when he was exiled from England and had taken refuge in
+France.
+
+We wanted to go to the service in the Cathedral, but thought we would go
+first to the pâtissier (an excellent one, well known in all the
+neighbourhood) famous for a very good bonbon made of coffee and called
+"Tors de Soissons." The little place was full--every schoolboy in
+Soissons was there eating cakes and bonbons. There was a notice up in
+the shop, "Lipton Tea," and we immediately asked for some. The woman
+made a place for us, with difficulty, on a corner of a table and gave us
+very good English tea, toast and cakes. I complimented the patronne on
+her tea and she said so many automobiles with foreigners--English
+principally--passed through Soissons in the summer--all asking for
+tea--that she thought she must try to get some. One of the ladies told
+her where to get Lipton Tea and how much to pay for it. She has found it
+a very good speculation.
+
+We walked to the Cathedral through a grand old Square planted with fine
+trees, that had once been a part of the garden of the Évêché. As it was
+getting dark, we could not see the outside very well. A gigantic mass of
+towers and little steeples loomed up through the twilight, but the
+inside was very striking--crowded with people, lights, banners, flowers
+everywhere--five or six priests were officiating and the Bishop in full
+dress, with his gold mitre on his head, was seated on his red velvet
+throne under the big crucifix. The congregation (there were a good many
+men) was following the service very devoutly, but there were a great
+many people walking about and stopping at the different chapels which
+rather takes away from the devotional aspect. Unfortunately the sermon
+had only just begun, so we didn't hear any music. The organ is very
+fine and they have a very good choir. Neither did we hear the famous
+chimes, which we regretted very much. Some of the bells have a beautiful
+sound--one in particular, that used to be at St. Jean de Vignes, has a
+wonderful deep note. One hears it quite distinctly above all the others.
+All the bells have names. This one used to be called "Simon," after a
+Bishop Simon le Gras, who blessed it in 1643. When the voice got faint
+and cracked with age, it was "refondue" (recast) and called Julie
+Pauline.
+
+It was quite dark and cold when we started back. We had to light our big
+lantern almost as soon as we left Soissons. For some little time after
+we got out of the town we met people walking and driving--all with
+holiday garbs and faces--but once we plunged in the long forest alleys
+we were absolutely cut off from the outside world. It is a curious
+sensation I have never got accustomed to, those long, dark, lonely
+forest roads. The leaves were still so thick on the trees that we could
+hardly see the last glow of a beautiful orange sunset. The only sign of
+life was a charbonnier's hut in a clearing quite close to the road. They
+had a dull light; just enough to let us see dusky figures moving about.
+
+This morning our church looked quite different--no more banners,
+embroideries or bright flowers, all draped in black and a bier covered
+with a black pall in the middle of the aisle--the curé in a black satin
+vestment; all the congregation in black. I went out before the end of
+the service. All the black draperies and the black kneeling figures and
+the funeral psalms were so inexpressibly sad and dreary. I was glad to
+get out into the sunshine and to the top of the hill, where the cemetery
+gates stood wide open and the sun was streaming down on all the green
+graves with their fresh flowers and plants. Soon we heard the sound of
+the chaunt, and the procession wound slowly up the steep, straggling
+village street. A banner and cross carried by the boys and girls--then
+the curé, with his "ostensoir," followed by his "enfants de choeur"
+carrying books and tapers, then the congregation. There were a great
+many people already in the cemetery. The little procession halted at the
+foot of the cross in the middle. There were several prayers and psalms,
+and then the curé made the tour of the cemetery, sprinkling all the
+graves with holy water and saying a short prayer at each. The procession
+broke up into groups, all kneeling at the different graves praying for
+their dead. There were not many men; a few old ones. They were not
+kneeling, but stood reverently, with bowed heads, when the curé passed.
+It was a pretty sight--the kneeling figures, the flower-covered graves,
+the little procession winding in and out among the tombstones, the white
+soutanes of the boys shining in the sun and not a sound except the
+droning of the chaunts. As it was fête--one of the great religious fêtes
+of the year--there was no work going on--no labourers in the fields, no
+carts on the road--nothing but the great stillness of the plains.
+
+We had our curé at dinner. We were quite sure no one else would ask him
+and it seemed a shame to leave him in his empty "presbytère" on a fête
+day. I think his evenings with us are the only bright spots in his life
+just now. The situation of the priests is really wretched and their
+future most uncertain. This government has taken away the very small
+stipend they allowed them. Our curé got his house and nine hundred
+francs a year--not quite two hundred dollars. In many cases they have
+refused to let the priests live in their "presbytères" unless they pay
+rent. The churches are still open. They can have their services if they
+like, but those who have no fortune (which is the case with most of
+them) are entirely dependent upon the voluntary contribution of their
+parishioners.
+
+Our little curé has no longer his servant--the traditional, plain,
+middle-aged bonne of the priest (they are not allowed to have a woman
+servant under fifty). He lives quite alone in his cold, empty house and
+has a meal of some kind brought into him from the railway café. What is
+hardest for him is never to have an extra franc to give to his poor. He
+is profoundly discouraged, but does his duty simply and cheerfully;
+looks after the sick, nurses them when there is a long illness or an
+accident, teaches the women how to keep their houses clean and how to
+cook good plain food. He is a farmer's son and extraordinarily
+practical. He came to us one day to ask if we had a spare washing tub we
+could give him. He was going to show a woman who sewed and embroidered
+beautifully and who was very poor and unpractical, how to do her
+washing. I think the people have a sort of respect for him, but they
+don't come to church. Everybody appeals to him. We couldn't do anything
+one day with a big kite some one had given the children. No one could in
+the house, neither gardener, chauffeur, nor footmen, so we sent for him,
+and it was funny to see him shortening the tail of the kite and racing
+over the lawn in his black soutane. However, he made it work.
+
+He was rather embarrassed this evening, as he had refused something I
+had asked him to do and was afraid I wouldn't understand. We were
+passing along the canal the other day when the "éclusier" came out of
+his house and asked me if I would come and look at his child who was
+frightfully ill--his wife in despair. Without thinking of my little ones
+at home, I went into the house, where I found, in a dirty, smelly room,
+a slatternly woman holding in her arms a child, about two years old,
+who, I thought, was dead--such a ghastly colour--eyes turned up;
+however, the poor little thing moaned and moved and the woman was shaken
+with sobs--the father and two older children standing there, not knowing
+what to do. They told me the doctor had come in the early morning and
+said there was nothing to do. I asked if they had not sent for the curé.
+"No, they hadn't thought of it." I said I would tell him as I passed the
+presbytère on my way home. He wasn't there, but I left word that the
+child was dying--could he go?
+
+The child died about an hour after I had left the house. I sent a black
+skirt to the woman and was then obliged to go to Paris for two or three
+days. When I came back I asked my gardener, who is from this part of the
+country and knows everybody, if the child's funeral had been quite
+right. He told me it was awful--there was no service--the curé would not
+bury him as he had never been baptized. The body had been put into a
+plain wooden box and carried to the cemetery by the father and a friend.
+
+I was very much upset, but, of course, the thing was over and there was
+nothing to be done. However, when we talked it over, I understood quite
+well. To begin with, all priests are forbidden to read the burial
+service over any one who has not been baptized, therefore he had no
+choice. And this man was not only an unbeliever, but a mocker of all
+religion. When his last child was born he had friends over, from some of
+the neighbouring villages, who were Freemasons (they are a very bad lot
+in France); they had a great feast and baptized the child in red wine. I
+rather regretted the black frock I sent the mother, but she looked so
+utterly wretched and perhaps she could not help herself.
+
+The little curé is very pleased to have his midnight mass this year on
+Christmas eve. Last year it was suppressed. There was such angry feeling
+and hostility to the clergy that the authorities were afraid there might
+be scenes and noisy protestations in the churches; perhaps in some
+quarters of the big cities, but certainly not in the country where
+people hold very much to the midnight mass. It is also one of the
+services that most people attend. It is always a pretty sight in the
+country, particularly if there happens to be snow on the ground. Every
+one that can walk comes. One sees the little bands arriving across the
+fields and along the canal--five or six together, with a lantern.
+Entire families turn out--the old grandfathers hobbling along on their
+sticks, the women carrying their babies, who are generally very
+good--quite taken up with the lights and music, or else asleep. We
+always sing Adam's "Noël." In almost every church in France, I think,
+they sing it. Even in the big Paris churches like the Madeleine and St.
+Eustache, where they have orchestras and trained choirs, they always
+sing the "Noël" at some period of the service.
+
+
+MAREUIL, le 24 Mai.
+
+To-day was the Première Communion at La Ferté, and I had promised the
+Abbé Devigne to go. I couldn't have the auto, as Francis was at a
+meeting of a Syndicat Agricole in quite another direction. So I took the
+train (about seven minutes), and I really believe I had the whole train
+to myself. No one travels in France, on Sunday, in the middle of the
+day. It is quite a long walk from the station to the church (the service
+was at Notre Dame, the church on the hill), with rather a steep climb at
+the end. The little town looked quite deserted--a few women standing at
+their doors and in all directions white figures of all ages were
+galloping up the hill. The bells were ringing and we were a little late.
+The big doors of the church were wide open, the organ playing, and a
+good many people standing about. The altar was bright with flowers and
+candles, and "oriflammes" of blue and pink gauze, worked with gold and
+silver lilies, were stretched across the church between the pillars. One
+or two banners with the head of the Virgin and flowers painted in bright
+colours were also hanging from the columns. Two or three priests, with
+handsome vestments--white embroidered in gold--were officiating, and the
+choir boys wore their red petticoats--soutanes trimmed with lace and red
+shoes and caps. The Suisse (beadle), with his cocked hat, silver
+embroidered coat and big cane, was hovering about, keeping order.
+
+Just inside the chancel sat the "communiants"--fifty boys and girls. The
+girls--all in white from top to toe--white dresses, shoes, and gloves,
+and long white veils coming to the edge of the dress, and either a white
+cap (which looks very pretty and quaint on the little heads--rather like
+some of the old Dutch pictures) or a wreath of white flowers. With them
+sat about half a dozen smaller girls--also in white, with wreaths of
+white roses. They were too small to make their first communion, but they
+were to hold the cordons of the banner when the procession passed down
+the church. The boys were all in black, short jackets, white waistcoats,
+and white ribbon bows on their sleeves.
+
+The church was very full--mostly women, a few men at the bottom. It was
+a pretty sight when the procession moved around the church. First came
+the "sacristain" in his black skirt and white soutane, then the banner
+held by two of the big girls; the group of little ones--some of them
+quite tiny and so pretty with the wreaths of white roses on their black
+hair--holding the cords and looking most pleased with their part of the
+function. Just behind them came the good old religieuse Soeur St.
+Antoine, hovering over her little flock and keeping them all in their
+places; then all the communiants, the smallest girls first, the boys
+behind, all carrying lighted tapers and singing a hymn to the
+accompaniment of the organ.
+
+They went first to the font, stopped there, and one of the girls read a
+sort of prayer renewing their baptismal vows. Then they started again,
+in the same order, to the Chapelle de la Vierge, always singing their
+hymn, and knelt at the rails. Then the hymn stopped, and they recited,
+all together, a prayer to the Virgin. The little childish voices sounded
+quite distinctly in the old church--one heard every word. The
+congregation was much interested.
+
+There wasn't a sound. I don't know if it was any sort of religious
+feeling--some dim recollection of their early days, or merely the love
+of a show of any kind that is inherent in all the Latin race, but they
+seemed much impressed. While the collection was being made there was
+music--very good local talent--two violin soli played by a young fellow,
+from one of the small neighbouring châteaux, whom we all knew well, and
+the "Panus Angelicus" of César Franck, very well sung by the wife of the
+druggist. The curé of La Ferté, a very clever, cultivated man, with a
+charming voice and manner, made a very pretty, short address, quite
+suited to childish ears and understanding, with a few remarks at the end
+to the parents, telling them it was their fault if their children grew
+up hostile or indifferent to religion; that it was a perfectly false
+idea that to be patriotic and good citizens meant the abandonment of all
+religious principles.
+
+We waited until the end of the service (Francis and his friends arrived
+in time to hear the curé's address), and watched the procession
+disappear down the steep path and gradually break up as each child was
+carried off by a host of friends and relations to its home. The curé was
+very pleased, said he had had a "belle fête"--people had sent flowers
+and ribbons and helped as much as they could to decorate the church. I
+asked him if he thought it made a lasting impression on the children. He
+thought it did on the girls, but the boys certainly not. Until their
+first communion he held them a little, could interest them in books and
+games after school hours, but after that great step in their lives they
+felt themselves men, and were impatient of any control.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+CHRISTMAS IN THE VALOIS
+
+
+It had been a cold December, quite recalling Christmas holidays at
+home--when we used to think Christmas without snow wasn't a real
+Christmas, and half the pleasure of getting the greens to dress the
+church was gone, if the children hadn't to walk up to their ankles in
+untrodden snow across the fields to get the long, trailing branches of
+ivy and bunches of pine. We were _just_ warm enough in the big
+château. There were two calorifères, and roaring wood fires (trees) in
+the chimneys; but even I must allow that the great stone staircase
+and long corridors were cold: and I couldn't protest when nearly all
+the members of the household--of all ages--wrapped themselves in
+woolen shawls and even fur capes at night when the procession mounted
+the big staircase. I had wanted for a long time to make a Christmas
+Tree in our lonely little village of St. Quentin, near Louvry, our
+farm, but I didn't get much support from my French friends and
+relations. W. was decidedly against it. The people wouldn't
+understand--had never seen such a thing; it was entirely a foreign
+importation, and just beginning to be understood in the upper classes
+of society. One of my friends, Madame Casimir-Périer,[4] who has a
+beautiful château at Pont-sur-Seine (of historic renown--"La Grande
+Mademoiselle" danced there--"A Pont j'ai fait venir les violons", she
+says in her memoirs), also disapproved. She gives away a great deal
+herself, and looks after all her village, but not in that way. She
+said I had much better spend the money it would cost, on good,
+sensible, warm clothes, blankets, "bons de pain," etc.; there was no
+use in giving them ideas of pleasure and refinement they had never
+had--and couldn't appreciate. Of course it was all perfectly logical
+and sensible, but I did so want to be unreasonable, and for once give
+these poor, wretched little children something that would be a delight
+to them for the whole year--one poor little ray of sunshine in their
+gray, dull lives.
+
+  [4] Madame Casimir-Périer, widow of the well-known liberal statesman,
+  and mother of the ex-President of the Republic.
+
+We had many discussions in the big drawing-room after dinner, when W.
+was smoking in the arm-chair and disposed to look at things less
+sternly than in bright daylight. However, he finally agreed to leave
+me a free hand, and I told him we should give a warm garment to every
+child, and to the very old men and women. I knew I should get plenty
+of help, as the Sisters and Pauline promised me dolls and "dragées." I
+am sorry he couldn't be here; the presence of the Ambassador would
+give more éclat to the fête, and I think in his heart he was rather
+curious as to what we could do, but he was obliged to go back to
+London for Christmas. His leave was up, and beside, he had various
+country and shooting engagements where he would certainly enjoy
+himself and see interesting people. I shall stay over Christmas and
+start for London about the 29th, so as to be ready to go to
+Knowsley[5] by the 30th, where we always spend the New Year's Day.
+
+  [5] The Earl of Derby's fine palace near Liverpool.
+
+We started off one morning after breakfast to interview the
+school-mistress and the Mayor--a most important personage. If you had
+ever seen St. Quentin you would hardly believe it could possess such
+an exalted functionary. The village consists of about twelve little,
+low gray houses, stretching up a steep hill, with a very rough road
+toward the woods of Borny behind. There are forty inhabitants, a
+church, and a school-house; but it _is_ a "commune," and not the
+smallest in France (there is another still smaller somewhere in the
+South, toward the Alpes Maritimes). I always go and make a visit to
+the Mayor, who is a very small farmer and keeps the drinking shop[6]
+of the village. We shake hands and I sit a few minutes in a wooden
+chair in the one room (I don't take a drink, which is so much gained),
+and we talk about the wants and general behaviour of the population.
+The first time I went I was on horseback, so we dismounted and had our
+little talk. When we got up to go he hurriedly brought out a bench for
+me to mount from, and was quite bewildered when he saw W. lift me to
+the saddle from the ground.
+
+  [6] Cabaret.
+
+The church is a pretty, old gray building--standing very high, with
+the little graveyard on one side, and a grass terrace in front, from
+which one has the most lovely view down the valley, and over the
+green slopes to the woods--Borny and Villers-Cotterets on one side,
+Chézy the other. It is very worn and dilapidated inside, and is never
+open except on the day of St. Quentin,[7] when the curé of La
+Ferté-Milon comes over and has a service. The school-house is a nice
+modern little house, built by W. some years ago. It looks as if it had
+dropped down by mistake into this very old world little hamlet.
+
+  [7] In August, I think.
+
+It is a short walk, little more than two kilomètres from the gates of
+the big park, and the day was enchanting--cold and bright; too bright,
+indeed, for the low, gray clouds of the last days had been promising
+snow and I wanted it so much for my tree! We were quite a
+party--Henrietta, Anne, Pauline, Alice and Francis, Bonny the
+fox-terrier, and a very large and heavy four-wheeled cart, which the
+children insisted upon taking and which naturally had to be drawn up all
+the hills by the grown-ups, as it was much too heavy for the little
+ones. Bonny enjoyed himself madly, making frantic excursions to the
+woods in search of rabbits, absolutely unheeding call or whistle, and
+finally emerging dirty and scratched, stopping at all the rabbit holes
+he met on the way back, and burrowing deep into them until nothing was
+left but a stumpy little white tail wagging furiously.
+
+We went first to the Mayor, as we were obliged to ask his permission to
+give our party at the school. Nothing in France can be done without
+official sanction. I wanted, too, to speak to him about a church
+service, which I was very anxious to have before the Tree was lighted. I
+didn't want the children's only idea of Christmas to be cakes and toys;
+and that was rather difficult to arrange, as the situation is so
+strained between the clergy and the laïques, particularly the curé and
+the school-master. I knew I should have no trouble with the
+school-mistress (the school is so small it is mixed girls and boys from
+four to twelve--and there is a woman teacher; she is the wife of one of
+our keepers, and a nice woman)--but I didn't know how the Mayor would
+feel on the subject. However, he was most amiable; would do anything I
+wanted. I said I held very much to having the church open and that I
+would like as many people to come as it would hold. Would he tell all
+the people in the neighbourhood? I would write to the principal farmers,
+and I was sure we could make a most interesting fête. He was rather
+flattered at being consulted; said he would come up with us and open the
+church. It was absolutely neglected and there was nothing in the way of
+benches, carpets, etc. I told him I must go first to the school, but I
+would meet him at the church in half an hour.
+
+The children were already up the hill, tugging the big cart filled with
+pine cones. The school-mistress was much pleased at the idea of the
+Christmas Tree; she had never seen one except in pictures, and never
+thought she would really have one in her school. We settled the day, and
+she promised to come and help arrange the church. Then we went into the
+school-room, and it was funny to hear the answer--a roar--of "Oui,
+Madame Waddington," when I asked her if the children were "good"; so we
+told them if they continued very good there would be a surprise for
+them. There are only thirty scholars--rather poor and miserable looking;
+some of them come from so far, trudge along the high-road in a little
+band, in all weathers, insufficiently clad--one big boy to-day had on a
+linen summer jacket. I asked the teacher if he had a tricot underneath.
+"Mais non, Madame, où l'aurait-il trouvé?" He had a miserable little
+shirt underneath which may once have been flannel, but which was worn
+threadbare.
+
+We chose our day and then adjourned to the church, where the Mayor
+and a nice, red-cheeked, wrinkled old woman[8] who keeps the
+ornaments, such as they are, of the church were waiting for us. It was
+certainly bare and neglected, the old church, bits of plaster dropping
+off walls and ceilings, and the altar and one or two little statues
+still in good condition; but we saw we could arrange it pretty well
+with greens, the few flowers, chrysanthemums, Christmas roses, etc.,
+that were still in the green-house, a new red carpet for the altar
+steps, and of course vases, tall candlesticks, etc. There was one
+handsome bit of old lace on a white nappe for the altar, and a good
+dress for the Virgin. We could have the school benches, and the Mayor
+would lend chairs for the "quality." On the whole we were satisfied,
+and told W. triumphantly at dinner that the Mayor, so far from making
+any objection, was pleased as Punch; he had never seen a Christmas
+Tree either.
+
+  [8] La Mère Rogov.
+
+[Illustration: The Mayor and a nice, red-cheeked, wrinkled old woman
+were waiting for us.]
+
+The next day the list of the children was sent according to age and
+sex--also the old people; and we were very busy settling what we must do
+in the way of toys. The principal thing was to go to Paris and get all
+we wanted--toys, "bêtises", and shiny things for the Tree, etc.
+Henrietta and I undertook that, and we went off the same day that W.
+left for London. It was bitterly cold--the ground frozen hard--and we
+had a long drive, eighteen kilomètres through Villers-Cotterets
+forest--but no snow, only a beautiful white frost--all the trees and
+bushes covered with rime. It was like driving through a fairy forest.
+When we had occasional gleams of sunlight every leaf sparkled, and the
+red berries of the holly stood out beautifully from all the white. The
+fine old ruins of La Ferté looked splendid rising out of a mass of
+glistening underwood and long grass. We are very proud of our old
+château-fort, which has withstood well the work of time. It was begun
+(and never finished) by Louis d'Orléans in 1303, and was never
+inhabited. Now there is nothing left but the façade and great round
+towers, but quite enough to show what it might have been. There is also
+a bas-relief, perfectly well preserved, over the big door, of the
+Coronation of the Virgin, the kneeling figure quite distinct. On the
+other side is a great grass place (village green) where the fêtes of La
+Ferté take place, and where all the town dances the days of the
+"Assemblée." From the bottom of the terrace, at the foot of the low
+wall, one has a magnificent view over the town and the great forest of
+Villers-Cotterets stretching away in front, a long blue line on the
+horizon. In the main street of La Ferté there is a statue of Racine, who
+was born there. It is in white marble, in the classic draperies of the
+time, and is also in very good preservation. The baptismal register of
+Jean Racine is in the archives of La Ferté.
+
+The road all the way to Villers-Cotterets was most animated. It was
+market-day, and we met every description of vehicle, from the high,
+old-fashioned tilbury of the well-to-do farmer, to the peasant's
+cart--sometimes an old woman driving, well wrapped up, her turban on her
+head, but a knit shawl wound around it, carrying a lot of cheeses to
+market; sometimes a man with a cow tied behind his cart, and a calf
+inside. We also crossed Menier's équipage de chasse, horses and dogs
+being exercised. We talked a few minutes to Hubert, the piqueur, who was
+in a very bad humor. They had not hunted for some days, and dogs and
+horses were unruly. The horses were a fine lot, almost all white or
+light gray. We go sometimes to the meets, and the effect is very good,
+as the men all wear scarlet coats and the contrast is striking.
+
+We had an exhausting day in Paris, but managed to get pretty nearly
+everything. The little children were easily disposed of--dolls, drums,
+wooden horses, etc.; but the bigger boys and girls, who have outgrown
+toys, are more difficult to suit. However, with knives, paint-boxes,
+lotos (geographical and historical), for the boys; and handkerchief and
+work-boxes, morocco bags, etc., we did finally get our fifty objects.
+There are always extra children cropping up. Shopping was not very easy,
+as the streets and boulevards were crowded and slippery. We had a fairly
+good cab, but the time seemed endless. The big bazaars--Hôtel de Ville,
+rue d'Amsterdam, etc.--were the most amusing; really, one could get
+anything from a five-sou doll to a ménagère (the little cooking-stove
+all the peasant women use in their cottages). There were armies of
+extras--white-aproned youths, who did their best for us. We explained to
+one of the superintendents what we wanted, and he gave us a very
+intelligent boy, who followed us about with an enormous basket, into
+which everything was put. When we finally became almost distracted with
+the confusion and the crowd and our list, we asked the boy what he had
+liked when he was eleven years old at school; and he assured us all boys
+liked knives and guns.
+
+When we had finished with the boys we had the decorations for the Tree
+to get, and then to the Bon Marché for yards of flannel, calico, bas de
+laine, tricots, etc. We had given W. rendezvous at five at Henrietta's.
+He was going to cross at night. We found him there having his tea. He
+had seen lots of people; been to the Élysée and had a long interview
+with the President (Grévy); then to the Quai d'Orsay to get his last
+instructions from the Minister; and he had still people coming to see
+him. When we left (our train was before his) he was closeted with one of
+his friends, a candidate for the Institute, very keen about his vote
+which W. had promised him, and going over for about the twentieth time
+the list of the members to see what his chances were. However, I suppose
+all candidates are exactly alike, and W. says he is sure he was a
+nuisance to all his friends when he presented himself at the Institute.
+One or two people were waiting in the dining-room to speak to him, and
+his servant was distracted over his valise, which wasn't begun then. I
+promised him I would write him a faithful account of our fête once we
+had decided our day. We took the five-o'clock train down, and a nice
+cold drive we had going home. The roads were rather slippery, and the
+forest black and weird. The trees which had been so beautiful in the
+morning covered with rime, seemed a massive black wall hemming us in. It
+is certainly a lonely bit of country, once we had left the lights of
+Villers-Cotterets behind us, crossed the last railway, and were fairly
+started in the forest. We didn't meet anything--neither cart, carriage,
+bûcheron, nor pedestrian of any kind.
+
+Henrietta was rather nervous, and she breathed a sigh of relief when we
+got out on the plains and trotted down the long hill that leads to La
+Ferté. The château lights looked very warm and home-like as we drove in.
+We gave a detailed account of all we had bought, and as we had brought
+our lists with us we went to work at once, settling what each child
+should have. I found a note from the Abbé Maréchal, the curé of
+Laferté-Milon, whom I wanted to consult about our service. He is a very
+clever, moderate man, a great friend of ours, and I was sure he would
+help us and arrange a service of some kind for the children. Of course I
+was rather vague about a Catholic service; a Protestant one I could have
+arranged myself, with some Christmas carols and a short liturgy, but I
+had no idea what Christmas meant to Catholic minds. We had asked him to
+come to breakfast, and we would go over to the village afterward, see
+the church and what could be done. He was quite pleased at the idea of
+doing anything for his poor little parish, and he is so fond of children
+and young people that he was quite as much interested as we were. He
+knew the church, having held a service there three or four times. We
+walked over, talking over the ceremony and what we could do. He said he
+would give a benediction, bring over the Enfant Jésus, and make a small
+address to the children. The music was rather difficult to arrange, but
+we finally agreed that we would send a big omnibus to bring over the
+harmonium from La Ferté, one or two Sisters, two choir children, and
+three or four of the older girls of the school who could sing, and he
+would see that they learned two or three canticles.
+
+We agreed to do everything in the way of decoration. He made only one
+condition: that the people should come to the service. I could answer
+for all our household and for some of the neighbours--almost all, in
+fact--as I was sure the novelty of the Christmas Tree would attract
+them, and they wouldn't mind the church service thrown in.
+
+We went of course to see the Mayor, as the curé was obliged to notify
+him that he wished to open the church, and also to choose the day. We
+took Thursday, which is the French holiday; that left us just two
+days to make our preparations. We told Madame Isidore (the
+school-mistress) we would come on Wednesday for the church, bringing
+flowers, candles, etc., and Thursday morning to dress the Tree. The
+service was fixed for three o'clock--the Tree afterward in the
+school-room. We found our big ballots[9] from the bazaars and other
+shops, when we got home, and all the evening we wrote tickets and
+names (some of them so high-sounding--Ismérie, Aline, Léocadie, etc.),
+and filled little red and yellow bags, which were very troublesome to
+make, with "dragées."
+
+  [9] Big packages.
+
+Wednesday we made a fine expedition to the woods--the whole party, the
+donkey-cart, and one of the keepers to choose the Tree--a most important
+performance, as we wanted the real pyramid "sapin," tapering off to a
+fine point at the top. Labbey (keeper) told us his young son and the
+coachman's son had been all the morning in the woods getting enormous
+branches of pine, holly, and ivy, which we would find at the church. We
+came across various old women making up their bundles of fagots and dead
+wood (they are always allowed to come once a week to pick up the dead
+wood, under the keeper's surveillance). They were principally from
+Louvry and St. Quentin, and were staggering along, carrying quite heavy
+bundles on their poor old bent backs. However, they were very smiling
+to-day, and I think the burden was lightened by the thought of the
+morrow. We found a fine tree, which was installed with some difficulty
+in the donkey-cart; Francis and Alice taking turns driving, perched on
+the trunk of the tree, and Labbey walking behind, supporting the top
+branches.
+
+We found the boys at the church, having already begun their
+decorations--enormous, high pine branches ranged all along the wall, and
+trails of ivy on the windows. The maids had arrived in the carriage,
+bringing the new red carpet, vases, candelabras and tall candlesticks,
+also two splendid wax candles painted and decorated, which Gertrude
+Schuyler had brought us from Italy; all the flowers the gardener would
+give them, principally chrysanthemums and Christmas roses. It seems he
+wasn't at all well disposed; couldn't imagine why "ces dames" wanted to
+despoil the green-houses "pour ce petit trou de St. Quentin."
+
+We all worked hard for about an hour, and the little church looked quite
+transformed. The red carpet covered all the worn, dirty places on the
+altar steps, and the pine branches were so high and so thick that the
+walls almost disappeared. When the old woman (gardienne) appeared she
+was speechless with delight! As soon as we had finished there, we
+adjourned to the school-house, and to our joy snow was falling--quite
+heavy flakes. Madame Isidore turned all the children into a small room,
+and we proceeded to set up our Tree. It was a great deal too tall, and
+if we hadn't been there they would certainly have chopped it off at the
+top, quite spoiling our beautiful point; but as we insisted, they cut
+away from the bottom, and it really was the regular pyramid one always
+wants for a Christmas Tree. We put it in a big green case (which we had
+obtained with great difficulty from the gardener; it was quite empty,
+standing in the orangerie, but he was convinced we would never bring it
+back), moss all around it, and it made a great effect. The "garde de
+Borny" arrived while we were working, and said he would certainly come
+to the church in his "tenue de garde"; our two keepers would also be
+there.
+
+[Illustration: There was one handsome bit of old lace on a white nappe
+for the altar.]
+
+Thursday morning we went early (ten o'clock) to St. Quentin and spent
+over two hours decorating the Tree, ticketing and arranging all the
+little garments. Every child in the neighbourhood was hanging around the
+school-house when we arrived, the entrance being strictly forbidden
+until after the service, when the Tree would be lighted. I expressed
+great surprise at seeing the children at the school on a holiday, and
+there were broad grins as they answered, "Madame Waddington nous a dit
+de venir." It had snowed all night, and the clouds were low and gray,
+and looked as if they were still full of snow. The going was extremely
+difficult; not that the snow was very deep, but there was enough to make
+the roads very slippery. We had the horses "ferrés à glace," and even
+the donkey had nails on his shoes. The country looked beautiful--the
+poor little village quite picturesque, snow on all the dark roofs, and
+the church standing out splendidly from its carpet of snow--the tall
+pines not quite covered, and always the curtain of forest shutting in
+the valley.
+
+We left the maids to breakfast with the keeper, and promised to be back
+at three o'clock punctually. Our coachman, Hubert, generally objects
+strongly to taking out his horses in bad weather on rough country roads
+and making three or four trips backward and forward; but to-day he was
+quite serene. He comes from that part of the neighbourhood and is
+related to half the village. Our progress was slow, as we stopped a good
+deal. It was a pretty sight as we got near St. Quentin: the church,
+brightly lighted, stood out well on the top of the hill against a
+background of tall trees, the branches just tipped with snow. The bell
+was ringing, the big doors wide open, sending out a glow of warmth and
+colour, and the carpet of white untrodden country snow was quite intact,
+except a little pathway made by the feet of the men who had brought up
+the harmonium. The red carpet and bright chrysanthemums made a fine
+effect of colour, and the little "niche" (it could hardly be called a
+chapel) of the Virgin was quite charming, all dressed with greens and
+white flowers, our tall Italian candles making a grand show.
+
+The La Ferté contingent had arrived. They had much difficulty in getting
+the omnibus up to the church, as it was heavy with the harmonium on top;
+however, everybody got out and walked up the hill, and all went off
+well. The Abbé was robing, with his two choir children, in the minute
+sacristy, and the two good Sisters were standing at the gate with all
+their little flock--about ten girls, I should think. There were people
+in every direction, of all sizes and ages--some women carrying a baby in
+their arms and pushing one or two others in a cart, some wretched old
+people so bent and wrinkled one couldn't imagine how they could crawl
+from one room to another. A miserable old man bent double, really,
+leaning on a child and walking with two canes, was pointed out to me as
+the "père Colin," who makes the "margottins" (bundles of little dry
+sticks used for making the fires) for the château. However, they were
+all streaming up the slippery hillside, quite unmindful of cold or
+fatigue. We walked up, too, and I went first to the school-house to see
+if our provisions had come. Food was also a vexed question, as tea and
+buns, which would seem natural to us, were unknown in these parts. After
+many consultations with the women about us--lessiveuses (washerwomen),
+keepers' wives, etc.--we decided upon hot wine and brioches. The Mayor
+undertook to supply the wine and the glasses, and we ordered the
+brioches from the Hôtel du Sauvage at La Ferté; the son of the house is
+a very good pâtissier. It is a funny, old-fashioned little hotel, not
+very clean, but has an excellent cuisine, also a wonderful sign board--a
+bright red naked savage, with feathers in his hair and a club in his
+hand--rather like the primitive pictures of North American Indians in
+our school-books.
+
+Everything was there, and the children just forming the procession to
+walk to the church. Some of the farmers' wives were also waiting for us
+at the school-house, so I only had a moment to go into the big
+class-room to see if the Tree looked all right. It was quite ready, and
+we agreed that the two big boys with the keeper should begin to light it
+as soon as the service was over. Madame Isidore (the school-mistress)
+was rather unhappy about the quantity of people. There were many more
+than thirty children, but Henrietta and Pauline had made up a bundle of
+extras, and I was sure there would be enough. She told us people had
+been on the way since nine in the morning--women and children arriving
+cold and wet and draggled, but determined to see everything. She showed
+me one woman from Chézy, the next village (some distance off, as our
+part of the country is very scantily populated; it is all great farms
+and forests; one can go miles without seeing a trace of habitation). She
+had arrived quite early with two children, a boy and a girl of seven and
+eight, and a small baby in her arms; and when Madame Isidore
+remonstrated, saying the fête was for her school only, not for the
+entire country-side, the woman answered that Madame always smiled and
+spoke so nicely to her when she passed on horseback that she was sure
+she would want her to come. The French peasants love to be spoken to,
+always answer civilly, and are interested in the horses, or the donkey,
+or the children--anything that passes.
+
+[Illustration: They were all streaming up the slippery hillside.]
+
+We couldn't loiter, as the bell was tolling, the children already at the
+church, and some one rushed down to say that "M. le Curé attendait ces
+dames pour commencer son office." There was quite a crowd on the little
+"place," everybody waiting for us to come in. We let the children troop
+in first, sitting on benches on one side. In front of the altar there
+were rows of chairs for the "quality." The Sisters and their girls sat
+close up to the harmonium, and on a table near, covered with a pretty
+white linen cloth trimmed with fine old lace (part of the church
+property), was the Enfant Jésus in his cradle. This was to be a great
+surprise to me. When it was decided that the Sisters should come to the
+fête with some of the bigger girls, and bring the Enfant Jésus, they
+thought there must be a new dress for the "babe," so every child
+subscribed a sou, and the dress was made by the couturière of La Ferté.
+It _was_ a surprise, for the Enfant Jésus was attired in a pink satin
+garment with the high puffed fashionable sleeves we were all wearing!
+However, I concealed my feelings, the good Sisters were so naïvely
+pleased. I could only hope the children would think the sleeves were
+wings.
+
+As soon as the party from the château was seated, every one crowded in,
+and there were not seats enough, nor room enough in the little church;
+so the big doors remained open (it was fairly warm with the lights and
+the people), and there were nearly as many people outside as in. The
+three keepers (Garde de Borny and our two) looked very imposing. They
+are all big men, and their belts and gun-barrels bright and shining.
+They stood at the doors to keep order. The Mayor, too, was there, in a
+black coat and white cravat, but he came up to the top of the church and
+sat in the same row with me. He didn't have on his tricoloured scarf,
+so I suppose he doesn't possess one.
+
+It was a pretty, simple service. When the curé and his two choir
+children in their short, white surplices and red petticoats came up the
+aisle, the choir sang the fine old hymn "Adeste Fideles," the
+congregation all joining in. We sang, too, the English words ("Oh, come,
+all ye Faithful"); we didn't know the Latin ones, but hoped nobody would
+notice. There were one or two prayers and a pretty, short address,
+talking of the wonderful Christmas night so many years ago, when the
+bright star guided the shepherds through the cold winter night to the
+stable where the heavenly babe was born. The children listened most
+attentively, and as all the boys in the village begin life as shepherds
+and cow-boys, they were wildly interested. Then there was a benediction,
+and at the end all the children in procession passed before the Enfant
+Jésus and kissed his foot. It was pretty to see the little ones standing
+up on tip-toe to get to the little foot, and the mothers holding up
+their babes. While this was going on, the choir sang the Noël Breton of
+Holmès, "Deux anges sont venus ce soir m'apporter de bien belles
+choses." There was some little delay in getting the children into
+procession again to go down to the school-house. They had been
+supernaturally good, but were so impatient to see the Tree that it was
+difficult to hold them. Henrietta and Pauline hurried on to light the
+Tree. I waited for the Abbé. He was much pleased with the attendance,
+and spoke so nicely to all the people.
+
+We found the children all assembled in the small room at the school-house,
+and as soon as we could get through the crowd we let them come in. The
+Tree was quite beautiful, all white candles--quantities--shiny
+ornaments and small toys, dolls, trumpets, drums, and the yellow and
+red bags of "dragées" hanging on the branches. It went straight up to
+the ceiling, and quite on top was a big gold star, the manufacture of
+which had been a source of great tribulation at the château. We forgot
+to get one in Paris, and sent in hot haste on Wednesday to La Ferté
+for pasteboard and gold paper; but, alas! none of us could draw, and
+we had no model. I made one or two attempts, with anything but a
+satisfactory result: all the points were of different lengths and
+there was nothing but points (more like an octopus than anything
+else). However, Pauline finally produced a very good one (it really
+looked like a star), and of course the covering it with gold paper was
+easy. The crèche made a great effect, standing at the bottom of the
+Tree with a tall candle on each side. All the big toys and clothes
+were put on a table behind, where we all sat. Then the door was
+opened; there was a rush at first, but the school-mistress kept strict
+order. The little ones came first, their eyes round and fixed on the
+beautiful Tree; then the bigger children, and immediately behind them
+the "oldest inhabitants"--such a collection of old, bent, wrinkled,
+crippled creatures--then as many as could get in. There wasn't a sound
+at first, except some very small babies crowing and choking--then a
+sort of hum of pleasure.
+
+[Illustration: All the children in procession passed.]
+
+We had two or three recitations in parts from the older scholars; some
+songs, and at the end the "compliment," the usual thing--"Madame et
+chère Bienfaitrice," said by a small thing about five years old,
+speaking very fast and low, trying to look at me, but turning her head
+always toward the Tree and being shaken back into her place by Madame
+Isidore. Then we began the distribution--the clothes first, so as not to
+despoil the Tree too soon. The children naturally didn't take the
+slightest interest in warm petticoats or tricots, but their mothers did.
+
+We had the little ones first, Francis giving to the girls and Alice to
+the boys. Henrietta called the names; Pauline gave the toys to our two,
+and Madame Isidore called up each child. The faces of the children, when
+they saw dolls, trumpets, etc., being taken off the Tree and handed to
+each of them, was a thing to remember. The little girls with their dolls
+were too sweet, hugging them tight in their little fat arms. One or two
+of the boys began to blow softly on the trumpets and beat the drums, and
+were instantly hushed up by the parents; but we said they might make as
+much noise as they pleased for a few moments, and a fine "vacarme" (row)
+it was--the heavy boots of the boys contributing well as they moved
+about after their trains, marbles, etc.
+
+However, the candles were burning low (they only just last an hour) and
+we thought it was time for cakes and wine. We asked the children if they
+were pleased, also if each child had garment, toy, and "dragées," and to
+hold them up. There was a great scamper to the mothers to get the
+clothes, and then all the arms went up with their precious load.
+
+The school-children passed first into the outer room, where the keepers'
+wives and our maids were presiding over two great bowls of hot wine
+(with a great deal of water, naturally) and a large tray filled with
+brioches. When each child had had a drink and a cake they went out, to
+make room for the outsiders and old people. Henrietta and Pauline
+distributed the "extras"; I think there were about twenty in all,
+counting the babies in arms--also, of course, the girls from La Ferté
+who had come over with the Sisters to sing. I talked to some of the old
+people. There was one poor old woman--looked a hundred--still gazing
+spellbound at the Tree with the candles dying out, and most of the
+ornaments taken off. As I came up to her she said: "Je suis bien
+vieille, mais je n'aurais jamais cru voir quelque chose de si beau! Il
+me semble que le ciel est ouvert"--poor old thing! I am so glad I wasn't
+sensible, and decided to give them something pretty to look at and think
+about. There was wine and cakes for all, and then came the closing
+ceremony.
+
+We (the quality) adjourned to the sitting-room of the school-mistress
+(where there were red arm-chairs and a piano), who produced a bottle of
+better wine, and then we "trinquéd" (touched glasses) with the Mayor,
+who thanked us in the name of the commune for the beautiful fête we had
+made for them. I answered briefly that I was quite happy to see them so
+happy, and then we all made a rush for wraps and carriages.
+
+The Abbé came back to the château to dine, but he couldn't get away
+until he had seen his Sisters and harmonium packed safely into the big
+omnibus and started for La Ferté. It looked so pretty all the way home.
+It was quite dark, and the various groups were struggling down the hill
+and along the road, their lanterns making a bright spot on the snow;
+the little childish voices talking, laughing, and little bands running
+backward and forward, some disappearing at a turn of the road, the
+lantern getting dimmer, and finally vanishing behind the trees. We went
+very slowly, as the roads were dreadfully slippery, and had a running
+escort all the way to the Mill of Bourneville, with an accompaniment of
+drums and trumpets. The melancholy plains of the Valois were transformed
+tonight. In every direction we saw little twinkling lights, as the
+various bands separated and struck off across the fields to some lonely
+farm or mill. It is a lonely, desolate country--all great stretches of
+fields and plains, with a far-away blue line of forests. We often drive
+for miles without meeting a vehicle of any kind, and there are such
+distances between the little hamlets and isolated farms that one is
+almost uncomfortable in the absolute solitude. In winter no one is
+working in the fields and one never hears a sound; a dog's bark is
+welcome--it means life and movement somewhere.
+
+[Illustration: There was some poor old woman still gazing spellbound.]
+
+It is quite the country of the "haute culture," which Cherbuliez wrote
+about in his famous novel, "La Ferme du Choquart." The farms are often
+most picturesque--have been "abbayes" and monasteries. The massive round
+towers, great gate-ways, and arched windows still remain;
+occasionally, too, parts of a solid wall. There is a fine old
+ruin--the "Commanderie," near Montigny, one of our poor little villages.
+It belonged to the Knights Templars, and is most interesting. The chapel
+walls are still intact, and the beautiful roof and high, narrow windows.
+It is now, alas! a "poulailler" (chicken-house), and turkeys and
+chickens are perched on the rafters and great beams that still support
+the roof. The dwelling-house, too, is most interesting with its thick
+gray walls, high narrow windows, and steep winding staircase. I was
+always told there were "donjons" in the cellars, but I never had the
+courage to go down the dark, damp, slippery staircase.
+
+We were quite glad to get back to our big drawing-room with the fire and
+the tea-table; for of course the drawback to our entertainment was the
+stuffiness (not to say bad smell) of the little room. When all the
+children and grown people got inmost of them with damp clothes and
+shoes-the odour was something awful. Of course no window could be opened
+on account of the candles, and the atmosphere was terrible. At the end,
+when it was complicated with wine and cake and all the little ones'
+faces smeared with chocolate and "dragées," I really don't know how we
+stood it.
+
+We had a very cheerful dinner. We complimented the Abbé upon his sermon,
+which was really very pretty and poetical. He said the children's faces
+quite inspired him, and beyond, over their heads, through the open door
+he got a glimpse of the tall pines with their frosted heads, and could
+almost fancy he saw the beautiful star.
+
+We were all much pleased with our first "Christmas in the Valois."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+A RACINE CELEBRATION
+
+
+MAREUIL-SUR-OURCQ, April 20th, 1899.
+
+I could scarcely believe I was in our quiet little town of La
+Ferté-Milon to-day. Such a transformation--flags flying, draperies at
+all the windows, garlands of greens and flowers across the streets, and
+a fine triumphal arch--all greens and flowers arranged about the centre
+of the Grande Rue. Many people standing about, looking on, and making
+suggestions; altogether, an air de fête which is most unusual in these
+sleepy little streets where nothing ever passes, except at four o'clock,
+when the three schools come out, and clatter down the street. The École
+Maternelle comes first, the good Mère Cécile bringing up the rear of the
+procession, holding the smallest children, babies three and four years
+old, by the hand, three or four more clinging to her skirts, and guiding
+them across the perilous passage of the bridge over the canal. It is a
+pretty view from the bridge. The canal (really the river Ourcq,
+canalisée), which has preserved its current and hasn't the dead,
+sluggish look of most canals, runs alongside of the Mail, a large green
+place with grass, big trees, a broad walk down the centre, and benches
+under the trees. It is a sort of promenade for the inhabitants and also
+serves as a village green, where all the fairs, shows and markets are
+held. The opposite bank is bordered by quaint old houses, with round
+towers and gardens, full of bright flowers, running down to the water's
+edge. There is one curious old colombier which has been there for
+centuries; near the bridge there is a lavoir, where there are always
+women washing. They are all there to-day, but much distracted, wildly
+interested in all that is going on--and the unwonted stir in the
+streets; chattering hard, and giving their opinions as to the decoration
+of the arch, which is evidently a source of great pride to the town.
+
+On a bright sunny day, when the red roofs and flowers are reflected in
+the water, and it is not too cold, their work doesn't seem very hard;
+but on a winter afternoon, when they have to break the ice sometimes,
+and a biting wind is blowing down the canal, it is pitiable to see the
+poor things thinly clad, shivering and damp; their hands and arms red
+and chapped with cold. On the other side of the bridge, the canal
+wanders peacefully along through endless green meadows, bordered with
+poplars, to Marolles, a little village where there is the first écluse
+on the way to Paris.
+
+We had been talking vaguely all winter of doing something at La
+Ferté-Milon to fêter the bicentenaire of Racine. They were making
+preparations at Paris, also at Port Royal, and it seemed hard to do
+nothing in his native place. His statue in the Grande Rue is one of the
+glories of La Ferté.
+
+Jean Racine was born in La Ferté in 1639. He lost both father and mother
+young, and was brought up by his grandparents. He was sent first to
+school at Beauvais, later, while still quite a youth, to Port Royal. His
+stay there influenced considerably his character and his writings; and
+though he separated himself entirely from the "Solitaires" during the
+years of his brilliant career as poet and courtier, there remained
+always in his heart a latent tenderness for the quiet green valley of
+the Chevreuse, where he had passed all his years of adolescence,
+listening to the good Fathers, and imbibing their doctrines of the
+necessity of divine grace to complete the character. His masters were
+horrified and distressed when his talent developed into plays, which
+brought him into contact with actors and actresses, and made him an
+habitué of a frivolous Court.
+
+There is a pretty letter from one of his aunts, a religieuse de Port
+Royal, begging him to keep away from "des fréquentations abominables,"
+and to return to a Christian life.
+
+His career was rapid and brilliant. He was named to the Académie
+Française in 1673, and when he retired from the theatre was a welcome
+and honoured guest at the most brilliant court of the world. He was made
+private historian to the King and accompanied him on various campaigns.
+There are amusing mentions of the poets-historians (Boileau was also
+royal historian) in the writings of their contemporaries, "les messieurs
+du sublime," much embarrassed with their military accoutrements and much
+fatigued by the unwonted exercise and long days on horseback. The King
+showed Racine every favour. He was lodged at Versailles and at Marly and
+was called upon to amuse and distract the monarch when the cares of
+state and increasing years made all diversions pall upon him. He saw the
+decline and disgrace of Madame de Montespan, the marvellous good fortune
+of Madame de Maintenon. His famous tragedies of Esther and Athalie were
+written at Madame de Maintenon's request for her special institution of
+St. Cyr, and the performances were honoured by the presence of the King.
+Racine himself directed the rehearsals and the music was composed by
+Jean Baptiste Moreau, organist of St. Cyr. The youthful actresses showed
+wonderful aptitude in interpreting the passionate, tender verses of the
+poet. Young imaginations worked and jealousies and rivalries ran high.
+After a certain number of representations Mme. de Maintenon was obliged
+to suspend the performances in public, with costumes and music. The
+plays were only given in private at the Maison de St. Cyr; the young
+scholars playing in the dress of the establishment. He made his peace
+with Port Royal before he died. He submitted Phèdre to his former
+masters and had the satisfaction of being received again by the "Grand
+Arnauld,"[10] who had been deeply offended by his ingratitude and his
+criticisms and ridicule of many of his early friends and protectors. He
+asked to be buried there, and his body remained until the destruction
+and devastation of Port Royal, when it was removed to Paris and placed
+in the Church of St. Etienne des Monts.
+
+[10] "Le Grand Arnauld" (Antoine), one of the first and most
+influential of the celebrated "Solitaires" who established themselves
+at Port Royal, and one of the founders of the famous sect of
+Jansenists whose controversies with the Jesuits convulsed the whole
+religious world in France during the years 1662-1668. He was followed
+in his retreat by his mother (after the husband's death), his brother
+and four sisters, one of whom became the "Mère Angélique," Abbesse of
+Port Royal.
+
+He returned many times to La Ferté-Milon, and the great poet and
+private historian of the Roi Soleil must often have climbed the steep
+little street that leads to the ruins, and thought of the changes, since
+the little boy lay on the grass at the foot of the great walls, dreaming
+golden dreams of the future, which for him were so brilliantly realised.
+
+In a small country town one is slow to adopt new ideas, slower still to
+carry them out, but the Mayor and curé were both most anxious to do
+something in the birthplace of the poet, and that was the general
+feeling in the Department. After many discussions we finally arrived at
+a solution, or at least we decided what we wanted: a special service in
+the fine old church of Notre Dame, which stands beautifully on the hill,
+close to the ruins; a representation of the Comédie Française, and of
+course a banquet at the Sauvage, with all the official world, senators,
+Préfet, Académiciens--a band of music, a torch-light procession, and as
+many distinguished visitors as we could get hold of. _Funds_ of course
+were a necessary item, but all the countryside contributed largely, and
+we knew that the artists would give their services gratis.
+
+We arranged a breakfast at my house in Paris with Mons. Casimir-Périer,
+late President of the Republic, who was always ready to lend his
+influence for anything that interests the people, and teaches them
+something of their great men, and Mons. Claretie, Directeur of the
+Comédie Française, a most cultivated, charming man. He is generally
+rather chary of letting his pensionnaires play en province, but this
+really was an occasion to break through his rules, and he was quite
+ready to help us in every way. We had also M. Sebline, Senator of the
+Aisne, and l'Abbé Maréchal, curé of La Ferté-Milon. We had wanted one of
+the Administrateurs of the Chemin de Fer du Nord to arrange about a free
+transport for the actors, but there seemed some trouble about getting
+hold of the right man, and Sebline promised to see about that.
+
+The Abbe Maréchal and I were very ambitious for the theatrical part of
+the entertainment and had views of Esther with the costumes, and
+choruses of Moreau, but M. Claretie said that would be impossible. It
+was difficult enough to arrange in Paris with all the singers,
+instruments, and costumes at hand--and would be impossible in the
+country with our modest resources. I think the idea of a tent on a
+village green rather frightened him; and he didn't quite see the élite
+of his company playing in such a cadre--no décor--and probably very bad
+acoustics. However, Sebline reassured him. He knew the tent and its
+capabilities, having seen it figure on various occasions, comices
+agricoles, banquets de pompiers, at village fêtes generally, and said it
+could be arranged quite well.
+
+We discussed many programmes, but finally accepted whatever M. Claretie
+would give--an act of "Les Plaideurs," and two or three of "Bérénice,"
+with Mme. Bartet, who is charming in that rôle. The Abbé Maréchal
+undertook the music in his church, and I was sure he would succeed in
+having some of the choruses of Esther. His heart was quite set on it.
+Once he had settled our programme, the conversation drifted away from
+the purely local talk, and was brilliant enough. All the men were clever
+and good talkers, and all well up in Racine, his career, and the various
+phases of his work.
+
+From the classics we got into modern plays and poets, and there of
+course the differences of opinion were wide; but I think the general
+public (people in the upper galleries) like better when they go to the
+Française to see a classic piece--Roman emperors and soldiers, and
+vestal virgins and barbarians in chains--and to listen to their long
+tirades. The modern light comedy, even when it treats of the vital
+subjects of the day, seems less in its place in those old walls. I quite
+understand one couldn't see Britannicus,[11] Mithridate, nor the Cid
+every evening.
+
+[11] I remember so well our cousin Arthur's description of his
+holidays spent at his grandmother's château. Every evening they read
+aloud some classical piece. When he had read Britannicus twice (the
+second time to appreciate more fully the beauties which were lightly
+passed over at first), he rebelled, had a migraine, or a sore throat,
+something which prevented his appearing in the drawing-room after
+dinner; and he and his cousins attired themselves in sheets, and stood
+on the corner of the wall where the diligence made a sharp turn,
+frightening the driver and his horses out of their wits.
+
+We came down here several times to see how things were getting on, and
+always found the little town quite feverishly animated. We had succeeded
+in getting the band of the regiment stationed at Soissons. I wrote to
+the Colonel, who said he would send it with pleasure, but that he
+couldn't on his own authority. An application must be made to the
+Ministère de la Guerre. There is always so much red tape in France. One
+writes and receives so many letters about anything one wants to do--a
+Christmas Tree in the school-house--a distribution of soup for the poor
+and old--a turn in a road to be rounded, etc. However, the permission
+was graciously accorded for the band. The Mayor's idea was to station it
+on the Mail, where quantities of people would congregate who couldn't
+get into the church or the tent.
+
+We went one day to have tea with the Abbé Maréchal in his nice old
+presbytère; the salon opening out on a large, old-fashioned garden with
+fine trees, and a view of the church towers in the distance. He was
+quite pleased with all that he had arranged for his church service. One
+of his friends, Abbé Vignon, a most interesting man and eloquent
+preacher, promised to deliver a lecture on Racine from the pulpit; and
+M. Vincent d'Indy, the distinguished composer and leader of the modern
+school of music, undertook the music with Mme. Jeanne Maunay as singer;
+he himself presiding at the organ.
+
+I tried to persuade the proprietors of all the châteaux in the
+neighbourhood to come, but I can't say I had much success. Some had
+gout--some had mourning. I don't remember if any one "had married a wife
+and therefore couldn't come."
+
+However, we shall fill our own house, and give breakfast and dinner to
+any one who will come. To-day we have been wandering about on the green
+near the ruins, trying to find some place where we can give our friends
+tea. The service in the church will certainly be long, and before the
+theatrical performance begins we should like to arrange a little
+goûter--but where? It is too far to go back to our house, and the
+Sauvage, our usual resort, will be packed on that day, and quite off its
+head, as they have two banquets morning and evening. The "Cafe des
+Ruines," a dirty little place just under the great walls of the château,
+didn't look inviting; but there was literally nothing else, so we
+interviewed the proprietor, went in to the big room down stairs, which
+was perfectly impossible, reeking with smoke, and smelling of cheap
+liquor; but he told us he had a "très belle salle" up stairs, where we
+should be quite alone. We climbed up a dark, rickety little turning
+staircase, and found ourselves in quite a good room, with three large
+windows on the green; the walls covered with pictures from the cheap
+illustrated papers, and on the whole not too dirty. We have taken it for
+the afternoon, told the patron we would come to-morrow, put up tables,
+and make as many preparations as we could for the great day. He was very
+anxious to furnish something--some "vin du pays;" but we told him all we
+wanted was fire, plenty of hot water, and a good scrubbing of floor and
+windows.
+
+It is enchanting this afternoon. We are taking advantage of the fine
+weather to drive about the country, and show our friends some of our big
+farms and quaint little villages. They look exactly as they did a
+hundred years ago, "when the Cossacks were here," as they say in the
+country. Some of the inns have still kept their old-fashioned signs and
+names. Near May, on the road to Meaux, Bossuet's fine old cathedral
+town, there is a nice old square red-brick house, "L'Auberge du Veau qui
+Téte" (The Inn of the Sucking Calf), which certainly indicates that this
+is great farming country. There are quantities of big white oxen, cows,
+and horses in the fields, but the roads are solitary. One never meets
+anything except on market day. The Florians who live in Seine et Marne,
+which is thickly populated--villages and châteaux close together--were
+much struck with the loneliness and great stretches of wood and plain.
+
+We are praying for fine weather, as rain would be disastrous. The main
+street looks really charming. The green arch is nearly finished, and at
+night, when everything is illuminated, will be most effective.
+
+
+22nd. It rained yesterday afternoon and all night--not light April
+showers, but a good, steady downpour. Francis and Ctesse. de Gontaut
+arrived from Paris in his little open automobile. Such a limp, draggled
+female as emerged from the little carriage I never saw. They had had
+some sharp showers; pannes (breakdowns), too, and she _says_ she pushed
+the carriage up all the hills. She didn't seem either tired or cross,
+and looked quite bright and rested when she reappeared at dinner.
+
+Various friends arrived this morning, and we have been in La Ferté all
+the afternoon. The draperies and festoons of flowers don't look any the
+worse for the heavy rain, and at least it is over, and we shall probably
+have sun to-morrow. The tent is up on the green, and looks fairly large.
+I don't think any one will see anything except in the first eight or ten
+rows of chairs, but it seems they will all hear. The stage was being
+arranged, and, much to our amusement, they told us the Empire chairs and
+tables had been lent by the Abbé Maréchal. He is a collectionneur, and
+has some handsome furniture. We inspected our tea-room, which didn't
+look too bad. Our men were there with tables, china, etc., and when it
+is all arranged we shall have quite a respectable buffet. The landlord
+was very anxious to decorate the tables with greens, flags, and perhaps
+a bust of Racine with a crown of laurels, but we told him it would be
+better not to complicate things.
+
+The view was lovely to-day from the top of the hill--the ruins looking
+enormous, standing out against the bright blue sky, and soft and pink at
+the top where the outline was irregular and the walls crumbling a
+little. We had some difficulty in collecting our party, and finally
+discovered Francis, Ctesse de Gontaut and Christiani having chocolate
+and cakes in the back parlour of the grocer's shop (nothing like
+equality on these occasions), who was telling them all the little gossip
+of the town, and naming the radicals who wouldn't go to the church.
+
+We had a pleasant evening with music and "baraque"--which is not very
+fatiguing as a mental exercise. I tried to send all the party to bed
+early, and have come upstairs myself, but I still hear the click of the
+billiard balls, and sounds of merriment downstairs. It is a splendid
+starlight night, the sky quite blue over the pines. I think we shall
+have beautiful weather for our fête. I have very vague ideas as to how
+many people we shall have for breakfast and dinner to-morrow, but the
+"office" is warned. I hope we shan't starve.
+
+
+April 24th. Monday.
+
+We had a beautiful and most successful day yesterday. All the household
+was stirring fairly early, as we had to get ourselves in to La Ferté
+before 12 o'clock. We started in all sorts of conveyances--train,
+carriage, voiturette--and found the Grande Rue full of people. The
+official breakfast was over, also the visit to the Mairie, where there
+are a few souvenirs of the poet--his picture, acte de naissance,[12]
+and signature. The procession was just forming to climb up the steep,
+little street that leads to the church, so we took a short cut (still
+steeper), and waited outside the doors to see them arrive. It was a
+pretty sight to see the cortège wind up the path--the Bishop of
+Soissons and several other ecclesiastics in their robes, blackcoated
+officials, some uniforms--the whole escorted by groups of children
+running alongside, and a fair sprinkling of women in light dresses,
+with flowers on their hats, making patches of colour. The church was
+crowded--one didn't remark the absence of certain "esprits forts" who
+gloried in remaining outside--and the service was most interesting.
+The lecture or rather "Éloge de Racine" was beautifully given by the
+Abbé Vignot. It was not very easy for a priest to pronounce from the
+pulpit an eulogium on the poet and dramatic author who had strayed so
+far from the paths of grace and the early teachings of Port Royal,
+where the "petit Racine" had been looked upon as a model pupil
+destined to rise high in the ecclesiastical world; but the orator made
+us see through the sombre tragedies of Phèdre, Britannicus and others
+the fine nature of the poet, who understood so humanly the passions
+that tempt and warp the soul, and showed a spirit of tolerance very
+remarkable in those days. He dwelt less upon the courtier; spoke more
+of the Christian of his last days. He certainly lent to the "charm of
+the poet, the beauty of his voice," for it was impossible to hear
+anything more perfect than the intonation and diction of the speaker.
+
+[12] Birth certificate.
+
+There was a short address from Monseigneur Deramecourt, Bishop of
+Soissons--a stately figure seated on the Episcopal throne in the
+chancel. The music was quite beautiful. We had the famous "Chanteurs de
+St. Gervais," and part of the chæurs d'Esther, composed by Moreau, and
+sung in splendid style by Mme. Jeanne Maunay, M. Vincent d'Indy
+accompanying on the organ. The simple sixteenth century chaunts sung by
+the St. Gervais choir sounded splendidly in the fine old cathedral. The
+tones seemed fuller and richer than in their Paris church.
+
+We went out a little before the end to see what was going on on the
+green. It was still quite a climb from the church, and all the people of
+the upper town had turned out to see the sight. It is quite a distinct
+population from the lower town. They are all canal hands, and mostly a
+very bad lot. The men generally drink--not enough to be really
+intoxicated (one rarely sees that in France), but enough to make them
+quarrelsome; and the women almost all slatternly and idle. They were
+standing at their doors, babies in their arms, and troops of dirty,
+ragged, pretty little children playing on the road, and accompanying us
+to the green, begging for "un petit sou."
+
+We saw the cortège winding down again, the robes and banners of the
+clergy making a great effect, and we heard in the distance the strains
+of the military band stationed on the Mail--echoes of the Marseillaise
+and the "Père la Victoire" making a curious contrast to the old-world
+music we had just been listening to in the church. Our party scattered
+a little. Francis went down to the station with his auto to get the
+Duc and Duchesse d'Albufera, who had promised to come for the Comédie
+and dinner. They are neighbours, and have a beautiful place not very
+far off--Montgobert, in the heart of the Villers-Cotteret forest. He
+is a descendant of Suchet, one of Napoleon's Marshals, and they have a
+fine picture of the Marshal in uniform, and various souvenirs of the
+Emperor. Francis had some difficulty in making his way through the
+Grande Rue which was packed with people very unwilling to let any
+vehicle pass. However, they had a certain curiosity about the little
+carriage, which is the first one to appear in this part of the
+country--where one sees only farmers' gigs on two high wheels, or a
+tapissière, a covered carriage for one horse. However, as every one
+knew him they were good natured enough, and let him pass, but he could
+not get any further than the foot of the street--too steep for any
+carriage to venture.
+
+It was a pretty sight as we got to the Place. Quantities of people
+walking about--many evident strangers, seeing the ruins for the first
+time. There was a band of schoolboys, about twenty, with a priest, much
+excited. They wanted to go in the tent and get good places, but were
+afraid of missing something outside, and were making little excursions
+in every direction, evidently rather worrying their Director. The tent,
+fairly large, looked small under the shadow of the great walls. We
+looked in and found a good many people already in their places, and saw
+that the first two or three rows of red arm-chairs were being kept for
+the quality. One of the sights was our two tall men standing at the door
+of the rather dirty, dilapidated "Cafe des Ruines," piloting our friends
+past the groups of workmen smoking and drinking in the porch, and up the
+dark, rickety staircase. I don't think any one would have had the
+courage to go up, if Henrietta hadn't led the way--once up, the effect
+of our banqueting-hall was not bad. The servants had made it look very
+well with china and silver brought from the house, also three or four
+fresh pictures taken from the illustrated papers to cover those which
+already existed, and which looked rather the worse for smoke and damp.
+We were actually obliged to cover General Boulanger and his famous
+black charger with a "Bois de Boulogne le Matin," with carriages,
+riders, bicycles, pretty women and children strolling about.
+
+The view from the windows was charming, and it was amusing to watch all
+the people toiling up the path. We recognised many friends, and made
+frantic signs to them to come and have tea. We had about three-quarters
+of an hour before the Comédie began, and when we got to the tent it was
+crowded--all the dignitaries--Bishop, Préfet, Senator, Deputy (he didn't
+object to the theatrical performance), M. Henri Houssaye, Académician;
+M. Roujon, Directeur des Beaux Arts, sitting in the front row in their
+red arm-chairs, and making quite as much of a show for the villagers as
+the actors.
+
+The performance began with the third act of "Les Plaideurs," played with
+extraordinary entrain. There were roars of laughter all through the
+salle, or tent--none more amused than the band of schoolboys, and their
+youthful enjoyment was quite contagious. People turned to look at them,
+and it was evident that, if they didn't see, they _heard_, as they never
+missed a point--probably knew it all by heart. Then came a recitation by
+Mlle. Moreno, who looked and spoke like a tragic muse the remorse and
+suffering of Phèdre. The end of the performance--the two last acts of
+Bérénice--was enchanting. Mme. Bartet looked charming in her floating
+blue draperies, and was the incarnation of the resigned, poetic, loving
+woman; Paul Mounet was a grand, sombre, passionate Titus, torn between
+his love for the beautiful Queen and his duty as a Roman to choose only
+one of his own people to share his throne and honours. The Roman Senate
+was an all-powerful body, and a woman's love too slight a thing to
+oppose to it. Bartet was charming all through, either in her long
+plaintes to her Confidante, where one felt that in spite of her repeated
+assurances of her lover's tenderness there was always the doubt of the
+Emperor's faith or in her interviews with Titus--reproaching him and
+adoring him, with all the magic of her voice and smile. It was a triumph
+for them both, and their splendid talent. With no décor, no room, no
+scenic illusions of any kind, they held their audience enthralled. No
+one minded the heat, nor the crowd, nor the uncomfortable seats, and all
+were sorry when the well-known lines, said by Mme. Bartet, in her
+beautiful, clear, pathetic voice
+
+   "Servons tous trois d'exemple à l'Univers
+    De l'amour la plus tendre et la plus malheureuse
+    Dont il puisse garder l'histoire douloureuse,"
+
+brought to a close the fierce struggle between love and ambition.
+
+As soon as it was over, I went with Sebline to compliment the actors. We
+found Bartet, not in her dressing-room, but standing outside, still in
+her costume, very busy photographing Mounet, superb as a Roman Emperor.
+He was posing most impatiently, watching the sun slowly sinking behind
+the ruins, as he wanted to photograph Bérénice before the light failed,
+and the time was short. They were surrounded by an admiring crowd, the
+children much interested in the "beautiful lady with the stars all over
+her dress." We waited a few moments, and had a little talk with them.
+They said the fête had interested them very much and they were very glad
+to have come. They were rather taken aback at first when they saw the
+tent, the low small stage, and the very elementary scenery--were afraid
+the want of space would bother them, but they soon felt that they held
+their audience, and that their voices carried perfectly. They were
+rather hurried, as they were all taking the train back to Paris, except
+Bartet, who had promised to stay for the banquet. I had half hoped she
+would come to me, but of course I was obliged to waive my claim. When I
+saw how much the Préfet and the official world held to having her--when
+I heard afterwards that she had had the seat of honour next to the
+Bishop I was very glad I hadn't insisted, as she certainly doesn't often
+have the opportunity of sitting next to a Bishop. It seems he was
+delighted with her.
+
+We loitered about some little time, talking to all our friends. The view
+from the terrace was beautiful--directly at our feet the little town,
+which is literally two streets forming a long cross, the Grande Rue a
+streak of light and color, filled with people moving about, and the air
+alive with laughter and music. Just beyond, the long stretches of green
+pasture lands, cut every now and then by narrow lanes with apple trees
+and hawthorn in flower, and the canal winding along between the green
+walls of poplars--the whole hemmed in by the dark blue line of the
+Villers-Cotteret forest, which makes a grand sweep on the horizon.
+
+It was lovely driving back to Mareuil, toward the bright sunset clouds.
+We had a gay dinner and evening. I never dared ask where the various men
+dressed who came to dinner. The house is not very large, and every room
+was occupied--but as they all appeared most correctly attired, I suppose
+there are resources in the way of lingerie and fumoir which are
+available at such times, and Francis's valet de chambre is so accustomed
+to having more people than the house can hold that he probably took his
+precautions. Francis started off for the banquet at the Sauvage in his
+voiturette, but that long-suffering vehicle having made hundreds of
+kilomètres these last days, came to grief at the foot of "la Montagne de
+Marolles," and he was towed back by a friendly carter and arrived much
+disgusted when we were half through dinner.
+
+We heard all the details of the dinner from the Abbé Maréchal. Certainly
+the banqueting hall of the Sauvage will not soon again see such a
+brilliant assembly. Madame Bartet was the Queen of the Fête, and sat
+between the Bishop and the Préfet. There were some pretty speeches from
+M. Henri Houssaye, M. Roujon--and of course the toast of the President
+accompanied by the Marseillaise.
+
+The departure to the train was most amusing--all the swells, including
+Bartet, walking in the cortége, escorted by a torch-light procession,
+and surrounded by the entire population of La Ferté.
+
+The Grande Rue was illuminated from one end to the other, red Bengal
+lights throwing out splendidly the grand old château and the towers of
+Notre Dame.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+A CORNER OF NORMANDY
+
+
+BAGNOLES DE L'ORNE, July-August.
+
+It is lovely looking out of my window this morning, so green and cool
+and quiet. I had my petit déjeuner on my balcony, a big tree in the
+garden making perfect shade and a wealth of green wood and meadow in
+every direction, so resting to the eyes after the Paris asphalt. It
+seems a very quiet little place. Scarcely anything passing--a big
+omnibus going, I suppose, to the baths, and a butcher's cart. For the
+last ten minutes I have been watching a nice-looking sunburned girl with
+a big straw hat tied down over her ears, who is vainly endeavouring to
+get her small donkey-cart, piled high with fruit and vegetables, up a
+slight incline to the gate of a villa just opposite. She has been
+struggling for some time, pulling, talking, and red with the exertion.
+One or two workmen have come to her assistance, but they can't do
+anything either. The donkey's mind is made up. There is an animated
+conversation--I am too high up to hear what they say. Finally she leaves
+her cart, ties up her fruit in her apron, balances a basket of eggs with
+one hand on her head, and disappears into the garden behind the gate. No
+one comes along and the cart is quite unmolested. I think I should have
+gone down myself if I had seen anyone making off with any of the fruit.
+It is a delightful change from the hot stuffy August Paris I left
+yesterday. My street is absolutely deserted, every house closed except
+mine, the sun shining down hard on the white pavement, and perfect
+stillness all day. The evenings from seven till ten are indescribable--a
+horror of musical concierges with accordions, a favorite French
+instrument. They all sit outside their doors with their families and
+friends, playing and singing all the popular songs, and at intervals all
+joining in a loud chorus of "Viens Poupoule." Grooms are teaching lady
+friends to ride bicycles, a lot of barking, yapping fox-terriers running
+alongside. There is a lively cross-conversation going on from one side
+of the street to the other, my own concierge and chauffeur contributing
+largely. Of course my balcony is untenable, and I am obliged to sit
+inside, until happily sleep descends upon them. They all vanish, and the
+street relapses into perfect silence. I am delighted to find myself in
+this quiet little Norman bathing-place, just getting known to the
+French and foreign public.
+
+It is hardly a village; the collection of villas, small houses, shops,
+and two enormous hotels surrounding the établissement seems to have
+sprung up quite suddenly and casually in the midst of the green fields
+and woods, shut in on all sides almost by the Forest of Ardennes, which
+makes a beautiful curtain of verdure. There are villas dotted about
+everywhere, of every possible style; Norman chalets, white and gray,
+with the black crossbeams that one is so familiar with all over this
+part of the country; English cottages with verandas and bow-windows;
+three or four rather pretentious looking buildings with high perrons and
+one or two terraces; gardens with no very pretty flowers, principally
+red geraniums, some standing back in a nice little green wood, some
+directly on the road with benches along the fence so that the
+inhabitants can see the passers-by (and get all the dust of the roads).
+But there isn't much passing even in these days of automobiles. There
+are two trains from Paris, arriving at two in the afternoon and at
+eleven at night. The run down from Paris, especially after Dreux, is
+charming, almost like driving through a park. The meadows are
+beautifully green and the trees very fine--the whole country very like
+England in appearance, recalling it all the time, particularly when we
+saw pretty gray old farmhouses in the distance--and every now and then a
+fine Norman steeple.
+
+There are two rival hotels and various small pensions and family houses.
+We are staying at the Grand, which is very comfortable. There is a
+splendid terrace overlooking the lake; rather an ambitious name for the
+big pond, which does, however, add to the picturesqueness of the place,
+particularly at night, when all the lights are reflected in the water.
+The whole hotel adjourns there after dinner, and people walk up and down
+and listen to the music until ten o'clock. After that there is a decided
+falling off of the beau monde. Many people take their bath at half past
+five in the morning and are quite ready to go to bed early. The walk
+down in the early morning is charming, through a broad, shaded
+alley--Allée de Dante. I wonder why it is called that. I don't suppose
+the poet ever took warm baths or douches in any description of
+établissement. I remember the tale we were always told when we were
+children, and rebelled against the perpetual cleansing and washing that
+went on in the nursery, of the Italian countess who said she would be
+ashamed, if she couldn't do all her washing in a glass of water. It is
+rather amusing to see all the types. I don't think there are many
+foreigners. I hear very little English spoken, though they tell me
+there are some English here. We certainly don't look our best in the
+early morning, but the women stand the test better than the men. With
+big hats, veils, and the long cloaks they wear now, they pass muster
+very well and don't really look any worse than when they are attired for
+a spin in an open auto; but the men, with no waistcoats, a foulard
+around their throats, and a very dejected air, don't have at all the
+conquering-hero appearance that one likes to see in the stronger sex.
+
+The établissement is large and fairly good, but nothing like what one
+finds in all the Austrian and German baths. When I first go in, coming
+out of the fresh morning air, I am rather oppressed with the smell of
+hot air, damp clothing, and many people crowded into little hot
+bath-rooms. There are terrible little dark closets called cabinets de
+repos. Many doctors in white waistcoats and red ribbons are walking
+about; plenty of baigneuses, with their sleeves rolled up, showing a red
+arm that evidently has been constantly in the water; people who have had
+their baths and are resting, wrapped up in blankets, stretched out on
+long chairs near the windows; bells going all the time, cries of
+"Marie-Louise," "Jeanne," "Anne-Marie." It is rather a pandemonium. Our
+baigneuse, who is called Marie-Louise, is upstairs. At the top of the
+stairs there is a grand picture of the horse who discovered the
+Bagnoles waters, a beautiful white beast standing in a spring, all water
+lilies and sparkling water. A lovely young lady in a transparent green
+garment with roses over each ear, like the head-dress one sees on
+Japanese women, is holding his bridle. The legend says that a certain
+gallant and amorous knight of yore, having become old and crippled with
+rheumatism, and unable any longer to make a brave show in tournaments
+under fair ladies' eyes, determined to retire from the world, and to
+leave his horse--faithful companion of many jousts--in a certain green
+meadow traversed by a babbling brook, where he could end his days in
+peace. What was his surprise, some months later, to find his horse
+quietly standing again in his old stable, his legs firm and straight,
+his skin glossy, quite renovated. The master took himself off to the
+meadow, investigated the quality of the water, bathed himself, and began
+life anew with straightened limbs and quickened pulses. The waters
+certainly do wonders. We see every day people who had arrived on
+crutches or walking with canes quite discarding them after a course of
+baths.
+
+[Illustration: L'Etablissement, Bagnoles de l'Orme.]
+
+The hotel is full, mostly French, but there are of course some
+exceptions. We have a tall and stately royal princess with two daughters
+and a niece. The girls are charming--simple, pretty, and evidently much
+pleased to be away for a little while from court life and etiquette.
+They make their curé quite regularly, like any one else, walking and
+sitting in the Allée Dante. The people don't stare at them too much.
+There are one or two well-known men--deputies, membres de
+l'Institut--but, of course, women are in the majority. There is a
+band--not very good, as the performers, some of them good enough alone,
+had never played together until they came here. However, it isn't of
+much consequence, as no one listens. I make friends with them, as usual;
+something always draws me to artists. The boy at the piano looks so
+thin--really as if he did not get enough to eat. He plays very well,
+told me he was a premier prix of the Conservatoire de Madrid. When one
+thinks of the hours of work and fatigue that means, it is rather
+pathetic to see him, contented to earn a few francs a night, pounding
+away at a piano and generally ending with a "cake walk," danced by some
+enterprising young people with all sorts of remarkable steps and
+gestures, which would certainly astonish the original negro performers
+on a plantation.
+
+The view from the terrace at night is pretty--quantities of lights
+twinkling about among the trees, and beyond, always on each side and in
+front, the thick green walls of the forest quite shutting in the quiet
+little place. We are usually the last outside. It grows cooler as the
+evening gets on, and I fancy it is not wise to sit out too late after
+the hot bath and fatigue of the day.
+
+It is a splendid automobiling country, and every afternoon there is a
+goodly show of motors of all sizes and makes waiting to take their
+owners on some of the many interesting excursions which abound in this
+neighbourhood. We have an English friend who has brought over his
+automobile, a capital one--English make--and we have been out several
+times with him. The other day we went to Domfront--a lovely road, almost
+all the way through woods, the forest of Audaine with its fine old trees
+making splendid shade. We passed through the Étoile--well known to all
+the hunting men, as it is a favourite rendezvous de chasse. It is a
+lovely part of the forest, a great green space with alleys running off
+into the woods in all directions. Some of them, where the ground was a
+little hilly, looked like beautiful green paths going straight up to the
+clouds.
+
+We kept in the forest almost all the way--as we got near Domfront the
+road rising all the time, quite steep at the end, which, however, made
+no perceptible difference in our speed. The big auto galloped up all the
+hills quite smoothly and with no effort. It was a divine view as we
+finally emerged from the woods--miles of beautiful green meadows and
+hedges stretching away on each side and a blue line of hills in the
+distance. We had been told that we could see Mont St. Michel and the sea
+with our glasses, but we didn't, though the day was very clear. Domfront
+is a very old walled town, with round towers and a great square donjon,
+perched on the top of a mountain. A long stretch of solid wall is still
+there, and some of the old towers are converted into modern dwellings.
+It looked out of place to see ordinary lace curtains tied back with a
+ribbon and pots of red geraniums in the high narrow windows, when one
+thought of the rough grim soldiers armed to the teeth who have stood for
+hours in those same windows watching anxiously for the first glimpse of
+an armed band appearing at the edge of the meadows. The château must
+have been a fine feudal fortress in its time and has sheltered many
+great personages. William the Conqueror, of course--he has apparently
+lived in every château and sailed from every harbour in this part of
+Normandy--Charles IX, Catherine de Medicis, and the Montgomery who
+killed Henri II in tournament.
+
+[Illustration: In Domfront some of the old towers are converted into
+modern dwellings.]
+
+It was too early to go home, so we went on to the Château de Lassay. We
+raced through pretty little clean gray villages, looking peaceful and
+sleepy and deserted and evidently quite accustomed to automobiles. No
+one took much notice of us. There were only a few old people and
+children in the streets; all the men were working in the fields
+gathering in their harvest. Lassay is quite a place, with hotels, shops,
+churches, and an old Benedictine convent. We left the auto in the
+square, as it couldn't get up the narrow, steep little road to the
+hotel. There were swarms of beggars of all ages--old women, girls,
+children--lining the road before we got to the château. Monsieur B.
+(deputy), who was with us, remonstrated vigorously, particularly with
+stout, sturdy young women who were pursuing us, but they didn't care a
+bit, and we only got rid of them once we had crossed the moat and
+drawbridge and got into the court-yard, where a wrinkled and red-cheeked
+old woman locked the door after us. The château is almost entirely in
+ruins, but must have been splendid. There is a sort of modern
+dwelling-house in the inner court, but I fancy the proprietor rarely
+lives there. It is enormous. There are eight massive round towers
+connected by a courtine (little green path) that runs along the top of
+the ramparts. The big door that opens on the park is modern, and makes
+decidedly poor effect after the fine old pointed doorway that gives
+access to the great court-yard. The park, with a little care and a
+little money spent on it, would be beautiful, but it is quite wild and
+uncared for. There are splendid old trees, some of them covered entirely
+with ivy growing straight up into the branches and giving a most
+peculiar effect to the trees; ragged green paths leading to woods;
+running waters with little bridges thrown over them; a splendid
+vegetation everywhere, almost a jungle in some places--all utterly
+neglected. The old woman took us through the "casemates"--dark stone
+galleries with little narrow slits for windows or to fire through; they
+used to run all around the house, connected by a subterranean passage,
+but they are now, like all the rest, half in ruins. It was most
+interesting. We had not the energy, any of us, to go up into the tower
+and see the view--we had seen it all the way, culminating at Domfront
+on the top of the mountain, and though very beautiful, it is always the
+same--great stretches of green fields, hedges, and fine trees. It is a
+little too peaceful and monotonous for my taste. I like something bolder
+and wilder. A high granite cliff standing out in the sea, with the great
+Atlantic rollers breaking perpetually against it, appeals to me much
+more than green fields and cows standing placidly in little clear
+brooks, and clean, comfortable farmhouses, with pretty gray Norman
+steeples rising out of the woods, but my companions were certainly not
+of my opinion and were enchanted with the Norman landscape. We had a
+long ride back in the soft evening light. I am afraid to say how many
+kilomètres we went in the three hours we were away.
+
+It has been warm these last days. There is a bit of road absolutely
+without shade of any kind we have to pass every time we go to the
+établissement, which is very trying. I love the early morning walk,
+everything is so fresh and the air singularly light and pure. It seems
+wicked to go into that atmosphere of hot air and suffering humanity,
+which greets one on the threshold of the bathhouse. To-day I have been
+driving with the princess. She does not like the automobile when she is
+making a cure--says it shakes her too much.
+
+We had a pretty drive, past the château of Couterne, which is most
+picturesque. A beautiful beech avenue leads up to the house, which is
+built of brick, with round towers and a large pond or lake which comes
+right up to the walls. It is of the sixteenth century, and has been
+inhabited ever since by the same family. One of the ancestors was
+"chevalier et poète" of Queen Marguerite of Navarre. I had a nice talk
+with the princess about everything and everybody. I asked her if she had
+ever read "The Lightning Conductor." As her own auto is a Napier, I
+thought it would interest her. I told her all the potins (little gossip)
+of the hotel--that people said her youngest daughter was going to marry
+the King of Spain, and the general verdict was that the princess would
+make "a beautiful queen." Every one is horror-struck at the murder of
+the Russian Minister of the Interior, and I suppose it is only a
+beginning.
+
+This afternoon I have been walking in the lovely woods at the back of
+the établissement. It is rather a steep climb to get to the point de vue
+and troublesome walking, as the paths are dry and slippery and the roots
+of the pine-trees that spread out over the paths catch one's heels
+sometimes. Some people spend all their day high up in the pines--take up
+books, seats, work, and goûter, and only come down after six, when the
+air gets cooler. We saw parties seated about in all directions and had
+glimpses of the white dresses, which are a uniform this year, flitting
+through the trees. It was very pretty, but not like the walls of
+Marienbad, with the splendid black pine forest all around and every now
+and then a glimpse of a green Alm (high field on the top of a mountain),
+with the peasant girl in her high Tyrolean hat and clean white
+chemisette standing on the edge, with her cows all behind her and the
+bells tinkling in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Château de Lassay.]
+
+It was so warm this evening that we sat out until ten o'clock. We had a
+visit from Comte de G., son-in-law of our friend Mrs. L.S. He lives at
+Deauville, and had announced himself for Monday morning for breakfast at
+twelve. He _did_ come for breakfast, but on Tuesday morning, having been
+en route since Monday morning at seven o'clock. He was in an automobile
+and everything happened to him that can happen to an automobile except
+an absolute smash. He punctured his tires, had a big hole in his
+reservoir, his steering gear bent, his bougies always doing something
+they oughtn't to. He dined and slept at Falaise; rather a sketchy
+repast, but as he told us he could always get along with poached eggs,
+could eat six in an ordinary way and twelve in an emergency, we were
+reassured; for one can always get eggs and milk in Normandy. He arrived
+in a perfectly good humour and made himself very pleasant. He is an old
+soldier--a cavalry officer--and doesn't mind roughing it.
+
+The journey from Deauville to Bagnoles is usually accomplished in three
+or four hours. Falaise, the birthplace of William the Conqueror, is an
+interesting old town, but looks as if it had been asleep ever since that
+great event. The old castle is very fine, stands high, close to the edge
+of the cliff, so that the rock seems to form part of the great walls.
+There is one fine round tower, and always the grass walk around the
+ramparts.
+
+The views are beautiful. Looking down from one of the narrow, pointed
+windows, still fairly preserved, we had the classic Norman landscape at
+our feet--beautiful green fields, enormous trees making spots of black
+shade in the bright grass, the river, sparkling in the sunshine, winding
+through the meadows, a group of washerwomen, busy and chattering,
+beating their clothes on the flat stones where the river narrows a
+little under the castle walls, and a bright blue sky overhead.
+
+We walked through the Grande Place--picturesque enough. On one side the
+Church of La Trinité, and in the middle of the Place the bronze
+equestrian statue of William the Conqueror. It is very spirited. He is
+in full armor, lance in hand, his horse plunging forward toward
+imaginary enemies. They say the figure was copied from Queen Mathilde's
+famous tapestries at Bayeux, but it looked more modern to me. I remember
+all the men and beasts and ships of those tapestries looked most
+extraordinary as to shape. Monsieur R. took over the young princesses
+the other day in his auto. They were very keen to see the cradle of
+their race. It was curious to see the descendants of the great rough
+soldier starting in an auto, fresh, pretty English girls, dressed in the
+trotteuses (little short skirts) that we all wear in the country,
+carrying their Kodaks and sketching materials.
+
+All this part of the country teems with legends of the great warrior.
+Years ago, when we were at Deauville, we drove over to Dives to
+breakfast--one gets a very good breakfast at the little hotel. We
+wandered about afterward down to the sea (William the Conqueror is said
+to have sailed from Dives), and into the little church where the names
+of all the barons who accompanied him to England are written on tablets
+on the walls. We saw various relics and places associated with him and
+talked naturally a great deal about the Conqueror. On the way home (we
+were a large party in a brake) one of our compatriots, a nice young
+fellow whose early education had evidently not been very comprehensive,
+turned to me, saying; "Do tell me, what did that fellow conquer?" I
+could hardly believe my own ears, but unfortunately for him, just at
+that moment we were walking up a steep hill and everybody in the
+carriage overheard his remark. It was received with such shouts of
+laughter that any explanation was difficult, and one may imagine the
+jokes, and the numerous and fabulous conquests that were instantly put
+down to the great duke's account. The poor fellow was quite bewildered.
+However, I don't know if an American is bound to know any history but
+that of his own country. I am quite sure that many people in the
+carriage didn't know whom Pocahontas married, nor what part she played
+in the early days of America. But it was funny all the same.
+
+We have been out again this afternoon in Monsieur R.'s auto--a charming
+turn. We started out by the Étoile, as Monsieur R. wanted to show it to
+some gentlemen who were with us. The drive, if anything, was more lovely
+than the first time, the slanting rays of the sun were so beautiful
+shining through the rich green foliage, making patterns upon the hard,
+white road. We raced all over the country, through countless little
+villages, all exactly alike, sometimes flying past a stately old brick
+château just seen at the end of a long, beech avenue, sometimes past an
+old church standing high, its gray stone steeple showing well against
+the bright, cloudless sky, and a little graveyard stretching along the
+hillside, the roads bordered on each side with high green banks and
+hedges, the orchards full of apple-trees, and the whole active
+population of the village in the fields. It is a beautiful month to be
+in Normandy, for one must have sun in these parts. As soon as it rains
+everything is gray and cold and melancholy, the forest looks like a
+great high black wall, the meadows are shrouded in mist, and the damp
+strikes through one. Now it is smiling, sunny, peaceful.
+
+We have frightened various horses to-day; a quiet old gray steed, driven
+by two old ladies in black bonnets. They were too old to get out, and
+were driving their horse timidly and nervously into the ditch in their
+anxiety to give us all the road. However, we slowed up and the horse
+didn't look as if he could run away. Two big carthorses, too, at the end
+of a long line, dragging a heavy wagon, turned short round and almost
+ran into us; also a very small donkey, driven by a little brown girl,
+showed symptoms of flight. I don't know the names of half the villages
+we passed through. Near Bagnoles we came to La Ferté-Macé, which looks
+quite imposing as one comes down upon it from the top of a long hill.
+The church makes a great effect--looks almost like a cathedral. Bagnoles
+looked very animated as we came back. People were loitering about
+shopping--quite a number of carriages and autos before the door of the
+Grand Hotel, and people sitting out under the trees in the gardens of
+the different villas. It was decidedly cool at the end of our outing; I
+was glad to have my coat.
+
+This morning after breakfast, in the big hall, where every one
+congregates for coffee, we had a little political talk--not very
+satisfactory. Everybody is discontented and everybody protests, but no
+one seems able to stop the radical current. The rupture with the Vatican
+has come at last, and I think might have been avoided if they had been a
+little more patient in Rome. There will be all sorts of complications
+and bitter feeling, and I don't quite see what benefit the country at
+large will get from the present state of things. A general feeling of
+irritation and uncertainty, higher taxes--for they must build
+school-houses and pay lay-teachers and country curés. A whole generation
+of children cannot be allowed to grow up without religious instruction
+of any kind. I can understand how the association of certain religious
+orders (men) could be mischievous--harmful even--but I am quite sure
+that no one in his heart believes any harm of the women--soeurs de
+charité and teachers--who occupy themselves with the old people, the
+sick, and the children. In our little town they have sent away an old
+sister who had taught and generally looked after three generations of
+children. When she was expelled she had been fifty years in the town and
+was teaching the grandchildren of her first scholars. Everybody knew
+her, everybody loved her; when any one was ill or in trouble she was
+always the first person sent for. Now there is at the school an
+intelligent, well-educated young laïque with all the necessary brevets.
+I dare say she will teach the children very well, but her task ends with
+the close of her class. She doesn't go to church, doesn't know the
+people, doesn't interest herself in all their little affairs, and will
+never have the position and the influence the old religieuse had.
+
+I am sorry to go away from this quiet little green corner of Normandy,
+but we have taken the requisite number of baths. Every one rushes off as
+soon as the last bath (twenty-first generally) is taken. Countess F.
+took her twenty-first at six o'clock this morning, and left at ten.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A NORMAN TOWN
+
+
+VALOGNES, August.
+
+I seem to have got into another world, almost another century, in this
+old town. I had always promised the Florians I would come and stay
+with them, and was curious to see their installation in one of the
+fine old hotels of the place. The journey was rather long--not
+particularly interesting. We passed near Caen, getting a very good
+view of the two great abbayes[13] with their towers and spires quite
+sharply outlined against the clear blue sky. The train was full. At
+almost every station family parties got in--crowds of children all
+armed with spades, pails, butterfly nets, and rackets, all the
+paraphernalia of happy, healthy childhood. For miles after Caen there
+were long stretches of green pasture-lands--hundreds of cows and
+horses, some of them the big Norman dray-horses resting a little
+before beginning again their hard work, and quantities of long-legged
+colts trotting close up alongside of their mothers, none of them
+apparently minding the train. We finally arrived at the quiet little
+station of Valognes. Countess de Florian was waiting for me, with
+their big omnibus, and we had a short drive all through the town to
+their hotel, which is quite at one end, a real country road running in
+front of their house. It is an old hotel standing back from the road
+and shut in with high iron gates. There is a large court-yard with a
+grass-plot in the middle, enormous flower-beds on each side, and a
+fine sweep of carriage road to the perron. A great double stone
+staircase runs straight up to the top of the house, and glass doors
+opposite the entrance lead into the garden. I had an impression of
+great space and height and floods of light. I went straight into the
+garden, where they gave me tea, which was most refreshing after the
+long hot day. They have no house party. The dowager countess,
+Florian's mother, is here, and there was a cousin, a naval officer,
+who went off to Cherbourg directly after dinner. The ground-floor is
+charming; on one side of the hall there are three or four salons, and
+a billiard-room running directly across the house from the garden to
+the court-yard; on the other, a good dining-room and two or three
+guests' rooms; the family all live upstairs.
+
+  [13] Abbaye aux Hommes, Abbaye aux Dames.
+
+It is a delightful house. My room is on the ground-floor, opening from
+the corridor, which is large and bright, paved with flagstones. My
+windows look out on the entrance court, so that I see all that goes on.
+As soon as my maid has opened the windows and brought in my petit
+déjeuner, I hear a tap at the door and the countess's maid appears to
+ask, with madame's compliments, if I have all I want, if I have had a
+good night, and to bring me the morning paper. The first person to move
+is the dowager countess, who goes to early mass every morning. She is a
+type of the old-fashioned French Faubourg St. Germain lady; a straight,
+slender figure, always dressed in black, devoted to her children and to
+all her own family, with the courteous, high-bred manner one always
+finds in French women of the old school. She doesn't take much interest
+in the outside world, nor in anything that goes on in other countries,
+but is too polite to show that when she talks to me, for instance, who
+have knocked about so much. She doesn't understand the modern life, so
+sans gêne and agitated, and it is funny to hear her say when talking of
+people she doesn't quite approve of, "Ils ne sont pas de notre monde."
+
+[Illustration: Entrance to hotel of the Comte de Florian.]
+
+Then comes the young countess, very energetic and smiling, with her
+short skirt and a bag on her arm, going to market. She sees me at the
+window and stops to know if I am going out. Will I join her at the
+market? All the ladies of Valognes do their own marketing and some of
+the well-known fishwomen and farmers' wives who come in from the
+country with poultry would be quite hurt if Madame la Comtesse didn't
+come herself to give her orders and have a little talk. This morning I
+have been to market with Countess Florian. The women looked so nice
+and clean in their short, black, heavily plaited skirts, high white
+caps, and handkerchiefs pinned over their bodices. The little stalls
+went all down the narrow main street and spread out on the big square
+before the church. The church is large, with a square tower and fine
+dome--nothing very interesting as to architecture. Some of the stalls
+were very tempting and the smiling, red-cheeked old women, sitting up
+behind their wares, were so civil and anxious to sell us something.
+The fish-market was most inviting--quantities of flat white turbots,
+shining silver mackerel, and fresh crevettes piled high on a marble
+slab with water running over them. Four or five short-skirted,
+bare-legged fisher girls were standing at the door with baskets of
+fish on their heads. Florian joined us there and seemed on the best of
+terms with these young women. He made all kinds of jokes with them, to
+which they responded with giggles and a funny little half-courtesy,
+half-nod. Both Florians spoke so nicely to all the market people as we
+passed from stall to stall. The poultry looked very good--such fat
+ducks and chickens. It was funny to see the bourgeoises of Valognes
+all armed with a large basket doing their marketing; they looked at
+the chickens, poked them, lifted them so as to be sure of their
+weight, and evidently knew to a centime what they had to pay. I fancy
+the Norman ménagère is a pretty sharp customer and knows exactly what
+she must pay for everything. The vegetable stalls were very well
+arranged--the most enormous cabbages I ever saw. I think the old
+ladies who presided there were doing a flourishing business. I did not
+find much to buy--some gray knitted stockings that I thought would be
+good for my Mareuil[14] boys and some blue linen blouses with white
+embroidery, that all the carters wear, and which the Paris dressmakers
+transform into very pretty summer costumes. I bought for myself a
+paper bag full of cherries for a few sous, then left the Florians, and
+wandered about the streets a little alone. They are generally narrow,
+badly paved, with grass growing in the very quiet ones. There are many
+large hotels standing well back, entre cour et jardin, the big doors
+and gate-ways generally heavy and much ornamented--a great deal of
+carving on the façades and cornices, queer heads and beasts. Valognes
+has not always been the quiet, dull, little provincial town it is
+to-day. It has had its brilliant moment, when all the hotels were
+occupied by grands seigneurs, handsome equipages rolled through the
+streets, and its society prided itself on its exclusiveness and grand
+manner. It used to be said that to rouler carrosse at Valognes was a
+titre de noblesse, and the inhabitants considered their town a "petit
+Paris." In one of the plays of the time, a marquis, very fashionable
+and a well-known courtier, was made to say: "Il faut trois mois de
+Valognes pour achever un homme de cour." One can quite imagine "la
+grande vie d'autrefois" in the hotel of the Florians. Their garden is
+enchanting--quantities of flowers, roses particularly. They have made
+two great borders of tall pink rose-bushes, with dwarf palms from
+Bordighera planted between, just giving the note of stiffness which
+one would expect to find in an old-fashioned garden. On one side is a
+large terrace with marble steps and balustrade, and beyond that, half
+hidden by a row of fruit-trees, a very good tennis court. We just see
+the church-tower at one end of the garden; and it is so quiet one
+would never dream there was a town near. The country in every
+direction is beautiful--real English lanes, the roads low, high banks
+on each side, with hawthorn bushes on top--one drives between thick
+green walls. We have made some lovely excursions. They have a big
+omnibus with a banquette on top which seats four people, also a place
+by the coachman, and two great Norman posters, who go along at a good
+steady trot, taking a little gallop occasionally up and down the
+hills.
+
+  [14] Mareuil is the name of the village near our place in France.
+
+Countess de Nadaillac, Countess Florian's sister-in-law, arrived to-day
+with her daughter for a short visit. We had a pleasant evening with
+music, billiards, and dominoes (a favorite game in this country). The
+dowager countess always plays two games, and precisely at half-past nine
+her old man-servant appears and escorts her to her rooms. We all break
+up early; the ten o'clock bell is usually the signal. It rings every
+night, just as it has done for hundreds of years. The town lights are
+put out and the inhabitants understand that the authorities are not
+responsible for anything that may happen in the streets of Valognes
+after such a dangerous hour of the night.
+
+... There are some fine places in the neighborhood. We went to-day to
+Chiffevast, a large château which had belonged to the Darus, but has
+been bought recently by a rich couple, Valognes people, who have made a
+large fortune in cheese and butter. It seems their great market is
+London.
+
+They send over quantities via Cherbourg, which is only twenty minutes
+off by rail. It is a splendid place--with a fine approach by a great
+avenue with beautiful old trees. The château is a large, square
+house--looks imposing as one drives up. We didn't see the master of the
+house--he was away--but madame received us in all her best clothes. She
+was much better dressed than we were, evidently by one of the good Paris
+houses. Countess Florian had written to ask if we might come, so she was
+under arms. She was a little nervous at first, talked a great deal, very
+fast, but when she got accustomed to us it went more easily, and she
+showed us the house with much pride. There was some good furniture and
+one beautiful coverlet of old lace and embroidery, which she had found
+somewhere upstairs in an old chest of drawers. They have no
+children--such a pity, as they are improving and beautifying the place
+all the time. The drive home was delightful, facing the sunset. I was
+amused with the Florians' old coachman. He is a curiosity--knows
+everybody in the country. He was much interested in our visit and asked
+if we had seen "la patronne"--said he knew her well, had often seen her
+on a market day at Valognes, sitting in her little cart in the midst of
+her cheeses and butter; said she was a brave femme. How strange it must
+seem to people like that, just out of their hard-working peasant
+life--and it _is_ hard work in France--to find themselves owners of a
+splendid château and estate, receiving the great people of the country.
+I dare say in ten or twelve years they will be like any one else, and if
+there were sons or daughters the young men would get into parliament or
+the diplomatic career, the daughters would marry some impoverished scion
+of a noble family, and cheeses and butter would be forgotten.
+
+We had one delightful day at Cherbourg. The Préfet Maritime invited us
+to breakfast with him at his hotel. We went by rail to Cherbourg, about
+half an hour, and found the admiral's carriage waiting for us. The
+prefecture is a nice, old-fashioned house, in the centre of the town,
+with a big garden. We took off our coats in a large, handsome room
+upstairs. The walls were covered with red damask and there were pictures
+of Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon. It seems the Queen slept in that
+room one night when she came over to France to make her visit to Louis
+Philippe at the Château d'Eu. We found quite a party assembled--all the
+men in uniform and the women generally in white. We breakfasted in a
+large dining-room with glass doors opening into the garden, which was
+charming, a blaze of bright summer flowers. We adjourned there for
+coffee after breakfast. The trees were big, made a good shade, and the
+little groups, seated about in the various bosquets, looked pretty and
+gay. When coffee and liqueurs were finished we drove down to the quay,
+where the admiral's launch was waiting, and had a delightful afternoon
+steaming about the harbour. It is enormous, long jetties and breakwaters
+stretching far out, almost closing it in. There was every description of
+craft--big Atlantic liners, yachts, fishing boats, ironclads, torpedoes,
+and once we very nearly ran over a curious dark object floating on the
+surface of the water, which they told us was a submarine. It did not
+look comfortable as a means of transportation, but the young officers
+told us it was delightful.
+
+[Illustration: Market women. Valognes.]
+
+We got back to Valognes to a late dinner, having invited a large party
+to come over for tennis and dinner the next day. The Florians are a
+godsend to Cherbourg. They are most hospitable, and with automobiles the
+distance is nothing, and one is quite independent of trains. Yesterday
+four of our party went off to Cherbourg to make a cruise in a
+torpedo-boat. The ladies were warned that they must put on clothes which
+would not mind sea-water, but I should think bathing dresses would be
+the only suitable garments for such an expedition. They were remarkable
+objects when they came home, Mademoiselle de Nadaillac's hat a
+curiosity, also her white blouse, where the red of her hat-ribbons and
+cravat had run. However, they had enjoyed themselves immensely--at least
+the girl. Countess de Nadaillac was not quite so enthusiastic. They got
+into dry clothes and played tennis vigorously all the afternoon.
+
+We had a pleasant family evening. Mademoiselle de Nadaillac has a pretty
+voice and sang well. Florian and I played some duets. I joined in the
+dowager's game of dominoes, which I don't seem to have mastered, as I
+lose regularly, and after she left us, escorted by her faithful old
+butler (a light shawl over his arm to put on her shoulders when she
+passed through the corridors), we had rather an interesting conversation
+about ways and manners in different countries, particularly the way
+young people are brought up. I said we were a large family and that
+mother would never let us read in the drawing-room after dinner. If we
+were all absorbed in our books, conversation was impossible. We were all
+musical, so the piano and singing helped us through. Madame de Florian,
+whose father, Marquis de Nadaillac, is quite of the old school, said
+they were not even allowed to work or look at pictures in the _salon_
+after dinner! Her father considered it disrespectful if any of his
+children did anything but listen when he talked. They might join in the
+conversation if they had anything intelligent to say. She told us, too,
+of some of the quite old-fashioned châteaux that she stayed in as a
+girl, and even a young married woman. There was one fire and one lamp in
+the drawing-room. Any one who wanted to be warm, or to work, was obliged
+to come into that room. No fires nor lamps allowed anywhere else in the
+house; a cup of tea in the afternoon an unheard-of luxury. If you were
+ill, a doctor was sent for and he ordered a tisane; if you were merely
+tired or cold, you waited until dinner-time.
+
+We have also made a charming expedition to Quinéville, a small seaside
+place about an hour and a half's drive, always through the same green
+country, our Norman posters galloping up all the hills. We passed
+through various little villages, each one with a pretty little gray,
+square-towered church. There was plenty of passing, as it was market
+day. We met a good many peasant women carrying milk in those curious old
+brass bowls one sees everywhere here. Some of them are very handsome,
+polished until they shine like mirrors, with a delicate pattern lightly
+traced running around the bowl. They balance them perfectly on their
+heads and walk along at a good swinging pace. They all look prosperous,
+their skirts (generally black), shoes, and stockings in good condition,
+and their white caps and handkerchiefs as clean as possible. Quinéville
+is a very quiet little place, no hotel, and rows of ugly little houses
+well back from the sea, but there is a beautiful stretch of firm white
+sand. To-day it was dead low tide. The sea looked miles away, a long
+line of dark sea-weed marking the water's edge. There were plenty of
+people about; women and girls with stout bare legs, and a primitive sort
+of tool, half pitchfork, half shovel, were piling the sea-weed into the
+carts which were waiting on the shore. Children were paddling about in
+the numerous little pools and making themselves wreaths and necklaces
+out of the berries of the sea-weed--some of them quite bright-coloured,
+pink and yellow. We wandered about on the beach, sitting sometimes on
+the side of a boat, and walking through the little pools and streams. It
+was a lonely bit of water. We didn't see a sail. The sea looked like a
+great blue plain meeting the sky--nothing to break the monotony. We got
+some very bad coffee at the restaurant--didn't attempt tea. They would
+certainly have _said_ they had it, and would have made it probably out
+of hay from the barn. The drive home was delicious, almost too cool, as
+we went at a good pace, the horses knowing as well as we did that the
+end of their day was coming.... We have been again to market this
+morning. It was much more amusing than the first time, as it was horse
+day, and men and beasts were congregated in the middle of the Cathedral
+Square. There was a fair show--splendid big carthorses and good cobs and
+ponies--here and there a nice saddle-horse. There were a good many women
+driving themselves, and almost all had good, stout little horses. They
+know just as much about it as the men and were much interested in the
+sales. They told me the landlady of the hotel was the best judge of a
+horse and a _man_ in Normandy. She was standing at the entrance of her
+court-yard as we passed the hotel on our way home, a comely, buxom
+figure, dressed like all the rest in a short black skirt and sabots. She
+was exchanging smiling greetings and jokes with every one who passed and
+keeping order with the crowds of farmers, drivers, and horse-dealers who
+were jostling through the big open doors and clamoring for food for
+themselves and their animals. She was the type of the hard-working,
+capable Frenchwoman of whom there are thousands in France.
+
+Some years ago I was on the committee for a great sale we had in our
+arrondissement in Paris for the benefit of "L'Assistance par le
+Travail," an excellent work which we are all much interested in. I was
+in charge of the buffet, and thought it better to apply at once to one
+of the great caterers, Potel and Chabot, and see what they could do for
+us. We made an appointment, and Mme. de B. and I drove down to the
+place. The manager was out, but they told us that Madame was waiting for
+us in the back shop. We found rather a pretty woman, very well dressed
+in velvet, with diamond earrings, and I was put out at first--thought
+that didn't look like business. However, we talked a few minutes; she
+said her husband was obliged to go to the country, but would certainly
+come and see me the next day. Then she stepped up to her desk, where
+there was a big book open, said she understood we wished to give an
+order for a buffet for a charity sale, and was at once absorbed in
+sandwiches, tea and coffee, orangeade, and all the requirements for such
+an occasion. She was perfectly practical and gave us some very useful
+hints--said she supposed we wanted some of their maîtres d'hôtel. We
+thought not--our own would do. That, she said, would be a great mistake.
+They weren't accustomed to that sort of thing and wouldn't know how to
+do it. One thing, for instance--they would certainly fill all the
+glasses of orangeade and punch much too full and would waste a great
+deal. Their men never filled a glass entirely, and consequently gained
+two on every dozen. She told us how much we wanted, made out the
+estimate at once, and ended by asking if we would allow them to present
+the tea as their contribution to the charity. It didn't take more than
+twenty minutes--the whole thing. She then shut up her book, went to the
+door with us, thanked us for giving them the order, and hoped we would
+be satisfied. That business capability and thriftiness runs through
+almost all Frenchwomen of a certain class, and when I hear, as of course
+I often do, the frivolous, butterfly, pleasure-loving Frenchwoman spoken
+of, that energetic, hard-working bourgeoise comes into my mind. We all
+who live in France know the type well.
+
+The whole nation is frugal. During the Franco-German War, my husband,
+who had spent all the dreary months of the invasion at his château in
+the country, was elected a member of the Assemblée Nationale, which met
+at Bordeaux. They were entirely cut off from Paris, surrounded by
+Prussian troops on all sides, and he couldn't get any money. Whatever he
+had had at the beginning of the war had been spent--sending off recruits
+for one of the great army corps near his place. It was impossible to
+communicate with his banker or any friends in Paris, and yet he couldn't
+start without funds. He applied to the notary of La Ferté-Milon, the
+little town nearest the château. He asked how much he wanted. W. said
+about 10,000 francs. The notary said, "Give me two days and I will get
+it for you." He appeared three days afterward, bringing the 10,000
+francs--a great deal of it in large silver five-franc pieces, very
+difficult to carry. He had collected the whole sum from small farmers
+and peasants in the neighbourhood--the five-franc pieces coming always
+from the peasants, sometimes fifty sewed up in a mattress or in the
+woman's thick, wadded Sunday skirt. He said he could get as much more if
+W. wanted it. It seems impossible for the peasant to part with his money
+or invest it. He must keep it well hidden, but in his possession.
+
+... We had a pretty drive this afternoon to one of Florian's farms, down
+a little green lane, some distance from the high-road and so hidden by
+the big trees that we saw nothing until we got close to the gate. It was
+late--all the cows coming home, the great Norman horses drinking at the
+trough, two girls with bare legs and high caps calling all the fowl to
+supper, and the farmer's wife, with a baby in her arms and another
+child, almost a baby, pulling at her skirts, seated on a stone bench
+underneath a big apple-tree, its branches heavy with fruit. She was
+superintending the work of the farm-yard and seeing that the two girls
+didn't waste a minute of their time, nor a grain of the seed with which
+they were feeding the chickens. A little clear, sparkling stream was
+meandering through the meadows, tall poplars on each side, and quite
+at the end of the stretch of green fields there was the low blue line of
+the sea. The farmhouse is a large, old-fashioned building with one or
+two good rooms. It had evidently been a small manor house. One of the
+rooms is charming, with handsome panels of dark carved wood. It seemed a
+pity to leave them there, and almost a pity, that the Florians could not
+have made their home in such a lovely green spot, but they would have
+been obliged to add to the house enormously, and it would have
+complicated their lives, being so far away from everything.
+
+[Illustration: Old gate-way. Valogues.]
+
+... We have had a last walk and flânerie this morning. We went to the
+Hospice, formerly a Benedictine convent, where there is a fine gate-way
+and court-yard with most extraordinary carving over the doors and
+gate--monstrous heads and beasts and emblems alongside of cherubs and
+beautiful saints and angels. One wonders what ideas those old artists
+had; it seems now such distorted imagination. We walked through some of
+the oldest streets and past what had been fine hotels, but they are
+quite uninhabited now. Sometimes a bric-à-brac shop on the ground-floor,
+and some sort of society on the upper story, but they are all neglected
+and half tumbling down. There is still splendid carving on some of the
+old gate-ways and cornices, but bits of stone and plaster are falling
+off, grass is growing between the paving stones of the court-yards, and
+there is an air of poverty and neglect which is a curious contrast to
+the prosperous look of the country all around--all the little farms and
+villages look so thriving. The people are smiling and well fed; their
+animals, too--horses, cows, donkeys--all in good condition.
+
+I have played my last game of dominoes in this fine old hotel and had my
+last cup of tea in the stiff, stately garden, with the delicious salt
+sea-breeze always coming at four o'clock, and the cathedral chimes
+sounding high and clear over our heads. I leave to-morrow night for
+London, via Cherbourg and Southampton.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+NORMAN CHATEAUX
+
+
+We never remained all summer at our place. August was a disagreeable
+month there--the woods were full of horse-flies which made riding
+impossible. No nets could keep them off the horses who were almost
+maddened by the sting. They were so persistent that we had to take them
+off with a sharp stick. They stuck like leeches. We generally went to
+the sea--almost always to the Norman Coast--establishing ourselves in a
+villa--sometimes at Deauville, sometimes at Villers, and making
+excursions all over the country.
+
+Some of the old Norman châteaux are charming, particularly those which
+have remained just as they were before the Revolution, but, of course,
+there are not many of these. When the young ones succeed, there is
+always a tendency to modify and change, and it is not easy to mix the
+elaborate luxurious furniture of our times with the stiff old-fashioned
+chairs and sofas one finds in the old French houses. Merely to look at
+them one understands why our grandfathers and grandmothers always sat
+upright.
+
+One of the most interesting of the Norman châteaux is "Abondant," in the
+department of the Eure-et-Loir, belonging until very recently to the
+Vallambrosa family. It belonged originally to la Duchesse de Tourzel,
+gouvernante des Enfants de France (children of Louis XVI and Marie
+Antoinette). After the imprisonment of the Royal Family, Madame de
+Tourzel retired to her château d'Abondant and remained there all through
+the Revolution. The village people and peasants adored her and she lived
+there peacefully through all those terrible days. Neither château nor
+park was damaged in any way, although she was known to be a devoted
+friend and adherent of the unfortunate Royal Family. A band of
+half-drunken "patriots" tried to force their way into the park one day,
+with the intention of cutting down the trees and pillaging the château,
+but all the villagers instantly assembled, armed with pitchforks, rusty
+old guns and stones, and dispersed the rabble.
+
+Abondant is a Louis XV château--very large--seventeen rooms en
+façade--but simple in its architecture. The Duchess occupied a large
+corner room on the ground-floor, with four windows. The ceiling (which
+was very high) and walls covered with toiles de Jouy. An enormous bed à
+baldaquin was trimmed with the same toile and each post had a great
+bunch of white feathers on top.
+
+In 1886, when one of my friends was staying at Abondant, the hangings
+were the same which had been there all through the Revolution. She told
+me she had never been so miserable as the first time she stayed at the
+château during the lifetime of the late Duchesse de Vallambrosa. They
+gave her the Duchesse de Tourzel's room, thinking it would interest her
+as a chambre historique. She was already nervous at sleeping alone on
+the ground-floor, far from all the other inmates of the château. The
+room was enormous--walls nearly five metres high--the bed looked like an
+island in the midst of space; there was very little furniture, and the
+white feathers on the bed-posts nodded and waved in the dim light. She
+scarcely closed her eyes, could not reason with herself, and asked the
+next morning to have something less magnificent and more modern.
+
+In all the bedrooms the dressing-tables were covered with dentelle de
+Binche[15] of the epoch, and all the mirrors and various little boxes
+for powder, rouge, patches, and the hundred accessories for a fine
+lady's toilette in those days, were in Vernis Martin absolutely
+intact. The drawing-rooms still had their old silk hangings--a white
+ground covered with wreaths of flowers and birds with wonderful bright
+plumage--hand-painted--framed in wood of two shades of light green.
+
+  [15] Binche, name of a village in Belgium where the lace is made.
+
+The big drawing-room was entirely panelled in wood of the same light
+green, most beautifully and delicately carved. These old boiseries were
+all removed when the château was sold. After the death of the Duchesse
+de Tourzel the château went to her niece, the Duchesse des Cars--who
+left it to her niece, the Duchesse de Vallambrosa, a very rare instance,
+in France, of a property descending directly through several generations
+in the female line.
+
+It was sold by the Vallambrosas. The old wood panels are in the Paris
+house of a member of that family. The park was very large and
+beautifully laid out, with the fine trees one sees all over Normandy.
+
+Twenty years ago a salle de spectacle "en verdure" still existed in the
+park--the seats were all in grass; the coulisses (side scenes) made in
+the trees of the park--their boughs cut and trained into shape, to
+represent green walls, a marble group of allegorical figures at the
+back. It was most carefully preserved--the seats of the amphitheatre
+looked like green velvet and the trees were always cut in the same
+curious shapes. It seemed quite a fitting part of the fine old place,
+with its memories of past fêtes and splendours, before the whirlwind of
+liberty and equality swept over the country.
+
+Many of the châteaux are changing hands. The majorat (entail) doesn't
+exist in France, and as the fortunes must always be divided among the
+children, it becomes more and more difficult to keep up the large
+places. Life gets dearer every day--fortunes don't increase--very few
+young Frenchmen of the upper classes do anything. The only way of
+keeping up the big places is by making a rich marriage--the daughter of
+a rich banker or industrial, or an American.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our cousins, Comte and Comtesse d'Y----, have a pretty little old place
+not very far from Villers-sur-Mer, where we went sometimes for
+sea-bathing. The house is an ordinary square white stone building, a
+fine terrace with a flight of steps leading down to the garden on one
+side. The park is delightful--many splendid old trees. Until a few years
+ago there were still some that dated since Louis XIV. The last one of
+that age--a fine oak, with wide spreading branches--died about two years
+ago, but they cannot make up their minds to cut it down. I advised them
+to leave the trunk standing--(I think, by degrees, the branches will
+fall as they are quite dead)--cover it with ivy or a vine of some kind,
+and put a notice on it of the age of the tree.
+
+The house stands high, and they have splendid views--on one side, from
+the terrace, a great expanse of green valley looking toward Falaise--on
+the other, the sea--a beautiful, blue summer sea, when we were there the
+other day.
+
+We went over from Villers to breakfast. It was late in the season, the
+end of September--one of those bright days one sometimes has in
+September, when summer still lingers and the sun gives beautiful mellow
+tints to everything without being strong enough to make one feel the
+heat. The road was lovely all the way, particularly after we turned off
+the high road at the top of the Houlgate Hill. We went through countless
+little Norman lanes, quite narrow, sometimes--between high green banks
+with a hedge on top, and the trees meeting over our heads--so narrow
+that I wondered what would happen if we met another auto. We left the
+sea behind us, and plunged into the lovely green valley that runs along
+back of the coast line. We came suddenly on the gates of the château,
+rather a sharp turn. There was a broad avenue with fine trees leading up
+to the house--on one side, meadows fenced off with white wooden palings
+where horses and cows were grazing--a pretty lawn before the house with
+beds of begonias, and all along the front, high raised borders of red
+geranium which looked very well against the grey stone.
+
+We found a family party, Comte and Comtesse d'Y----, their daughter and
+a governess. We went upstairs (a nice wooden staircase with broad
+shallow steps) to an end room, with a beautiful view over the park,
+where we got out of all the wraps, veils, and glasses that one must have
+in an open auto if one wishes to look respectable when one arrives, and
+went down at once to the hall where the family was waiting.
+
+The dining-room was large and light, high, wide windows and beautiful
+trees wherever one looked. The decoration of the room was rather
+curious. The d'Y----s descend--like many Norman families--from William
+the Conqueror, and there are English coats-of-arms on some of the
+shields on the walls. A band which looks like fresco, but is really
+painted on linen--very cleverly arranged with some composition which
+makes it look like the wall--runs straight around the room with all
+sorts of curious figures: soldiers, horses, and boats, copied exactly
+from the famous Bayeux tapestries, the most striking episodes--the
+departure of the Conqueror from Dives--the embarkation of his army (the
+cavalry--most extraordinary long queerly shaped horses with faces like
+people)--the death of Harold--the fighting Bishop Odo--brother of the
+Conqueror, who couldn't carry a lance, but had a good stout stick which
+apparently did good service as various Saxons were flying horizontally
+through the air as he and his steed advanced; one wonders at the
+imagination which could have produced such extraordinary figures, as
+certainly no men or beasts, at any period of time, could have looked
+like those. The ships were less striking--had rather more the semblance
+of boats.
+
+However, the effect, with all the bright colouring, is very good and
+quite in harmony with this part of the country, where everything teems
+with legends and traditions of the great Duke. They see Falaise, where
+he was born, from their terrace, sometimes. We didn't, for though the
+day was beautiful, there was a slight haze which made the far-off
+landscapes only a blue line.
+
+After breakfast we went for a walk in the park. They have arranged it
+very well, with rustic bridges and seats wherever the view was
+particularly fine. We saw a nice, old, red brick house, near the farm,
+which was the manoir where the Dowager Countess lives now. She made over
+the château to her son, in her life time, on condition that he would
+keep it up and arrange it, which he has done very well. We made the
+tour of the park--passing a pretty lodge with roses and creepers all
+over it and "Mairie" put upon a sign; d'Y----is mayor of his little
+village and finds it convenient to have the Mairie at his own gate. We
+rested a little in the drawing-room before going back, and he showed us
+various portraits and miniatures of his family which were most
+interesting. Some of the miniatures are exactly like one we have of
+father, of that period with the high stock and tight-buttoned coat. The
+light was lovely--so soft and warm--in the drawing-room, and as there
+were no lace curtains or vitrages, and the silk curtains were drawn back
+from the high plate glass windows, we seemed to be sitting in the park
+under the trees. They gave us tea and the good little cakes, "St.
+Pierre," a sort of "sablé," for which all the coast is famous.
+
+The drive home was enchanting, with a lovely view from the top of the
+hill; a beautiful blue sea at our feet and the turrets and pointed roofs
+of the Villers houses taking every possible colour from the sunset
+clouds.
+
+We went back once more to a thé dansant given for her seventeen-year-old
+daughter. It was a lovely afternoon and the place looked charming--the
+gates open--carriages and autos arriving in every direction--people came
+from a great distance as with the autos no one hesitates to undertake a
+drive of a hundred kilomètres. The young people danced in the
+drawing-room--Madame d'Y---- had taken out all the furniture, and the
+parents and older people sat about on the terrace where there were
+plenty of seats and little tea-tables. The dining-room--with an abundant
+buffet--was always full; one arrives with a fine appetite after whirling
+for two or three hours through the keen salt air. The girls all looked
+charming--the white dresses, bright sashes, and big picture hats are so
+becoming. They were dancing hard when we left, about half past six, and
+it was a pretty sight as we looked back from the gates--long lines of
+sunlight wavering over the grass, figures in white flitting through the
+trees, distant strains of music, and what was less agreeable, the
+strident sound of a sirène on some of the autos. They are detestable
+things.
+
+We were very comfortable at Villers in a nice, clean house looking on
+the sea, with broad balconies at every story, where we put sofas and
+tables and green blinds, using them as extra salons. We were never in
+the house except to eat and sleep. Nothing is more characteristic of the
+French (particularly in the bourgeoise) than the thorough way in which
+they _do_ their month at the sea-shore. They generally come for the month
+of August. Holidays have begun and business, of all kinds, is slack.
+Our plage was really a curiosity. There is a splendid stretch of sand
+beach--at low tide one can walk, by the shore, to Trouville or Houlgate
+on perfectly firm, dry sand. There are hundreds of cabins and tents,
+striped red and white, and umbrellas on the beach, and all day long
+whole families sit there. They all bathe, and a curious fashion at
+Villers is that you put on your bathing dress in your own house--over
+that a peignoir, generally of red and white striped cotton, and walk
+quite calmly through the streets to the établissement. Some of the
+ladies and gentlemen of mature years are not to their advantage. When
+they can, if they have houses with a terrace or garden, they take their
+meals outside, and as soon as they have breakfasted, start again for the
+beach. When it is low tide they go shrimp-fishing or walk about in the
+shallow water looking for shells and sea-weed. When it is high tide, all
+sit at the door of their tents sewing, reading, or talking--I mean, of
+course, the petite bourgeoisie.
+
+At other places on the coast, Deauville or Houlgate, the life is like
+Newport or Dinard, or any other fashionable seaside place, with
+automobiles, dinners, dressing, etc. They get all the sea air and
+out-of-door life that they can crowd into one month. One lady said to me
+one day, "I can't bathe, but I take a 'bain d'air' every day--I sit on
+the rocks as far out in the water as I can--take off my hat and my shoes
+and stockings."
+
+There is a great clearing out always by the first of September and then
+the place was enchanting--bright, beautiful September days, one could
+still bathe, the sun was so strong; and the afternoons, with just a
+little chill in the air, were delightful for walking and driving. There
+was a pretty Norman farm--just over the plage--at the top of the falaise
+where we went sometimes for tea. They gave us very good tea, milk, and
+cider, and excellent bread and butter and cheese. We sat out of doors in
+an apple orchard at little tables--all the beasts of the establishment
+in the same field. The chickens and sheep surrounded us, were evidently
+accustomed to being fed, but the horses, cows, and calves kept quite to
+the other end. We saw the girls milking the cows which, of course,
+interested the children immensely.
+
+We made some charming excursions in the auto--went one Saturday to
+Caen--such a pretty road through little smiling villages--every house
+with a garden, or if too close together to allow that, there were pots
+of geraniums, the falling kind, in the windows, which made a red curtain
+dropping down over the walls. We stopped at Lisieux--a quaint old Norman
+town, with a fine cathedral and curious houses with gables and
+towers--one street most picturesque, very narrow, with wooden houses,
+their projecting roofs coming so far over the street one could hardly
+see the sky in some places. There were all kinds of balconies and
+cornices most elaborately carved--the wood so dark one could scarcely
+distinguish the original figures and devices, but some of them were
+extraordinary, dragons, and enormous winged animals. We did not linger
+very long as we were in our new auto--a Martini hill-climber--built in
+Switzerland and, of course (like all automobilists), were anxious to
+make as fast a run as possible between Villers and Caen.
+
+The approach to Caen is not particularly interesting--the country is
+flat, the road running through poplar-bordered fields--one does not see
+it at all until one gets quite near, and then suddenly beautiful towers
+and steeples seem to rise out of the green meadows. It was
+Saturday--market day--and the town was crowded--every description of
+vehicle in the main street and before the hotel, two enormous red
+60-horse-power Mercedes--farmers' gigs and donkey carts with cheeses and
+butter--a couple generally inside--the man with his blue smock and
+broad-brimmed hat, the woman with a high, clean, stiff-starched muslin
+cap, a knit shawl over her shoulders. They were not in the least
+discomposed by the bustle and the automobiles, never thought of getting
+out of the way--jogged comfortably on keeping to their side of the road.
+
+We left the auto at the hotel and found many others in the court-yard,
+and various friends. The d'Y----s had come over from Grangues (their
+place). He is Conseiller Général of Calvados, and market day, in a
+provincial town, is an excellent occasion for seeing one's electors.
+There were also some friends from Trouville-Deauville, most of them in
+autos--some in light carriages. We tried to make a rendezvous for tea at
+the famous pâtissier's (who sends his cakes and bonbons over half the
+department), but that was not very practical, as they had all finished
+what they had to do and we had not even begun our sightseeing. However,
+d'Y---- told us he would leave our names at the tea-room, a sort of club
+they have established over the pâtissier's, where we would be quieter
+and better served than in the shop which would certainly be crowded on
+Saturday afternoon. We walked about till we were dead tired.
+
+St. Pierre is a fine old Norman church with beautiful tower and steeple.
+It stands fairly well in the Place St. Pierre, but the houses are much
+too near. It should have more space around it. There was a market going
+on, on the other side of the square--fruit, big apples and pears,
+flowers and fish being heaped up together. The apples looked tempting,
+such bright red ones.
+
+We went to the two abbayes--both of them quite beautiful--St.
+Étienne--Abbaye aux Hommes was built by William the Conqueror, who was
+originally buried there. It is very grand--quite simple, but splendid
+proportions--a fitting resting-place for the great soldier, who,
+however, was not allowed to sleep his last sleep, undisturbed, in the
+city he loved so well. His tomb was desecrated several times and his
+remains lost in the work of destruction.
+
+We went on to the Abbaye aux Dames which is very different; smaller--not
+nearly so simple. The façade is very fine with two square towers most
+elaborately carved, the steeples have long since disappeared; and there
+are richly ornamented galleries and balustrades in the interior of the
+church, not at all the high solemn vaulted aisles of the Abbaye aux
+Hommes. It was founded by Queen Mathilde, wife of William the Conqueror,
+and she is buried there--a perfectly simple tomb with an inscription in
+Latin. There was at one time a very handsome monument, but it was
+destroyed, like so many others, during the Revolution, and the remains
+placed, some years after, in the stone coffin where they now rest. We
+hadn't time to see the many interesting things in the churches and in
+the town, as it was getting late and we wanted some tea before we
+started back. We found our way to the pâtissier's quite easily, but
+certainly couldn't have had any tea if d'Y---- had not told us to use
+his name and ask for the club-room. The little shop was crowded--people
+standing and making frantic dashes into the kitchen for chocolate and
+muffins. The club-room upstairs was quite nice--painted white, a good
+glass so that we could arrange our hair a little, one or two tables--and
+we were attended to at once. They brought us the spécialité of the
+place--light, hot brioches with grated ham inside--very good and very
+indigestible.
+
+We went home by a different road, but it looked just like the
+other--fewer little hamlets, perhaps, and great pasture fields, filled
+with fine specimens of Norman dray horses and mares with long-legged
+colts running alongside of them. It was late when we got home. The
+lighthouses of Honfleur and Havre made a long golden streak stretching
+far out to sea, and the great turning flashlight of St. Adresse was
+quite dazzling.
+
+We went back over the same ground two or three days later on our way to
+Bayeux. The town is not particularly interesting, but the cathedral is
+beautiful and in wonderful preservation--the columns are very
+grand--every capital exquisitely carved and no two alike. Our guide, a
+very talkative person--unlike the generality of Norman peasants, who are
+usually taciturn--was very anxious to show us each column in detail and
+explain all the really beautiful carving, but we were rather hurried as
+some of the party were going to lunch at Barbieville--Comte Foy's
+château.
+
+On the same place as the cathedral is the Hôtel de Ville, with the
+wonderful tapestries worked by the Queen Mathilde, wife of William the
+Conqueror. They are really most extraordinary and so well preserved. The
+colours look as if they had been painted yesterday. I hadn't seen them
+for years and had forgotten the curious shapes and vivid colouring. We
+went to one of the lace shops. The Bayeux lace is very pretty, made with
+the "fuseau", very fine--a mixture of Valenciennes and Mechlin. It is
+very strong, though it looks delicate. The dentellières still do a very
+good business. The little girls begin to work as soon as they can thread
+their needle, and follow a simple pattern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The F.'s enjoyed their day at Barbieville, Comte Foy's château, very
+much. They said the house was nothing remarkable--a large square
+building, but the park was original. Comte Foy is a racing man, breeds
+horses, and has his "haras" on his place. The park is all cut up into
+paddocks, each one separated from the other by a hedge and all
+connected by green paths. F. said the effect from the terrace was quite
+charming; one saw nothing but grass and hedges and young horses and
+colts running about. Comtesse Foy and her daughters were making lace.
+The girls went in to Bayeux three or four times a week and took lessons
+from one of the dentellières.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
+
+
+One year we were at Boulogne for the summer in a funny little house, in
+a narrow street just behind the port and close to the Casino and beach.
+There were a great many people--all the hotels full and quantities of
+automobiles passing all day. The upper part of the town is just like any
+other seaside place--rows of hotels and villas facing the sea--some of
+the houses built into the high green cliff which rises steep and almost
+menacing behind. Already parts of the cliff have crumbled away in some
+place and the proprietors of the villas find some difficulty in letting
+them. The front rooms on the sea are charming, but the back
+ones--directly under the cliff--with no air or sun, are not very
+tempting. There is a fine digue and raised broad walk all along the sea
+front, with flowers, seats, and music stand.
+
+It is a perfectly safe beach for children, for though the channel is
+very near and the big English boats pass close to the shore, there are
+several sand banks which make the beach quite safe, and from seven in
+the morning till seven at night there are two boats au large and two men
+on the beach, with ropes, life-preservers, and horns which they blow
+whenever they think the bathers are too far out. There is an "Inspecteur
+de la Plage," a regular French official with a gold band on his cap, who
+is a most important and amiable gentleman and sees that no one is
+annoyed in any way. We made friends with him at once, moyennant une
+pièce de dix francs, and he looked after us, saw that our tents were put
+up close to the water, no others near, and warned off stray children and
+dogs who were attracted by our children's toys and cakes.
+
+The plage is a pretty sight on a bright day. There are hundreds of
+tents--all bright-coloured. When one approaches Boulogne from the sea
+the beach looks like a parterre of flowers. Near the Casino there are a
+quantity of old-fashioned ramshackly bathing cabins on wheels, with very
+small boys cracking their whips and galloping up and down, from the
+digue to the edge of the water, on staid old horses who know their work
+perfectly--put themselves at once into the shafts of the
+carriages--never go beyond a certain limit in the sea.
+
+All the bathers are prudent. It is rare to see any one swimming out or
+diving from a boat. A policeman presides at the public bathing place
+and there are three or four baigneurs and baigneuses who take charge of
+the timid bathers; one wonderful old woman, bare-legged, of course, a
+handkerchief on her head, a flannel blouse and a very short skirt made
+of some water-proof material that stood out stiff all around her and
+shed the water--she was the première baigneuse--seventy years old and
+had been baigneuse at Boulogne for fifty-one years. She had bathed C. as
+a child, and was delighted to see her again and wildly interested in her
+two children.
+
+There were donkeys, of course, and goats. The children knew the goat man
+well and all ran to him with their mugs as soon as they heard his
+peculiar whistle. They held their mugs close under the goat so that they
+got their milk warm and foaming, as it was milked directly into their
+mugs. The goats were quite tame--one came always straight to our tents
+and lay down there till his master came. Every one wanted to feed them
+with cakes and bits of sugar, but he would never let them have anything
+for fear it should spoil their milk.
+
+Another friend was the cake man, dressed all in white, with his basket
+of brioches and madeleines on his head--then there were the inevitable
+Africans with fezes on their heads and bundles of silks--crêpes-de-chine
+and ostrich feathers, that one sees at every plage. I don't think they
+did much business.
+
+The public was not all distinguished. We often wondered where the people
+were who lived in the hôtels (all very expensive) and villas, for, with
+very rare exceptions, it was the most ordinary petite bourgeoisie that
+one saw on the beach--a few Americans, a great many fourth-rate English.
+They were a funny contrast to the people who came for the Concours
+Hippique, and the Race Week. One saw then a great influx of
+automobiles--there were balls at the Casino and many pretty,
+well-dressed women, of both worlds, much en evidence. The châtelains
+from the neighbouring châteaux appeared and brought their guests.
+
+For that one week Boulogne was quite fashionable. The last Sunday of the
+races was a terrible day. There was an excursion train from Paris and
+two excursion steamers from England. We were on the quay when the
+English boats came in and it was amusing to see the people. Some of them
+had left London at six in the morning. There were all sorts and kinds,
+wonderful sportsmen with large checked suits, caps and field glasses
+slung over their shoulders--a great many pretty girls--generally in
+white. All had bags and baskets with bathing suits and luncheon, and in
+an instant they were swarming over the plage--already crowded with the
+Paris excursionists. They didn't interfere with us much as we never went
+to the beach on Sunday.
+
+F. was fishing all day with some of his friends in a pilot boat. (They
+brought back three hundred mackerel), had a beautiful day--the sea quite
+calm and the fish rising in quantities. C. and I, with the children,
+went off to the Hardelot woods in the auto. We established ourselves on
+a hillside, pines all around us, the sea at our feet, a beautiful blue
+sky overhead, and not a sound to break the stillness except sometimes,
+in the distance, the sirène of a passing auto. We had our tea-basket,
+found a nice clear space to make a fire, which we did very prudently,
+scooping out a great hole in the ground and making a sort of oven. It
+was very difficult to keep the children from tumbling into the hole as
+they were rolling about on the soft ground, but we got home without any
+serious detriment to life or limb.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The life in our quarter on the quais is very different, an extraordinary
+animation and movement. There are hundreds of vessels of every
+description in the port. All day and all night boats are coming in and
+going out: The English steamers with their peculiar, dull, penetrating
+whistle that one hears at a great distance--steam tugs that take
+passengers and luggage out to the Atlantic liners, lying just outside
+the digue--yachts, pilot boats, easily distinguished by a broad white
+line around their hulls, and a number very conspicuously printed in
+large black letters on their white sails, "baliseurs," smart-looking
+little craft that take buoys out to the various points where they must
+be laid. One came in the other day with two large, red, bell-shaped
+buoys on her deck which made a great effect from a distance; we were
+standing on the pier, and couldn't imagine what they were; "avisos"
+(dispatch-boats), with their long, narrow flamme, which marks them as
+war vessels, streaming out in the wind. Their sailors looked very
+picturesque in white jerseys and blue bérets with red pompons. Small
+steamers that run along the coast from Calais to Dunkirk--others, cargo
+boats, broad and deep in the water, that take fruit and eggs over to
+England. The baskets of peaches, plums, and apricots look most
+appetizing when they are taken on board. The steamers look funny when
+they come back with empty baskets, quantities of them, piled up on the
+decks, tied to the masts. Many little pleasure boats--flat, broad rowing
+boats that take one across the harbour to the Gare Maritime (which is a
+long way around by the bridge), a most uncomfortable performance at low
+tide, as you go down long, steep, slippery steps with no railing, and
+have to scramble into the boat as well as you can.
+
+Of course, there are fishing-boats of every description, from the modest
+little sloop with one mast and small sail to the big steam trawlers
+which are increasing every year and gradually replacing the
+old-fashioned sailing-boat. One always knows when the fishing-boats are
+arriving by the crowd that assembles on the quay; that peculiar
+population that seems natural to all ports, young, able-bodied sailors,
+full of interest about the run and the cargo--old men in blue jerseys
+who sit on the wall, in the sun, all day, and recount their
+experiences--various officials with gold bands on their caps, men with
+hand carts waiting to carry off the fish and fishwives--their baskets
+strapped on their backs--hoping for a haul of crabs and shrimps or fish
+from some of the small boats.
+
+_All_ the cargo of the trawlers is sold before they arrive to the
+marieurs (men who deal exclusively in fish), and who have a contract
+with the big boats. There is no possibility of having a good fish except
+at the Halles, where one can sometimes get some from one of the smaller
+boats, which fish on their own account and have no contract; but even
+those are generally sold at once to small dealers, who send them off to
+the neighbouring inland towns. In fact, the proprietor of one of the
+big hotels told me he had to get his fish from Paris and paid Paris
+prices.
+
+The fishwives, the young ones particularly, are a fine-looking
+lot--tall, straight, with feet and legs bare, a little white cap or
+woollen fichu on their heads--they carry off their heavy baskets as
+lightly as possible, taking them to the Halles where all the fish must
+go. They are quite a feature of Boulogne, the young fishwives. One sees
+them often at low tide--fishing for shrimps, carrying their heavy nets
+on their shoulders and flat baskets strapped on their backs into which
+they tip the fish very cleverly. They are quite distinct from the
+Boulonaises matelottes, who are a step higher in the social scale.
+_They_ always wear a wonderful white cap with a high starched frill
+which stands out around their faces like an auréole. They, too, wear
+short full skirts, but have long stockings and very good stout
+_shoes_--not sabots--which are also disappearing. They turn out very
+well on Sundays. I saw a lot of them the other day coming out of
+church--all with their caps scrupulously clean--short, full, black or
+brown skirts; aprons ironed in a curious way--_across_ the apron--making
+little waves (our maids couldn't think what had happened to their white
+aprons the first time they came back from the wash--thought there had
+been some mistake and they had some one's else clothes--they had to
+explain to the washerwoman that they liked their aprons ironed
+straight); long gold earrings and gold chains. They are handsome women,
+dark with straight features, a serious look in their eyes. Certainly
+people who live by the sea have a different expression--there is
+something grave, almost sad in their faces, which one doesn't see in
+dwellers in sunny meadows and woodlands.
+
+We went this morning with the Baron de G., who is at the head of one of
+the fishing companies here, to see one of their boats come in and
+unload. It was a steam trawler, with enormous nets, that had been
+fishing off the English coast near Land's End. There were quite a number
+of people assembled on the quay--a policeman, a garde du port, an agent
+of the company, and the usual lot of people who are always about when a
+fishing-boat comes in. Her cargo seemed to be almost entirely of fish
+they call here saumon blanc. They were sending up great baskets of them
+from the hold where they were very well packed in ice; half-way up they
+were thrown into a big tub which cleaned them--took off the salt and
+gave them a silvery look. They are put by hundreds into hand-carts which
+were waiting and carried off at once to the Halles. They had brought in
+3,500 fish, but didn't seem to think they had made a very good haul. The
+whole cargo had been sold to a marieur and was sent off at once, by
+him, all over the country.
+
+Other boats were also sending their cargo to the Halles. They had all
+kinds of fish--soles, mackerel, and a big red fish I didn't know at all.
+I wouldn't have believed, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, that
+such a bright-coloured fish could exist. However, a very sharp little
+boy, who was standing near and who answered all my questions, told me
+they were rougets. We went on to the Halles--a large gray stone building
+facing the sea--rather imposing with a square tower on top, from which
+one can see a long way out to sea and signal incoming fishing-boats. It
+was very clean--water running over the white marble slabs, and women,
+with pails and brushes, washing and wiping the floor. It is evidently a
+place that attracts strangers; many tourists were walking about--one
+couple, American, I think, passing through in an automobile and laying
+in a stock of lobsters and crabs (the big deep-sea crabs) and rougets.
+The man rather hesitated about leaving his auto in the streets; they had
+no chauffeur with them, tried to find a boy who would watch it. For a
+wonder none was forthcoming, but two young fishwives, who were standing
+near, said they would; when the man came back with his purchases he gave
+each of them a five-franc piece, which munificence so astounded them
+that they could hardly find words to thank him.
+
+Quantities of fish of all kinds had arrived--some being sold à la criée,
+but it was impossible to understand the prices or the names of the
+fish--at least for us. The buying public seemed to know all about it.
+The fishwives were very busy standing behind the marble slabs with short
+thick knives, with which they cut off pieces of the large fish when the
+customer didn't want a whole one, and laughing and joking with every
+one. Here and there we saw a modern young person in a fancy blouse, her
+hair dressed and waved, with little combs, but there were not many. We
+bought some soles and shrimps. M. de G. tried to bargain a little for
+us, but the women were so smiling and so sure we didn't know anything
+about it, or what the current price of the fish was, that we had not
+much success.
+
+The trawlers are gradually taking away all the trade from the
+old-fashioned fishing-boats. They go faster, carry more and larger nets,
+and are, of course, stronger sea-boats. They are not much more
+expensive. They burn coal of an inferior quality and their machinery is
+of the simplest description. There is not the loss of life with them
+that there must be always with the smaller sailing-boats.
+
+Newfoundland is the most dangerous fishing ground, as the men have so
+much to contend with--the passing of transatlantic liners and the cold,
+thick fogs which come up off the banks--all of them prefer the Iceland
+fishing. The cold is greater, but there is much less fog and very few
+big boats to be met en route. Few of the Boulogne boats go to
+Newfoundland. It is generally the boats from Fécamp and some of the
+Breton ports that monopolize the fishing off the Banks. It seems that
+men often die from the cold and exposure in these waters. From the
+old-fashioned sailing-boats they usually send them off--two by two in a
+dory (they don't fish from the big boats); they start early, fish all
+day; if no fog comes up, they are all right and get back to their boats
+at dark, but if a sudden fog comes on they often can't find their boats
+and remain out all night, half frozen. _One_ night they can stand, but
+_two_ nights' cold and exposure are always fatal. When the fog lifts the
+little boat is sometimes quite close to the big one, but the men are
+dead--frozen. M. de G. tells us all sorts of terrible experiences that
+he has heard from his men, and yet they all like the life--wouldn't lead
+any other, and have the greatest contempt for a landsman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+There is a fruit stall at the corner of our street, where we stop every
+morning and buy fruit on our way down to the beach. We have become most
+intimate with the two women who are there. One, a young one with small
+children about the age of ours (to whom she often gives grapes or
+cherries when they pass), and the other a little, old, wrinkled,
+brown-faced grandmother, who sits all day, in all weathers, under an
+awning made of an old sail and helps her daughter. She has very bright
+eyes and looks as keen and businesslike as the young woman. She told us
+the other day she had _forty_ grandchildren--all the males, men and
+boys, sailors and fishermen and "mousses"--many of the girls fishwives
+and the mothers married to fishermen or sailors. I asked her why some of
+them hadn't tried to do something else--there were so many things people
+could do in these days to earn their living without leading such a rough
+life. She was quite astonished at my suggestion--replied that they had
+lived on the sea all their lives and never thought of doing anything
+else. Her own husband had been a fisherman--belonged to one of the
+Iceland boats--went three or four times a year regularly--didn't come
+back one year--no tidings ever came of ship or crew--it was God's will,
+and when his time came he had to go, whether in his bed or on his boat.
+And she brought up all her sons to be sailors or fishermen, and when two
+were lost at sea, accepted that, too, as part of her lot, only said it
+was hard, sometimes, for the poor women when the winter storms came and
+the wind was howling and the waves thundering on the beach, and they
+thought of their men ("mon homme" she always called her husband when
+speaking of him), wet and cold, battling for their lives. I talked to
+her often and the words of the old song,
+
+   "But men must work and women must weep,
+   Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
+   And the harbour bar be moaning,"
+
+came back to me more than once, for the floating buoy at the end of the
+jetty makes a continuous dull melancholy sound when the sea is at all
+rough, and when it is foggy (the channel fogs come up very quickly) we
+hear fog horns all around us and quite distinctly the big sirène of Cap
+Gris Nez, which sends out its long wailing note over the sea. It is very
+powerful and is heard at a long distance.
+
+The shops on the quay are an unfailing source of interest to me. I make
+a tour there every morning before I go down to the beach. They have such
+a wonderful variety of things. Shells of all sizes--enormous pink ones
+like those I always remember standing on the mantelpiece in the nursery
+at home--brought back by a sailor brother who used to tell us to put
+them to our ears and we would hear the noise of the sea--and beautiful
+delicate little mother-of-pearl shells that are almost jewels--wonderful
+frames, boxes, and pincushions, made of shells; big spoons, too, with
+a figure or a ship painted on them--knives, penholders, paper-cutters
+and brooches, made out of the bones of big fish--tassels of
+bright-coloured sea-weed, corals, vanilla beans--curiously worked
+leather belts--some roughly carved ivory crosses, umbrella handles,
+canes of every description, pipes, long gold earrings, parrots, little
+birds with bright-coloured feathers, monkeys--an extraordinary
+collection.
+
+I am sure one would find many curious specimens if one could penetrate
+into the back of the old shops and pull the things about--evidently
+sailors from all parts of the world have passed at Boulogne. Still I
+don't hear many foreign languages spoken--almost always French and
+English; occasionally a dark face, with bright black eyes, strikes one.
+We saw two Italians the other day, talking and gesticulating hard,
+shivering, too, with woollen comforters tied over their caps. There was
+a cold fog and we were all wrapped up. It must be awful weather for
+Southerners who only live when the sun shines and go to bed when it is
+cold and gray. There are all sorts of itinerants, petits marchands, on
+the other side of the quay, looking on the water--old women with fruit
+and cakes--children with crabs and shrimps--dolls in Boulonaise
+costume--fishwives and matelottes, stalls with every description of
+food, tea, coffee, chocolate, sandwiches, and fried potatoes. The
+children bought some potatoes the other day wrapped up in brown
+paper--quite a big portion for two sous--and said they were very good.
+
+The quais are very broad, happily, for everything is put there. One
+morning there were quantities of barrels. I asked what was in them.
+Salt, they told me, for the herring-boats which are starting these days.
+Nets, coils of ropes, big sails, baskets, boxes, odd bits of iron, some
+anchors--one has rather to pick one's way. An automobile has been
+standing there for three or four days. I asked if that was going to
+Iceland on a trawler, but the man answered quite simply, "Oh, no,
+Madame, what should we do with an automobile in a fishing-boat. It
+belongs to the owner of one of the ships, and has been here en panne
+waiting till he can have it repaired."
+
+We went one evening to the Casino to see a "bal des matelottes." It was
+a curious sight--a band playing on a raised stand--a broad space cleared
+all round it and lots of people dancing. The great feature, of course,
+was the matelottes. Their costumes were very effective--they all wore
+short, very full skirts, different coloured jackets, short, with a belt,
+very good stout shoes and stockings, and their white frilled caps. They
+always danced together (very rarely with a man--it is not etiquette for
+them to dance with any man when their husbands or lovers are at sea),
+their hands on each other's shoulders. They dance perfectly well and
+keep excellent time and, I suppose, enjoy themselves, but they look very
+solemn going round and round until the music stops. Their feet and
+ankles are usually small. I heard an explanation the other day of their
+dark skins, clean cut features, and small feet. They are of Portuguese
+origin. The first foreign sailors who came to France were Portuguese.
+Many of them remained, married French girls, and that accounts for that
+peculiar type in their descendants which is very different from the look
+of the Frenchwoman in general. There are one or two villages in Brittany
+where the women have the same colouring and features, and there also
+Portuguese sailors had remained and married, and one still hears some
+Portuguese names--José, Manuel--and among the women some Annunziatas,
+Carmelas, etc. We had a house in Brittany one summer and our kitchen
+maid was called Dolores.
+
+
+CAP GRIS NEZ.
+
+We made a lovely excursion one day to Cap Gris Nez--just at the end of a
+wild bit of coast about twenty-five kilomètres from Boulogne. The road
+was enchanting on the top of the cliff all along the sea. We passed
+through Vimereux, a small bathing-place four or five miles from
+Boulogne, and one or two other villages, then went through a wild
+desolate tract of sand-hills and plains and came upon the lighthouse,
+one of the most important of the coast--a very powerful light that all
+inward-bound boats are delighted to see. There are one or two villas
+near on the top of the cliff, then the road turns sharply down to the
+beach--a beautiful broad expanse of yellow sand, reaching very far out
+that day as it was dead low tide.
+
+In the distance we saw figures; couldn't distinguish what they were
+doing, but supposed they were fishing for shrimps, which was what our
+party meant to do. The auto was filled with nets, baskets, and clothes,
+as well as luncheon baskets. The hotel--a very good, simple one--with a
+broad piazza going all around it, was half-way down the cliff, and the
+woman was very "complaisante" and helpful--said there were plenty of
+shrimps, crabs, and lobsters and no one to fish. She and her husband had
+been out at four o'clock that morning and had brought back "quatre
+pintes" of shrimps. No one knew what she meant, but it was evidently a
+measure of some kind. I suppose an English pint. She gave us a cabin
+where the two young matrons dressed, or rather undressed, as they
+reappeared in their bathing trousers--which stopped some little distance
+above the knee--very short skirts, bare legs, "espadrilles" on their
+feet, and large Panama hats to protect them from the sun. The men had
+merely rolled up their trousers. They went out very far--I could just
+make them out--they seemed a part of the sea and sky, moving objects
+standing out against the horizon.
+
+I made myself very comfortable with rugs and cushions under the cliff--I
+had my book as I knew it would be a long operation. It was
+enchanting--sitting there, such a beautiful afternoon. We saw the
+English coast quite distinctly. There was not a sound--no bathing cabins
+or tents, nobody on the shore, but a few fishermen were spreading nets
+on poles to catch the fish as the tide came up. The sea was quite blue,
+and as the afternoon lengthened there were lovely soft lights over
+everything; such warm tints it might almost have been the Mediterranean
+and the Riviera. A few fishing-boats passed in the distance, but there
+was nothing to break the great stillness--not even the ripple of the
+waves, as the sea was too far out. It was a curious sensation to be
+sitting there quite alone--the blue sea at my feet and the cliff rising
+straight up behind me.
+
+The bay is small--two points jutting out on each side, completely
+shutting it in. There are a good many rocks--the water dashes over them
+finely when the tide is high and the sea rough. I got rather stiff
+sitting still and walked about a little on the hard beach and talked to
+the fishermen. They were looking on amused and indulgently at our
+amateurs, and said there were plenty of fish of all kinds _if_ one knew
+how to take them. They said they made very good hauls with their nets in
+certain seasons--that lots of fish came in with the tide and got
+stranded, couldn't get back through the nets. One of them had two
+enormous crabs in his baskets, which I bought at once, and we brought
+them home in the bottom of the auto wrapped up in _very thick_ paper, as
+they were still alive and could give a nasty pinch, the man said.
+
+About five, I thought I made out my party more distinctly; their faces
+were turned homeward, so I went to meet them as far as the dry sand
+lasted. I had a very long walk as the tide was at its lowest. They came
+back very slowly, stopping at all the little pools and poking their nets
+under the rocks to get what they could. They had made a very fair basket
+of really big shrimps, were very wet, very hungry, and very pleased with
+their performance.
+
+We had very good tea and excellent bread and butter at the hotel. They
+gave us a table on the piazza in the sun which finished drying the
+garments of the party. I fancy they had gone in deeper than they
+thought. However, salt water never gives cold and nobody was any the
+worse for the wetting. The woman of the hotel said we ought to go to see
+a fisherman's hut, on the top of the cliff near the lighthouse, before
+we went back. The same family of fishermen had lived there for
+generations, and it was a marvel how any one _could_ live in such a
+place. We could find our way very easily as the path was marked by white
+stones. So we climbed up the cliff and a few minutes' walk brought us to
+one of the most wretched habitations I have ever seen: a little low
+stone hut, built so close to the edge of the cliff one would think a
+violent storm must blow it over--no windows--a primitive chimney, hardly
+more than a hole in the roof--a little low door that one had to stoop to
+pass through, one room, dark and cold--the floor of beaten earth, damp
+and uneven, almost in ruts. There were two beds, a table, two chairs,
+and a stove--nondescript garments hanging on the walls--a woman with a
+baby was sitting at the table--another child on the floor--both
+miserable little, puny, weak-eyed, pale children. The woman told me she
+had six--all lived there--one man was sitting on the bed mending a net,
+another on the floor drinking some black stuff out of a cup--I think
+the baby was drinking the same--two or three children were stretching
+big nets on the top of the cliff--they, too, looked miserable little
+specimens of humanity, bare-legged, unkempt, trousers and jackets in
+holes; however, the woman was quite cheerful--didn't complain nor ask
+for money. The men accepted two francs to drink our health. One wonders
+how children ever grow up in such an atmosphere without light or air or
+decent food.
+
+The drive home was beautiful--not nearly so lonely. Peasants and
+fishermen were coming back from their work--women and children driving
+the cows home. We noticed, too, a few little, low, whitewashed cottages
+in the fields, almost hidden by the sand-hills, which we hadn't seen
+coming out.
+
+
+HARDELOT.
+
+Hardelot was a great resource to us. It is a fine domain, beautiful pine
+woods running down to the sea--a great stretch of green meadow and a
+most picturesque old castle quite the type of the château-fort. The
+castle has now been transformed into a country club with golf-links,
+tennis, and well-kept lawns under big trees which give a splendid shade
+and are most resting to the eye after the glare of the beach. There is
+no view of the sea from the castle, but from the top of the towers on a
+fine day one just sees a quiver of light beneath the sky-line which
+might be the sea.
+
+The château has had its history like all the old feudal castles on the
+sea-board and has changed hands very often, being sometimes French and
+sometimes English. It was strongly fortified and resisted many attacks
+from the English before it actually came into their possession. Part of
+the wall and a curious old gate-way are all that remain of the feudal
+days. The castle is said to have been built by Charlemagne. Henry VIII
+of England lived in it for some time, and the preliminaries of a treaty
+of peace between that monarch and François I were signed there--the
+French and English ambassadors arriving in great state--with an endless
+army of retainers. One wonders where they all were lodged, as the castle
+could never have been large--one sees that from the foundations; but I
+fancy habits were very simple in those days, and the suites probably
+slept on the floor in one of the halls with all their clothes on, the
+troopers keeping on their jack-boots so long that they had to be cut off
+sometimes--the feet and legs so swollen.
+
+The drive from the club to the plage is charming. Sometimes through
+pretty narrow roads with high banks on each side, with hedges on top,
+quite like parts of Devonshire, and nice, little, low, whitewashed
+cottages with green shutters and red doors, much more like England than
+France.
+
+We stopped at a cottage called the Dickens House, where Charles Dickens
+lived for some time. It is only one story high--white with green
+shutters--stands at the end of an old-fashioned garden filled with all
+sorts of ordinary garden-flowers--roses, hollyhocks, larkspurs, pinks,
+all growing most luxuriantly and making patches of colour in the green
+surroundings. We saw Dickens' study, his table still in the window
+(where he always wrote), looking over the garden to an endless stretch
+of green fields.
+
+The plage is very _new_. There is a nice clean hotel, with broad piazzas
+and balconies directly on the sea and a few chalets are already built,
+but there is an absolute dearth of trees and shade. There was quite a
+strong sea-breeze the day we were there, and the fine white sand was
+blown high into the air in circles, getting into our eyes and hair.
+There is a splendid beach--miles of sand--not a rock or cliff--absolutely
+level. The domain of Hardelot belongs to a company of which Mr. John
+Whitley was the president. He had concessions for a tramway from
+Boulogne to Hardelot which will certainly bring people to the plage
+and club. Now there is only an auto-bus, which goes very slowly and is
+constantly out of order; once the club is organized, I think it cannot
+fail to be a charming resort. There is plenty of game in the forest
+(they have a good piece of it), perfect golf and tennis grounds--as
+much deep-sea fishing as one wants. We went often to tea at the
+château. F. played golf, and we walked about and sat under the trees,
+and the children were quite happy playing on the lawns where they were
+as safe as in their nurseries.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN FRANCE***
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Chateau and Country Life in France, by Mary
+King Waddington
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Chateau and Country Life in France
+
+Author: Mary King Waddington
+
+Release Date: November 12, 2004  [eBook #14029]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN
+FRANCE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Richard Lammers, Stephanie Bailey, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made
+available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr
+
+
+
+CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN FRANCE
+
+by
+
+MARY KING WADDINGTON
+
+Author of _Letters Of A Diplomat's Wife_ and _Italian Letters of
+a Diplomat's Wife_
+
+Illustrated
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A country wedding]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+    I. CHATEAU LIFE
+   II. COUNTRY VISITS
+  III. THE HOME OF LAFAYETTE
+   IV. WINTER AT THE CHATEAU
+    V. CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS
+   VI. CHRISTMAS IN THE VALOIS
+  VII. A RACINE CELEBRATION
+ VIII. A CORNER OF NORMANDY
+   IX. A NORMAN TOWN
+    X. NORMAN CHATEAUX
+   XI. BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+A COUNTRY WEDDING
+A FINE OLD CHATEAU
+I LOVED TO HEAR HER PLAY BEETHOVEN AND HANDEL
+THERE WERE ALL SORTS AND KINDS
+FERDINAND
+"MERCI, JE VAIS BIEN"
+LONG PAUSES WHEN NOBODY SEEMED TO HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY
+THEN HE LIGHTED A FIRE
+I SUGGESTED THAT THE WHOLE CHASSE SHOULD ADJOURN TO THE CHATEAU
+SOME RED-COATED, SOME GREEN, ALL WITH BREECHES AND HIGH MUDDY BOOTS
+PEASANT WOMEN
+A VISIT AT THE CHATEAU
+SOLDIERS AT THE CHATEAU
+THE MAYOR AND A NICE, RED-CHEEKED, WRINKLED OLD WOMAN WERE WAITING FOR US
+THERE WAS ONE HANDSOME BIT OF OLD LACE ON A WHITE NAPPE FOR THE ALTAR
+THEY WERE ALL STREAMING UP THE SLIPPERY HILL-SIDE
+ALL THE CHILDREN IN PROCESSION PASSED
+THERE WAS ONE POOR OLD WOMAN STILL GAZING SPELL-BOUND
+L'ETABLISSEMENT, BAGNOLES DE L'ORNE
+IN DOMFRONT SOME OF THE OLD TOWERS ARE CONVERTED INTO MODERN DWELLINGS
+CHATEAU DE LASSAY
+ENTRANCE TO HOTEL OF THE COMTE DE FLORIAN
+MARKET WOMEN, VALOGNES
+OLD GATE-WAY, VALOGNES
+
+
+[Illustration: A fine old chateau.]
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+CHATEAU LIFE
+
+
+My first experience of country life in France, about thirty years ago,
+was in a fine old chateau standing high in pretty, undulating, wooded
+country close to the forest of Villers-Cotterets, and overlooking the
+great plains of the Oise--big green fields stretching away to the
+sky-line, broken occasionally by little clumps of wood, with steeples
+rising out of the green, marking the villages and hamlets which, at
+intervals, are scattered over the plains, and in the distance the blue
+line of the forest. The chateau was a long, perfectly simple, white
+stone building. When I first saw it, one bright November afternoon, I
+said to my husband as we drove up, "What a charming old wooden house!"
+which remark so astonished him that he could hardly explain that it
+was all stone, and that no big houses (nor small, either) in France
+were built of wood. I, having been born in a large white wooden house
+in America, couldn't understand why he was so horrified at my
+ignorance of French architecture. It was a fine old house, high in the
+centre, with a lower wing on each side. There were three
+drawing-rooms, a library, billiard-room, and dining-room on the ground
+floor. The large drawing-room, where we always sat, ran straight
+through the house, with glass doors opening out on the lawn on the
+entrance side and on the other into a long gallery which ran almost
+the whole length of the house. It was always filled with plants and
+flowers, open in summer, with awnings to keep out the sun; shut in
+winter with glass windows, and warmed by one of the three caloriferes
+of the house. In front of the gallery the lawn sloped down to the
+wall, which separated the place from the highroad. A belt of fine
+trees marked the path along the wall and shut out the road completely,
+except in certain places where an opening had been made for the view.
+
+We were a small party for such a big house: only the proprietor and
+his wife (old people), my husband and myself. The life was very
+simple, almost austere. The old people lived in the centre of the
+chateau, W.[1] and I in one of the wings. It had been all fitted up
+for us, and was a charming little house. W. had the ground-floor--a
+bedroom, dressing-room, cabinet de travail, dining-room, and a small
+room, half reception-room, half library, where he had a large
+bookcase filled with books, which he gave away as prizes or to school
+libraries. The choice of the books always interested me. They were
+principally translations, English and American--Walter Scott,
+Marryat, Fenimore Cooper, etc. The bedroom and cabinet de travail had
+glass doors opening on the park. I had the same rooms upstairs,
+giving one to my maid, for I was nervous at being so far away from
+anyone. M. and Mme. A. and all the servants were at the other end of
+the house, and there were no bells in our wing (nor anywhere else in
+the house except in the dining-room). When I wanted a work-woman who
+was sewing in the lingerie I had to go up a steep little winding
+staircase, which connected our wing with the main building, and walk
+the whole length of the gallery to the lingerie, which was at the
+extreme end of the other wing. I was very fond of my rooms. The
+bedroom and sitting-room opened on a balcony with a lovely view over
+wood and park. When I sat there in the morning with my petit
+dejeuner--cup of tea and roll--I could see all that went on in the
+place. First the keeper would appear, a tall, handsome man, rather
+the northern type, with fair hair and blue eyes, his gun always over
+his shoulder, sacoche at his side, swinging along with the free,
+vigorous step of a man accustomed to walk all day. Then Hubert, the
+coachman, would come for orders, two little fox-terriers always
+accompanying him, playing and barking, and rolling about on the
+grass. Then the farmer's wife, driving herself in her gig, and
+bringing cheese, butter, milk, and sometimes chickens when our
+bassecour was getting low. A little later another lot would appear,
+people from the village or canton, wanting to see their deputy and
+have all manner of grievances redressed. It was curious sometimes to
+make out, at the end of a long story, told in peasant dialect, with
+many digressions, what particular service notre depute was expected
+to render. I was present sometimes at some of the conversations, and
+was astounded at W.'s patience and comprehension of what was
+wanted--I never understood half.
+
+  [1] W. here and throughout this volume refers to Mme. Waddington's
+  husband, M. William Waddington.
+
+We generally had our day to ourselves. We rode almost every
+morning--long, delicious gallops in the woods, the horses going easily
+and lightly over the grass roads; and the days W. was away and
+couldn't ride, I used to walk about the park and gardens. The kitchen
+garden was enormous--almost a park in itself--and in the season I eat
+pounds of white grapes, which ripened to a fine gold color on the
+walls in the sun. We rarely saw M. and Mme. A. until twelve-o'clock
+breakfast.
+
+[Illustration: I loved to hear her play Beethoven and Handel.]
+
+Sometimes when it was fine we would take a walk with the old people
+after breakfast, but we generally spent our days apart. M. and Mme. A.
+were charming people, intelligent, cultivated, reading everything and
+keeping quite in touch with all the literary and Protestant world, but
+they had lived for years entirely in the country, seeing few people,
+and living for each other. The first evenings at the chateau made a
+great impression upon me. We dined at 7:30, and always sat after
+dinner in the big drawing-room. There was one lamp on a round table in
+the middle of the room (all the corners shrouded in darkness). M. and
+Mme. A. sat in two arm-chairs opposite to each other, Mme. A. with a
+green shade in front of her. Her eyes were very bad; she could neither
+read nor work. She had been a beautiful musician, and still played
+occasionally, by heart, the classics. I loved to hear her play
+Beethoven and Handel, such a delicate, old-fashioned touch. Music was
+at once a bond of union. I often sang for her, and she liked
+everything I sang--Italian stornelli, old-fashioned American negro
+songs, and even the very light modern French chansonnette, when there
+was any melody in them. There were two other arm-chairs at the table,
+destined for W. and me. I will say W. never occupied his. He would sit
+for about half an hour with M. A. and talk politics or local matters
+with him, but after that he departed to his own quarters, and I
+remained with the old people. I felt very strange at first, it was so
+unlike anything I had ever seen, so different from my home life, where
+we were a happy, noisy family, always one of the party, generally two,
+at the piano, everybody laughing, talking, and enjoying life, and
+always a troop of visitors, cousins innumerable and friends.
+
+It was a curious atmosphere. I can't say dull exactly, for both M. and
+Mme. A. were clever, and the discussions over books, politics, and
+life generally, were interesting, but it was serious, no vitality,
+nothing gay, no power of enjoyment. They had had a great grief in
+their lives in the loss of an only daughter,[2] which had left
+permanent traces. They were very kind and did their best to make me
+feel at home, and after the first few evenings I didn't mind. M. A.
+had always been in the habit of reading aloud to his wife for an hour
+every evening after dinner--the paper, an article in one of the
+reviews, anything she liked. I liked that, too, and as I felt more at
+home used to discuss everything with M. A. He was quite horrified one
+evening when I said I didn't like Moliere, didn't believe anybody did
+(particularly foreigners), unless they had been brought up to it.
+
+  [2] W.'s first wife.
+
+It really rather worried him. He proposed to read aloud part of the
+principal plays, which he chose very carefully, and ended by making a
+regular cours de Moliere. He read charmingly, with much spirit,
+bringing out every touch of humour and fancy, and I was obliged to say
+I found it most interesting. We read all sorts of things besides
+Moliere--Lundis de Ste.-Beuve, Chateaubriand, some splendid pages on
+the French Revolution, Taine, Guizot, Mme. de Stael, Lamartine, etc.,
+and sometimes rather light memoirs of the Regence and the light ladies
+of the eighteenth century, who apparently mixed up politics, religion,
+literature, and lovers in the most simple style. These last readings
+he always prepared beforehand, and I was often surprised at sudden
+transitions and unfinished conversations which meant that he had
+suppressed certain passages which he judged too improper for general
+reading.
+
+He read, one evening, a charming feuilleton of George Sand. It began:
+"Le Baron avait cause politique toute la soiree," which conversation
+apparently so exasperated the baronne and a young cousin that they
+wandered out into the village, which they immediately set by the ears.
+The cousin was an excellent mimic of all animals' noises. He barked so
+loud and so viciously that he started all the dogs in the village, who
+went nearly mad with excitement, and frightened the inhabitants out of
+their wits. Every window was opened, the cure, the garde champetre,
+the school-master, all peering out anxiously into the night, and
+asking what was happening. Was it tramps, or a travelling circus, or a
+bear escaped from his showman, or perhaps a wolf? I have wished
+sometimes since, when I have heard various barons talking politics,
+that I, too, could wander out into the night and seek distraction
+outside.
+
+It was a serious life in the big chateau. There was no railway
+anywhere near, and very little traffic on the highroad. After
+nightfall a mantle of silence seemed to settle on the house and park
+that absolute silence of great spaces where you almost hear your own
+heart beat. W. went to Paris occasionally, and usually came back by
+the last train, getting to the chateau at midnight. I always waited
+for him upstairs in my little salon, and the silence was so oppressive
+that the most ordinary noise--a branch blowing across a window-pane,
+or a piece of charred wood falling on the hearth--sounded like a
+cannon shot echoing through the long corridor. It was a relief when I
+heard the trot of his big mare at the top of the hill, quite fifteen
+minutes before he turned into the park gates. He has often told me how
+long and still the evenings and nights were during the Franco-Prussian
+War. He remained at the chateau all through the war with the old
+people. After Sedan almost the whole Prussian army passed the chateau
+on their way to Versailles and Paris. The big white house was seen
+from a long distance, so, as soon as it was dark, all the wooden
+shutters on the side of the highroad were shut, heavy curtains drawn,
+and strict orders given to have as little light as possible. He was
+sitting in his library one evening about dusk, waiting for the man to
+bring his lamp and shut the shutters, having had a trying day with the
+peasants, who were all frightened and nervous at the approach of the
+Germans. He was quite absorbed in rather melancholy reflections when
+he suddenly felt that someone was looking in at the window (the
+library was on the ground-floor, with doors and windows opening on the
+park). He rose quickly, going to the window, as he thought one of the
+village people wanted to speak to him, and was confronted by a
+Pickelhaube and a round German face flattened against the window-pane.
+He opened the window at once, and the man poured forth a torrent of
+German, which W. fortunately understood. While he was talking W. saw
+forms, their muskets and helmets showing out quite distinctly in the
+half-light, crossing the lawn and coming up some of the broad paths.
+It was a disagreeable sight, which he was destined to see many times.
+
+It was wonderful what exact information the Germans had. They knew all
+the roads, all the villages and little hamlets, the big chateaux, and
+most of the small mills and farms. There were still traces of the
+German occupation when I went to that part of the country; on some of
+the walls and houses marks in red paint--"4 Pferde, 12 Maenner." They
+generally wanted food and lodging, which they usually (not always)
+paid for. Wherever they found horses they took them, but M. A. and W.
+had sent all theirs away except one saddle-horse, which lived in a
+stable in the woods near the house. In Normandy, near Rouen, at my
+brother-in-law's place, they had German officers and soldiers
+quartered for a long time. They instantly took possession of horses
+and carriages, and my sister-in-law, toiling up a steep hill, would be
+passed by her own carriage and horses filled with German officers.
+However, on the whole, W. said, the Germans, as a victorious invading
+army, behaved well, the officers always perfectly polite, and keeping
+their men in good order. They had all sorts and kinds at the chateau.
+They rarely remained long--used to appear at the gate in small bands
+of four or five, with a sous-officier, who always asked to see either
+the proprietor or someone in authority. He said how many men and
+horses he wanted lodged and fed, and announced the arrival, a little
+later, of several officers to dine and sleep. They were always
+received by M. A. or W., and the same conversation took place every
+time. They were told the servant would show them their rooms, and
+their dinner would be served at any hour they wished. They replied
+that they would have the honour of waiting upon the ladies of the
+family as soon as they had made a little toilette and removed the dust
+of the route, and that they would be very happy to dine with the
+family at their habitual hour. They were then told that the ladies
+didn't receive, and that the family dined alone. They were always
+annoyed at that answer. As a rule they behaved well, but occasionally
+there would be some rough specimens among the officers.
+
+W. was coming home one day from his usual round just before nightfall,
+when he heard loud voices and a great commotion in the hall--M. A. and
+one or two German officers. The old man very quiet and dignified, the
+Germans most insulting, with threats of taking him off to prison. W.
+interfered at once, and learned from the irate officers what was the
+cause of the quarrel. They had asked for champagne (with the usual
+idea of foreigners that champagne flowed through all French chateaux),
+and M. A. had said there was none in the house. They knew better, as
+some of their men had seen champagne bottles in the cellar. W. said
+there was certainly a mistake--there was none in the house. They again
+became most insolent and threatening--said they would take them both
+to prison. W. suggested, wouldn't it be better to go down the cellar
+with him? Then they could see for themselves there was none.
+Accordingly they all adjourned to the cellar and W. saw at once what
+had misled them--a quantity of bottles of eau de Seidlitz, rather like
+champagne bottles in shape. They pointed triumphantly to these and
+asked what he meant by saying there was no champagne, and told their
+men to carry off the bottles. W. said again it was not champagne--he
+didn't believe they would like it. They were quite sure they had found
+a prize, and all took copious draughts of the water--with disastrous
+results, as they heard afterward from the servants.
+
+Later, during the armistice and Prussian occupation, there were
+soldiers quartered all around the chateau, and, of course, there were
+many distressing scenes. All our little village of Louvry, near our
+farm, had taken itself off to the woods. They were quite safe there,
+as the Prussians never came into the woods on account of the
+sharpshooters. W. said their camp was comfortable enough--they had all
+their household utensils, beds, blankets, donkeys, and goats, and
+could make fires in the clearing in the middle of the woods. They were
+mostly women and children, only a very few old men and young boys
+left. The poor things were terrified by the Germans and Bismarck, of
+whom they had made themselves an extraordinary picture. "Monsieur sait
+que Bismarck tue tous les enfants pour qu'il n'y ait plus de
+Francais." (Monsieur knows that Bismarck kills all the children so
+that there shall be no more French.) The boys kept W. in a fever. They
+had got some old guns, and were always hovering about on the edge of
+the wood, trying to have a shot at a German. He was very uncomfortable
+himself at one time during the armistice, for he was sending off
+parties of recruits to join one of the big corps d'armee in the
+neighbourhood, and they all passed at the chateau to get their money
+and feuille de route, which was signed by him. He sent them off in
+small bands of four or five, always through the woods, with a line to
+various keepers and farmers along the route, who could be trusted, and
+would help them to get on and find their way. Of course, if anyone of
+them had been taken with W.'s signature and recommendation on him, the
+Germans would have made short work of W., which he was quite aware of;
+so every night for weeks his big black Irish horse Paddy was saddled
+and tied to a certain tree in one of the narrow alleys of the big
+park--the branches so thick and low that it was difficult to pass in
+broad daylight, and at night impossible, except for him who knew every
+inch of the ground. With five minutes' start, if the alarm had been
+given, he could have got away into his own woods, where he knew no one
+would follow him.
+
+Hubert, the old coachman, used often to talk to me about all that
+troubled time. When the weather was dark and stormy he used to stay
+himself half the night, starting at every sound, and there are so many
+sounds in the woods at night, all sorts of wild birds and little
+animals that one never hears in the daytime--sometimes a rabbit would
+dart out of a hole and whisk round a corner; sometimes a big buse
+(sort of eagle) would fly out of a tree with great flapping of wings;
+occasionally a wild-cat with bright-green eyes would come stealthily
+along and then make a flying leap over the bushes. His nerves were so
+unstrung that every noise seemed a danger, and he had visions of
+Germans lying in ambush in the woods, waiting to pounce upon W. if he
+should appear. He said Paddy was so wise, seemed to know that he must
+be perfectly quiet, never kicked nor snorted.
+
+It was impossible to realise those dreadful days when we were riding
+and walking in the woods, so enchanting in the early summer, with
+thousands of lilies of the valley and periwinkles growing wild, and a
+beautiful blue flower, a sort of orchid. We used to turn all the
+village children into the woods, and they picked enormous bunches of
+lilies, which stood all over the chateau in china bowls. I loved the
+wood life at all seasons. I often made the round with W. and his
+keepers in the autumn when he was preparing a battue. The men were
+very keen about the game, knew the tracks of all the animals, showing
+me the long narrow rabbit tracks, running a long distance toward the
+quarries, which were full of rabbit holes, and the little delicate
+hoof-marks of the chevreuil (roe-deer) just where he had jumped across
+the road. The wild boar was easy to trace--little twigs broken, and
+ferns and leaves quite crushed, where he had passed. The wild boars
+and stags never stayed very long in our woods--went through merely to
+the forest of Villers-Cotterets--so it was most important to know the
+exact moment of their passage, and there was great pride and
+excitement when one was taken.
+
+Another interesting moment was when the coupe de l'annee was being
+made. Parts of the woods were cut down regularly every year, certain
+squares marked off. The first day's work was the marking of the big
+trees along the alleys which were to remain--a broad red ring around
+the trunks being very conspicuous. Then came the thinning of the
+trees, cutting off the top branches, and that was really a curious
+sight. The men climbed high into the tree, and then hung on to the
+trunk with iron clamps on their feet, with points which stuck into the
+bark, and apparently gave them a perfectly secure hold, but it looked
+dangerous to see them swinging off from the trunk with a sort of axe
+in their hands, cutting off the branches with a swift, sharp stroke.
+When they finally attacked the big trees that were to come down it was
+a much longer affair, and they made slow progress. They knew their
+work well, the exact moment when the last blow had been given, and
+they must spring aside to get out of the way when the tree fell with a
+great crash.
+
+There were usually two or three big battues in November for the
+neighbouring farmers and small proprietors. The breakfast always took
+place at the keeper's house. We had arranged one room as a
+dining-room, and the keeper's wife was a very good cook; her omelette
+au lard and civet de lievre, classic dishes for a shooting breakfast,
+were excellent. The repast always ended with a galette aux amandes
+made by the chef of the chateau. I generally went down to the kennels
+at the end of the day, and it was a pretty sight when the party
+emerged from the woods, first the shooters, then a regiment of beaters
+(men who track the game), the game cart with a donkey bringing up the
+rear--the big game, chevreuil or boar, at the bottom of the cart, the
+hares and rabbits hanging from the sides. The sportsmen all came back
+to the keeper's lodge to have a drink before starting off on their
+long drive home, and there was always a great discussion over the
+entries in the game book and the number of pieces each man had killed.
+It was a very difficult account to make, as every man counted many
+more rabbits than the trackers had found, so they were obliged to make
+an average of the game that had been brought in. When all the guests
+had departed it was killing to hear the old keeper's criticisms.
+
+[Illustration: There were all sorts and kinds.]
+
+Another important function was a large breakfast to all the mayors,
+conseillers d'arrondissement, and rich farmers of W.'s canton. That
+always took place at the chateau, and Mme. A. and I appeared at table.
+There were all sorts and kinds--some men in dress coats and white
+gloves, some very rough specimens in corduroys and thick-nailed shoes,
+having begun life as garcons de ferme (ploughboys). They were all
+intelligent, well up in politics, and expressed themselves very well,
+but I think, on the whole, they were pleased when Mme. A. and I
+withdrew and they went into the gallery for their coffee and cigars.
+Mme. A. was extraordinarily easy--talked to them all. They came in
+exactly the same sort of equipage, a light, high, two-wheeled trap
+with a hood, except the Mayor of La Ferte, our big town, who came in
+his victoria.
+
+I went often with W. to some of the big farms to see the
+sheep-shearing and the dairies, and cheese made. The farmer's wife in
+France is a very capable, hard-working woman--up early, seeing to
+everything herself, and ruling all her carters and ploughboys with a
+heavy hand. Once a week, on market day, she takes her cheeses to the
+market town, driving herself in her high gig, and several times I have
+seen some of them coming home with a cow tied to their wagon behind,
+which they had bought at the market. They were always pleased to see
+us, delighted to show anything we wanted to see, offered us
+refreshment--bread and cheese, milk and wine--but never came to see me
+at the chateau. I made the round of all the chateaux with Mme. A. to
+make acquaintance with the neighbours. They were all rather far off,
+but I loved the long drives, almost always through the forest, which
+was quite beautiful in all seasons, changing like the sea. It was
+delightful in midsummer, the branches of the big trees almost meeting
+over our heads, making a perfect shade, and the long, straight, green
+alleys stretching away before us, as far as we could see. When the
+wood was a little less thick, the afternoon sun would make long
+zigzags of light through the trees and trace curious patterns upon the
+hard white road when we emerged occasionally for a few minutes from
+the depths of the forest at a cross-road. It was perfectly still, but
+summer stillness, when one hears the buzzing and fluttering wings of
+small birds and insects, and is conscious of life around one.
+
+The most beautiful time for the forest is, of course, in the autumn.
+October and November are lovely months, with the changing foliage, the
+red and yellow almost as vivid as in America, and always a foreground
+of moss and brown ferns, which grow very thick and high all through
+the forest. We used to drive sometimes over a thick carpet of red and
+yellow leaves, hardly hearing the horses' hoofs or the noise of the
+wheels, and when we turned our faces homeward toward the sunset there
+was really a glory of colour in wood and sky. It was always curiously
+lonely--we rarely met anything or anyone, occasionally a group of
+wood-cutters or boys exercising dogs and horses from the
+hunting-stables of Villers-Cotterets. At long intervals we would come
+to a keeper's lodge, standing quite alone in the middle of the forest,
+generally near a carrefour where several roads met. There was always a
+small clearing--garden and kennels, and a perfectly comfortable house,
+but it must be a lonely life for the women when their husbands are off
+all day on their rounds. I asked one of them once, a pretty, smiling
+young woman who always came out when the carriage passed, with three
+or four children hanging to her skirts, if she was never afraid, being
+alone with small children and no possibility of help, if any drunkards
+or evilly disposed men came along. She said no--that tramps and
+vagabonds never came into the heart of the forest, and always kept
+clear of the keeper's house, as they never knew where he and his gun
+might be. She said she had had one awful night with a sick child. She
+was alone in the house with two other small children, almost babies,
+while her husband had to walk several miles to get a doctor. The long
+wait was terrible. I got to know all the keepers' wives on our side of
+the forest quite well, and it was always a great interest to them when
+we passed on horseback, so few women rode in that part of France in
+those days.
+
+Sometimes, when we were in the heart of the forest, a stag with
+wide-spreading antlers would bound across the road; sometimes a pretty
+roebuck would come to the edge of the wood and gallop quickly back as
+we got near.
+
+We had a nice couple at the lodge, an old cavalry soldier who had been
+for years coachman at the chateau and who had married a Scotchwoman,
+nurse of one of the children. It was curious to see the tall, gaunt
+figure of the Scotchwoman, always dressed in a short linsey skirt,
+loose jacket, and white cap, in the midst of the chattering, excitable
+women of the village. She looked so unlike them. Our peasant women
+wear, too, a short; thick skirt, loose jacket, and worsted or knit
+stockings, but they all wear sabots and on their heads a turban made
+of bright-coloured cotton; the older women, of course--the girls wear
+nothing on their heads. They become bent and wrinkled very soon--old
+women before their time--having worked always in the fields and
+carried heavy burdens on their backs. The Scotchwoman kept much to
+herself and rarely left the park. But all the women came to her with
+their troubles. Nearly always the same story--the men spending their
+earnings on drink and the poor mothers toiling and striving from dawn
+till dark to give the little ones enough to eat. She was a strict
+Protestant, very taciturn and reserved, quite the type of the old
+Calvinist race who fought so hard against the "Scarlet Woman" when the
+beautiful and unhappy Mary Stuart was reigning in Scotland and trying
+to rule her wild subjects. I often went to see her and she would tell
+me of her first days at the chateau, where everything was so different
+from what she was accustomed to.
+
+She didn't tell me what Mme. A. did--that she was a very handsome girl
+and all the men of the establishment fell in love with her. There were
+dramas of jealousy when she finally decided to marry the coachman. Our
+chef had learned how to make various English cakes in London, and
+whenever he made buns or a plum-pudding we used to take some to her.
+She was a great reader, and we always kept the _Times_ for her, and
+she and I sympathised with each other--two Anglo-Saxons married in
+France.
+
+Some of the traditions of the chateau were quite charming. I was
+sitting in the lodge one day talking to Mme. Antoine, when the baker
+appeared with what seemed to me an extraordinary provision of bread. I
+said, "Does he leave the bread for the whole village with you?" "It is
+not for me, madame, it is for the trainards (tramps) who pass on the
+road," and she explained that all the chateaux gave a piece of bread
+and two sous to any wayfarer who asked for food. She cut the bread
+into good thick slices, and showed me a wooden bowl on the chimney,
+filled with two-sous pieces. While I was there two men appeared at the
+big gates, which were always open in the day. They were strong young
+fellows carrying their bundles, and a sort of pitchfork slung over
+their shoulders. They looked weary and footsore, their shoes worn in
+holes. They asked for something to drink and some tobacco, didn't care
+very much for the water, which was all that Mme. Antoine had to give
+them, but thanked her civilly enough for the bread and sous.
+
+The park wall was a good vantage-ground to see all (and that wasn't
+much) that went on on the highroad. The diligence to Meaux passed
+twice a day, with a fine rattle of old wheels and chains, and cracking
+of whips. It went down the steep hill well enough, but coming up was
+quite another affair. All the passengers and the driver got out
+always, and even then it was difficult to get the heavy, cumbersome
+vehicle up the hill, in winter particularly, when the roads were muddy
+and slippery. The driver knew us all well, and was much interested in
+all that went on at the chateau. He often brought parcels, and
+occasionally people from the village who wanted to see W.--sometimes a
+blind piano-tuner who came from Villers-Cotterets. He was very kind to
+the poor blind man, helped him down most carefully from the diligence,
+and always brought him through the park gates to the lodge, where he
+delivered him over to Antoine. It was curious to see the blind man at
+work. Once he had been led through the rooms, he was quite at home,
+found the pianos, fussed over the keys and the strings, exactly as if
+he saw everything. He tuned all the pianos in the country, and was
+much pleased to put his hands on one that wasn't fifty years old. I
+had brought down my new Erard.
+
+Sometimes a country wedding passed, and that was always a pretty
+sight. A marriage is always an important affair in France in every
+class of life. There are long discussions with all the members of the
+two families. The cure, the notary, the patron (if the young man is a
+workman), are all consulted, and there are as many negotiations and
+agreements in the most humble families as in the grand monde of the
+Faubourg St. Germain. Almost all French parents give a dot of some
+kind to their children, and whatever the sum is, either five hundred
+francs or two thousand, it is always scrupulously paid over to the
+notary. The wedding-day is a long one. After the religious ceremony in
+the church, all the wedding party--members of the two families and a
+certain number of friends--adjourn to the hotel of the little town for
+a breakfast, which is long and most abundant. Then comes the crowning
+glory of the day--a country walk along the dusty highroad to some wood
+or meadow where they can spend the whole afternoon. It is pretty to
+see the little procession trudging along--the bride in all her wedding
+garments, white dress, white shoes, wreath, and veil; the groom in a
+dress coat, top-hat, white cravat and waistcoat, with a white ribbon
+bow on his sleeve. Almost all the girls and young women are dressed in
+white or light colours; the mothers and grandmothers (the whole family
+turns out) in black with flowers in their bonnets. There is usually a
+fiddler walking ahead making most remarkable sounds on his old cracked
+instrument, and the younger members of the party take an occasional
+gallop along the road. They are generally very gay; there is much
+laughing, and from time to time a burst of song. It is always a
+mystery to me how the bride keeps her dress and petticoat so clean,
+but she does, with that extraordinary knack all Frenchwomen seem to
+have of holding up their skirts. They passed often under the wall of
+the chateau, for a favourite resting-place was in our woods at the
+entrance of the allee verte, where it widens out a little; the moss
+makes a beautiful soft carpet, and the big trees give perfect shade.
+We heard sounds of merriment one day when we were passing and we
+stopped to look on, from behind the bushes, where we couldn't be seen.
+There was quite a party assembled. The fiddler was playing some sort
+of country-dance and all the company, except the very old people, were
+dancing and singing, some of the men indulging in most wonderful steps
+and capers. The children were playing and running under the trees. One
+stout man was asleep, stretched out full length on the side of the
+road. I fancy his piquette, as they call the ordinary white wine of
+the country, had been too much for him. The bride and groom were
+strolling about a little apart from the others, quite happy and
+lover-like, his arm around her waist, she blushing and giggling.
+
+The gendarmes passed also very regularly. They always stopped and
+talked, had a drink with Antoine, and gave all the local news--how
+many braconniers (poachers) had been caught, how long they were to
+stay in prison, how some of the farmers' sheep had disappeared, no one
+knew how exactly--there were no more robbers. One day two of them
+passed, dragging a man between them who had evidently been struggling
+and fighting. His blouse was torn, and there was a great gash on his
+face. We were wildly excited, of course. They told us he was an old
+sinner, a poacher who had been in prison various times, but these last
+days, not contented with setting traps for the rabbits, he had set
+fire to some of the hay-stacks, and they had been hunting for him for
+some time. He looked a rough customer, had an ugly scowl on his face.
+One of the little hamlets near the chateau, on the canal, was a
+perfect nest of poachers, and I had continual struggles with the
+keepers when I gave clothes or blankets to the women and children.
+They said some of the women were as bad as the men, and that I ought
+not to encourage them to come up to the house and beg for food and
+clothing; that they sold all the little jackets and petticoats we gave
+them to the canal hands (also a bad lot) for brandy. I believe it was
+true in some cases, but in the middle of winter, with snow on the
+ground (we were hardly warm in the house with big fires everywhere), I
+couldn't send away women with four or five children, all
+insufficiently clothed and fed, most of them in cotton frocks with an
+old worn knit shawl around their shoulders, legs and arms bare and
+chapped, half frozen. Some of them lived in caverns or great holes in
+the rocks, really like beasts. On the road to La Ferte there was a big
+hole (there is no other word for it) in the bank where a whole family
+lived. The man was always in prison for something, and his wife, a
+tall, gaunt figure, with wild hair and eyes, spent most of her time in
+the woods teaching her boys to set traps for the game. The cure told
+us that one of the children was ill, and that there was literally
+nothing in the house, so I took one of my cousins with me, and we
+climbed up the bank, leaving the carriage with Hubert, the coachman,
+expostulating seriously below. We came to a rickety old door which
+practically consisted of two rotten planks nailed together. It was
+ajar; clouds of black smoke poured out as we opened it, and it was
+some time before we could see anything. We finally made out a heap of
+filthy rags in one corner near a sort of fire made of charred pieces
+of black peat. Two children, one a boy about twelve years old, was
+lying on the heap of rags, coughing his heart out. He hardly raised
+his head when we came in. Another child, a girl, some two years
+younger, was lying beside him, both of them frightfully thin and
+white; one saw nothing but great dark eyes in their faces. The mother
+was crouched on the floor close to the children. She hardly moved at
+first, and was really a terrifying object when she got up; half
+savage, scarcely clothed--a short petticoat in holes and a ragged
+bodice gaping open over her bare skin, no shoes or stockings; big
+black eyes set deep in her head, and a quantity of unkempt black hair.
+She looked enormous when she stood up, her head nearly touching the
+roof. I didn't feel very comfortable, but we were two, and the
+carriage and Hubert within call. The woman was civil enough when she
+saw I had not come empty-handed. We took her some soup, bread, and
+milk. The children pounced upon the bread like little wild animals.
+The mother didn't touch anything while we were there--said she was
+glad to have the milk for the boy. I never saw human beings living in
+such utter filth and poverty. A crofter's cottage in Scotland, or an
+Irish hovel with the pigs and children all living together, was a
+palace compared to that awful hole. I remonstrated vigorously with W.
+and the Mayor of La Ferte for allowing people to live in that way,
+like beasts, upon the highroad, close to a perfectly prosperous
+country town. However, they were vagrants, couldn't live anywhere, for
+when we passed again, some days later, there was no one in the hole.
+The door had fallen down, there was no smoke coming out, and the
+neighbours told us the family had suddenly disappeared. The
+authorities then took up the matter--the holes were filled up, and no
+one was allowed to live in them. It really was too awful--like the
+dwellers in caves of primeval days.
+
+We didn't have many visits at the chateau, though we were so near
+Paris (only about an hour and a half by the express), but the old
+people had got accustomed to their quiet life, and visitors would have
+worried them. Sometimes a Protestant pasteur would come down for two
+days. We had a nice visit once from M. de Pressense, father of the
+present deputy, one of the most charming, cultivated men one could
+imagine. He talked easily and naturally, using beautiful language. He
+was most interesting when he told us about the Commune, and all the
+horrors of that time in Paris. He was in the Tuileries when the mob
+sacked and burned the palace; saw the femmes de la halle sitting on
+the brocade and satin sofas, saying, "C'est nous les princesses
+maintenant"; saw the entrance of the troops from Versailles, and the
+quantity of innocent people shot who were merely standing looking on
+at the barricades, having never had a gun in their hands. The only
+thing I didn't like was his long extempore (to me familiar) prayers at
+night. I believe it is a habit in some old-fashioned French Protestant
+families to pray for each member of the family by name. I thought it
+was bad enough when he prayed for the new menage just beginning their
+married life (that was us), that they might be spiritually guided to
+do their best for each other and their respective families; but when
+he proceeded to _name_ some others of the family who had strayed a
+little from the straight and narrow path, hoping they would be brought
+to see, by Divine grace, the error of their ways, I was horrified, and
+could hardly refrain from expressing my opinion to the old people.
+However, I was learning prudence, and when my opinion and judgment
+were diametrically opposed to those of my new family (which happened
+often) I kept them to myself. Sunday was strictly kept. There was no
+Protestant church anywhere near. We had a service in the morning in M.
+A.'s library. He read prayers and a short sermon, all the household
+appearing, as most of the servants were Swiss and Protestants. In the
+afternoon Mme. A. had all the village children at the chateau. She had
+a small organ in one of the rooms in the wing of the dining-room,
+taught them hymns and read them simple little stories. The cure was
+rather anxious at first, having his little flock under such a
+dangerous heretic influence, but he very soon realized what an
+excellent thing it was for the children, and both he and the mothers
+were much disappointed when anything happened to put off the lesson.
+They didn't see much of the cure. He would pay one formal visit in the
+course of the year, but there was never any intimacy.
+
+We lived much for ourselves, and for a few months in the year it was a
+rest and change from Paris, and the busy, agitated life, social and
+political, that one always led there. I liked the space, too, the
+great high, empty rooms, with no frivolous little tables and screens
+or stuff on the walls, no photograph stands nor fancy vases for
+flowers, no bibelot of any kind--large, heavy pieces of furniture
+which were always found every morning in exactly the same place. Once
+or twice, in later years, I tried to make a few changes, but it was
+absolutely useless to contend with a wonderful old servant called
+Ferdinand, who was over sixty years old, and had been brought up at
+the chateau, had always remained there with the various owners, and
+who knew every nook and corner of the house and everything that was in
+it. It was years before I succeeded in talking to him. I used to meet
+him sometimes on the stairs and corridors, always running, and
+carrying two or three pails and brooms. If he could, he dived into any
+open door when he saw me coming, and apparently never heard me when I
+spoke, for he never answered. He was a marvellous servant, cleaned the
+whole house, opened and shut all the windows night and morning (almost
+work enough for one man), lit the caloriferes, scrubbed and swept and
+polished floors from early dawn until ten o'clock, when we left the
+salon. He never lived with the other servants, cooked his own food at
+his own hours in his room, and his only companion was a large black
+cat, which always followed him about. He did W.'s service, and W. said
+that they used to talk about all sorts of things, but I fancy master
+and servant were equally reticent and understood each other without
+many words.
+
+I slipped one day on the very slippery wooden steps leading from W.'s
+little study to the passage. Baby did the same, and got a nasty fall
+on the stone flags, so I asked W. if he would ask Ferdinand to put a
+strip of carpet on the steps (there were only four). W. gave the
+order, but no carpet appeared. He repeated it rather curtly. The old
+Ferdinand made no answer, but grumbled to himself over his broom that
+it was perfectly foolish and useless to put down a piece of carpet,
+that for sixty years people and children, and babies, had walked down
+those steps and no one had ever thought of asking for carpets. W. had
+really rather to apologize and explain that his wife was nervous and
+unused to such highly polished floors. However, we became great
+friends afterward, Ferdinand and I, and when he understood how fond I
+was of the chateau, he didn't mind my deranging the furniture a
+little. Two grand pianos were a great trial to him. I think he would
+have liked to put one on top of the other.
+
+[Illustration: Ferdinand.]
+
+The library, quite at one end of the house, separated from the
+drawing-room we always sat in by a second large salon, was a
+delightful, quiet resort when any one wanted to read or write. There
+were quantities of books, French, English, and German--the classics in
+all three languages, and a fine collection of historical memoirs.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+COUNTRY VISITS
+
+
+We didn't pay many visits; but sometimes, when the weather was fine
+and there was no hunting, and W. gone upon an expedition to some
+outlying village, Mme. A. and I would start off for one of the
+neighbouring chateaux. We went one day to the chateau de C, where
+there was a large family party assembled, four generations--the old
+grandmother, her son and daughter, both married, the daughter's
+daughter, also married, and her children. It was a pretty drive,
+about an hour all through the forest. The house is quite modern, not
+at all pretty, a square white building, with very few trees near it,
+the lawn and one or two flower-beds not particularly well kept. The
+grounds ran straight down to the Villers-Cotterets forest, where M.
+M. has good shooting. The gates were open, the concierge said the
+ladies were there. (They didn't have to be summoned by a bell. That
+is one of the habits of this part of the country. There is almost
+always a large bell at the stable or "communs," and when visitors
+arrive and the family are out in the grounds, not too far off, they
+are summoned by the bell. I was quite surprised one day at
+Bourneville, when we were in the woods at some little distance from
+the chateau, when we heard the bell, and my companion, a niece of
+Mme. A., instantly turned back, saying, "That means there are visits;
+we must go back.") We found all the ladies sitting working in a
+corner salon with big windows opening on the park. The old
+grandmother was knitting, but she was so straight and slight, with
+bright black eyes, that it wouldn't have seemed at all strange to see
+her bending over an embroidery frame like all the others. The other
+three ladies were each seated at an embroidery frame in the
+embrasures of the windows. I was much impressed, particularly with
+the large pieces of work that they were undertaking, a portiere,
+covers for the billiard-table, bed, etc. It quite recalled what one
+had always read of feudal France, when the seigneur would be off with
+his retainers hunting or fighting, and the chatelaine, left alone in
+the chateau, spent her time in her "bower" surrounded by her maidens,
+all working at the wonderful tapestries one sees still in some of the
+old churches and convents. I was never much given to work, but I made
+a mental resolve that I, too, would set up a frame in one of the
+drawing-rooms at home, and had visions of yards of pale-blue satin,
+all covered with wonderful flowers and animals, unrolling themselves
+under my skilful fingers--but I must confess that it remained a
+vision. I never got further than little crochet petticoats, which
+clothed every child in the village. To make the picture complete
+there should have been a page in velvet cap and doublet, stretched on
+the floor at the feet of his mistress, trying to distract her with
+songs and ballads. The master of the house, M. M., was there, having
+come in from shooting. He had been reading aloud to the
+ladies--Alfred de Musset, I think. That part of the picture I could
+never realize, as there is nothing W. loathes like reading aloud
+except, perhaps, being read to.
+
+They were very friendly and easy, showed us the downstairs part of the
+house, and gave us gouter, not tea, wine and cake. The house looked
+comfortable enough, nothing picturesque; a large square hall with
+horns, whips, foxes' brushes, antlers, and all sorts of trophies of
+the chase on the walls. They are sporting people; all ride. The
+dining-room, a large bright room, was panelled with life-size
+portraits of the family: M. and Mme. M. in hunting dress, green coats,
+tricorne hats, _on_ their horses; the daughter of the house and one of
+her brothers, rowing in a boat on a small lake; the eldest son in
+shooting dress, corduroys, his gun slung over his shoulder, his dog by
+his side. They were all very like.
+
+[Illustration: "Merci, je vais bien."]
+
+We strolled about the garden a little, and saw lots of pheasants
+walking peacefully about at the edge of the woods. They made me
+promise to come back one day with W., he to shoot and I to walk about
+with the ladies. We saw the children of the fourth generation, and
+left with the impression of a happy, simple family party. M. M. was a
+conseiller general of the Aisne and a colleague of W.'s. They always
+stayed at the same hotel (de la Hure) in Laon at the time of the
+conseil general, and M. M. was much amused at first with W.'s baggage:
+a large bath-tub, towels (for in small French provincial hotels towels
+were microscopic and few in number), and a package of tea, which was
+almost an unknown commodity in those days. None of our visitors ever
+took any, and always excused themselves with the same phrase, "Merci,
+je vais bien," evidently looking upon it as some strange and hurtful
+medicine. That has all changed, like everything else. Now one finds
+tea not only at all the chateaux, with brioches and toast, but even in
+all the hotels, but I wouldn't guarantee what we get there as ever
+having seen China or Ceylon, and it is still wiser to take chocolate
+or coffee, which is almost always good. We had a lovely drive back.
+The forest was beautiful in the waning light. As usual, we didn't meet
+any vehicle of any kind, and were quite excited when we saw a carriage
+approaching in the distance--however, it proved to be W. in his
+dog-cart. We passed through one or two little villages quite lost in
+the forest--always the same thing, one long, straggling street, with
+nobody in it, a large farm at one end and very often the church at the
+other. As it was late, the farm gates were all open, the cattle
+inside, teams of white oxen drinking out of a large trough.
+
+In a large farm near Boursonne there was much animation and
+conversation. All the beasts were in, oxen, cows, horses, chickens,
+and in one corner, a flock of geese. The poor little "goose girl," a
+child about ten years old with bright-blue eyes and a pig-tail like
+straw hanging down her back, was being scolded violently by the
+farmer's wife, who was presiding in person over the rentree of the
+animals, for having brought her geese home on a run. They wouldn't
+eat, and would certainly all be ill, and probably die before morning.
+There is a pretty little old chateau at Boursonne; the park, however,
+so shut in by high walls that one sees nothing in passing. W. had shot
+there once or twice in former years, but it has changed hands very
+often.
+
+[Illustration: Long pauses when nobody seemed to have anything to say.]
+
+Sometimes we paid more humble visits, not to chateaux, but to the
+principal people of the little country town near, from which we had
+all our provisions. We went to see the doctor's wife, the notary's
+wife, the mayor's wife, and the two schools--the asile or infant
+school, and the more important school for bigger girls. The old doctor
+was quite a character, had been for years in the country, knew
+everybody and everybody's private history. He was the doctor of the
+chateau, by the year, attended to everybody, masters and servants, and
+received a regular salary, like a secretary. He didn't come very often
+for us in his medical capacity, but he often dropped in at the end of
+the day to have a talk with W. The first time I saw him W. presented
+him to me, as un bon ami de la famille. I naturally put out my hand,
+which so astonished and disconcerted him (he barely touched the tips
+of my fingers) that I was rather bewildered. W. explained after he had
+gone that in that class of life in France they never shook hands with
+a lady, and that the poor man was very much embarrassed. He was very
+useful to W. as a political agent, as he was kind to the poor people
+and took small (or no) fees. They all loved him, and talked to him
+quite freely. His women-kind were very shy and provincial. I think our
+visits were a great trial to them. They always returned them most
+punctiliously, and came in all their best clothes. When we went to see
+them we generally found them in short black skirts, and when they were
+no longer very young, with black caps, but they always had handsome
+silk dresses, velvet cloaks, and hats with flowers and feathers when
+they came to see us. Some of them took the cup of tea we offered, but
+they didn't know what to do with it, and sat on the edge of their
+chairs, looking quite miserable until we relieved them of the burden
+of the tea-cup. Mme. A. was rather against the tea-table; she
+preferred the old-fashioned tray handed around with wine and cakes,
+but I persuaded her to try, and after a little while she acknowledged
+that it was better to have the tea-table brought in. It made a
+diversion; I got up to make the tea. Someone gave me a chair, someone
+else handed the cups. It made a little movement, and was not so stiff
+as when we all sat for over an hour on the same chairs making
+conversation. It is terrible to have to make conversation, and
+extraordinary how little one finds to say. We had always talked easily
+enough at home, but then things came more naturally, and even the
+violent family discussions were amusing, but my recollection of these
+French provincial visits is something awful. Everybody so polite, so
+stiff, and the long pauses when nobody seemed to have anything to say.
+I of course was a novelty and a foreign element--they didn't quite
+know what to do with me. Even to Mme. A., and I grew very fond of her,
+and she was invariably charming to me, I was something different. We
+had many talks on every possible subject during our long drives, and
+also in the winter afternoons. At first I had my tea always upstairs
+in my own little salon, which I loved with the curtains drawn, a
+bright wood-fire burning, and all my books about; but when I found
+that she sat alone in the big drawing-room, not able to occupy herself
+in any way, I asked her if I might order my tea there, and there were
+very few afternoons that I didn't sit with her when I was at home. She
+talked often about her early married life--winters in Cannes and in
+Paris, where they received a great deal, principally Protestants, and
+I fancy she sometimes regretted the interchange of ideas and the
+brilliant conversation she had been accustomed to, but she never said
+it. She was never tired of hearing about my early days in America--our
+family life--the extraordinary liberty of the young people, etc. We
+often talked over the religious question, and though we were both
+Protestants, we were as far apart almost as if one was a pagan.
+Protestantism in France always has seemed to me such a rigid form of
+worship, so little calculated to influence young people or draw them
+to church. The plain, bare churches with white-washed walls, the long
+sermons and extempore prayers, speaking so much of the anger of God
+and the terrible punishments awaiting the sinner, the trials and
+sorrows that must come to all. I often think of a sermon I heard
+preached in one Protestant church, to the boys and girls who were
+making their first communion--all little things, the girls in their
+white frocks and long white veils, the boys with white waistcoats and
+white ribbons on their arms, making such a pretty group as they sat on
+the front benches listening hard to all the preacher said. I wondered
+that the young, earnest faces didn't suggest something to him besides
+the horrors of eternal punishment, the wickedness and temptations of
+the world they were going to face, but his only idea seemed to be that
+he must warn them of all the snares and temptations that were going to
+beset their paths. Mme. A. couldn't understand my ideas when I said I
+loved the Episcopal service--the prayers and litany I had always
+heard, the Easter and Christmas hymns I had always sung, the carols,
+the anthems, the great organ, the flowers at Easter, the greens at
+Christmas. All that seemed to her to be a false sentiment appealing to
+the senses and imagination. "But if it brings people to church, and
+the beautiful music elevates them and raises their thoughts to higher
+things--" "That is not religion; real religion means the prayer of St.
+Chrysostom, 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name I
+will grant their requests.'" "That is very well for really religious,
+strong people who think out their religion and don't care for any
+outward expression of it, but for weaker souls who want to be helped,
+and who are helped by the beautiful music and the familiar prayers,
+surely it is better to give them something that brings them to church
+and makes them better men and women than to frighten them away with
+such strict, uncompromising doctrines--" "No, that is only sentiment,
+not real religious feeling." I don't think we ever understood each
+other any better on that subject, and we discussed it so often.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mme. A., with whom I made my round of calls at the neighbouring
+chateaux, was a charming companion. She had lived a great deal in
+Paris, in the Protestant coterie, which was very intellectual and
+cultivated. The salons of the Duchesse de Broglie, Mmes. de Stael,
+d'Haussonville, Guizot, were most interesting and recherches, very
+exclusive and very serious, but a centre for all political and
+literary talk. I have often heard my husband say some of the best
+talkers in society s'etaient formes dans ces salons, where, as young
+men, they listened modestly to all the brilliant conversation going on
+around them.
+
+It was an exception when we found anyone at home when we called in the
+neighbourhood, and when we did, it was evident that afternoon visits
+were a rarity. We did get in one cold November afternoon, and our
+visit was a sample of many others that we paid.
+
+The door was opened by a footman struggling into his coat, with a
+handful of faggots in his arms. He ushered us through several bare,
+stiff, cold rooms (proportions handsome enough) to a smaller salon,
+which the family usually occupied. Then he lighted a fire (which
+consisted principally of smoke) and went to summon his mistress. The
+living-room was just as bare and stiff as the others, no trace of
+anything that looked like habitation or what we should consider
+comfort--no books nor work nor flowers (that, however, is
+comparatively recent in France). I remember quite well Mme.
+Casimir-Perier telling me that when she went with her husband to St.
+Petersburg about fifty years ago, one of the things that struck her
+most in the Russian salons, was the quantity of green plants and cut
+flowers--she had never seen them in France. There were often fine
+pictures, tapestries, and furniture, all the chairs in a row against
+the wall.
+
+[Illustration: Then he lighted a fire.]
+
+Our visits were always long, as most of the chateaux were at a certain
+distance, and we were obliged to stay an hour and a half, sometimes
+longer, to rest the horses. It was before the days of five-o'clock
+tea. A tray was brought in with sweet wine (Malaga or Vin de Chypre)
+and cakes (ladies'-fingers) which evidently had figured often before
+on similar occasions. Conversation languished sometimes, though Mme.
+A. was wonderful, talking so easily about everything. In the smaller
+places, when people rarely went to Paris, it ran always in the same
+grooves--the woods, the hunting (very good in the Villers-Cotterets
+forest), the schoolmaster (so difficult to get proper books for the
+children to read), the cure, and all local gossip, and as much about
+the iniquities of the republic as could be said before the wife of a
+republican senator. Wherever we went, even to the largest chateaux,
+where the family went to Paris for the season, the talk was almost
+entirely confined to France and French interests. Books, politics,
+music, people, nothing existed apparently au-dela des frontieres.
+America was an unknown quantity. It was strange to see intelligent
+people living in the world so curiously indifferent as to what went on
+in other countries. At first I used to talk a little about America and
+Rome, where I had lived many years and at such an interesting
+time--the last days of Pio Nono and the transformation of the old
+superstitious papal Rome to the capital of young Italy--but I soon
+realized that it didn't interest any one, and by degrees I learned to
+talk like all the rest.
+
+I often think of one visit to a charming little Louis XV chateau
+standing quite on the edge of the forest--just room enough for the
+house, and the little hamlet at the gates; a magnificent view of the
+forest, quite close to the lawn behind the chateau, and then sweeping
+off, a dark-blue mass, as far as one could see. We were shown into a
+large, high room, no carpet, no fire, some fine portraits, very little
+furniture, all close against the wall, a round table in the middle
+with something on it, I couldn't make out what at first. Neither
+books, reviews, nor even a photographic album--the supreme resource of
+provincial salons. When we got up to take leave I managed to get near
+the table, and the _ornament_ was a large white plate with a piece of
+fly-paper on it. The mistress of the house was shy and uncomfortable;
+sent at once for her husband, and withdrew from the conversation as
+soon as he appeared, leaving him to make all the "frais." We walked a
+little around the park before leaving. It was really a lovely little
+place, with its background of forest and the quiet, sleepy little
+village in front; very lonely and far from everything, but with a
+certain charm of its own. Two or three dogs were playing in the
+court-yard, and one curious little animal who made a rush at the
+strangers. I was rather taken aback, particularly when the master of
+the house told me not to be afraid, it was only a marcassin (small
+wild boar), who had been born on the place, and was as quiet as a
+kitten. I did not think the great tusks and square, shaggy head looked
+very pleasant, but the little thing was quiet enough, came and rubbed
+itself against its master's legs and played quite happily with the
+dogs. We heard afterward that they were obliged to kill it. It grew
+fierce and unmanageable, and no one would come near the place.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I took Henrietta with me sometimes when I had a distant visit to pay;
+an hour and a half's drive alone on a country road where you never
+meet anything was rather dull. We went one cold December afternoon to
+call upon Mme. B., the widow of an old friend and colleague of W.'s.
+We were in the open carriage, well wrapped up, and enjoyed the drive
+immensely. The country looked beautiful in the bright winter sunshine,
+the distant forest always in a blue mist, the trees with their
+branches white with "givre" (hoarfrost), and patches of snow and ice
+all over the fields.
+
+For a wonder we didn't go through the forest--drove straight away from
+it and had charming effects of colour upon some of the thatched
+cottages in the villages we passed through; one or two had been mended
+recently and the mixture of old brown, bright red and glistening white
+was quite lovely.
+
+We went almost entirely along the great plains, occasionally small
+bits of wood and very fair hills as we got near our destination. The
+villages always very scattered and almost deserted--when it is cold
+everybody stays indoors--and of course there is no work to be done on
+the farms when the ground is hard frozen. It is a difficult question
+to know what to do with the men of all the small hamlets when the real
+winter sets in; the big farms turn off many of their labourers, and as
+it is a purely agricultural country all around us there is literally
+nothing to do. My husband and several of the owners of large estates
+gave work to many with their regular "coupe" of wood, but that only
+lasts a short time, and the men who are willing to work but can find
+nothing drift naturally into cafes and billiard saloons, where they
+read cheap bad papers and talk politics of the wildest description.
+
+We found our chateau very well situated on the top of a hill, a good
+avenue leading up to the gate, a pretty little park with fine trees at
+the back, the tower of the village church just visible through the
+trees at the end of the central alley. It was hardly a chateau--half
+manor, half farm. We drove into a large courtyard, or rather farmyard,
+quite deserted; no one visible anywhere; the door of the house was
+open, but there was no bell nor apparently any means of communicating
+with any one. Hubert cracked his whip noisily several times without
+any result--and we were just wondering what we should do (perhaps put
+our cards under a stone on the steps) when a man appeared, said Mme.
+B. was at home, but she was in the stable looking after a sick cow--he
+would go and tell her we were there. In a few minutes she appeared
+attired in a short, rusty-black skirt, sabots on her feet, and a black
+woollen shawl over her head and shoulders. She seemed quite pleased to
+see us--was not at all put out at being caught in such very simple
+attire--begged us to come in and ushered us through a long, narrow
+hall and several cold, comfortless rooms, the shutters not open and no
+fire anywhere, into her bedroom. All the furniture--chairs, tables and
+bed--was covered with linen. She explained that it was her "lessive"
+(general wash) she had just made, that all the linen was _dry_, but
+she had not had time to put it away. She called a maid and they
+cleared off two chairs--she sat on the bed.
+
+It was frightfully cold--we were thankful we had kept our wraps on.
+She said she supposed we would like a fire after our long, cold drive,
+and rang for a man to bring some wood. He (in his shirt sleeves)
+appeared with two or three logs of wood and was preparing to make a
+fire with them all, but she stopped him, said one log was enough, the
+ladies were not going to stay long--so, naturally, we had no fire and
+clouds of smoke. She was very talkative, never stopped--told us all
+about her servants, her husband's political campaigns and how W. would
+never have been named to the Conseil General if M.B. hadn't done all
+his work for him. She asked a great many questions, answering them all
+herself; then said, "I don't offer you any tea, as I know you always
+go back to have your tea at home, and I am quite sure you don't want
+any wine."
+
+There was such an evident reluctance to give us anything that I didn't
+like to insist, and said we must really be going as we had a long
+drive before us, though I should have liked something hot; tea, of
+course, she knew nothing about, but even a glass of ordinary hot wine,
+which they make very well in France, would have been acceptable.
+Henrietta was furious; she was shivering with cold, her eyes smarting
+with the smoke, and not at all interested in M.B.'s political career,
+or Madame's servants, and said she would have been thankful to have
+even a glass of vin de Chypre.
+
+It was unfortunate, perhaps, that we had arrived during the "lessive";
+that is always a most important function in France. In almost all the
+big houses in the country (small ones, too) that is the way they do
+their washing; once a month or once every three months, according to
+the size of the establishment, the whole washing of the household is
+done; all the linen: master's, servants', guests'; house is turned
+out; the linen closets cleaned and aired! Every one looks busy and
+energetic. It is quite a long affair--lasts three or four days. I
+often went to see the performance when we made our "lessive" at the
+chateau every month.
+
+It always interested our English and American friends, as the washing
+is never done in that way in either of their countries. It was very
+convenient at our place as we had plenty of room. The "lavoir" stood
+at the top of the steps leading into the kitchen gardens; there was a
+large, square tank sunk in the ground, so that the women could kneel
+to their work, then a little higher another of beautiful clear water,
+all under cover. Just across the path there was a small house with a
+blazing wood fire; in the middle an enormous tub where all the linen
+was passed through wood ashes. There were four "lessiveuses"
+(washerwomen), sturdy peasant women with very short skirts, sabots,
+and turbans (made of blue and white checked calico) on their heads,
+their strong red arms bared above the elbow. The Mere Michon, the
+eldest of the four, directed everything and kept them well at work,
+allowed very little talking; they generally chatter when they are
+washing and very often quarrel. When they are washing at the public
+"lavoir" in the village one hears their shrill voices from a great
+distance. Our "lingere," Mme. Hubert, superintended the whole
+operation; she was very keen about it and remonstrated vigorously when
+they slapped the linen too hard sometimes with the little flat sticks,
+like spades, they use. The linen all came out beautifully white and
+smooth, hadn't the yellow look that all city-washed clothes have.
+
+I think Mme. B. was very glad to get rid of us, and to begin folding
+her linen and putting it back in the big wooden wardrobes, that one
+sees everywhere in France. Some of the old Norman wardrobes, with
+handsome brass locks and beautifully carved doors, are real works of
+art--very difficult to get and very expensive. Fifty years ago the
+peasant did not understand the value of such a "meuble" and parted
+with it easily--but now, with railways everywhere and strangers and
+bric-a-brac people always on the lookout for a really old piece of
+furniture, they understand quite well that they possess a treasure and
+exact its full value.
+
+Our drive back was rather shorter, downhill almost all the way, the
+horses going along at a good steady trot, knowing they were going
+home.
+
+When we drew up at our own door Hubert remarked respectfully that he
+thought it was the first time that Madame and Mademoiselle had ever
+been received by a lady in sabots.
+
+We wondered afterward if she had personally attended to the cow--in
+the way of poulticing or rubbing it. She certainly didn't wash her
+hands afterward, and it rather reminded me of one of Charles de
+Bunsen's stories when he was Secretary of Legation at Turin. In the
+summer they took a villa in the country just out of the town and had
+frequent visitors to lunch or dinner. One day two of their friends,
+Italians, had spent the whole day with them; had walked in the garden,
+picked fruit and flowers, played with the child and the dogs and the
+pony, and as they were coming back to the house for dinner, Charles
+suggested that they might like to come up to his dressing-room and
+wash their hands before dinner--to which one of them replied, "Grazie,
+non mi sporco facilmente" (literal translation, "Thanks, I don't dirty
+myself easily"), and declined the offer of soap and water.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We paid two or three visits one year to the neighbouring chateaux, and
+had one very pleasant afternoon at the Chateau de Pinon, belonging to
+the Courval family. W. had known the late proprietor, the Vicomte de
+Courval, very well. They had been colleagues of the Conseil General of
+the Aisne, were both very fond of the country and country life, and
+used to have long talks in the evening, when the work of the day was
+over, about plantation, cutting down trees, preservation of game, etc.
+Without these talks, I think W. would have found the evenings at the
+primitive little Hotel de la Hure, at Laon, rather tedious.
+
+The chateau is not very old and has no historic interest. It was built
+by a Monsieur du Bois, Vicomte de Courval, at the end of the
+seventeenth century. He lived at first in the old feudal chateau of
+which nothing now remains. Already times were changing--the thick
+walls, massive towers, high, narrow windows, almost slits, and deep
+moat, which were necessary in the old troubled days, when all isolated
+chateaux might be called upon, at any time, to defend themselves from
+sudden attack, had given way to the larger and more spacious
+residences of which Mansard, the famous architect of Louis XIV, has
+left so many chefs d'oeuvre. It was to Mansard that M. de Courval
+confided the task of building the chateau as it now stands, while the
+no less famous Le Notre was charged to lay out the park and gardens.
+
+It was an easy journey from B----ville to Pinon. An hour's drive through
+our beautiful forest of Villers-Cotterets and another hour in the
+train. We stopped at the little station of Anizy just outside the
+gates of the park; a brougham was waiting for us and a very short
+drive through a stately avenue brought us to the drawbridge and the
+iron gates of the "Cour d'honneur." The house looked imposing; I had
+an impression of a very high and very long facade with two towers
+stretching out into the court-yard, which is very large, with fine old
+trees and broad parterres of bright-coloured flowers on either side of
+the steps. There was a wide moat of running water, the banks covered
+with shrubs and flowers--the flowers were principally salvias and
+chrysanthemums, as it was late in the season, but they made a warm bit
+of colour. The house stands low, as do all houses surrounded by a
+moat, but the park rises a little directly behind it and there is a
+fine background of wood.
+
+We drew up at a flight of broad, shallow steps; the doors were open.
+There were three or four footmen in the ante-room. While we were
+taking off our wraps Mme. de Courval appeared; she was short, stout,
+dressed in black, with that terrible black cap which all widows wear
+in France--so different from the white cap and soft white muslin
+collar and cuffs we are accustomed to. She had a charming, easy manner
+and looked very intelligent and capable. It seems she managed the
+property extremely well, made the tour of the house, woods and garden
+every day with her "regisseur." W. had the highest opinion of her
+business capacity--said she knew the exact market value of everything
+on the place--from an old tree that must be cut down for timber to the
+cheeses the farmer's wife made and sold at the Soissons market.
+
+She suggested that I should come upstairs to leave my heavy coat. We
+went up a broad stone staircase, the walls covered with pictures and
+engravings; one beautiful portrait of her daughter, the Marquise de
+Chaponay, on horseback. There were handsome carved chests and china
+vases on the landing, which opened on a splendid long gallery, very
+high and light--bedrooms on one side, on the other big windows (ten or
+twelve, I should think) looking over the park and gardens. She took me
+to a large, comfortable room, bright wood fire blazing, and a pretty
+little dressing-room opening out of it, furnished in a gay,
+old-fashioned pattern of chintz. She said breakfast would be ready in
+ten minutes--supposed I could find my way down, and left me to my own
+devices.
+
+I found the family assembled in the drawing-room; four women: Mme. de
+Courval and her daughter, the Marquise de Chaponay, a tall handsome
+woman, and two other ladies of a certain age; I did not catch their
+names, but they looked like all the old ladies one always sees in a
+country house in France. I should think they were cousins or habituees
+of the chateau, as they each had their embroidery frame and one a
+little dog. I am haunted by the embroidery frames--I am sure I shall
+end my days in a black cap, bending over a frame making portieres or a
+piano-cover.
+
+We breakfasted in a large square dining-room running straight through
+the house, windows on each side. The room was all in wood
+panelling--light gray--the sun streaming in through the windows. Mme.
+de Courval put W. on her right, me on her other side. We had an
+excellent breakfast, which we appreciated after our early start. There
+was handsome old silver on the table and sideboard, which is a rare
+thing in France, as almost all the silver was melted during the
+Revolution. Both Mme. de Courval and her daughter were very easy and
+animated. The Marquise de Chaponay told me she had known W. for years,
+that in the old days before he became such a busy man and so engrossed
+in politics he used to read Alfred de Musset to her, in her atelier,
+while she painted. She supposed he read now to me--which he certainly
+never did--as he always told me he hated reading aloud. They talked
+politics, of course, but their opinions were the classic Faubourg St.
+Germain opinions: "A Republic totally unfitted for France and the
+French"--"none of the gentlemen in France really Republican at heart"
+(with evidently a few exceptions)--W.'s English blood and education
+having, of course, influenced him.
+
+As soon as breakfast was over one of the windows on the side of the
+moat was opened and we all gave bread to the carp, handed to us by the
+butler--small square pieces of bread in a straw basket. It was funny
+to see the fish appear as soon as the window was opened--some of them
+were enormous and very old. It seems they live to a great age; a
+guardian of the Palace at Fontainebleau always shows one to tourists,
+who is supposed to have been fed by the Emperor Napoleon. Those of
+Pinon knew all about it, lifting their brown heads out of the water
+and never missing their piece of bread.
+
+We went back to the drawing-room for coffee, passing through the
+billiard room, where there are some good pictures. A fine life-size
+portrait of General Moreau (father of Mme. de Courval) in uniform, by
+Gerard--near it a trophy of four flags--Austrian, Saxon, Bavarian, and
+Hungarian--taken by the General; over the trophy three or four "lames
+d'honneur" (presentation swords) with name and inscription. There are
+also some pretty women's portraits in pastel--very delicate colours in
+old-fashioned oval frames--quite charming.
+
+The drawing-room was a very handsome room also panelled in light gray
+carved wood; the furniture rather heavy and massive, curtains and
+coverings of thick, bright flowered velvet, but it looked suitable in
+that high old-fashioned room--light modern furniture would have been
+out of place.
+
+As soon as we had finished our coffee we went for a walk--not the two
+old ladies, who settled down at once to their embroidery frames; one
+of them showed me her work--really quite beautiful--a church ornament
+of some kind, a painted Madonna on a ground of white satin; she was
+covering the whole ground with heavy gold embroidery, so thick it
+looked like mosaic.
+
+The park is splendid, a real domain, all the paths and alleys
+beautifully kept and every description of tree--M. de Courval was
+always trying experiments with foreign trees and shrubs and apparently
+most successfully. I think the park would have been charming in its
+natural state, as there was a pretty little river running through the
+grounds and some tangles of bushes and rocks that looked quite
+wild--it might have been in the middle of the forest but everything
+had been done to assist nature. There were a "piece d'eau," cascades,
+little bridges thrown over the river in picturesque spots, and on the
+highest point a tower (donjon), which was most effective, looked quite
+the old feudal towers of which so few remain now. They were used as
+watch towers, as a sentinel posted on the top could see a great
+distance over the plains and give warning of the approach of the
+enemy. As the day was fine--no mist--we had a beautiful view from the
+top, seeing plainly the great round tower of Coucy, the finest ruin in
+France--the others made out quite well the towers of the Laon
+Cathedral, but those I couldn't distinguish, seeing merely a dark spot
+on the horizon which might have been a passing cloud.
+
+Coming back we crossed the "Allee des Soupirs," which has its legend
+like so many others in this country: It was called the "Allee des
+Soupirs" on account of the tragedy that took place there. The owner of
+the chateau at that time--a Comte de Lamothe--discovered his wife on
+too intimate terms with his great friend and her cousin; they fought
+in the Allee, and the Comte de Lamothe was killed by his friend. The
+widow tried to brave it out and lived on for some time at the chateau;
+but she was accursed and an evil spell on the place--everything went
+wrong and the chateau finally burnt down. The place was then sold to
+the de Courval family.
+
+At the end of an hour the Marquise had had enough; I should not think
+she was much of a walker; she was struggling along in high-heeled
+shoes and proposed that she and I should return to the house and she
+would show me her atelier. W. and Mme. de Courval continued their tour
+of inspection which was to finish at the Home Farm, where she wanted
+to show him some small Breton cows which had just arrived. The atelier
+was a charming room; panelled like all the others in a light grey
+wood. One hardly saw the walls, for they were covered with pictures,
+engravings and a profusion of mirrors in gilt oval frames. It was
+evidently a favourite haunt of the Marquise's: books, papers and
+painting materials scattered about; the piano open and quantities of
+music on the music-stand; miniatures, snuff-boxes and little
+old-fashioned bibelots on all the tables, and an embroidery frame, of
+course, in one of the windows, near it a basket filled with bright
+coloured silks. The miniatures were, almost all, portraits of de
+Courvals of every age and in every possible costume: shepherdesses,
+court ladies of the time of Louis XV, La Belle Ferronniere with the
+jewel on her forehead, men in armour with fine, strongly marked faces;
+they must have been a handsome race. It is a pity there is no son to
+carry on the name. One daughter-in-law had no children; the other one,
+born an American, Mary Ray of New York, had only one daughter, the
+present Princesse de Poix, to whom Pinon now belongs.
+
+We played a little; four hands--the classics, of course. All French
+women of that generation who played at all were brought up on strictly
+classical music. She had a pretty, delicate, old-fashioned touch; her
+playing reminded me of Madame A.'s.
+
+When it was too dark to see any more we sat by the fire and talked
+till the others came in. She asked a great deal about my new life in
+Paris--feared I would find it stiff and dull after the easy happy
+family life I had been accustomed to. I said it was very different, of
+course, but there was much that was interesting, only I did not know
+the people well enough yet to appreciate the stories they were always
+telling about each other, also that I had made several "gaffes" quite
+innocently. I told her one which amused her very much, though she
+could not imagine how I ever could have said it. It was the first year
+of my marriage; we were dining in an Orleanist house, almost all the
+company Royalists and intimate friends of the Orleans Princes, and
+three or four moderate, _very_ moderate Republicans like us. It was
+the 20th of January and the women were all talking about a ball they
+were going to the next night, 21st of January (anniversary of the
+death of Louis XVI). They supposed they must wear mourning--such a
+bore. Still, on account of the Comtesse de Paris and the Orleans
+family generally, they thought they must do it--upon which I asked,
+really very much astonished: "On account of the Orleans family? but
+did not the Duc d'Orleans vote the King's execution?" There was an
+awful silence and then M. Leon Say, one of the cleverest and most
+delightful men of his time, remarked, with a twinkle in his eye: "Ma
+foi; je crois que Mme. Waddington a raison." There was a sort of
+nervous laugh and the conversation was changed. W. was much annoyed
+with me, "a foreigner so recently married, throwing down the gauntlet
+in that way." I assured him I had no purpose of any kind--I merely
+said what I thought, which is evidently unwise.
+
+Mme. de Chaponay said she was afraid I would find it very difficult
+sometimes. French people--in society at least--were so excited against
+the Republic, anti-religious feeling, etc. "It must be very painful
+for you." "I don't think so; you see I am American, Republican and a
+Protestant; my point of view must be very different from that of a
+Frenchwoman and a Catholic." She was very charming, however;
+intelligent, cultivated, speaking beautiful French with a pretty
+carefully trained voice--English just as well; we spoke the two
+languages going from one to the other without knowing why. I was quite
+sorry when we were summoned to tea. The room looked so pretty in the
+twilight, the light from the fire danced all over the pictures and
+gilt frames of the mirrors, leaving the corners quite in shadow. The
+curtains were not drawn and we saw the darkness creeping up over the
+lawn; quite at the edge of the wood the band of white mist was rising,
+which we love to see in our part of the country, as it always means a
+fine day for the morrow.
+
+We had a cheery tea. W. and Mme. de Courval had made a long "tournee,"
+and W. quite approved of all the changes and new acquisitions she had
+made, particularly the little Breton cows. We left rather hurriedly as
+we had just time to catch our train.
+
+Our last glimpse of the chateau as we looked back from the turn in the
+avenue was charming; there were lights in almost all the windows,
+which were reflected in the moat; the moon was rising over the woods
+at the back, and every tower and cornice of the enormous pile stood
+out sharply in the cold clear light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We didn't move often once we were settled in the chateau for the
+autumn. It was very difficult to get W. away from his books and coins
+and his woods; but occasionally a shooting party tempted him. We went
+sometimes, about the Toussaint when the leaves were nearly fallen, to
+stay with friends who had a fine chateau and estate about three hours
+by rail from Paris, in the midst of the great plains of the Aube. The
+first time we went, soon after my marriage, I was rather doubtful as
+to how I should like it. I had never stayed in a French country house
+and imagined it would be very stiff and formal; however, the
+invitation was for three days--two days of shooting and one of
+rest--and I thought that I could get through without being too
+homesick.
+
+We arrived about 4.30 for tea; the journey from Paris was through just
+the same uninteresting country one always sees when leaving by the
+Gare de l'Est. I think it is the ugliest sortie of all Paris. As we
+got near the chateau the Seine appeared, winding in and out of the
+meadows in very leisurely fashion. We just saw the house from the
+train, standing rather low. The station is at the park gates--in fact,
+the railway and the canal run through the property. Two carriages were
+waiting (we were not the only guests), and a covered cart for the
+maids and baggage. A short drive through a fine avenue of big trees
+skirting broad lawns brought us to the house, which looked very
+imposing with its long facade and rows of lighted windows. We drove
+through arcades covered with ivy into a very large court-yard, the
+chateau stables and communs taking three sides. There was a piece
+d'eau at one end, a colombier at the other. There was no perron or
+stately entrance; in one corner a covered porch, rather like what one
+sees in England, shut in with glass door and windows and filled with
+plants, a good many chrysanthemums, which made a great mass of colour.
+The hall doors were wide open as the carriage drove up, Monsieur A.
+and his wife waiting for us just inside, Mme. A. his mother, the
+mistress of the chateau, at the door of the salon. We went into a
+large, high hall, well lighted, a bright fire burning, plenty of
+servants. It looked most cheerful and comfortable on a dark November
+afternoon. We left our wraps in the hall, and went straight into the
+drawing-room. I have been there so often since that I hardly remember
+my first impression. It was a corner room, high ceiling, big windows,
+and fine tapestries on the walls; some of them with a pink ground
+(very unusual), and much envied and admired by all art collectors.
+Mme. A. told me she found them all rolled up in a bundle in the garret
+when she married. A tea-table was standing before the sofa, and
+various people working and having their tea. We were not a large
+party--Comte and Comtesse de B. (she a daughter of the house) and
+three or four men, deputies and senators, all political. They counted
+eight guns. We sat there about half an hour, then there was a general
+move, and young Mme. A. showed us our rooms, which were most
+comfortable, fires burning, lamps lighted. She told us dinner was at
+7.30; the first bell would ring at seven. I was the only lady besides
+the family. I told my maid to ask some of the others what their
+mistresses were going to wear. She said ordinary evening dress, with
+natural flowers in their hair, and that I would receive a small
+bouquet, which I did, only as I never wear anything in my hair, I put
+them on my corsage, which did just as well.
+
+The dinner was pleasant, the dining-room a fine, large hall (had been
+stables) with a fireplace at each end, and big windows giving on the
+court-yard. It was so large that the dinner table (we were fourteen)
+seemed lost in space. The talk was almost exclusively political and
+amusing enough. All the men were, or had been, deputies, and every
+possible question was discussed. Mme. A. was charming, very
+intelligent, and animated, having lived all her life with clever
+people, and having taken part in all the changes that France has gone
+through in the last fifty years. She had been a widow for about two
+years when I first stayed there, and it was pretty to see her children
+with her. Her two sons, one married, the other a young officer, were
+so respectful and fond of their mother, and her daughter perfectly
+devoted to her.
+
+The men all went off to smoke after coffee, and we women were left to
+ourselves for quite a long time. The three ladies all had
+work--knitting or crochet--and were making little garments,
+brassieres, and petticoats for all the village children. They were
+quite surprised that I had nothing and said they would teach me to
+crochet. The evening was not very long after the men came back. Some
+remained in the billiard-room, which opens out of the salon, and
+played cochonnet, a favourite French game. We heard violent
+discussions as to the placing of the balls, and some one asked for a
+yard measure, to be quite sure the count was correct. Before we broke
+up M. A. announced the programme for the next day. Breakfast for all
+the men at eight o'clock in the dining-room, and an immediate start
+for the woods; luncheon at the Pavilion d'Hiver at twelve in the
+woods, the ladies invited to join the shooters and follow one or two
+battues afterward. It was a clear, cold night, and there seemed every
+prospect of a beautiful day for the battues.
+
+The next morning was lovely. I went to my maid's room, just across the
+corridor to see the motors start. All our rooms looked out on the
+park, and on the other side of the corridor was a succession of small
+rooms giving on the court-yard, which were always kept for the maids
+and valets of the guests. It was an excellent arrangement, for in some
+of the big chateaux, where the servants were at the top of the house,
+or far off in another wing, communications were difficult. There were
+two carriages and a sort of tapissiere following with guns, servants,
+and cartridges. I had a message from Mme. A. asking if I had slept
+well, and sending me the paper; and a visit from Comtesse de B. who, I
+think, was rather anxious about my garments. She had told me the night
+before that the ploughed fields were something awful, and hoped I had
+brought short skirts and thick boots. I think the sight of my short
+Scotch homespun skirt and high boots reassured her. We started about
+11.30 in an open carriage with plenty of furs and wraps. It wasn't
+really very cold--just a nice nip in the air, and no wind. We drove
+straight into the woods from the park. There is a beautiful green
+alley which faces one just going out of the gate, but it was too steep
+to mount in a carriage. The woods are very extensive, the roads not
+too bad--considering the season, extremely well kept. Every now and
+then through an opening in the trees we had a pretty view over the
+plains. As we got near the pavilion we heard shots not very far
+off--evidently the shooters were getting hungry and coming our way. It
+was a pretty rustic scene as we arrived. The pavilion, a log house,
+standing in a clearing, alleys branching off in every direction, a
+horse and cart which had brought the provisions from the chateau tied
+to one of the trees. It was shut in on three sides, wide open in
+front, a bright fire burning and a most appetizing table spread. Just
+outside another big fire was burning, the cook waiting for the first
+sportsman to appear to begin his classic dishes, omelette au lard and
+ragoat de mouton. I was rather hungry and asked for a piece of the
+pain de menage they had for the traqueurs (beaters). I like the brown
+country bread so much better than the little rolls and crisp loaves
+most people ask for in France. Besides our own breakfast there was an
+enormous pot on the fire with what looked like an excellent
+substantial soup for the men. In a few minutes the party arrived;
+first the shooters, each man carrying his gun; then the game cart,
+which looked very well garnished, an army of beaters bringing up the
+rear. They made quite a picturesque group, all dressed in white. There
+have been so many accidents in some of the big shoots, people
+imprudently firing at something moving in the bushes, which proved to
+be a man and not a roebuck, that M. A. dresses all his men in white.
+The gentlemen were very cheerful, said they had had capital sport, and
+were quite ready for their breakfast. We didn't linger very long at
+table, as the days were shortening fast, and we wanted to follow some
+of the battues. The beaters had their breakfast while we were having
+ours--were all seated on the ground around a big kettle of soup, with
+huge hunks of brown bread on their tin plates.
+
+We started off with the shooters. Some walking, some driving, and had
+one pretty battue of rabbits; after that two of pheasants, which were
+most amusing. There were plenty of birds, and they came rocketing over
+our heads in fine style. I found that Comtesse de B. was quite right
+about the necessity for short skirts and thick boots. We stood on the
+edge of a ploughed field, which we had to cross afterward on our way
+home, and I didn't think it was possible to have such cakes of mud as
+we had on our boots. We scraped off some with sticks, but our boots
+were so heavy with what remained that the walk home was tiring.
+
+Mme. A. was standing at the hall-door when we arrived, and requested
+us not to come into the hall, but to go in by the lingerie entrance
+and up the back stairs, so I fancy we hadn't got much dirt off. I had
+a nice rest until 4.30, when I went down to the salon for tea. We had
+all changed our outdoor garments and got into rather smart day dresses
+(none of those ladies wore tea-gowns). The men appeared about five;
+some of them came into the salon notwithstanding their muddy boots,
+and then came the livre de chasse and the recapitulation of the game,
+which is always most amusing. Everyman counted more pieces than his
+beater had found.
+
+The dinner and evening were pleasant, the guests changing a little.
+Two of the original party went off before dinner, two others arrived,
+one of them a Cabinet minister (Finances). He was very clever and
+defended himself well when his policy was freely criticised. While we
+women were alone after dinner, Mme. A. showed me how to make crochet
+petticoats. She gave me a crochet-needle and some wool and had
+wonderful patience, for it seemed a most arduous undertaking to me,
+and all my rows were always crooked; however, I did learn, and have
+made hundreds since. All the children in our village pull up their
+little frocks and show me their crochet petticoats whenever we meet
+them. They are delighted to have them, for those we make are of good
+wool (not laine de bienfaisance, which is stiff and coarse), and last
+much longer than those one buys.
+
+The second day was quite different. There was no shooting. We were
+left to our own devices until twelve o'clock breakfast. W. and I went
+for a short stroll in the park. We met M. A., who took us over the
+farm, all so well ordered and prosperous. After breakfast we had about
+an hour of salon before starting for the regular tournee de
+proprietaire through park and gardens. The three ladies--Mme. A., her
+daughter, and daughter-in-law--had beautiful work. Mme. A. was making
+portieres for her daughter's room, a most elaborate pattern, reeds and
+high plants, a very large piece of work; the other two had also very
+complicated work--one a table-cover, velvet, heavily embroidered, the
+other a church ornament (almost all the Frenchwomen of a certain monde
+turn their wedding dresses, usually of white satin, into a priest's
+vetement). The Catholic priests have all sorts of vestments which they
+wear on different occasions; purple in Lent, red on any martyr's fete,
+white for all the fetes of the Virgin. Some of the churches are very
+rich with chasubles and altar-cloths trimmed with fine old lace, which
+have been given to them. It looks funny sometimes to see a very
+ordinary country cure, a farmer's son, with a heavy peasant face,
+wearing one of those delicate white-satin chasubles.
+
+Before starting to join the shooters at breakfast Mme. A. took me all
+over the house. It is really a beautiful establishment, very large,
+and most comfortable. Quantities of pictures and engravings, and
+beautiful Empire furniture. There is quite a large chapel at the end
+of the corridor on the ground-floor, where they have mass every
+Sunday. The young couple have a charming installation, really a small
+house, in one of the wings--bedrooms, dressing-rooms, boudoir, cabinet
+de travail, and a separate entrance--so that M. A. can receive any one
+who comes to see him on business without having them pass through the
+chateau. Mme. A. has her rooms on the ground-floor at the other end of
+the house. Her sitting-room with glass door opens into a winter garden
+filled with plants, which gives on the park; her bedroom is on the
+other side, looking on the court-yard; a large library next it, light
+and space everywhere, plenty of servants, everything admirably
+arranged.
+
+The evening mail goes out at 7.30, and every evening at seven exactly
+the letter-carrier came down the corridor knocking at all the doors
+and asking for letters. He had stamps, too, at least _French_ stamps.
+I could never get a foreign stamp (twenty-five centimes)--had to put
+one of fifteen and two of five when I had a foreign letter. I don't
+really think there were any in the country. I don't believe they had a
+foreign correspondent of any description. It was a thoroughly French
+establishment of the best kind.
+
+We walked about the small park and gardens in the afternoon. The
+gardens are enormous; one can drive through them. Mme. A. drove in her
+pony carriage. They still had some lovely late roses which filled me
+with envy--ours were quite finished.
+
+The next day was not quite so fine, gray and misty, but a good
+shooting day, no wind. We joined the gentlemen for lunch in another
+pavilion farther away and rather more open than the one of the other
+day. However, we were warm enough with our coats on, a good fire
+burning, and hot bricks for our feet. The battues (aux echelles) that
+day were quite a new experience for me. I had never seen anything like
+it. The shooters were placed in a semicircle, not very far apart. Each
+man was provided with a high double ladder. The men stood on the top
+(the women seated themselves on the rungs of the ladders and hung on
+as well as they could). I went the first time with W., and he made me
+so many recommendations that I was quite nervous. I mustn't sit too
+high up or I would gener him, as he was obliged to shoot down for the
+rabbits; and I mustn't sit too near the ground, or I might get a shot
+in the ankles from one of the other men. I can't say it was an
+absolute pleasure. The seat (if seat it could be called) was anything
+but comfortable, and the detonation of the gun just over my head was
+decidedly trying; still it was a novelty, and if the other women could
+stand it I could.
+
+For the second battue I went with Comte de B. That was rather worse,
+for he shot much oftener than W., and I was quite distracted with the
+noise of the gun. We were nearer the other shooters, too, and I
+fancied their aim was very near my ankles. It was a pretty view from
+the top of the ladder. I climbed up when the battues were over. We
+looked over the park and through the trees, quite bare and stripped of
+their leaves, on the great plains, with hardly a break of wood or
+hills, stretching away to the horizon. The ground was thickly carpeted
+with red and yellow leaves, little columns of smoke rising at
+intervals where people were burning weeds or rotten wood in the
+fields; and just enough purple mist to poetize everything. B. is a
+very careful shot. I was with him the first day at a rabbit battue
+where we were placed rather near each other, and every man was asked
+to keep quite to his own place and to shoot straight before him. After
+one or two shots B. stepped back and gave his gun to his servant. I
+asked what was the matter. He showed me the man next, evidently not
+used to shooting, who was walking up and down, shooting in every
+direction, and as fast as he could cram the cartridges into his gun.
+So he stepped back into the alley and waited until the battue was
+over.
+
+The party was much smaller that night at dinner. Every one went away
+but W. and me. The talk was most interesting--all about the war, the
+first days of the Assemblee Nationale at Bordeaux, and the famous
+visit of the Comte de Chambord to Versailles, when the Marechal de
+MacMahon, President of the Republic, refused to see him. I told them
+of my first evening visit to Mme. Thiers, the year I was married. Mme.
+Thiers lived in a big gloomy house in the Place St. Georges, and
+received every evening. M. Thiers, who was a great worker all his life
+and a very early riser, always took a nap at the end of the day. The
+ladies (Mlle. Dosne, a sister of Mme. Thiers, lived with them)
+unfortunately had not that good habit. They took their little sleep
+after dinner. We arrived there (it was a long way from us, we lived
+near the Arc de l'Etoile) one evening a little before ten. There were
+already four or five men, no ladies. We were shown into a large
+drawing-room, M. Thiers standing with his back to the fireplace, the
+centre of a group of black coats. He was very amiable, said I would
+find Mme. Thiers in a small salon just at the end of the big one; told
+W. to join their group, he had something to say to him, and I passed
+on. I did find Mme. Thiers and Mlle. Dosne in the small salon at the
+other end, both asleep, each in an arm-chair. I was really
+embarrassed. They didn't hear me coming in, and were sleeping quite
+happily and comfortably. I didn't like to go back to the other salon,
+where there were only men, so I sat down on a sofa and looked about
+me, and tried to feel as if it was quite a natural occurrence to be
+invited to come in the evening and to find my hostess asleep. After a
+few minutes I heard the swish of a satin dress coming down the big
+salon and a lady appeared, very handsome and well dressed, whom I
+didn't know at all. She evidently was accustomed to the state of
+things; she looked about her smilingly, then came up to me, called me
+by name, and introduced herself, Mme. A. the wife of an admiral whom I
+often met afterward. She told me not to mind, there wasn't the
+slightest intention of rudeness, that both ladies would wake up in a
+few minutes quite unconscious of having really slept. We talked about
+ten minutes, not lowering our voices particularly. Suddenly Mme.
+Thiers opened her eyes, was wide awake at once--how quietly we must
+have come in; she had only just closed her eyes for a moment, the
+lights tired her, etc. Mlle. Dosne said the same thing, and then we
+went on talking easily enough. Several more ladies came in, but only
+two or three men. _They_ all remained in the farther room talking, or
+rather listening, to M. Thiers. He was already a very old man, and
+when he began to talk no one interrupted him; it was almost a
+monologue. I went back several times to the Place St. Georges, but
+took good care to go later, so that the ladies should have their nap
+over. One of the young diplomat's wives had the same experience,
+rather worse, for when the ladies woke up they didn't know her. She
+was very shy, spent a wretched ten minutes before they woke, and was
+too nervous to name herself. She was half crying when her husband came
+to the rescue.
+
+We left the next morning early, as W. had people coming to him in the
+afternoon. I enjoyed my visit thoroughly, and told them afterward of
+my misgivings and doubts as to how I should get along with strangers
+for two or three days. I think they had rather the same feeling. They
+were very old friends of my husband's, and though they received me
+charmingly from the first, it brought a foreign and new element into
+their circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another interesting old chateau, most picturesque, with towers, moat,
+and drawbridge, is Lorrey-le-Bocage, belonging to the Comte de S. It
+stands very well, in a broad moat--the water clear and rippling and
+finishing in a pretty little stream that runs off through the meadows.
+The place is beautifully kept--gardens, lawns, courts, in perfect
+order. It has no particular _historic_ interest for the family, having
+been bought by the parents of the present owner.
+
+I was there, the first time, in very hot weather, the 14th of July
+(the French National fete commemorating the fall of the Bastille). I
+went for a stroll in the park the morning after I arrived, but I
+collapsed under a big tree at once--hadn't the energy to move.
+Everything looked so hot and not a breath of air anywhere. The moat
+looked glazed--so absolutely still under the bright summer sun--big
+flies were buzzing and skimming over the surface, and the flowers and
+plants were drooping in their beds.
+
+Inside it was delightful, the walls so thick that neither heat nor
+cold could penetrate. The house is charming. The big drawing-room--where
+we always sat--was a large, bright room with windows on each side and
+lovely views over park and gardens; and all sorts of family portraits
+and souvenirs dating from Louis XV to the Comte de Paris. The men of
+the family--all ardent Royalists--have been, for generations,
+distinguished as soldiers and statesmen.
+
+One of them--a son of the famous Marechal de S, brought up in the last
+years of the reign of Louis XV--carried his youthful ardour and dreams
+of liberty to America and took part, as did so many of the young
+French nobles, in the great struggle for independence that was being
+fought out on the other side of the Atlantic. Soon after his return to
+France he was named Ambassador to Russia to the court of Catherine II,
+and was supposed to have been very much in the good graces of that
+very pleasure-loving sovereign. He accompanied her on her famous trip
+to the Crimea, arranged for her by her minister and favourite,
+Potemkin--when fairy villages, with happy populations singing and
+dancing, sprang up in the road wherever she passed as if by
+magic--quite dispelling her ideas of the poverty and oppression of
+some of her subjects.
+
+Among the portraits there is a miniature of the Empress Catherine. It
+is a fine, strongly marked face. She wears a high fur cap--a sort of
+military pelisse with lace jabots and diamond star. The son of the
+Marechal, also soldier and courtier, was aide-de-camp to Napoleon and
+made almost all his campaigns with him. His description of the Russian
+campaign and the retreat of the "Grande Armee" from Moscow is one of
+the most graphic and interesting that has ever been written of those
+awful days. His memoirs are quite charming. Childhood and early youth
+passed in the country in all the agonies of the Terror--simply and
+severely brought up in an atmosphere absolutely hostile to any
+national or popular movement.
+
+The young student, dreaming of a future and regeneration for France,
+arrived one day in Paris, where an unwonted stir denoted that
+something was going on. He heard and saw the young Republican General
+Bonaparte addressing some regiments. He marked the proud bearing of
+the men--even the recruits--and in an explosion of patriotism his
+vocation was decided. He enlisted at once in the Republican ranks. It
+was a terrible decision to confide to his family, and particularly to
+his grandfather, the old Marechal de S. a glorious veteran of many
+campaigns and an ardent Royalist. His father approved, although it was
+a terrible falling off from all the lessons and examples of his
+family--but it was a difficult confession to make to the Marechal. I
+will give the scene in his own words (translated, of course--the
+original is in French).
+
+"I was obliged to return to Chalenoy to relate my 'coup-de-tete' to my
+grandfather. I arrived early in the morning and approached his bed in
+the most humble attitude. He said to me, very sharply, 'You have been
+unfaithful to all the traditions of your ancestors--but it is done.
+Remember that you have enlisted voluntarily in the Republican army;
+serve it frankly and loyally, for your decision is made, you cannot
+now go back on it.' Then seeing the tears running down my cheeks (he
+too was moved), and taking my hand with the only one he had left, he
+drew me to him and pressed me on his heart. Then giving me seventy
+louis (it was all he had), he added, 'This will help you to complete
+your equipment--go, and at least carry bravely and faithfully, under
+the flag it has pleased you to choose, the name you bear and the
+honour of your family.'"
+
+The present Count, too, has played a part in politics in these
+troublous times, when decisions were almost as hard to take, and one
+was torn between the desire to do something for one's country and the
+difficulty of detaching oneself from old traditions and memories.
+People whose grandfathers have died on the scaffold can hardly be
+expected to be enthusiastic about the Republic and the Marseillaise.
+Yet if the nation wants the Republic, and every election accentuates
+that opinion, it is very difficult to fight against the current.
+
+When I first married, just after the Franco-Prussian War, there seemed
+some chance of the moderate men, on both sides, joining in a common
+effort against the radical movement, putting themselves at the head of
+it and in that way directing and controlling--but very soon the
+different sections in parliament defined themselves so sharply that
+any sort of compromise was difficult. My host was named deputy,
+immediately after the war, and though by instinct, training, and
+association a Royalist and a personal friend of the Orleans family, he
+was one of a small group of liberal-patriotic deputies who might have
+supported loyally a moderate Republic had the other Republicans not
+made their position untenable. There was an instinctive, unreasonable
+distrust of any of the old families whose names and antecedents had
+kept them apart from any republican movement.
+
+We had pleasant afternoons in the big drawing-room. In the morning we
+did what we liked. The Maitresse de Maison never appeared in the
+drawing-room till the twelve o'clock breakfast. I used to see her from
+my window, coming and going--sometimes walking, when she was making
+the round of the farm and garden, oftener in her little pony carriage
+and occasionally in the automobile of her niece, who was staying in
+the house. She occupied herself very much with all the village--old
+people and children, everybody. After breakfast we used to sit
+sometimes in the drawing-room--the two ladies working, the Comte de S.
+reading his paper and telling us anything interesting he found there.
+Both ladies had most artistic work--Mme. de S. a church ornament,
+white satin ground with raised flowers and garlands, stretched, of
+course, on the large embroidery frames they all use. Her niece,
+Duchesse d'E., had quite another "installation" in one of the
+windows--a table with all sorts of delicate little instruments. She
+was book-binding--doing quite lovely things in imitation of the old
+French binding. It was a work that required most delicate
+manipulation, but she seemed to do it quite easily. I was rather
+humiliated with my little knit petticoats--very hot work it is on a
+blazing July day.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE HOME OF LAFAYETTE
+
+
+La Grange was looking its loveliest when I arrived the other day. It
+was a bright, beautiful October afternoon and the first glimpse of the
+chateau was most picturesque. It was all the more striking as the run
+down from Paris was so ugly and commonplace. The suburbs of Paris
+around the Gare de l'Est--the Plain of St. Denis and all the small
+villages, with kitchen gardens, rows of green vegetables under glass
+"cloches"--are anything but interesting. It was not until we got near
+Grety and alongside of Ferrieres, the big Rothschild place, that we
+seemed to be in the country. The broad green alleys of the park, with
+the trees just changing a little, were quite charming. Our station was
+Verneuil l'Etang, a quiet little country station dumped down in the
+middle of the fields, and a drive of about fifty minutes brought us to
+the chateau. The country is not at all pretty, always the same
+thing--great cultivated fields stretching off on each side of the
+road--every now and then a little wood or clump of trees. One does not
+see the chateau from the high road.
+
+We turned off sharply to the left and at the end of a long avenue saw
+the house, half hidden by the trees. The entrance through a low
+archway, flanked on each side by high round towers covered with ivy,
+is most picturesque. The chateau is built around three sides of a
+square court-yard, the other side looking straight over broad green
+meadows ending in a background of wood. A moat runs almost all around
+the house--a border of salvias making a belt of colour which is most
+effective. We found the family--Marquis and Marquise de Lasteyrie and
+their two sons--waiting at the hall door. The Marquis, great-grandson
+of the General Marquis de Lafayette, is a type of the well-born,
+courteous French gentleman (one of the most attractive types, to my
+mind, that one can meet anywhere). There is something in perfectly
+well-bred French people of a certain class that one never sees in any
+other nationality. Such refinement and charm of manner--a great desire
+to put every one at their ease and to please the person with whom they
+are thrown for the moment. That, after all, is all one cares for in
+the casual acquaintances one makes in society. From friends, of
+course, we want something deeper and more lasting, but life is too
+short to find out the depth and sterling qualities of the world in
+general.
+
+The Marquise is an Englishwoman, a cousin of her husband, their common
+ancestor being the Duke of Leinster; clever, cultivated, hospitable,
+and very large minded, which has helped her very much in her married
+life in France during our troubled epoch, when religious questions and
+political discussions do so much to embitter personal relations. The
+two sons are young and gay, doing the honours of their home simply and
+with no pose of any kind. There were two English couples staying in
+the house.
+
+We had tea in the dining-room downstairs--a large room with panels and
+chimney-piece of dark carved wood. Two portraits of men in armour
+stand out well from the dark background. There is such a wealth of
+pictures, engravings, and tapestries all over the house that one
+cannot take it all in at first. The two drawing-rooms on the first
+floor are large and comfortable, running straight through the house;
+the end room in the tower--a round room with windows on all sides--quite
+charming. The contrast between the modern--English--comforts (low,
+wide chairs, writing-table, rugs, cushions, and centre-table covered
+with books in all languages, a very rare thing in a French chateau,
+picture papers, photographs, etc.) and the straight-backed,
+spindle-legged old furniture and stiff, old-fashioned ladies and
+gentlemen, looking down from their heavy gold frames, is very
+attractive. There is none of the formality and look of not being lived
+in which one sees in so many French salons, and yet it is not at all
+modern. One never loses for a moment the feeling of being in an old
+chateau-fort.
+
+It was so pretty looking out of my bedroom window this morning. It was
+a bright, beautiful autumn day, the grass still quite green. Some of
+the trees changing a little, the yellow leaves quite golden in the
+sun. There are many American trees in the park--a splendid Virginia
+Creeper, and a Gloire de Dijon rose-bush, still full of bloom, were
+sprawling over the old gray walls. Animals of all kinds were walking
+about the court-yard; some swans and a lame duck, which had wandered
+up from the moat, standing on the edge and looking about with much
+interest; a lively little fox-terrier, making frantic dashes at
+nothing; one of the sons starting for a shoot with gaiters and
+game-bag, and his gun over his shoulder, his dog at his heels
+expectant and eager. Some of the guests were strolling about and from
+almost all the windows--wide open to let in the warm morning
+sun--there came cheerful greetings.
+
+I went for a walk around the house before breakfast. There are five
+large round towers covered with ivy--the walls extraordinarily
+thick--the narrow little slits for shooting with arrows and the round
+holes for cannon balls tell their own story of rough feudal life. On
+one side of the castle there is a large hole in the wall, made by a
+cannon ball sent by Turenne. He was passing one day and asked to whom
+the chateau belonged. On hearing that the owner was the Marechal de la
+Feuillade, one of his political adversaries, he sent a cannon ball as
+a souvenir of his passage, and the gap has never been filled up.
+
+I went all over the house later with the Marquis de Lasteyrie. Of
+course, what interested me most was Lafayette's private
+apartments--bedroom and library--the latter left precisely as it was
+during Lafayette's lifetime; bookcases filled with his books in their
+old-fashioned bindings, running straight around the walls and a
+collection of manuscripts and autograph letters from kings and queens
+of France and most of the celebrities of the days of the Valois--among
+them several letters from Catherine de Medicis, Henry IV, and la Reine
+Margot. One curious one from Queen Margot in which she explains to the
+Vicomte de Chabot (ancestor of my host) that she was very much
+preoccupied in looking out for a wife for him with a fine dot, but
+that it was always difficult to find a rich heiress for a poor
+seigneur.
+
+There are also autographs of more modern days, among which is a letter
+from an English prince to the Vicomte de Chabot (grandfather of the
+Marquis de Lasteyrie), saying that he loses no time in telling him of
+the birth of a very fine little girl. He certainly never realized when
+he wrote that letter what would be the future of his baby daughter.
+The writer was the Duke of Kent--the fine little girl, Queen Victoria.
+
+In a deep window-seat in one corner, overlooking the farm, is the
+writing-table of Lafayette. In the drawers are preserved several books
+of accounts, many of the items being in his handwriting. Also his
+leather arm-chair (which was exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair),
+and a horn or speaking-trumpet through which he gave his orders to the
+farm hands from the window. The library opened into his bedroom--now
+the boudoir of the Marquise de Lasteyrie--with a fine view over moat
+and meadow. In this room there have been many changes, but the old
+doors of carved oak still remain.
+
+There are many interesting family portraits--one of the father of
+Lafayette, killed at Minden, leaving his young son to be brought up by
+two aunts, whose portraits are on either side of the fireplace.
+
+It is curious to see the two portraits of the same epoch so absolutely
+unlike. Mme. de Chavagnac, an old lady, very simply dressed, almost
+Puritanical, with a white muslin fichu over her plain black silk
+dress--the other, Mademoiselle de Lafayette, in the court dress of the
+time of Louis XVI, pearls and roses in the high, powdered coiffure and
+a bunch of orange flowers on one shoulder, to indicate that she was
+not a married woman.
+
+There were pictures and souvenirs of all the Orleans family--the
+Lasteyries having been always faithful and devoted friends of those
+unfortunate princes; a charming engraving of the Comte de Paris, a
+noble looking boy in all the bravery of white satin and feathers--the
+original picture is in the possession of the Duc de Chartres. It was
+sad to realize when one looked at the little prince with his bright
+eyes and proud bearing, that the end of his life would be so
+melancholy--exile and death in a foreign land.
+
+There are all sorts of interesting pictures and engravings scattered
+about the house in the numberless corridors and anterooms. One most
+interesting and very rare print represents a review at Potsdam held by
+Frederick the Great. Two conspicuous figures are the young Marquis de
+Lafayette in powdered wig and black silk ribbon, and the English
+General Lord Cornwallis, destined to meet as adversaries many years
+later during the American Revolution. There are many family pictures
+on the great stone staircase, both French and English, the Marquis de
+Lasteyrie, on the maternal side, being a great-grandson of the Duke of
+Leinster. Some of the English portraits are very charming, quite
+different from the French pictures.
+
+In the centre panel is the well-known portrait of Lafayette by Ary
+Scheffer--not in uniform--no trace of the dashing young soldier; a
+middle-aged man in a long fur coat, hat and stick in his hand;
+looking, as one can imagine he did when he settled down, after his
+brilliant and eventful career, to the simple patriarchal life at La
+Grange, surrounded by devoted children, grandchildren, and friends.
+
+We were interrupted long before I had seen all the interesting part of
+the house and its contents, as it was time to start for La Houssaye,
+where all the party were expected at tea. We went off in three
+carriages--quite like a "noce," as the Marquise remarked. The drive
+(about an hour) was not particularly interesting. We were in the heart
+of the great agricultural district and drove through kilometres of
+planted fields--no hills and few woods.
+
+We came rather suddenly on the chateau, which stands low, like all
+chateaux surrounded by moats, turning directly from the little village
+into the park, which is beautifully laid out with fine old trees. We
+had glimpses of a lovely garden as we drove up to the house, and of
+two old towers--one round and one square. The chateau stands well--a
+very broad moat, almost a river, running straight around the house and
+gardens. We crossed the drawbridge, which always gives me a sensation
+of old feudal times and recalls the days of my childhood when I used
+to sit under the sickle-pear tree at "Cherry Lawn" reading Scott's
+"Marmion"--"Up drawbridge, grooms--what, Warder, ho! Let the
+portcullis fall!" wondering what a "portcullis" was, and if I should
+ever see one or even a chateau-fort.
+
+La Houssaye is an old castle built in the eleventh century, but has
+passed through many vicissitudes. All that remains of the original
+building are the towers and the foundations. It was restored in the
+sixteenth century and has since remained unchanged. During the French
+Revolution the family of the actual proprietor installed themselves in
+one of the towers and lived there many long weary weeks, never daring
+to venture out, show any lights, or give any sign of life--in daily
+terror of being discovered and dragged to Paris before the dreaded
+revolutionary tribunals. Later it was given, by Napoleon, to the
+Marshall Augereau, who died there. It has since been in the family of
+the present proprietor, Monsieur de Mimont, who married an American,
+Miss Forbes.
+
+The rain, which had been threatening all the afternoon, came down in
+torrents just as we crossed the drawbridge, much to the disappointment
+of our host and hostess, who were anxious to show us their garden,
+which is famous in all the countryside. However, in spite of the
+driving rain, we caught glimpses through the windows of splendid
+parterres of salvias and cannas, making great spots of colour in a
+beautiful bit of smooth green lawn. In old days the chateau was much
+bigger, stretching out to the towers. Each successive proprietor has
+diminished the buildings, and the present chateau, at the back, stands
+some little distance from the moat, the vacant space being now
+transformed into their beautiful gardens.
+
+We only saw the ground-floor of the house, which is most comfortable.
+We left our wraps in the large square hall and passed through one
+drawing-room and a small library into another, which is charming--a
+corner room looking on the gardens--the walls, panels of light gray
+wood, prettily carved with wreaths and flowers.
+
+We had tea in the dining-room on the other side of the hall; a curious
+room, rather, with red brick walls and two old narrow doors of carved
+oak. The tea--most abundant--was very acceptable after our long damp
+drive. One dish was rather a surprise--American waffles--not often to
+be found, I imagine, in an old French feudal castle, but Madame de
+Mimont's nationality explained it. I was very sorry not to see the
+park which is beautifully laid out, but the rain was falling straight
+down as hard as it could--almost making waves in the moat, and a
+curtain of mist cut off the end of the park.
+
+Our dinner and evening at La Grange were delightful. The dining-room
+is particularly charming at night. The flowers on the table, this
+evening, were red, and the lights from the handsome silver candelabres
+made a brilliant spot of warmth and colour against the dark panelled
+walls--just shining on the armour of the fine Ormond portraits hanging
+on each side of the fireplace. The talk was always easy and pleasant.
+
+One of the guests, the naval attache to the British Embassy to France,
+had been "en mission" at Madrid at the time of the Spanish Royal
+marriage. The balcony of the English Embassy overlooked the spot where
+the bomb was thrown. In eighty-five seconds from the time they heard
+the detonation (in the first second they thought it was a salute), the
+Ambassador, followed by his suite, was at the door of the royal
+carriage. He said the young sovereigns looked very pale but calm; the
+king, perhaps, more agitated than the Queen.
+
+We finished the evening with music and dumb crambo--that particularly
+English form of amusement, which I have never seen well done except by
+English people. It always fills me with astonishment whenever I see
+it. It is so at variance with the English character. They are usually
+so very shy and self-conscious. One would never believe they could
+throw themselves into this really childish game with so much entrain.
+The performance is simple enough. Some of the company retire from the
+drawing-room; those who remain choose a word--chair, hat, cat, etc.
+This evening the word was "mat." We told the two actors--Mrs. P. and
+the son of the house--they must act (nothing spoken) a word which
+rhymed with _hat_. I will say they found it very quickly, but some of
+their attempts were funny enough--really very cleverly done. It amused
+me perfectly, though I must frankly confess I should have been
+incapable of either acting or guessing the word. The only one I made
+out was fat, when they both came in so stuffed out with pillows and
+bolsters as to be almost unrecognizable. The two dogs--a beautiful
+little fox-terrier and a fine collie--went nearly mad, barking and
+yapping every time the couple appeared--their excitement reaching a
+climax when the actors came in and stretched themselves out on each
+side of the door, having finally divined the word mat. The dogs made
+such frantic dashes at them that M. and Mme. de Lasteyrie had to carry
+them off bodily.
+
+The next morning I went for a walk with M. de Lasteyrie. We strolled
+up and down the "Allee des Soupirs," so called in remembrance of one
+of the early chatelaines who trailed her mourning robes and widow's
+veil over the fallen leaves, bemoaning her solitude until a favoured
+suitor appeared on the scene and carried her away to his distant
+home--but the Allee still retains its name.
+
+The park is small, but very well laid out. Many of the memoirs of the
+time speak of walks and talks with Lafayette under the beautiful
+trees.
+
+During the last years of Lafayette's life, La Grange was a
+cosmopolitan centre. Distinguished people from all countries came
+there, anxious to see the great champion of liberty; among them many
+Americans, who always found a gracious, cordial welcome; one silent
+guest--a most curious episode which I will give in the words of the
+Marquis de Lasteyrie:
+
+"One American, however, in Lafayette's own time, came on a lonely
+pilgrimage to La Grange; he was greeted with respect, but of that
+greeting he took no heed. He was a silent guest, nor has he left any
+record of his impressions; in fact, he was dead before starting on his
+journey. He arrived quite simply one fine autumn morning, in his
+coffin, accompanied by a letter which said: 'William Summerville,
+having the greatest admiration for the General Lafayette, begs he will
+bury him in his land at La Grange.' This, being against the law, could
+not be done, but Lafayette bought the whole of the small cemetery of
+the neighbouring village and laid the traveller from over the sea to
+rest in his ground indeed, though not under one of the many American
+trees at La Grange itself, of which the enthusiastic wanderer had
+probably dreamed."
+
+They told me many interesting things, too long to write, about the
+last years of Lafayette's life spent principally at La Grange. A
+charming account of that time and the lavish hospitality of the
+chateau is given by Lady Morgan, in her well-known "Diary." Some of
+her descriptions are most amusing; the arrival, for instance, of Lady
+Holland at the home of the Republican General. "She is always preceded
+by a fourgon from London containing her own favourite meubles of
+Holland House--her bed, fauteuil, carpet, etc., and divers other
+articles too numerous to mention, but which enter into her Ladyship's
+superfluchoses tres necessaires, at least to a grande dame one of her
+female attendants and a groom of the chambers precede her to make all
+ready for her reception. However, her original manner, though it
+startles the French ladies, amuses them."
+
+Her Irish ladyship (Lady Morgan) seems to have been troubled by no
+shyness in asking questions of the General. She writes: "Is it true,
+General, I asked, that you once went to a bal masque at the opera with
+the Queen of France--Marie Antoinette--leaning on your arm, the King
+knowing nothing of the matter till her return? I am afraid so, said
+he. She was so indiscreet, and I can conscientiously add--so innocent.
+However, the Comte d'Artois was also of the party, and we were all
+young, enterprising, and pleasure-loving. But what is most absurd in
+the adventure was that, when I pointed out Mme. du Barry to her--whose
+figure and favourite domino I knew--the Queen expressed the most
+anxious desire to hear her speak and bade me intriguer her. She
+answered me flippantly, and I am sure if I had offered her my other
+arm, the Queen would not have objected to it. Such was the esprit
+d'aventure at that time in the court of Versailles and in the head of
+the haughty daughter of Austria."
+
+I remember quite well the parents of my host. The Marquise, a type of
+the grande dame, with blue eyes and snow white hair survived her
+husband many years. During the war of 1870 they, like many other
+chatelains, had Prussian soldiers in their house. The following
+characteristic anecdote of the Marquise was told to me by her son:
+
+"There are still to be seen at La Grange two little cannon which
+had been given to Lafayette by the Garde Nationale. One December
+morning, in 1870, when the house was full of German troops, Madame de
+Lasteyrie was awakened by a noise under the archway, and looking out
+of her window saw, in the dim light, the two guns being carried off by
+the German soldiers. In an instant, her bare feet hastily thrust into
+slippers, her hair like a long white mane hanging down her back, with
+a dressing gown thrown over her shoulders, she started in pursuit. She
+followed them about three miles and at last came upon them at the top
+of a hill. After much persuasion and after spiking the guns (in no
+case could they have done great damage), the soldiers were induced to
+give them up, and departed, leaving her alone in the frost and
+starlight waiting for the morning. She sat bare-footed (for she had
+lost her shoes) but triumphant on her small cannon in the deep snow
+till the day came and the farm people stole out and dragged them
+all--the old lady and the two guns--back to the house."
+
+I was sorry to go--the old chateau, with its walls and towers soft and
+grey in the sunlight, seems to belong absolutely to another century. I
+felt as if I had been transported a hundred years back and had lived a
+little of the simple patriarchal life that made such a beautiful end
+to Lafayette's long and eventful career. The present owner keeps up
+the traditions of his grandfather. I was thinking last night what a
+cosmopolitan group we were. Three or four different nationalities,
+speaking alternately the two languages--French and English--many of
+the party having travelled all over the world and all interested in
+politics, literature, and music; in a different way, perhaps, but
+quite as much as the "belles dames et beaux esprits" of a hundred
+years ago. Everything changes as time goes on (I don't know if I would
+say that _everything_ improves), but I carried away the same
+impression of a warm welcome and large hospitable life that every one
+speaks of who saw La Grange during Lafayette's life.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+WINTER AT THE CHATEAU
+
+
+We had a very cold winter one year--a great deal of snow, which froze
+as it fell and lay a long time on the hard ground. We woke up one
+morning in a perfectly still white world. It had snowed heavily during
+the night, and the house was surrounded by a glistening white carpet
+which stretched away to the "sapinette" at the top of the lawn without
+a speck or flaw. There was no trace of path or road, or little low
+shrubs, and even the branches of the big lime-trees were heavy with
+snow. It was a bright, beautiful day--blue sky and a not too pale
+winter sun. Not a vehicle of any kind had ventured out. In the middle
+of the road were footprints deep in the snow where evidently the
+keepers and some workmen had passed. Nothing and no one had arrived
+from outside, neither postman, butcher, nor baker. The chef was in a
+wild state; but I assured him we could get on with eggs and game, of
+which there was always a provision for one day at any rate.
+
+About eleven, Pauline and I started out. We thought we would go as far
+as the lodge and see what was going on on the highroad. We put on
+thick boots, gaiters and very short skirts, and had imagined we could
+walk in the footsteps of the keepers; but, of course, we couldn't take
+their long stride, and we floundered about in the snow. In some places
+where it had drifted we went in over our knees.
+
+There was nothing visible on the road--not a creature, absolute
+stillness; a line of footprints in the middle where some labourer had
+passed, and the long stretch of white fields, broken by lines of black
+poplars running straight away to the forest.
+
+While we were standing at the gate talking to old Antoine, who was all
+muffled up with a woollen comforter tied over his cap, and socks over
+his shoes, we saw a small moving object in the distance. As it came
+nearer we made out it was the postman, also so muffled up as to be
+hardly recognizable. He too had woollen socks over his shoes, and said
+the going was something awful, the "Montagne de Marolles" a sheet of
+ice; he had fallen twice, in spite of his socks and pointed stick. He
+said neither butcher nor baker would come--that no horse could get up
+the hill.
+
+We sent him into the kitchen to thaw, and have his breakfast. That was
+one also of the traditions of the chateau; the postman always
+breakfasted. On Sundays, when there was no second delivery, he brought
+his little girl and an accordion, and remained all the afternoon. He
+often got a lift back to La Ferte, when the carriage was going in to
+the station, or the chef to market in the donkey-cart. _Now_ many of
+the postmen have bicycles.
+
+We had a curious feeling of being quite cut off from the outside
+world. The children, Francis and Alice, were having a fine time in the
+stable-yard, where the men had made them two snow figures--man and
+woman (giants)--and they were pelting them with snowballs and tumbling
+headlong into the heaps of snow on each side of the gate, where a
+passage had been cleared for the horses.
+
+We thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little coasting and
+inaugurate a sled we had had made with great difficulty the year
+before. It was rather a long operation. The wheelwright at Marolles
+had never seen anything of the kind, had no idea _what_ we wanted.
+Fortunately Francis had a little sled which one of his cousins had
+sent him from America; and with that as a model, and many
+explanations, the wheelwright and the blacksmith produced really a
+very creditable sled--quite large, a seat for two in front, and one
+behind for the person who steered. Only when the sled was finished the
+snow had disappeared! It rarely lasts long in France.
+
+We had the sled brought out--the runners needed a little
+repairing--and the next day made our first attempt. There was not much
+danger of meeting anything. A sort of passage had been cleared, and
+gravel sprinkled in the middle of the road; but very few vehicles had
+passed, and the snow was as hard as ice. All the establishment
+"assisted" at the first trial, and the stable-boy accompanied us with
+the donkey who was to pull the sled up the hill.
+
+We had some little difficulty in starting, Pauline and I in front,
+Francis behind; but as soon as we got fairly on the slope the thing
+flew. Pauline was frightened to death, screaming, and wanted to get
+off; but I held her tight, and we landed in the ditch near the foot of
+the hill. Half-way down (the hill is steep but straight, one sees a
+great distance) Francis saw the diligence arriving; and as he was not
+quite sure of his steering-gear, he thought it was better to take no
+risks, and steered us straight into the ditch as hard as we could go.
+The sled upset; we all rolled off into the deep soft snow, lost our
+hats, and emerged quite white from head to foot.
+
+The diligence had stopped at the foot of the hill. There were only two
+men in it besides the driver, the old Pere Jacques, who was
+dumbfounded when he recognized Madame Waddington. It seems they
+couldn't think what had happened. As they got to the foot of the hill,
+they saw a good many people at the gate of the chateau; then suddenly
+something detached itself from the group and rushed wildly down the
+hill. They thought it was an accident, some part of a carriage broken,
+and before they had time to collect their senses the whole thing
+collapsed in the ditch. The poor old man was quite disturbed--couldn't
+think we were not hurt, and begged us to get into the diligence and
+not trust ourselves again to such a dangerous vehicle. However we
+reassured him, and all walked up the hill together, the donkey pulling
+the sled, which was tied to him with a very primitive arrangement of
+ropes, the sled constantly swinging round and hitting him on the legs,
+which he naturally resented and kicked viciously.
+
+We amused ourselves very much as long as the snow lasted, about ten
+days--coasted often, and made excursions to the neighbouring villages
+with the sled and the donkey. We wanted to skate, but that was not
+easy to arrange, as the ponds and "tourbieres" near us were very deep,
+and I was afraid to venture with the children. I told Hubert, the
+coachman, who knew the country well, to see what he could find. He
+said there was a very good pond in the park of the chateau of La
+Ferte, and he was sure the proprietor, an old man who lived there by
+himself, would be quite pleased to let us come there.
+
+The old gentleman was most amiable--begged we would come as often as
+we liked--merely making one condition, that we should have a man on
+the bank (the pond was only about a foot deep) with a rope in case of
+accidents.... We went there nearly every afternoon, and made quite a
+comfortable "installation" on the bank: a fire, rugs, chairs and a
+very good little gouter, the grocer's daughter bringing us hot wine
+and biscuits from the town.
+
+It was a perfect sight for La Ferte. The whole town came to look at
+us, and the carters stopped their teams on the road to look on--one
+day particularly when one of our cousins, Maurice de Bunsen,[3] was
+staying with us. He skated beautifully, doing all sorts of figures,
+and his double eights and initials astounded the simple country folk.
+For some time after they spoke of "l'Anglais" who did such wonderful
+things on the ice.
+
+  [3] To-day British Embassador at Madrid.
+
+They were bad days for the poor. We used to meet all the children
+coming back from school when we went home. The poor little things
+toiled up the steep, slippery hill, with often a cold wind that must
+have gone through the thin worn-out jackets and shawls they had for
+all covering, carrying their satchels and remnants of dinner. Those
+that came from a distance always brought their dinner with them,
+generally a good hunk of bread and a piece of chocolate, the poorer
+ones bread alone, very often only a stale hard crust that couldn't
+have been very nourishing. They were a very poor lot at our little
+village, St. Quentin, and we did all we could in the way of warm
+stockings and garments; but the pale, pinched faces rather haunted me,
+and Henrietta and I thought we would try and arrange with the school
+mistress who was wife of one of the keepers, to give them a hot plate
+of soup every day during the winter months. W., who knew his people
+well, rather discouraged us--said they all had a certain sort of
+pride, notwithstanding their poverty, and might perhaps be offended at
+being treated like tramps or beggars; but we could try if we liked.
+
+We got a big kettle at La Ferte, and the good Mere Cecile of the Asile
+lent us the tin bowls, also telling us we wouldn't be able to carry
+out our plan. She had tried at the Asile, but it didn't go; the
+children didn't care about the soup--liked the bread and chocolate
+better. It was really a curious experience. I am still astonished when
+I think of it. The soup was made at the head-keeper's cottage,
+standing on the edge of the woods.
+
+We went over the first day about eleven o'clock--a cold, clear day, a
+biting wind blowing down the valley. The children were all assembled,
+waiting impatiently for us to come. The soup was smoking in a big pot
+hung high over the fire. We, of course, tasted it, borrowing two bowls
+from the children and asking Madame Labbey to cut us two pieces of
+bread, the children all giggling and rather shy. The soup was very
+good, and we were quite pleased to think that the poor little things
+should have something warm in their stomachs. The first depressing
+remark was made by our own coachman on the way home. His little
+daughter was living at the keeper's. I said to him, "I did not see
+Celine with the other children." "Oh, no, Madame; she wasn't there. We
+pay for the food at Labbey's; she doesn't need charity."
+
+The next day, equally cold, about half the children came (there were
+only twenty-seven in the school); the third, five or six, rather
+shamefaced; the fourth, not one; and at the end of the week the
+keeper's wife begged us to stop the distribution; all the parents were
+hurt at the idea of their children receiving _public_ charity from
+Madame Waddington. She had thought some of the very old people of the
+village might like what was left; but no one came except some tramps
+and rough-looking men who had heard there was food to be had, and they
+made her very nervous prowling around the house when she was alone,
+her husband away all day in the woods.
+
+W. was amused--not at all surprised--said he was quite sure we
+shouldn't succeed, but it was just as well to make our own experience.
+We took our bowls back sadly to the Asile, where the good sister shook
+her head, saying, "Madame verra comme c'est difficile de faire du bien
+dans ce paysci; on ne pense qu'a s'amuser." And yet we saw the
+miserable little crusts of hard bread, and some of the boys in linen
+jackets over their skin, no shirt, and looking as if they had never
+had a good square meal in their lives.
+
+I had one other curious experience, and after that I gave up trying
+anything that was a novelty or that they hadn't seen all their lives.
+The French peasant is really conservative; and if left to himself,
+with no cheap political papers or socialist orators haranguing in the
+cafes on the eternal topic of the rich and the poor, he would be quite
+content to go on leading the life he and his fathers have always
+led--would never want to destroy or change anything.
+
+I was staying one year with Lady Derby at Knowsley, in Christmas week,
+and I was present one afternoon when she was making her annual
+distribution of clothes to the village children. I was much pleased
+with some ulsters and some red cloaks she had for the girls. They were
+so pleased, too--broad smiles on their faces when they were called up
+and the cloaks put on their shoulders. They looked so warm and
+comfortable, when the little band trudged home across the snow. I had
+instantly visions of my school children attired in these cloaks,
+climbing our steep hills in the dark winter days.
+
+I had a long consultation with Lady Margaret Cecil, Lady Derby's
+daughter--a perfect saint, who spent all her life helping other
+people--and she gave me the catalogue of "Price Jones," a well-known
+Welsh shop whose "specialite" was all sorts of clothes for country
+people, schools, workmen's families, etc. I ordered a large collection
+of red cloaks, ulsters, and flannel shirts at a very reasonable price,
+and they promised to send them in the late summer, so that we should
+find them when we went back to France.
+
+We found two large cases when we got home, and were quite pleased at
+all the nice warm cloaks we had in store for the winter.
+
+As soon as the first real cold days began, about the end of November,
+the women used to appear at the chateau asking for warm clothes for
+the children. The first one to come was the wife of the "garde de
+Borny"--a slight, pale woman, the mother of nine small children
+(several of them were members of the school at St. Quentin, who had
+declined our soup, and I rather had _their_ little pinched, bloodless
+faces in my mind when I first thought about it). She had three with
+her--a baby in her arms, a boy and a girl of six and seven, both
+bare-legged, the boy in an old worn-out jersey pulled over his chest,
+the girl in a ragged blue and white apron, a knitted shawl over her
+head and shoulders. The baby had a cloak. I don't believe there was
+much on underneath, and the mother was literally a bundle of rags, her
+skirt so patched one could hardly make out the original colour, and a
+wonderful cloak all frayed at the ends and with holes in every
+direction. However, they were all clean.
+
+The baby and the boy were soon provided for. The boy was much pleased
+with his flannel shirt. Then we produced the red cloak for the girl.
+The woman's face fell: "Oh, no, Madame, I couldn't take that; my
+little girl couldn't wear it." I, astounded: "But you don't see what
+it is--a good, thick cloak that will cover her all up and keep her
+warm." "Oh, no, Madame, she couldn't wear that; all the people on the
+road would laugh at her! Cela ne se porte pas dans notre pays" (that
+is not worn in our country).
+
+I explained that I had several, and that she would see all the other
+little girls with the same cloaks; but I got only the same answer,
+adding that Madame would see--no child would wear such a cloak. I was
+much disgusted--thought the woman was capricious; but she was
+perfectly right; not a single mother, and Heaven knows they were poor
+enough, would take a red cloak, and they all had to be transformed
+into red flannel petticoats. Every woman made me the same answer:
+"Every one on the road would laugh at them."
+
+I was not much luckier with the ulsters. What I had ordered for big
+girls of nine and ten would just go on girls of six and seven. Either
+French children are much stouter than English, or they wear thicker
+things underneath. Here again there was work to do--all the sleeves
+were much too long; my maids had to alter and shorten them, which they
+did with rather a bad grace.
+
+A most interesting operation that very cold year was taking ice out of
+the big pond at the foot of the hill. The ice was several inches
+thick, and beautifully clear in the middle of the pond; toward the
+edges the reeds and long grass had all got frozen into it, and it was
+rather difficult to get the big blocks out. We had one of the farm
+carts with a pair of strong horses, and three or four men with axes
+and a long pointed stick. It was so solid that we all stood on the
+pond while the men were cutting their first square hole in the middle.
+It was funny to see the fish swimming about under the ice.
+
+The whole village of course looked on, and the children were much
+excited, and wanted to come and slide on the ice, but I got nervous as
+the hole got bigger and the ice at the edges thinner, so we all
+adjourned to the road and watched operations from there.
+
+There were plenty of fish in the pond, and once a year it was
+thoroughly drained and cleaned--the water drawn off, and the bottom of
+the pond, which got choked up with mud and weeds, cleared out. They
+made a fine haul of fish on those occasions from the small pools that
+were left on each side while the cleaning was going on.
+
+Our ice-house was a godsend to all the countryside. Whenever any one
+was ill, and ice was wanted, they always came to the chateau. Our good
+old doctor was not at all in the movement as regarded fresh air and
+cold water, but ice he often wanted. He was a rough, kindly old man,
+quite the type of the country practitioner--a type that is also
+disappearing, like everything else. Everybody knew his cabriolet (with
+a box at the back where he kept his medicine chest and instruments),
+with a strong brown horse that trotted all day and all night up and
+down the steep hills in all weathers. A very small boy was always with
+him to hold the horse while he made his visits.
+
+Our doctor was very kind to the poor, and never refused to go out at
+night. It was funny to see him arrive on a cold day, enveloped in so
+many cloaks and woollen comforters that it took him some time to get
+out of his wraps. He had a gruff voice, and heavy black overhanging
+eyebrows which frightened people at first, but they soon found out
+what a kind heart there was beneath such a rough exterior, and the
+children loved him. He had always a box of liquorice lozenges in his
+waistcoat pocket which he distributed freely to the small ones.
+
+The country doctors about us now are a very different type--much
+younger men, many foreigners. There are two Russians and a Greek in
+some of the small villages near us. I believe they are very good. I
+met the Greek one day at the keeper's cottage. He was looking after
+the keeper's wife, who was very ill. It seemed funny to see a Greek,
+with one of those long Greek names ending in "popolo," in a poor
+little French village almost lost in the woods; but he made a very
+good impression on me--was very quiet, didn't give too much medicine
+(apothecaries' bills are always such a terror to the poor), and spoke
+kindly to the woman. He comes still in a cabriolet, but his Russian
+colleague has an automobile--indeed so have now many of the young
+French doctors. I think there is a little rivalry between the
+Frenchmen and the foreigners, but the latter certainly make their way.
+
+What is very serious now is the open warfare between the cure and the
+school-master. When I first married, the school-masters and mistresses
+took their children to church, always sat with them and kept them in
+order. The school-mistress sometimes played the organ. Now they not
+only don't go to church themselves, but they try to prevent the
+children from going. The result is that half the children don't go
+either to the church or to the catechism.
+
+I had a really annoying instance of this state of things one year when
+we wanted to make a Christmas tree and distribution of warm clothes at
+Montigny, a lonely little village not far from us. We talked it over
+with the cure and the school-master. They gave us the names and ages
+of all the children, and were both much pleased to have a fete in
+their quiet little corner. I didn't suggest a service in the church,
+as I thought that might perhaps be a difficulty for the school-master.
+
+Two days before the fete I had a visit from the cure of Montigny, who
+looked embarrassed and awkward; had evidently something on his mind,
+and finally blurted out that he was very sorry he couldn't be present
+at the Christmas tree, as he was obliged to go to Reims that day. I,
+much surprised and decidedly put out: "You are going to Reims the one
+day in the year when we come and make a fete in your village? It is
+most extraordinary, and surprises me extremely. The date has been
+fixed for weeks, and I hold very much to your being there."
+
+He still persisted, looking very miserable and uncomfortable, and
+finally said he was going away on purpose, so as not to be at the
+school-house. He liked the school-master very much, got on with him
+perfectly; he was intelligent and taught the children very well; but
+all school-masters who had anything to do with the Church or the cure
+were "malnotes." The mayor of Montigny was a violent radical; and
+surely if he heard that the cure was present at our fete in the
+school-house, the school-master would be dismissed the next day. The
+man was over thirty, with wife and children; it would be difficult for
+him to find any other employment; and he himself would regret him, as
+his successor might be much worse and fill the children's heads with
+impossible ideas.
+
+I was really very much vexed, and told him I would talk it over with
+my son and see what we could do. The poor little cure was much
+disappointed, but begged me not to insist upon his presence.
+
+A little later the school-master arrived, also very much embarrassed,
+saying practically the same thing--that he liked the cure very much.
+He never talked politics, nor interfered in any way with his
+parishioners. Whenever any one was ill or in trouble, he was always
+the first person to come forward and nurse and help. But he saw him
+very little. If I held to the cure being present at the Christmas
+tree, of course he could say nothing; but he would certainly be
+dismissed the next day. He was married--had nothing but his salary; it
+would be a terrible blow to him.
+
+I was very much perplexed, particularly as the time was short and I
+couldn't get hold of the mayor. So we called a family council--Henrietta
+and Francis were both at home--and decided that we must let our fete
+take place without the cure. The school-master was very grateful, and
+said he would take my letter to the post-office. I had to write to the
+cure to tell him what we had decided, and that he might go to Reims.
+
+One of our great amusements in the winter was the hunting. We knew
+very well the two gentlemen, Comtes de B. and de L., who hunted the
+Villers-Cotterets forest, and often rode with them. It was beautiful
+riding country--stretches of grass alongside the hard highroad, where
+one could have a capital canter, the only difficulty being the
+quantity of broad, low ditches made for the water to run off. Once the
+horses knew them they took them quite easily in their stride, but they
+were a little awkward to manage at first. The riding was very
+different from the Roman Campagna, which was my only experience. There
+was very little to jump; long straight alleys, with sometimes a big
+tree across the road, occasionally ditches; nothing like the very
+stiff fences and stone walls one meets in the Campagna, or the
+slippery bits of earth (tufa) where the horses used to slide sometimes
+in the most uncomfortable way. One could gallop for miles in the
+Villers-Cotterets forest with a loose rein. It was disagreeable
+sometimes when we left the broad alleys and took little paths in and
+out of the trees. When the wood was thick and the branches low, I was
+always afraid one would knock me off the saddle or come into my eyes.
+Some of the meets were most picturesque; sometimes in the heart of the
+forest at a great carrefour, alleys stretching off in every direction,
+hemmed in by long straight lines of winter trees on each side, with a
+thick, high undergrowth of ferns, and a broad-leaved plant I didn't
+know, which remained green almost all winter. It was pretty to see the
+people arriving from all sides, in every description of
+vehicle--breaks, dog-carts, victorias, farmer's gigs--grooms with led
+horses, hunting men in green or red coats, making warm bits of colour
+in the rather severe landscape. The pack of hounds, white with brown
+spots, big, powerful animals, gave the valets de chiens plenty to do.
+Apparently they knew all their names, as we heard frequent admonitions
+to Comtesse, Diane (a very favourite name for hunting dogs in France),
+La Grise, etc., to keep quiet, and not make little excursions into the
+woods. As the words were usually accompanied by a cut of the whip, the
+dogs understood quite well, and remained a compact mass on the side of
+the road. There was the usual following of boys, tramps, and stray
+bucherons (woodmen), and when the day was fine, and the meet not too
+far, a few people would come from the neighbouring villages, or one or
+two carriages from the livery stables of Villers-Cotterets, filled
+with strangers who had been attracted by the show and the prospect of
+spending an afternoon in the forest. A favourite meet was at the
+pretty little village of Ivors, standing just on the edge of the
+forest not far from us. It consisted of one long street, a church, and
+a chateau at one end. The chateau had been a fine one, but was fast
+going to ruin, uninhabited, paint and plaster falling off, roof and
+walls remaining, and showing splendid proportions, but had an air of
+decay and neglect that was sad to see in such a fine place. The owner
+never lived there; had several other places. An agent came down
+occasionally, and looked after the farm and woods. There was a fine
+double court-yard and enormous "communs," a large field only
+separating the kitchen garden from the forest. A high wall in fairly
+good condition surrounded the garden and small park. On a hunting
+morning the little place quite waked up, and it was pretty to see the
+dogs and horses grouped under the walls of the old chateau, and the
+hunting men in their bright coats moving about among the peasants and
+carters in their dark-blue smocks.
+
+The start was very pretty--one rode straight into the forest, the
+riders spreading in all directions. The field was never very
+large--about thirty--I the only lady. The cor de chasse was a
+delightful novelty to me, and I soon learned all the calls--the
+debouche, the vue and the hallali, when the poor beast is at the last
+gasp. The first time I saw the stag taken I was quite miserable. We
+had had a splendid gallop. I was piloted by one of the old stagers,
+who knew every inch of the forest, and who promised I should be in at
+the death, if I would follow him, "mais il faut me suivre partout,
+avez-vous peur?" As he was very stout, and not particularly well
+mounted, and I had a capital English mare, I was quite sure I could
+pass wherever he could. He took me through all sorts of queer little
+paths, the branches sometimes so low that it didn't seem possible to
+get through, but we managed it. Sometimes we lost sight of the hunt
+entirely, but he always guided himself by the sound of the horns,
+which one hears at a great distance. Once a stag bounded across the
+road just in front of us, making our horses shy violently, but he said
+that was not the one we were after. I wondered how he knew, but didn't
+ask any questions. Once or twice we stopped in the thick of the woods,
+having apparently lost ourselves entirely, not hearing a sound, and
+then in the distance there would be the faint sound of the horn,
+enough for him to distinguish the vue, which meant that they were
+still running. Suddenly, very near, we heard the great burst of the
+hallali--horses, dogs, riders, all joining in; and pushing through the
+brushwood we found ourselves on the edge of a big pond, almost a lake.
+The stag, a fine one, was swimming about, nearly finished, his eyes
+starting out of his head, and his breast shaken with great sobs. The
+whole pack of dogs was swimming after him, the hunters all swarming
+down to the edge, sounding their horns, and the master of hounds
+following in a small flatboat, waiting to give the coup de grace with
+his carbine when the poor beast should attempt to get up the bank. It
+was a sickening sight. I couldn't stand it, and retreated (we had all
+dismounted) back into the woods, much to the surprise and disgust of
+my companion, who was very proud and pleased at having brought me in
+at the death among the very first. Of course, one gets hardened, and a
+stag at bay is a fine sight. In the forest they usually make their
+last stand against a big tree, and sell their lives dearly. The dogs
+sometimes get an ugly blow. I was really very glad always when the
+stag got away. I had all the pleasure and excitement of the hunt
+without having my feelings lacerated at the end of the day. The sound
+of the horns and the unwonted stir in the country had brought out all
+the neighbourhood, and the inhabitants of the little village,
+including the cure and the chatelaine of the small chateau near, soon
+appeared upon the scene. The cure, a nice, kindly faced old man, with
+white hair and florid complexion, was much interested in all the
+details of the hunt. It seems the stag is often taken in these ponds,
+les etangs de la ramee, which are quite a feature in the country, and
+one of the sights of the Villers-Cotterets forest, where strangers are
+always brought. They are very picturesque; the trees slope down to the
+edge of the ponds, and when the bright autumn foliage is reflected in
+the water the effect is quite charming.
+
+Mme. de M., the chatelaine, was the type of the grande dame Francaise,
+fine, clear-cut features, black eyes, and perfectly white hair, very
+well arranged. She was no longer young, but walked with a quick, light
+step, a cane in her hand. She, too, was much interested, such an
+influx of people, horses, dogs, and carriages (for in some mysterious
+way the various vehicles always seemed to find their way to the
+finish). It was an event in the quiet little village. She admired my
+mare very much, which instantly won my affections. She asked us to
+come back with her to the chateau--it was only about a quarter of an
+hour's walk--to have some refreshment after our long day; so I held up
+my skirt as well as I could, and we walked along together. The chateau
+is not very large, standing close to the road in a small park, really
+more of a manor house than a chateau. She took us into the
+drawing-room just as stiff and bare as all the others I had seen, a
+polished parquet floor, straight-backed, hard chairs against the wall
+(the old lady herself looked as if she had sat up straight on a hard
+chair all her life). In the middle of the room was an enormous
+palm-tree going straight up to the ceiling. She said it had been there
+for years and always remained when she went to Paris in the spring.
+She was a widow, lived alone in the chateau with the old servants. Her
+daughter and grandchildren came occasionally to stay with her. She
+gave us wine and cake, and was most agreeable. I saw her often
+afterward, both in the country and Paris, and loved to hear her talk.
+She had remained absolutely ancien regime, couldn't understand modern
+life and ways at all. One of the things that shocked her beyond words
+was to see her granddaughters and their young friends playing tennis
+with young men in flannels. In her day a young man in bras de chemise
+would have been ashamed to appear before ladies in such attire. We
+didn't stay very long that day, as we were far from home, and the
+afternoon was shortening fast. The retraite was sometimes long when we
+had miles of hard road before us, until we arrived at the farm or
+village where the carriage was waiting. When we could walk our horses
+it was bearable, but sometimes when they broke into a jog-trot, which
+nothing apparently could make them change, it was very fatiguing after
+a long day.
+
+Sometimes, when we had people staying with us, we followed the hunt in
+the carriage. We put one of the keepers of the Villers-Cotterets
+forest on the box, and it was wonderful how much we could see. The
+meet was always amusing, but when once the hunt had moved off, and the
+last stragglers disappeared in the forest, it didn't seem as if there
+was any possibility of catching them; and sometimes we would drive in
+a perfectly opposite direction, but the old keeper knew all about the
+stags and their haunts when they would break out and cross the road,
+and when they would double and go back into the woods. We were waiting
+one day in the heart of the forest, at one of the carrefours, miles
+away apparently from everything, and an absolute stillness around us.
+Suddenly there came a rush and noise of galloping horses, baying
+hounds and horns, and a flash of red and green coats dashed by,
+disappearing in an instant in the thick woods before we had time to
+realize what it was. It was over in a moment--seemed an hallucination.
+We saw and heard nothing more, and the same intense stillness
+surrounded us. We had the same sight, the stag taken in the water,
+some years later, when we were alone at the chateau. Mme. A. was dead,
+and her husband had gone to Paris to live. We were sitting in the
+gallery one day after breakfast, finishing our coffee, and making
+plans for the day, when suddenly we saw red spots and moving figures
+in the distance, on the hills opposite, across the canal. Before we
+had time to get glasses and see what was happening, the children came
+rushing in to say the hunt was in the woods opposite, the horns
+sounding the hallali, and the stag probably in the canal. With the
+glasses we made out the riders quite distinctly, and soon heard faint
+echoes of the horn. We all made a rush for hats and coats, and started
+off to the canal. We had to go down a steep, slippery path which was
+always muddy in all weathers, and across a rather rickety narrow
+plank, also very slippery. As we got nearer, we heard the horns very
+well, and the dogs yelping. By the time we got to the bridge, which was
+open to let a barge go through, everything had disappeared--horses,
+dogs, followers, and not a sound of horn or hoof. One solitary
+horseman only, who had evidently lost the hunt and didn't know which
+way to go. We lingered a little, much disgusted, but still hoping we
+might see something, when suddenly we heard again distant sounds of
+horns and yelping dogs. The man on the other side waved his cap
+wildly, pointed to the woods, and started off full gallop. In a few
+minutes the hill slope was alive with hunters coming up from all
+sides. We were nearly mad with impatience, but couldn't swim across
+the canal, the bridge was still open, the barge lumbering through. The
+children with their Fraeulein and some of the party crossed a little
+lower down on a crazy little plank, which I certainly shouldn't have
+dared attempt, and at last the bargeman took pity on us and put us
+across. We raced along the bank as fast as we could, but the canal
+turns a great deal, and a bend prevented our seeing the stag, with the
+hounds at his heels, galloping down the slope and finally jumping
+into the canal, just where it widens out and makes a sort of lake
+between our hamlet of Bourneville and Marolles. It was a pretty sight,
+all the hunters dismounted, walking along the edge of the water,
+sounding their hallali, the entire population of Bourneville and
+Marolles and all our household arriving in hot haste, and groups of
+led horses and valets de chiens in their green coats half-way up the
+slope. The stag, a very fine one, was swimming round and round, every
+now and then making an effort to get up the bank, and falling back
+heavily--he was nearly done, half his body sinking in the water, and
+his great eyes looking around to see if any one would help him. I went
+back to the barge (they had stayed, too, to see the sight), and the
+woman, a nice, clean, motherly body with two babies clinging to her,
+was much excited over the cruelty of the thing.
+
+[Illustration: I suggested that the whole chasse should adjourn to the
+chateau.]
+
+"Madame trouve que c'est bien de tourmenter une pauvre bete qui ne
+fait de mal a personne, pour s'amuser?" Madame found that rather
+difficult to answer, and turned the conversation to her life on the
+barge. The minute little cabin looked clean, with several pots of red
+geraniums, clean muslin curtains, a canary bird, and a nondescript
+sort of dog, who, she told me, was very useful, taking care of the
+children and keeping them from falling into the water when she was
+obliged to leave them on the boat while she went on shore to get her
+provisions. I asked: "_How_ does he keep them from falling into the
+water--does he take hold of their clothes?" "No, I leave them in the
+cabin, when I am obliged to go ashore, and he stands at the door and
+barks and won't let them come out." While I was talking to her I heard
+a shot, and realised that the poor stag had been finished at last. It
+was early in the afternoon--three o'clock, and I suggested that the
+whole chasse should adjourn to the chateau for gouter. This they
+promptly accepted, and started off to find their horses. Then I had
+some misgivings as to what I could give them for gouter. We were a
+small party, mostly women and children. W. was away, and I thought
+that probably the chef, who was a sportsman as well as a cook, was
+shooting (he had hired a small chasse not far from us); I had told him
+there was nothing until dinner. I had visions of twenty or thirty
+hungry men and an ordinary tea-table, with some thin bread and butter,
+a pot of damson jam, and some sables, so I sent off Francis's tutor,
+the stable-boy, and the gardener's boy to the chateau as fast as their
+legs could carry them, to find somebody, anybody, to prepare us as
+much food as they could, and to sacrifice the dinner at once, to make
+sandwiches--tea and chocolate, of course, were easily provided.
+
+We all started back to the house up the steep, muddy path, some of the
+men with us leading their horses, some riding round by Marolles to
+give orders to the breaks and various carriages to come to the
+chateau. The big gates were open, Hubert there to arrange at once for
+the accommodation of so many horses and equipages, and the billiard
+and dining-rooms, with great wood-fires, looking most comfortable. The
+chasseurs begged not to come into the drawing-room, as they were
+covered with mud, so they brushed off what they could in the hall, and
+we went at once to the gouter. It was funny to see our quiet
+dining-room invaded by such a crowd of men, some red-coated, some
+green, all with breeches and high muddy boots. The master of hounds,
+M. Menier, proposed to make the curee on the lawn after tea, which I
+was delighted to accept. We had an English cousin staying with us who
+knew all about hunting in her own country, but had never seen a French
+chasse a courre, and she was most keen about it. The gouter was very
+creditable. It seems that they had just caught the chef, who had been
+attracted by the unusual sounds and bustle on the hillside, and who
+had also come down to see the show. He promptly grasped the situation,
+hurried back to the house, and produced beef and mayonnaise
+sandwiches, and a splendid savarin with whipped cream in the middle
+(so we naturally didn't have any dessert--but nobody minded), tea,
+chocolate, and whiskey, of course. As soon as it began to get dark we
+all adjourned to the lawn. All the carriages, the big breaks with four
+horses, various lighter vehicles, grooms and led horses were massed at
+the top of the lawn, just where it rises slightly to meet the woods. A
+little lower down was Hubert, the huntsman (a cousin of our coachman,
+Hubert, who was very pleased to do the honours of his stable-yard),
+with one or two valets de chiens, the pack of dogs, and a great whip,
+which was very necessary to keep the pack back until he allowed them
+to spring upon the carcass of the stag. He managed them beautifully.
+Two men held up the stag--the head had already been taken off; it was
+a fine one, with broad, high antlers, a dix cors. Twice Hubert led his
+pack up, all yelping and their eyes starting out of their heads, and
+twice drove them back, but the third time he let them spring on the
+carcass. It was an ugly sight, the compact mass of dogs, all snarling
+and struggling, noses down and tails up. In a few minutes nothing was
+left of the poor beast but bones, and not many of them. Violet had les
+honneurs du pied (the hoof of one of the hind legs of the stag), which
+is equivalent to the "brush" one gives in fox-hunting. She thanked M.
+M., the master of hounds, very prettily and said she would have it
+arranged and hang it up in the hall of her English home, in
+remembrance of a lovely winter afternoon, and her first experience of
+what still remains of the old French venerie. The horns sounded again
+the curee and the depart, and the whole company gradually dispersed,
+making quite a cortege as they moved down the avenue, horses and
+riders disappearing in the gray mist that was creeping up from the
+canal, and the noise of wheels and hoofs dying away in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Some red-coated, some green, all with breeches and high
+muddy boots.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We were pottering about in our woods one day, waiting for Labbez (the
+keeper) to come and decide about some trees that must be cut down,
+when a most miserable group emerged from one of the side alleys and
+slipped by so quickly and quietly that we couldn't speak to them. A
+woman past middle age, lame, unclothed really--neither shoes nor
+stockings, not even a chemise--two sacks of coarse stuff, one tied
+around her waist half covering her bare legs, one over her shoulders;
+two children with her, a big overgrown girl of about twelve, equally
+without clothing, an old black bodice gaping open over her bare skin,
+held together by one button, a short skirt so dirty and torn that one
+wondered what kept it on, no shoes nor stockings, black hair falling
+straight down over her forehead and eyes; the boy, about six, in a
+dirty apron, also over his bare skin. I was horrified, tried to make
+them turn and speak to me, but they disappeared under the brushwood as
+quickly as they could, "evidently up to no good," said W. In a few
+moments the keeper appeared, red and breathless, having been running
+after poachers--a woman the worst of the lot. We described the party
+we had just seen, and he was wildly excited, wanted to start again in
+pursuit, said they were just the ones he was looking for. The woman
+belonged to a band of poachers and vagabonds they could not get hold
+of. They could trace her progress sometimes by the blood on the grass
+where the thorns and sharp stones had torn her feet. It seems they
+were quite a band, living anywhere in the woods, in old
+charcoal-burners' huts or under the trees, never staying two nights in
+the same place. There are women, and children, and babies, who appear
+and disappear, in the most extraordinary manner. Many of them have
+been condemned, and have had two weeks or a month of prison. One
+family is employed by one of the small farmers near, who lets them
+live in a tumbledown hut in the midst of his woods, and that is their
+centre. We passed by there two or three days later, when we were
+riding across the fields, and anything so miserable I never saw; the
+house half falling to pieces, no panes of glass, dirty rags stuffed in
+the windows, no door at all, bundles of dirty straw inside, a pond of
+filthy water at one side of the house, two or three dirty children
+playing in it, and inside at the opening, where the door should have
+been, the same lame woman in her two sacks. She glowered at us,
+standing defiantly at the opening to prevent our going in, in case we
+had any such intention. I suppose she had various rabbits and hares
+hung up inside she couldn't have accounted for. There was no other
+habitation anywhere near; no cart or vehicle of any kind could have
+got there. We followed a narrow path, hardly visible in the long
+grass, and the horses had to pick their way--one couldn't imagine a
+more convenient trysting-place for vagabonds and tramps. It seems
+incredible that such things should go on at our doors, so to speak,
+but it is very difficult to get at them. Our keepers and M. de M.,
+whose property touches ours, have had various members of the gang
+arrested, but they always begin again. The promiscuity of living is
+something awful, girls and young men squatting and sleeping in the
+same room on heaps of dirty rags. There have been some arrests for
+infanticide, when a baby's appearance and disappearance was too
+flagrant, but the girls don't care. They do their time of prison, come
+out quite untamed by prison discipline, and begin again their wild,
+free life. One doesn't quite understand the farmer who gives any
+shelter to such a bad lot, but I fancy there is a tacit understanding
+that his hares and rabbits must be left unmolested.
+
+It is amusing to see the keepers when they suspect poachers are in
+their woods. When the leaves are off they can see at a great distance,
+and with their keen, trained eyes make out quite well when a moving
+object is a hare, or a roebuck, or a person on all fours, creeping
+stealthily along. They have powerful glasses, too, which help them
+very much. They, too, have their various tricks, like the poachers. As
+the gun-barrel is seen at a great distance when the sun strikes it,
+they cover it with a green stuff that takes the general tint of the
+leaves and the woods, and post themselves, half hidden in the bushes,
+near some of the quarries, where the poachers generally come. Then
+they give a gun to an under-strapper, telling him to stand in some
+prominent part of the woods, _his_ gun well in sight. That, of course,
+the poachers see at once, so they make straight for the other side,
+and often fall upon the keepers who are lying in wait for them. As a
+general rule, they don't make much resistance, as they know the
+keepers will shoot--not to kill them, but a shot in the ankle or leg
+that will disable them for some time. I had rather a weakness for one
+poaching family. The man was young, good-looking, and I don't really
+believe a bad lot, but he had been unfortunate, had naturally a high
+temper, and couldn't stand being howled at and sworn at when things
+didn't go exactly as the patron wanted; consequently he never stayed
+in any place, tried to get some other work, but was only fit for the
+woods, where he knew every tree and root and the habits and haunts of
+all the animals. He had a pretty young wife and two children, who had
+also lived in the woods all their lives, and could do nothing else.
+The wife came to see me one day to ask for some clothes for herself
+and the children, which I gave, of course, and then tried mildly to
+speak to her about her husband, who spent half his time in prison, and
+was so sullen and scowling when he came out that everybody gave him a
+wide berth. The poor thing burst into a passion of tears and
+incoherent defence of her husband. Everybody had been so hard with
+him. When he had done his best, been up all night looking after the
+game, and then was rated and sworn at by his master before every one
+because un des Parisiens didn't know what to do with a gun when he had
+one in his hand, and couldn't shoot a hare that came and sat down in
+front of him, it was impossible not to answer un peu vivement
+peut-etre, and it was hard to be discharged at once without a chance
+of finding anything else, etc., and at last winding up with the
+admission that he did take hares and rabbits occasionally; but when
+there was nothing to eat in the house and the children were crying
+with hunger, what was he to do? Madame would never have known or
+missed the rabbits, and after all, le Bon Dieu made them for
+everybody. I tried to persuade W. to take him as a workman in the
+woods, with the hope of getting back as under-keeper, but he would not
+hear of it, said the man was perfectly unruly and violent-tempered,
+and would demoralize all the rest. They remained some time in the
+country, and the woman came sometimes to see me, but she had grown
+hard, evidently thought I could have done something for her husband,
+and couldn't understand that as long as he went on snaring game no one
+would have anything to do with him--always repeating the same thing,
+that a Bon Dieu had made the animals pour tout le monde. Of course it
+must be an awful temptation for a man who has starving children at
+home, and who knows that he has only to walk a few yards in the woods
+to find rabbits in plenty; and one can understand the feeling that le
+Bon Dieu provided food for all his children, and didn't mean some to
+starve, while others lived on the fat of the land.
+
+It was a long time before I could get accustomed to seeing women work
+in the fields (which I had never seen in America). In the cold autumn
+days, when they were picking the betterave (a big beet root) that is
+used to make sugar in France, it made me quite miserable to see them.
+Bending all day over the long rows of beets, which required quite an
+effort to pull out of the hard earth, their hands red and chapped,
+sometimes a cold wind whistling over the fields that no warm garment
+could keep out, and they never had any really warm garment. We met an
+old woman one day quite far from any habitation, who was toiling home,
+dragging her feet, in wretched, half-worn shoes, over the muddy
+country roads, who stopped and asked us if we hadn't a warm petticoat
+to give her. She knew me, called me by name, and said she lived in the
+little hamlet near the chateau. She looked miserably cold and tired. I
+asked where she came from, and what she had been doing all day.
+"Scaring the crows in M. A.'s fields," was the answer. "What does your
+work consist of?" I asked. "Oh, I just sit there and make a
+noise--beat the top of an old tin kettle with sticks and shake a bit
+of red stuff in the air." Poor old woman, she looked half paralyzed
+with cold and fatigue, and I was really almost ashamed to be seated so
+warmly and comfortably in the carriage, well wrapped up in furs and
+rugs, and should have quite understood if she had poured out a torrent
+of abuse. It must rouse such bitter and angry feeling when these poor
+creatures, half frozen and half starved, see carriages rolling past
+with every appliance of wealth and luxury. I suppose what saves us is
+that they are so accustomed to their lives, the long days of hard
+work, the wretched, sordid homes, the insufficient meals, the
+quantities of children clamouring for food and warmth. Their parents
+and grandparents have lived the same lives, and anything else would
+seem as unattainable as the moon, or some fairy tale. There has been
+one enormous change in all the little cottages--the petroleum lamp.
+All have got one--petroleum is cheap and gives much more light and
+heat than the old-fashioned oil lamp. In the long winter afternoons,
+when one must have light for work of any kind, the petroleum lamp is a
+godsend. We often noticed the difference coming home late. The
+smallest hamlets looked quite cheerful with the bright lights shining
+through the cracks and windows. I can't speak much from _personal_
+experience of the _inside_ of the cottages--I was never much given to
+visiting among the poor. I suppose I did not take it in the right
+spirit, but I could never see the poetry, the beautiful, patient
+lives, the resignation to their humble lot. I only saw the dirt, and
+smelt all the bad smells, and heard how bad most of the young ones
+were to all the poor old people. "Cela mange comme quatre, et cela
+n'est plus bon a rien," I heard one woman remark casually to her poor
+old father sitting huddled up in a heap near the fire. I don't know,
+either, whether they liked to have us come. What suited them best was
+to send the children to the chateau. They always got a meal and a warm
+jacket and petticoat.
+
+[Illustration: Peasant women.]
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS
+
+
+We were very particular about attending all important ceremonies at La
+Ferte, as we rarely went to church there except on great occasions. We
+had our service regularly at the chateau every Sunday morning. All the
+servants, except ours, were Protestants, Swiss generally, and very
+respectable they looked--all the women in black dresses and white
+caps--when they assembled in M. A.'s library, sitting on cane chairs near
+the door.
+
+Some, in fact most, Protestants in France attach enormous importance to
+having all their household Protestant. A friend of mine, a Protestant,
+having tea with me one day in Paris was rather pleased with the bread or
+little "croissants," and asked me where they came from. I said I didn't
+know, but would ask the butler. That rather surprised her. Then she
+said, "Your baker of course is a Protestant." That I didn't know either,
+and, what was much worse in her eyes, I didn't care. She was quite
+distressed, gave me the address of an excellent Swiss Protestant baker
+and begged me to sever all connection with the Catholic at once. I asked
+her if she really thought dangerous papist ideas were kneaded in with
+the bread, but she would not listen to my mild "persiflage," and went
+away rather anxious about my spiritual welfare.
+
+We went always to the church at La Ferte for the fete of St. Cecile, as
+the Fanfare played in the church on that day. The Fanfare was a very
+important body. Nearly all the prominent citizens of La Ferte, who had
+any idea of music, were members--the butcher, the baker, the coiffeur,
+etc. The Mayor was president and walked at the head of the procession
+when they filed into the church. I was "Presidente d'Honneur" and always
+wore my badge pinned conspicuously on my coat. It was a great day for
+the little town. Weeks before the fete we used to hear all about it from
+the coiffeur when he came to the chateau to shave the gentlemen. He
+played the big drum and thought the success of the whole thing depended
+on his performance. He proposed to bring his instrument one morning and
+play his part for us. We were very careful to be well dressed on that
+day and discarded the short serge skirts we generally wore. All the La
+Ferte ladies, particularly the wives and sisters of the performers, put
+on their best clothes, and their feelings would have been hurt if we had
+not done the same.
+
+In fact it was a little difficult to dress up to the occasion. The older
+women all had jet and lace on their dresses, with long trailing skirts,
+and the younger ones, even children, had wonderful hats with
+feathers--one or two long white ones.
+
+It was a pretty, animated sight as we arrived. All along the road we had
+met bands of people hurrying on to the town--the children with clean
+faces and pinafores, the men with white shirts, and even the old
+grandmothers--their shawls on their shoulders and their turbans starched
+stiff--were hobbling along with their sticks, anxious to arrive. We
+heard sounds of music as we got to the church--the procession was
+evidently approaching. The big doors were wide open, a great many people
+already inside. We looked straight down the nave to the far end where
+the high altar, all flowers and candles, made a bright spot of colour.
+Red draperies and banners were hanging from the columns--vases and
+wreaths of flowers at the foot of the statues of the saints; chairs and
+music-stands in the chancel. We went at once to our places. The cure,
+with his choir boys in their little short white soutanes, red petticoats
+and red shoes, was just coming out of the sacristy and the procession
+was appearing at the bottom of the church. First came the Mayor in a
+dress coat and white cravat--the "Adjoint" and one of the municipal
+council just behind, then the banner--rather a heavy one, four men
+carried it. After that the "pompiers," all in uniform, each man carrying
+his instrument; they didn't play as they came up the aisle, stopped
+their music at the door; but when they did begin--I don't know exactly
+at what moment of the mass--it was something appalling. The first piece
+was a military march, executed with all the artistic conviction and
+patriotic ardour of their young lungs (they were mostly young men). We
+were at the top of the church, very near the performers, and the first
+bursts of trumpets and bugles made one jump. They played several times.
+It didn't sound too badly at the "Elevation" when they had chosen rather
+a soft (comparatively) simple melody. The cure preached a very pretty,
+short sermon, telling them about Saint Cecile, the delicately nurtured
+young Roman who was not afraid to face martyrdom and death for the sake
+of her religion. The men listened most attentively and seemed much
+interested when he told them how he had seen in Rome the church of St.
+Cecile built over the ruin of the saint's house--the sacristy just over
+her bath-room. I asked him how he could reconcile it to his conscience
+to speak of the melodious sounds that accompanied the prayers of the
+faithful, but he said one must look sometimes at the intention more than
+at the result.
+
+There was a certain _harmony_ among the men when they were practising
+and preparing their music for the church, and as long as they held to
+coming and gave up their evenings to practising, instead of spending
+them in the wine shops, we must do all we could to encourage them.
+
+The procession went out in the same order--halted at the church door and
+then W. made them a nice little speech, saying he was pleased to see how
+numerous they were and how much improved--they would certainly take an
+honourable place in the concours de fanfares of the department. They
+escorted the Mayor back to his house playing their march and wound up
+with a copious dejeuner at the "Sauvage." Either the Mayor or the
+"Adjoint" always went to the banquet. W. gave the champagne, but
+abstained from the feast.
+
+They really did improve as they went on. They were able to get better
+instruments and were stimulated by rival fanfares in the neighbourhood.
+They were very anxious to come and play at the chateau, and we promised
+they should whenever a fitting occasion should present itself.
+
+We had a visit from the Staals one year. The Baron de Staal was Russian
+Ambassador in England, and we had been colleagues there for many years.
+We asked the Fanfare to come one Sunday afternoon while they were there.
+We had a little difficulty over the Russian National Hymn, which they,
+naturally, wanted to play. The Chef de Fanfare came to see me one day
+and we looked over the music together. I had it only for the piano, but
+I explained the tempo and repetitions to him and he arranged it very
+well for his men. They made quite an imposing entrance. Half the
+population of La Ferte escorted them (all much excited by the idea of
+seeing the Russian Ambassador), and they were reinforced by the two
+villages they passed through. We waited for them in the gallery--doors
+and windows open. They played the spirited French march "Sambre et
+Meuse" as they came up the avenue. It sounded quite fine in the open
+air. They halted and saluted quite in military style as soon as they
+came in front of the gallery--stopped their march and began immediately
+the Russian Hymn, playing it very well.
+
+They were much applauded, we in the gallery giving the signal and their
+friends on the lawn joining in enthusiastically. They were a motley
+crowd--over a hundred I should think--ranging from the municipal
+councillor of La Ferte, in his high hat and black cloth Sunday coat, to
+the humpbacked daughter of the village carpenter and the idiot boy who
+lived in a cave on the road and frightened the children out of their
+wits by running out and making faces at them whenever they passed. They
+played three or four times, then W. called up one or two of the
+principal performers and presented them to the Staals. Mme. de Staal
+spoke to them very prettily, thanked them for playing the Russian Hymn
+and said she would like to hear the "Sambre et Meuse" again. That, of
+course, delighted them and they marched off to the strains of their
+favourite tune. About half-way down the avenue we heard a few cries of
+"Vive la Russie," and then came a burst of cheers.
+
+Our dinner was rather pleasant that evening. We had the Prefet, M.
+Sebline; Senator of the Aisne, Jusserand, present Ambassador to
+Washington; Mme. Thenard, of the Comedie Francaise, and several young
+people. Jusserand is always a brilliant talker--so easy--no pose of any
+kind, and Sebline was interesting, telling about all sorts of old
+customs in the country.
+
+Though we were so near Paris, hardly two hours by the express, the
+people had remained extraordinarily primitive. There were no
+manufacturing towns anywhere near us, nothing but big farms, forests and
+small far-apart villages. The modern socialist-radical ideas were
+penetrating very slowly into the heads of the people--they were quite
+content to be humble tillers of the soil, as their fathers had been
+before them. The men had worked all their lives on the farms, the women
+too; beginning quite young, taking care of cows and geese, picking
+beet-root, etc.
+
+What absolutely changed the men was the three years military service.
+After knocking about in garrison towns, living with a great many people
+always, having all sorts of amusements easily at hand and a certain
+independence, once the service of the day was over, they found the dull
+regular routine of the farm very irksome. In the summer it was well
+enough--harvest time was gay, everyone in the fields, but in the short,
+cold winter days, with the frozen ground making all the work doubly
+hard, just enough food and no distraction of any kind but a pipe in the
+kitchen after supper, the young men grew terribly restive and
+discontented. Very few of them remain, and the old traditions handed
+down from father to son for three or four generations are disappearing.
+After dinner we had music and some charming recitations by Mme. Thenard.
+Her first one was a comic monologue which always had the wildest success
+in London, "Je suis veuve," beginning it with a ringing peal of laughter
+which was curiously contagious--everyone in the room joined in. I like
+her better in some of her serious things. When she said "le bon gite"
+and "le petit clairon," by Paul Deroulede, in her beautiful deep
+voice, I had a decided choke in my throat.
+
+We often had music at the chateau. Many of our artist friends came
+down--glad to have two or three days rest in the quiet old house. We had
+an amusing experience once with the young organist from La Ferte--almost
+turned his hair gray. He had taught himself entirely and managed his old
+organ very well. He had heard vaguely of Wagner and we had always
+promised him we would try and play some of his music with two
+pianos--eight hands. Four hands are really not enough for such
+complicated music. Mlle. Dubois, premier prix du conservatoire--a
+beautiful musician--was staying with us one year and we arranged a
+concert for one evening, asking the organist to come to dinner. The poor
+man was rather terrified at dining at the chateau--had evidently taken
+great pains with his dress (a bright pink satin cravat was rather
+striking) and thanked the butler most gratefully every time he handed
+him a dish--"Je vous remercie beaucoup, Monsieur." We had our two grand
+pianos and were going to play the overture of Tannhaeuser, one of the
+simplest and most melodious of Wagner's compositions. The performers
+were Francis and I, Mlle. Dubois and the organist. It was a little
+difficult to arrange who he should play with. He was very nervous at the
+idea of playing with Mlle. Dubois--rather frightened of me and in
+absolute terror at the idea of playing before W. Finally it was decided
+that he and I should take the second piano--he playing the bass. It was
+really funny to see him; his eyes were fixed on the music and he counted
+audibly and breathlessly all the time, and I heard him muttering
+occasionally to himself, "Non ce n'est pas possible," "Non ce n'est pas
+cela."
+
+I must say that the Walpurgis Night for a person playing at sight and
+unaccustomed to Wagner's music is an ordeal--however, he acquitted
+himself extremely well and we got through our performance triumphantly,
+but great drops of perspiration were on his forehead. W. was very nice
+to him and Mlle. Dubois quite charming, encouraging him very much. Still
+I don't think his evening at the chateau was one of unmixed pleasure,
+and I am sure he was glad to have that overture behind him.
+
+We saw our neighbours very rarely; occasionally some men came to
+breakfast. The sous-prefet, one or two of the big farmers or some local
+swells who wanted to talk politics to W. One frequent visitor was an
+architect from Chateau-Thierry, who had built W.'s farm. He was an
+enormous man, very stout and red, always attired in shiny black
+broadcloth. He was a very shrewd specimen, very well up in all that
+went on in the country and very useful to W. He had a fine appetite,
+always tucking his napkin carefully under his chin when he sat down to
+table. He talked a great deal one day about his son, who had a good
+tenor voice and had just got an engagement at the Opera Comique. Said he
+would like us to hear him sing--might he bring him some day to
+breakfast?
+
+He came back two or three weeks later with the young man, who was a
+great improvement upon his father. The Paris boulevards and the
+coulisses of the opera had quite modified the young provincial. He
+talked a good deal at table, was naturally much pleased to have got into
+the Opera Comique. As it is a "theatre subventionne" (government
+theatre), he considered himself a sort of official functionary. After
+breakfast he asked us if we would like to hear him sing--sat down to the
+piano, accompanying himself very simply and easily and sang extremely
+well. I was much astonished and Mme. A. was delighted, especially when
+he sang some old-fashioned songs from the "Dame Blanche" and the "Domino
+Noir." The old father was enchanted, a broad smile on his face. He
+confided to W. that he had hoped his son would walk in his footsteps and
+content himself with a modest position as architect in the country, but
+after six months in Paris where he had sent him to learn his
+profession his ideas had completely changed and he would not hear of
+vegetating in the country.
+
+[Illustration: A visit at the chateau.]
+
+We had, too, sometimes a doctor from one of the neighbouring villages.
+He had married an Englishwoman. They had a nice house and garden and he
+often had English boys over in the summer to learn French. He brought
+them occasionally to us for tea and tennis, begging us not to speak
+English to them. But that was rather difficult, with the English terms
+at tennis--horses and dogs always spoken to in English. One could not
+speak French to a fox-terrier bred in Oxfordshire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another pretty, simple fete was the Blessing of the Flag given by
+Francis to the Pompiers of Montigny, our little village in the woods
+just above the chateau. My husband had always promised them a flag, but
+he died before their society was formed. Three years after his death,
+when we were living in the small place which now belongs to my son, a
+deputation arrived from Montigny one Sunday afternoon to ask if Francis
+would give the flag his father had promised. This of course he was
+delighted to do. He knew all the men and they all knew him--had seen him
+since he was a baby--all of them had worked in his father's woods, and
+two or three of the older ones had taken care of him and his gun when he
+first began to shoot.
+
+His father gave him a gun when he was twelve years old--had it made at
+Purdy's in London, a reduced model of his own. No one is allowed to
+shoot in France till he is sixteen years old and then must have his
+"permis de chasse" duly signed by the Mayor. So it was rather difficult
+to get Francis and his gun into the woods--once there they were safe.
+Nothing would have induced him to let any of the men carry it. He walked
+beside the keeper with his gun over his shoulder just like him; they did
+meet two gendarmes one day and quickly the gun was given to some one
+else. I think the gendarmes quite realised the situation (Labbey, the
+keeper, said they knew all about it), but they were friends of the
+family, W.'s appointment, probably, and asked no questions.
+
+It was necessary of course to consult the local authorities before
+deciding such an important question as the presentation of a flag to the
+Pompiers. Francis went over two or three days later and interviewed the
+cure, the Mayor and the school-master, found out where the flag must be
+ordered in Paris and decided the day a fortnight later, a Sunday, of
+course. The function was to consist of a service and sermon at the
+church and a "vin d'honneur" offered by the Pompiers at the Mairie,
+which they hoped Madame Waddington would grace by her presence.
+
+The flag was duly ordered, sent direct to Montigny and everything was
+ready on the appointed day. We had fine weather, a bright, cold November
+afternoon; the country looked beautiful, all the trees red and yellow, a
+black line of pines in the middle of the woods. The long straggling
+village street, ending at the church on the top of the hill, was full of
+people; all the children in the middle of the road, their mothers
+dashing after them when they heard the horn of the auto.
+
+We were quite a large party, as the house was full, and we brought all
+our guests with us, including an American cousin, who was much
+interested in the local festivities. The Pompiers were drawn up in the
+court-yard of the Mairie, their beautiful new flag well to the front.
+Almost all were in uniform, and those who had not yet been able to get
+one wore a clean white shirt and the Pompier's red belt. There was a
+cheer and a broad smile on all their faces when we drove up. Francis got
+out, as he was to head the procession with the Mayor and the cure. We
+went on to the church and stationed ourselves on the steps of the Infant
+School to see the cortege arrive.
+
+It was quite a pretty sight as it wound up the hill: first the banner of
+blue silk with gold cords, which was held proudly aloft by two tall
+young fellows, then Francis walking between the cure and the Mayor, the
+Pompiers immediately behind them, then the Municipal Council, the usual
+escort of children that always turns out on such occasions bringing up
+the rear. We let the procession pass into the church and then took our
+places; a front pew was reserved for the family, but Francis and I sat
+on two arm-chairs inside the chancel, just behind the Pompiers.
+
+The fine old church, which is rather large for such a small village, was
+crowded; they told me many people had come from the neighbouring
+hamlets. The Montigny people had done their best to beautify their
+church; there were a few plants and flowers and some banners and
+draperies--church property, which always figured upon any great
+occasion. They told us with pride that the school-master had arranged
+the music. I suppose the poor man did what he could with the material he
+had, but the result was something awful. The chorister, a very old man,
+a hundred I should think, played the harmonium, which was as old as he
+was. It groaned and wheezed and at times stopped altogether. He started
+the cantique with a thin quavering voice which was then taken up by the
+school-children, particularly the boys who roared with juvenile
+patriotism and energy each time they repeated the last line, "pour notre
+drapeau, pour notre patrie."
+
+The sermon was very good--short and simple. It was preached by the Doyen
+of Neuilly--a tall, strong, broad-shouldered man who would have seemed
+more at home in a dragoon's uniform than in the soutane. But he knew his
+business well, had a fine voice and very good delivery; his peroration
+and appeal to the men to "remember always that the flag was the symbol
+of obedience, of loyalty, of devotion, to their country and their God,"
+was really very fine. I almost expected to hear cheers. The French are
+very emotional, and respond instantly to any allusion to country or
+flag. The uniform (even the Pompier's) has an enormous prestige. Then
+came the benediction, the flag held high over the kneeling congregation,
+and the ceremony was ended.
+
+We stopped a few moments after the service to let the procession pass
+out and also to thank the preacher and one or two cures who had assisted
+on the occasion; they did not come to the "vin d'honneur."
+
+We walked down to the Mairie, where the Mayor and his Adjoint were
+waiting for us; they conducted us to a large room upstairs where there
+was a table with champagne bottles, glasses and a big brioche. As soon
+as we had taken our places at the top of the room, the Pompiers and
+Municipal Council trouped in and Francis made quite a pretty little
+speech. It was the first time I had ever heard him speak in public; he
+did it very well, was not at all shy. Then there was a pause--the Mayor
+filled a glass of champagne, handed it to me, took one himself and we
+"trinque'd" solemnly. Still there seemed a little hitch, no one else
+took any and there was an air of expectancy. I made a sign to the
+school-master, who was also the Adjoint, and he explained to me in a low
+voice that he thought it would give great pleasure if I would shake
+hands and trinquer with all the Pompiers. So I asked to have all the
+glasses filled and made the round, shaking hands with every one.
+
+Some of them were very shy, could hardly make up their minds to put out
+their big, rough hands; some of the old ones were very talkative: "C'est
+moi qui suis Jacques, Madame, j'ai nettoye le premier fusil de M.
+Francis." Another in a great hurry to get to me: "C'est moi qui ai
+remasse le premier lievre de M. Francis," etc. I remember the "premier
+lievre" quite well; Francis carried it home himself and dashed into his
+father's study swinging the poor beast by its long ears, the blood
+dripping from a hole in its neck. It was difficult to scold, the child
+was so enchanted, even old Ferdinand did not grumble but came to the
+rescue at once with brushes and "savon noir."
+
+The wine had loosened the tongues and made every one more at ease. I
+asked that Hubert (our coachman who had been in W.'s service for
+thirty-one years) should be invited to come up and have a glass of
+champagne. He knew everybody, having driven W. about in his dog-cart all
+over the country. He was delighted to take part in the fete and made his
+little speech, saying he had seen Monsieur Francis when he was only a
+few hours old, and that he had _grown since_--which joke was received
+with great applause.
+
+Then some of the young men went off with Francis to look at the
+automobile, a great novelty at that time. We went out and talked to the
+women who were waiting in the street. Every one looked smiling and
+pleased to see us; the men all formed again in procession and escorted
+us to the end of the street, the whole village naturally following. They
+stopped at the foot of the hill, giving us a ringing cheer as we left.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never but once saw the whole neighbourhood assembled--when the only
+son of the Baron de L. married. The Baron and his wife were very good
+specimens of provincial _noblesse_. He was a tall, heavily-built man,
+square-shouldered, with the weather-beaten complexion of a man who spent
+all his days riding about his fields and woods; a pleasant, jovial
+manner, quite the type of the country gentleman.
+
+They lived in a charming old Louis XV. chateau almost in the forest of
+Villers-Cotterets--their park touching the line of wood. They went
+rarely to Paris; lived almost all the year in the country and were
+devoted to their place. One just saw the pointed red roof of the chateau
+in the trees as one passed on the road. It stood high, a very steep road
+leading up to it. At the foot of the hill were market gardens, which
+made a very curious effect from a distance--the long rows of glass
+"cloches" making huge white spots. The vegetables always looked very
+tempting as we passed in the early summer. They were all "primeurs"--the
+gardens lying in full sun and were sent off to the Paris market.
+Half-way up the slope was a pretty little church almost hidden in the
+trees, and a tiny village struggled up the hill and along the road.
+
+The bride, dressed in white--a slight girlish figure--was standing near
+her mother-in-law and had a pretty smile of welcome for all the guests.
+It was rather an ordeal for her, as she was a stranger in the country
+(she came from the south of France) and every one was looking at the
+newcomer.
+
+It was in the first year of my marriage, my first appearance in the
+country, and I was rather puzzled about my dress for the occasion. We
+were asked to dinner at seven o'clock. My first idea was to wear full
+dress--light-blue satin and diamonds--but a niece of Mme. A.'s, who was
+staying with us and who had been to some entertainments in that part of
+the country, advised me strongly to dress more simply. "They would not
+understand that sort of toilette and I would be overdressed and probably
+uncomfortable." So I compromised with a high white dress, no diamonds
+and one string of pearls.
+
+We had a short hour's drive. It was a clear, cold night and we saw the
+chateau from a great distance. It was brilliantly lighted. The lights
+twinkling through the trees looked like huge fireflies. As we drove into
+the rather small court-yard there was quite a stir of carriages arriving
+and backing out. The hall doors were wide open; a flood of light
+streaming out over the steps--Baron de L. and his son at the door. There
+was a hum of voices in the drawing-room and there seemed to be a great
+many people. The rooms were handsome--plenty of light, the old tapestry
+furniture looked very well, standing straight and stiff against the
+wall, and the number of people took away the bare unused look they
+generally had.
+
+All the chateaux of the neighbourhood were represented: The Comte de
+Lubersac and his sister had come over from their fine place, Maucreux.
+He was a very handsome young man--a great hunter and master of hounds of
+the stag hunting in the forest of Villers-Cotterets; his sister, Mlle.
+de Lubersac, most attractive, with the face of a saint. She was very
+simply dressed in a high black dress. She lived almost the life of a
+Sister of Charity--going about all day among the sick and poor, but she
+had promised her father, who was a great invalid, almost crippled with
+gout, to remain with him as long as he lived. It was only after his
+death that she took the vows and entered one of the strictest orders
+(Carmelites) in France.
+
+There were also the chatelaines of Thury en Valois--a fine chateau and
+estate, not very far from us in the other direction. They had splendid
+gardens and their fruit and vegetables were famous all over the country.
+Mme. de Thury was a compatriot--the daughter of an American general; the
+young Comte de Melun from Brumetz--very delicate looking, with a refined
+student's face. His father was a great friend of the Marechal MacMahon
+and one of the leaders of the Catholic clerical party, and the young man
+was very religious. Their woods touched ours and once or twice when we
+were riding late, we saw him kneeling at a little old shrine, "the White
+Lady," which was almost hidden under the big trees--so little left that
+the ordinary passer-by would have seen nothing. There were also the
+owners of Colinance--rather an ugly square house standing low,
+surrounded by a marsh, but a good property--and three or four men I did
+not know--the bride's brother and one or two of her relations.
+
+There was hardly time to introduce every one, as dinner was announced
+almost immediately. We were a large party, about twenty. All the women,
+except the bride and me, were dressed in black, high or a very little
+open--no lace, nor jewels. Henriette was right. I would have looked
+absurd if I had worn a low dress. The dinner was very good, very
+abundant and very long. The men said the wines were excellent. The talk
+was animated enough--it was principally the men who talked. I didn't
+think the women said much. I listened only, as I was too new in the
+country to be at all up in local topics.
+
+After coffee the men went off to smoke and we women remained alone for
+some time. I wasn't sorry, as one had so few opportunities of seeing the
+neighbours, particularly the women, who rarely went out of their own
+places. One met the men hunting, or in the train, or at the notary's.
+
+The notary is a most important person in all small country towns in
+France. Everybody consults him, from the big landowner when he has
+discussions with his neighbour over right of way, to the peasant who
+buys a few metres of land as soon as he has any surplus funds. We were
+constantly having rows with one of our neighbours over a little strip of
+wood that ran up into ours. Whenever he was angry with us, which
+happened quite often (we never knew why), he had a deep, ugly ditch made
+just across the road which we always took when we were riding around the
+property. The woods were so thick and low, with plenty of thorns, that
+we could not get along by keeping on one side and were obliged to go
+back and make quite a long detour. The notary did his best to buy it for
+us, but the man would never sell--rather enjoyed, I think, having the
+power to annoy us.
+
+Mme. de Thury and I fraternised a little and I should have liked to see
+more of her, but soon after that evening they had great trouble. They
+had a great deal of illness and lost a son. I never saw Thury till after
+both of them were dead. The chateau had been sold, most of the furniture
+taken away and the whole place had a deserted, neglected look that made
+one feel quite miserable. The big drawing-room was piled up with straw,
+over the doors were still two charming dessus-de-porte, the colours
+quite fresh--not at all faded--chickens were walking about in another
+room, and upstairs in a pretty corner room, with a lovely view over
+woods and park, was a collection of photographs, engravings (one the
+mother of the late owner), a piece of unfinished tapestry, samplers,
+china vases, books, papers, two or three knots of faded ribbon, all
+tossed in a corner like a heap of rubbish. The things had evidently been
+forgotten in the big move, but it looked melancholy.
+
+The chateau must have been charming when it was furnished and lived in.
+Quantities of rooms, a long gallery with small rooms on one side, the
+"garconniere" or bachelors' quarters, led directly into the church,
+where many Thurys are sleeping their last sleep. The park was beautiful
+and there was capital shooting. W. had often shot there in the old days
+when their shooting parties were famous.
+
+We ended our evening with music, the bride playing extremely well. Mme.
+de Thury also sang very well. She had learnt in Italy and sang in quite
+bravura style. The evening didn't last very long after the men came in.
+Everybody was anxious to get the long, cold drive over.
+
+I enjoyed myself very much. It was my first experience of a French
+country entertainment and it was very different from what I had
+expected. Not at all stiff and a most cordial welcome. I thought--rather
+naively perhaps--that it was the beginning of many entertainments of
+the same kind, but I never dined out again in the country. It is only
+fair to say that we never asked any one to dine either. It was not the
+habit of the house, and I naturally fell into their ways. Luncheon was
+what people liked best, so as not to be too late on the road or to cross
+the forest after nightfall, when the darkness was sometimes
+impenetrable. Some of the chatelaines received once a week. On that day
+a handsome and plentiful luncheon was provided and people came from the
+neighbouring chateaux, and even from Paris, when the distance was not
+too great and the trains suited.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We had quite an excitement one day at the chateau. Francis was riding
+with the groom one morning about the end of August, and had hardly got
+out of the gates, when he came racing back to tell us that the
+manoeuvres were to take place very near us, small detachments of troops
+already arriving; and the village people had told him that quite a large
+contingent, men and horses, were to be quartered at the chateau. W. sent
+him straight off again to the mayor of Marolles--our big village--to
+know if his information was correct, and how many people we must provide
+for. Francis met the mayor on the road on his way to us, very busy and
+bustled with so many people to settle. He was billeting men and horses
+in the little hamlet, and at all the farms. He told us we were to have
+thirty men and horses--six officers, twenty-four men; and they would
+arrive at sundown, in time to cook their dinner. Hubert, the coachman,
+was quite bewildered at first how to provide for so many, but
+fortunately the stables and dependencies were very large, and it was
+quite extraordinary how quickly and comfortably everything was arranged.
+Men from the farm brought in large bundles of straw, and everybody lent
+a willing hand--they love soldiers in France, and are always proud and
+happy to receive them.
+
+About 4.30, when we had just moved out to the tennis ground for tea, we
+saw an officer with his orderly riding up the avenue. He dismounted as
+soon as he caught sight of us sitting on the lawn, and introduced
+himself, said he was sent on ahead to see about lodging for himself, his
+brother-officers, and his men. They were part of a cavalry regiment,
+chasseurs, stationed at a small town in the neighbourhood. He asked W.
+if he might see the soldiers' quarters, said they brought their own food
+and would cook their dinner; asked if there was a room in the chateau
+where the sous-officiers could dine, as they never eat with their men.
+He, with W. and Francis, went off to inspect the arrangements and give
+the necessary orders. We had already seen to the officers' rooms, but
+hadn't thought of a separate dining-room for the sous-officiers;
+however, it was easily managed. We gave them the children's dining-room,
+in the wing near the kitchen and offices.
+
+When W. came in he told us the whole party had arrived, and we started
+off to the communs to see what was going on. The stable-yard, which is
+very large, with some fine trees and outbuildings all around it, was
+filled with blue-coated soldiers and small chestnut horses--some were
+drinking out of the troughs; some, tied to the trees, and rings on the
+wall, were being rubbed down--the men walking about with the officers'
+valises and their own kits, undoing blankets, tin plates, and cups; and
+I should think every man and boy on our place and in the small hamlet
+standing about anxious to do something. Our little fox-terriers were mad
+with excitement; even the donkey seemed to feel there was something
+different in the air. He brayed noisily, and gave little vicious kicks
+occasionally when some of the horses passed too near. A group of
+officers was standing at the door of the stables talking to Hubert, who
+had managed very well, putting all the officers' horses into a second
+stable, which was always kept for guests, and the others in the various
+sheds and outhouses, all under cover.
+
+[Illustration: Soldiers at the chateau.]
+
+W. introduced the officers--a nice-looking lot, chasseurs, in the
+light-blue uniform, which is so smart. He had asked permission for the
+men to dine at the chateau. They had their own meat and bread, but our
+chef was most anxious to cook it for them, and make them another
+substantial dish; so it was agreed that they should dine at six in the
+servants' hall. They all marched up in procession, headed by their
+sergeants; the blue tunics and red trousers looked very pretty as they
+came along the big avenue. The commandant asked W. if he would go and
+say a few words to them when they were having their coffee. They were
+very quiet; one hardly heard anything, though all the windows were open.
+W. said it was quite interesting to see all the young faces smiling and
+listening hard when he made his little speech. He asked them if they had
+had a good dinner; he hoped his man knew how to cook for soldiers. They
+all nodded and smiled at the chef, who was standing at the door looking
+very hot and very pleased. He had produced a sweet dish--I don't know
+what with, as he didn't habitually have thirty extra people to
+dinner--but I have always seen that when people _want_ to do anything it
+is usually accomplished.
+
+Our dinner was very pleasant. We were ten at table--W. and I, Henrietta,
+and a niece. The men talked easily, some of them Parisians, knowing
+every one. They knew that W. had remained at the chateau all during the
+Franco-German War, and were much interested in all he told them of the
+Prussian occupation. Only one of them had, as a very young fellow,
+served in 1870. All the rest were too young, and, like all young
+soldiers who have not been through a war and seen the horrors of it,
+were rather anxious to have their chance, and not spend all the best
+years of their lives in a small, dull garrison town.
+
+We discussed the plans for the next day. They were going to have a sham
+fight over all the big fields in our neighbourhood, and advised us to
+come and see it. They said the best time would be about ten in the
+morning, when they were to monter a l'assaut of a large farm with moat
+and drawbridge near Dammarie. They were to make a very early start (four
+o'clock), and said they would be very pleased to have some hot coffee
+before mounting, if it could be had at that unearthly hour. They were
+very anxious about choosing a horse out of their squadron for the
+general, who was an infantryman, very stout, very rheumatic, and a very
+bad rider. The horse must be sure-footed, an easy mouth, easy canter, no
+tricks, accustomed to drum and bugle, to say nothing of the
+musket-shots, etc.
+
+Henrietta and I rather amused ourselves after dinner teaching the
+commandant and another officer halma, which was just then at the height
+of its popularity. We had brought it over from London, where the whole
+society was mad over it. We were staying in a country house one year
+where there were seven tables of halma in the long gallery. The
+gentlemen rather disdained it at first, but as the game went on and they
+began to realise that there was really some science in it, and that our
+men were placing themselves very comfortably in their little squares,
+while theirs were wandering aimlessly about the centre of the board,
+they warmed to their task, and were quite vexed when they were badly
+beaten. They wanted their revanche. W. came in and gave a word of advice
+every now and then. The others finished their billiards, came to look
+on, each one suggesting a different move, which, of course, only
+complicated matters, and they lost again. Then some of the others tried
+with the same result. I think we played five or six games. They were so
+much pleased with the game that they asked us to write down the name and
+where to get it, and one of them afterward told my nephew, also a
+cavalry officer, that they introduced it at their mess and played every
+night instead of cards or dominoes. It was really funny to see how
+annoyed they were when their scientific combinations failed. The next
+morning was beautiful--a splendid August day, not too hot, little white
+clouds scurrying over the bright blue sky, veiling the sun. We started
+about nine, W., Francis, and I riding, the others driving. There were a
+good many people about in the fields and cross-roads, a few farmers
+riding, and everybody wildly interested telling us which way to go.
+Janet, my American niece, who was staying in the country in France for
+the first time, was horrified to see women working in the fields,
+couldn't believe that her uncle would allow it on his farm, and made
+quite an appeal to him when we all got home, to put an end to such cruel
+proceedings. It seems women never work in the fields in America, except
+negresses on some of the Southern plantations. I have been so long away
+that I had forgotten that they didn't, and I remember quite well my
+horror the first time we were in Germany, when we saw a woman and an ox
+harnessed together.
+
+We separated from the carriage at the top of the hill, as we could get a
+nice canter and shorter road across the fields. We soon came in sight of
+the farmhouse, standing low, with moat and drawbridge, in rather an
+isolated position in the middle of the fields, very few trees around it.
+There was no longer any water in the moat. It was merely a deep, wide,
+damp ditch with long, straggling vines and weeds filling it up, and a
+slippery, steep bank. Soldiers were advancing in all directions, the
+small infantrymen moving along with a light, quick step; the cavalry
+apparently had been on the ground some time, as they were all dismounted
+and their horses picketed. We didn't go very near, as W. wasn't quite
+sure how the horses would stand the bugle and firing. They were already
+pulling hard, and getting a little nervous. It was pretty to see the
+soldiers all mount when the bugle rang out, and in a moment the whole
+body was in motion. The rush of the soldiers over the wide plains and
+the drawbridge looked irresistible--the men swarmed down the bank and
+over the ditch--one saw a confused mass of red trousers and kepis. The
+cavalry came along very leisurely, guarding the rear. I looked for the
+general. He was standing with some of his staff on a small hill
+directing operations. He did look stout and very red and warm; however,
+it was the last day, so his troubles were over for the present.
+
+One of the officers saw us and came up to pay his respects; said they
+wouldn't be back at the chateau until about five; perhaps the ladies
+would come to the stable-yard and see the pansage. It was quite
+interesting; all the horses ranged in a semi-circle, men scrubbing and
+combing hard, the sous-officiers superintending, the officers standing
+about smoking and seeing that everything was being packed and ready for
+an early start the next morning. I was astonished to see how small the
+horses were. My English horse, also a chestnut, was not particularly
+big, but he looked a giant among the others. They admired him very much,
+and one of the officers asked Hubert if he thought I would like to sell
+him.
+
+Our dinner was again very pleasant, and we had more halma in the
+evening. W. played once or twice, and as he was a fairly good player,
+the adversaries had no chance. We broke up early, as they were to start
+again at some unearthly hour the next morning. It seems they were very
+lively in the stables after dinner--we heard sounds of merriment,
+singing, and choruses, and, I fancy, dancing. However, it made quite a
+pleasant break in our summer, and the big place seemed quieter and
+lonelier than ever after such unusual animation. W. said the war talk
+was much keener than the first day when they were smoking in the
+gallery; all the young ones so eager to earn their stripes, and so
+confident that the army had profited by its bitter experience during the
+Franco-German War.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Election day is always a very important day in France. The village
+farmers and labourers put on their best clothes--usually a black coat,
+silk hat and white shirt--and take themselves solemnly to the Mairie
+where the voting takes place. For weeks beforehand agents and lecturers
+come from Paris and bamboozle the simple village people with newspapers,
+money and wonderful promises. It is astounding how easily the French
+peasant believes all that the political agents tell him and all that he
+reads in the cheap papers, for, as a rule--taken en masse--they are very
+intelligent and at the same time suspicious (mefiants), manage their own
+little affairs very well and are rarely taken in; but there is something
+in the popular orator that carries them away and they really believe
+that a golden epoch is coming--when there will be no rich and no poor
+and plenty and equality for all. They don't care a bit what form of
+government they live under as long as their crops are good, and they can
+have regular work and no war. The political agitators understand that
+very well. They never lay any stress on Royalist or Bonapartist, or even
+a military candidate. The "People's Candidate" is always their cry--one
+of themselves who understands them and will give them all they want.
+They are disappointed _always_. The ministers and deputies change, but
+their lives don't, and run on in the same groove; but they are just as
+sanguine each time there is an election, convinced that, at last, the
+promised days of high pay and little work are coming.
+
+I tried to reason with a nice, respectable man one day, the village
+mason--one of the most fiery orators at the cafe, over his dominoes, but
+in everyday life a sober, hard-working man, with a sickly wife and
+several children, who are all clothed and generally looked after by us.
+His favourite theme was the owners of chateaux and big houses who lived
+in luxury and thought nothing of the poor.
+
+I said to him, "Why do you listen to all those foolish speeches that are
+made in the cafes? You know it isn't true half they say. Whenever you
+come and ask for anything for your wife and your children, it is always
+given to you. You know quite well whenever any one is ill in the
+village, they always come here for wine, old linen, or bouillon."
+
+"Oh, oui, Madame is good, but Madame does not understand."
+
+"But it is you, mon ami, who don't understand. Once the election is
+over, and they have got your vote, no one will think about you any
+more."
+
+"Oh, yes, Madame, everything will be divided--there will be no more big
+houses, every one will have a garden and rabbits--not all for the rich.
+It is not right; Madame knows it is not right." It was quite useless
+talking to him.
+
+Women in France never take the active part in elections that they do in
+England. It interested me so much when we were living in England to see
+many of the great ladies doing all they could for their candidate,
+driving all over the country, with his colours on servants and horses, a
+big bill in the windows of their carriages with "Vote for A." on it. In
+the drawing-room windows of a well-known society leader there were two
+large bills--"VOTE FOR A." I asked W. one day, when he was standing for
+the Senate, if he would like me to drive all about the country with his
+colours and "VOTE FOR WADDINGTON" on placards in the windows of the
+carriage; but he utterly declined any such intervention on my part,
+thought a few breakfasts at the chateau and a quiet talk over coffee and
+cigars would be more to the purpose. He never took much trouble over his
+elections the last years--meetings and speeches in all the small towns
+and "banquets de pompiers" were things of the past. He said the people
+had seen him "a l'oeuvre" and that no speeches would change a vote.
+
+The only year that we gave ourselves any trouble was during the
+Boulanger craze. W. went about a great deal and I often went with him.
+The weather was beautiful and we rode all over the country. We were
+astounded at the progress "Boulangism" had made in our quiet villages.
+Wherever we went--in the cafes, in the auberges, in the grocer's
+shop--there was a picture of Boulanger prancing on his black horse.
+
+We stopped one day at a miserable little cottage, not far from our
+place, where a workman had had a horrible accident--been caught in the
+machine of one of the sugar mills. Almost all the men in the village
+worked in W.'s woods and had always voted--as one man--for him or his
+friends. When we went into the poor little dark room, with literally
+nothing in it but the bed, a table, and some chairs, the first thing we
+saw was the well-known picture of Boulanger, on the mantelpiece. We
+talked a little to the man and his wife (the poor fellow was suffering
+terribly), and then W. said, "I am surprised to see that picture. Do you
+know General Boulanger? Have you ever seen him?" The man's face quite
+lighted up as he looked at the picture, and he answered: "Non, Monsieur,
+je ne l'ai jamais vu--mais il est crane celui-la," and that was all that
+he could ever get out of him--"il est crane." I don't know exactly what
+he meant. I don't think he knew himself, but he was quite excited when
+he spoke of the hero.
+
+Boulanger's campaign was very cleverly done. His agents distributed
+papers, pictures and _money_ most liberally. One of the curious features
+of that episode was the quantity of money that was given. Gold flowed
+freely in to the General's coffers from all parts of France; great
+names, grandes dames, giving largely and openly to the cause--a great
+deal sent anonymously and a great deal in very small sums.
+
+Boulanger lived in our street, and I was astounded one day when I met
+him (I did not know him) riding--always with a man on each side of him.
+Almost every one took off his hat to him, and there were a few faint
+cries of "Vive Boulanger," proceeding chiefly from the painters and
+masons who were building a house just opposite ours.
+
+Certainly for a short time he had the game in his hands--could, I think,
+have carried the country, but when the moment to act arrived, his nerve
+failed him. It is difficult to understand what made his great popularity.
+Politics had not been satisfactory. The President--Grevy--had resigned
+under unfortunate circumstances. There had been a succession of weak
+and inefficient cabinets, and there was a vague feeling of unrest in
+the country. Boulanger seemed to promise something better. He was a
+soldier (which always appeals to the French), young and dashing,
+surrounded by clever unscrupulous people of all classes. Almost all
+the young element of both parties, Radical and Conservative (few of
+the moderate Republicans), had rallied to his programme--"Revision et
+Dissolution." His friends were much too intelligent to let him issue a
+long "manifesto" (circular), promising all sorts of reforms and
+changes he never could have carried out, while his two catch words
+gave hopes to everybody. A revision of the constitution might mean a
+monarchy, empire, or military dictatorship. Each party thought its
+turn had come, and dissolving the chambers would of course bring a
+new one, where again each party hoped to have the majority.
+
+The Paris election by an overwhelming majority was his great triumph.
+The Government did all they could to prevent it, but nothing could stop
+the wave of popularity. The night of the election Boulanger and his
+Etat-major were assembled at Durand's, the well-known cafe on the corner
+of the Boulevard and the rue Royale. As the evening went on and the
+returns came in--far exceeding anything they had hoped for--there was
+but one thought in every one's mind--"A l'Elysee." Hundreds of people
+were waiting outside and he would have been carried in triumph to the
+Palace. He could not make up his mind. At midnight he still wavered. His
+great friend, the poet Deroulede, then took out his watch--waited, in
+perfect silence, until it was five minutes past twelve, and then said,
+"General, depuis cinq minutes votre aureole baisse." Boulanger went out
+by a side door, leaving his friends--disappointed and furious--to
+announce to the waiting crowd that the General had gone home. He could
+certainly have got to the Elysee that night. How long he would have
+stayed, and whom he would have put there, we shall never know.
+
+
+MAREUIL, October 31st.
+
+It has been a beautiful, warm, bright autumn day and, for a wonder, we
+have had no frost yet, not even a white one, so that the garden is still
+full of flowers, and all day the village children have been
+coming--begging for some to decorate the graves for to-morrow. I went in
+to the churchyard this afternoon, which was filled with women and
+children--looking after their dead. It is not very pretty--our little
+churchyard--part of a field enclosed on the slope of the hill, not many
+trees, a few tall poplars and a laurel hedge--but there is a fine open
+view over the great fields and woods--always the dark blue line of the
+forest in the distance. They are mostly humble graves--small farmers and
+peasants--but I fancy they must sleep very peacefully in the fields they
+have worked in all their lives--full of poppies and cornflowers in
+summer and a soft gold brown in the autumn, when the last crops are cut
+and the hares run wild over the hills.
+
+I think these two days--the "Toussaint" and the "Jour des Morts"--are
+the two I like best in the Catholic Church, and certainly they are the
+only ones, in our part of the world, when the churches are full. I
+walked about some little time looking at all the preparations. Every
+grave had some flowers (sometimes only a faded bunch of the last field
+flowers) except one, where there were no flowers, but a little border of
+moss all around and a slip of pasteboard on a stick stuck into the
+ground with "a ma Mere" written on it. All the graves are very simple,
+generally a plain white cross with headstone and name. One or two of the
+rich farmers had something rather more important--a slab of marble, or a
+broken column when it was a child's grave, and were more ambitious in
+the way of flowers and green plants, but no show of any kind--none of
+the terrible bead wreaths one sees in large cities.
+
+There was a poor old woman, nearly bent double, leaning on a stick,
+standing at one of the very modest graves; a child about six years old
+with her, with a bunch of flowers in a broken cup she was trying to
+arrange at the foot of the grave. I suppose my face was expressive, for
+the old woman answered my unspoken thought. "Ah, yes, Madame, it is _I_
+who ought to be lying there instead of my children. All gone before me
+except this one grandchild, and I a helpless, useless burden upon the
+charity of the parish."
+
+On my way home I met all the village children carrying flowers. We had
+given our best chrysanthemums for the "pain benit," which we offer
+to-morrow to the church. Three or four times a year, at the great fetes,
+the most important families of the village offer the "pain benit," which
+is then a brioche. We gave our boulanger "carte blanche," and he
+evidently was very proud of his performance, as he offered to bring it
+to us before it was sent to the church, but we told him we would see it
+there. I am writing late. We have all come upstairs. It is so mild that
+my window is open; there is not a sound except the sighing of the wind
+in the pines and the church bells that are ringing for the vigil of All
+Saints. Besides our own bells, we hear others, faintly, in the distance,
+from the little village of Neufchelles, about two miles off. It is a bad
+sign when we hear Neufchelles too well. Means rain. I should be so sorry
+if it rained to-morrow, just as all the fresh flowers have been put on
+the graves.
+
+
+November 2nd. "Jour des Morts."
+
+We had a beautiful day yesterday and a nice service in our little
+church. Our "pain benit" was a thing of beauty and quite distracted the
+school children. It was a most imposing edifice--two large, round
+brioches, four smaller ones on top, they went up in a pyramid. The four
+small ones go to the notabilities of the village--the cure, two of the
+principal farmers and the miller; the whole thing very well arranged,
+with red and white flowers and lighted tapers. It was carried by two
+"enfants de choeur," preceded by the beadle with his cocked hat and
+staff and followed by two small girls with lighted tapers. The "enfants
+de choeur" were not in their festal attire of red soutanes and red
+shoes--only in plain black. Since the inventories ordered by the
+government in all the churches, most of the people have taken away their
+gifts in the way of vestments, soutanes, vases, etc., and the red
+soutanes, shoes and caps, with a handsome white satin embroidered
+vestment that C. gave the church when she was married, are carefully
+folded and put away in a safe place out of the church until better times
+should come.
+
+After luncheon we went over to Soissons in the auto--the most enchanting
+drive through the forest of Villers-Cotterets--the poplar trees a line
+of gold and all the others taking the most lovely colours of red and
+brown. Soissons is a fine old cathedral town with broad squares, planted
+with stiff trees like all the provincial towns in France; many large
+old-fashioned hotels, entre cour et jardin, and a number of convents and
+abbeys, now turned into schools, barracks, government offices of all
+kinds, but the fine proportions and beautiful lines are always there.
+
+The city has seen many changes since its first notoriety as the capital
+of the France of Clovis, and one feels how much has happened in the
+quiet deserted streets of the old town, where almost every corner is
+picturesque. The fine ruins of St. Jean des Vignes faced us as we drove
+along the broad boulevard. A facade and two beautiful towers with a
+cloister is all that remains of a fine old abbey begun in 1076. It is
+now an arsenal. One can not always get in, but the porter made no
+difficulty for us, and we wandered about in the court-yard and cloister.
+The towers looked beautifully grey and soft against the bright blue sky,
+and the view over Soissons, with all its churches and old houses, was
+charming. It seems that Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, lived
+at the Abbey when he was exiled from England and had taken refuge in
+France.
+
+We wanted to go to the service in the Cathedral, but thought we would go
+first to the patissier (an excellent one, well known in all the
+neighbourhood) famous for a very good bonbon made of coffee and called
+"Tors de Soissons." The little place was full--every schoolboy in
+Soissons was there eating cakes and bonbons. There was a notice up in
+the shop, "Lipton Tea," and we immediately asked for some. The woman
+made a place for us, with difficulty, on a corner of a table and gave us
+very good English tea, toast and cakes. I complimented the patronne on
+her tea and she said so many automobiles with foreigners--English
+principally--passed through Soissons in the summer--all asking for
+tea--that she thought she must try to get some. One of the ladies told
+her where to get Lipton Tea and how much to pay for it. She has found it
+a very good speculation.
+
+We walked to the Cathedral through a grand old Square planted with fine
+trees, that had once been a part of the garden of the Eveche. As it was
+getting dark, we could not see the outside very well. A gigantic mass of
+towers and little steeples loomed up through the twilight, but the
+inside was very striking--crowded with people, lights, banners, flowers
+everywhere--five or six priests were officiating and the Bishop in full
+dress, with his gold mitre on his head, was seated on his red velvet
+throne under the big crucifix. The congregation (there were a good many
+men) was following the service very devoutly, but there were a great
+many people walking about and stopping at the different chapels which
+rather takes away from the devotional aspect. Unfortunately the sermon
+had only just begun, so we didn't hear any music. The organ is very
+fine and they have a very good choir. Neither did we hear the famous
+chimes, which we regretted very much. Some of the bells have a beautiful
+sound--one in particular, that used to be at St. Jean de Vignes, has a
+wonderful deep note. One hears it quite distinctly above all the others.
+All the bells have names. This one used to be called "Simon," after a
+Bishop Simon le Gras, who blessed it in 1643. When the voice got faint
+and cracked with age, it was "refondue" (recast) and called Julie
+Pauline.
+
+It was quite dark and cold when we started back. We had to light our big
+lantern almost as soon as we left Soissons. For some little time after
+we got out of the town we met people walking and driving--all with
+holiday garbs and faces--but once we plunged in the long forest alleys
+we were absolutely cut off from the outside world. It is a curious
+sensation I have never got accustomed to, those long, dark, lonely
+forest roads. The leaves were still so thick on the trees that we could
+hardly see the last glow of a beautiful orange sunset. The only sign of
+life was a charbonnier's hut in a clearing quite close to the road. They
+had a dull light; just enough to let us see dusky figures moving about.
+
+This morning our church looked quite different--no more banners,
+embroideries or bright flowers, all draped in black and a bier covered
+with a black pall in the middle of the aisle--the cure in a black satin
+vestment; all the congregation in black. I went out before the end of
+the service. All the black draperies and the black kneeling figures and
+the funeral psalms were so inexpressibly sad and dreary. I was glad to
+get out into the sunshine and to the top of the hill, where the cemetery
+gates stood wide open and the sun was streaming down on all the green
+graves with their fresh flowers and plants. Soon we heard the sound of
+the chaunt, and the procession wound slowly up the steep, straggling
+village street. A banner and cross carried by the boys and girls--then
+the cure, with his "ostensoir," followed by his "enfants de choeur"
+carrying books and tapers, then the congregation. There were a great
+many people already in the cemetery. The little procession halted at the
+foot of the cross in the middle. There were several prayers and psalms,
+and then the cure made the tour of the cemetery, sprinkling all the
+graves with holy water and saying a short prayer at each. The procession
+broke up into groups, all kneeling at the different graves praying for
+their dead. There were not many men; a few old ones. They were not
+kneeling, but stood reverently, with bowed heads, when the cure passed.
+It was a pretty sight--the kneeling figures, the flower-covered graves,
+the little procession winding in and out among the tombstones, the white
+soutanes of the boys shining in the sun and not a sound except the
+droning of the chaunts. As it was fete--one of the great religious fetes
+of the year--there was no work going on--no labourers in the fields, no
+carts on the road--nothing but the great stillness of the plains.
+
+We had our cure at dinner. We were quite sure no one else would ask him
+and it seemed a shame to leave him in his empty "presbytere" on a fete
+day. I think his evenings with us are the only bright spots in his life
+just now. The situation of the priests is really wretched and their
+future most uncertain. This government has taken away the very small
+stipend they allowed them. Our cure got his house and nine hundred
+francs a year--not quite two hundred dollars. In many cases they have
+refused to let the priests live in their "presbyteres" unless they pay
+rent. The churches are still open. They can have their services if they
+like, but those who have no fortune (which is the case with most of
+them) are entirely dependent upon the voluntary contribution of their
+parishioners.
+
+Our little cure has no longer his servant--the traditional, plain,
+middle-aged bonne of the priest (they are not allowed to have a woman
+servant under fifty). He lives quite alone in his cold, empty house and
+has a meal of some kind brought into him from the railway cafe. What is
+hardest for him is never to have an extra franc to give to his poor. He
+is profoundly discouraged, but does his duty simply and cheerfully;
+looks after the sick, nurses them when there is a long illness or an
+accident, teaches the women how to keep their houses clean and how to
+cook good plain food. He is a farmer's son and extraordinarily
+practical. He came to us one day to ask if we had a spare washing tub we
+could give him. He was going to show a woman who sewed and embroidered
+beautifully and who was very poor and unpractical, how to do her
+washing. I think the people have a sort of respect for him, but they
+don't come to church. Everybody appeals to him. We couldn't do anything
+one day with a big kite some one had given the children. No one could in
+the house, neither gardener, chauffeur, nor footmen, so we sent for him,
+and it was funny to see him shortening the tail of the kite and racing
+over the lawn in his black soutane. However, he made it work.
+
+He was rather embarrassed this evening, as he had refused something I
+had asked him to do and was afraid I wouldn't understand. We were
+passing along the canal the other day when the "eclusier" came out of
+his house and asked me if I would come and look at his child who was
+frightfully ill--his wife in despair. Without thinking of my little ones
+at home, I went into the house, where I found, in a dirty, smelly room,
+a slatternly woman holding in her arms a child, about two years old,
+who, I thought, was dead--such a ghastly colour--eyes turned up;
+however, the poor little thing moaned and moved and the woman was shaken
+with sobs--the father and two older children standing there, not knowing
+what to do. They told me the doctor had come in the early morning and
+said there was nothing to do. I asked if they had not sent for the cure.
+"No, they hadn't thought of it." I said I would tell him as I passed the
+presbytere on my way home. He wasn't there, but I left word that the
+child was dying--could he go?
+
+The child died about an hour after I had left the house. I sent a black
+skirt to the woman and was then obliged to go to Paris for two or three
+days. When I came back I asked my gardener, who is from this part of the
+country and knows everybody, if the child's funeral had been quite
+right. He told me it was awful--there was no service--the cure would not
+bury him as he had never been baptized. The body had been put into a
+plain wooden box and carried to the cemetery by the father and a friend.
+
+I was very much upset, but, of course, the thing was over and there was
+nothing to be done. However, when we talked it over, I understood quite
+well. To begin with, all priests are forbidden to read the burial
+service over any one who has not been baptized, therefore he had no
+choice. And this man was not only an unbeliever, but a mocker of all
+religion. When his last child was born he had friends over, from some of
+the neighbouring villages, who were Freemasons (they are a very bad lot
+in France); they had a great feast and baptized the child in red wine. I
+rather regretted the black frock I sent the mother, but she looked so
+utterly wretched and perhaps she could not help herself.
+
+The little cure is very pleased to have his midnight mass this year on
+Christmas eve. Last year it was suppressed. There was such angry feeling
+and hostility to the clergy that the authorities were afraid there might
+be scenes and noisy protestations in the churches; perhaps in some
+quarters of the big cities, but certainly not in the country where
+people hold very much to the midnight mass. It is also one of the
+services that most people attend. It is always a pretty sight in the
+country, particularly if there happens to be snow on the ground. Every
+one that can walk comes. One sees the little bands arriving across the
+fields and along the canal--five or six together, with a lantern.
+Entire families turn out--the old grandfathers hobbling along on their
+sticks, the women carrying their babies, who are generally very
+good--quite taken up with the lights and music, or else asleep. We
+always sing Adam's "Noel." In almost every church in France, I think,
+they sing it. Even in the big Paris churches like the Madeleine and St.
+Eustache, where they have orchestras and trained choirs, they always
+sing the "Noel" at some period of the service.
+
+
+MAREUIL, le 24 Mai.
+
+To-day was the Premiere Communion at La Ferte, and I had promised the
+Abbe Devigne to go. I couldn't have the auto, as Francis was at a
+meeting of a Syndicat Agricole in quite another direction. So I took the
+train (about seven minutes), and I really believe I had the whole train
+to myself. No one travels in France, on Sunday, in the middle of the
+day. It is quite a long walk from the station to the church (the service
+was at Notre Dame, the church on the hill), with rather a steep climb at
+the end. The little town looked quite deserted--a few women standing at
+their doors and in all directions white figures of all ages were
+galloping up the hill. The bells were ringing and we were a little late.
+The big doors of the church were wide open, the organ playing, and a
+good many people standing about. The altar was bright with flowers and
+candles, and "oriflammes" of blue and pink gauze, worked with gold and
+silver lilies, were stretched across the church between the pillars. One
+or two banners with the head of the Virgin and flowers painted in bright
+colours were also hanging from the columns. Two or three priests, with
+handsome vestments--white embroidered in gold--were officiating, and the
+choir boys wore their red petticoats--soutanes trimmed with lace and red
+shoes and caps. The Suisse (beadle), with his cocked hat, silver
+embroidered coat and big cane, was hovering about, keeping order.
+
+Just inside the chancel sat the "communiants"--fifty boys and girls. The
+girls--all in white from top to toe--white dresses, shoes, and gloves,
+and long white veils coming to the edge of the dress, and either a white
+cap (which looks very pretty and quaint on the little heads--rather like
+some of the old Dutch pictures) or a wreath of white flowers. With them
+sat about half a dozen smaller girls--also in white, with wreaths of
+white roses. They were too small to make their first communion, but they
+were to hold the cordons of the banner when the procession passed down
+the church. The boys were all in black, short jackets, white waistcoats,
+and white ribbon bows on their sleeves.
+
+The church was very full--mostly women, a few men at the bottom. It was
+a pretty sight when the procession moved around the church. First came
+the "sacristain" in his black skirt and white soutane, then the banner
+held by two of the big girls; the group of little ones--some of them
+quite tiny and so pretty with the wreaths of white roses on their black
+hair--holding the cords and looking most pleased with their part of the
+function. Just behind them came the good old religieuse Soeur St.
+Antoine, hovering over her little flock and keeping them all in their
+places; then all the communiants, the smallest girls first, the boys
+behind, all carrying lighted tapers and singing a hymn to the
+accompaniment of the organ.
+
+They went first to the font, stopped there, and one of the girls read a
+sort of prayer renewing their baptismal vows. Then they started again,
+in the same order, to the Chapelle de la Vierge, always singing their
+hymn, and knelt at the rails. Then the hymn stopped, and they recited,
+all together, a prayer to the Virgin. The little childish voices sounded
+quite distinctly in the old church--one heard every word. The
+congregation was much interested.
+
+There wasn't a sound. I don't know if it was any sort of religious
+feeling--some dim recollection of their early days, or merely the love
+of a show of any kind that is inherent in all the Latin race, but they
+seemed much impressed. While the collection was being made there was
+music--very good local talent--two violin soli played by a young fellow,
+from one of the small neighbouring chateaux, whom we all knew well, and
+the "Panus Angelicus" of Cesar Franck, very well sung by the wife of the
+druggist. The cure of La Ferte, a very clever, cultivated man, with a
+charming voice and manner, made a very pretty, short address, quite
+suited to childish ears and understanding, with a few remarks at the end
+to the parents, telling them it was their fault if their children grew
+up hostile or indifferent to religion; that it was a perfectly false
+idea that to be patriotic and good citizens meant the abandonment of all
+religious principles.
+
+We waited until the end of the service (Francis and his friends arrived
+in time to hear the cure's address), and watched the procession
+disappear down the steep path and gradually break up as each child was
+carried off by a host of friends and relations to its home. The cure was
+very pleased, said he had had a "belle fete"--people had sent flowers
+and ribbons and helped as much as they could to decorate the church. I
+asked him if he thought it made a lasting impression on the children. He
+thought it did on the girls, but the boys certainly not. Until their
+first communion he held them a little, could interest them in books and
+games after school hours, but after that great step in their lives they
+felt themselves men, and were impatient of any control.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+CHRISTMAS IN THE VALOIS
+
+
+It had been a cold December, quite recalling Christmas holidays at
+home--when we used to think Christmas without snow wasn't a real
+Christmas, and half the pleasure of getting the greens to dress the
+church was gone, if the children hadn't to walk up to their ankles in
+untrodden snow across the fields to get the long, trailing branches of
+ivy and bunches of pine. We were _just_ warm enough in the big
+chateau. There were two caloriferes, and roaring wood fires (trees) in
+the chimneys; but even I must allow that the great stone staircase
+and long corridors were cold: and I couldn't protest when nearly all
+the members of the household--of all ages--wrapped themselves in
+woolen shawls and even fur capes at night when the procession mounted
+the big staircase. I had wanted for a long time to make a Christmas
+Tree in our lonely little village of St. Quentin, near Louvry, our
+farm, but I didn't get much support from my French friends and
+relations. W. was decidedly against it. The people wouldn't
+understand--had never seen such a thing; it was entirely a foreign
+importation, and just beginning to be understood in the upper classes
+of society. One of my friends, Madame Casimir-Perier,[4] who has a
+beautiful chateau at Pont-sur-Seine (of historic renown--"La Grande
+Mademoiselle" danced there--"A Pont j'ai fait venir les violons", she
+says in her memoirs), also disapproved. She gives away a great deal
+herself, and looks after all her village, but not in that way. She
+said I had much better spend the money it would cost, on good,
+sensible, warm clothes, blankets, "bons de pain," etc.; there was no
+use in giving them ideas of pleasure and refinement they had never
+had--and couldn't appreciate. Of course it was all perfectly logical
+and sensible, but I did so want to be unreasonable, and for once give
+these poor, wretched little children something that would be a delight
+to them for the whole year--one poor little ray of sunshine in their
+gray, dull lives.
+
+  [4] Madame Casimir-Perier, widow of the well-known liberal statesman,
+  and mother of the ex-President of the Republic.
+
+We had many discussions in the big drawing-room after dinner, when W.
+was smoking in the arm-chair and disposed to look at things less
+sternly than in bright daylight. However, he finally agreed to leave
+me a free hand, and I told him we should give a warm garment to every
+child, and to the very old men and women. I knew I should get plenty
+of help, as the Sisters and Pauline promised me dolls and "dragees." I
+am sorry he couldn't be here; the presence of the Ambassador would
+give more eclat to the fete, and I think in his heart he was rather
+curious as to what we could do, but he was obliged to go back to
+London for Christmas. His leave was up, and beside, he had various
+country and shooting engagements where he would certainly enjoy
+himself and see interesting people. I shall stay over Christmas and
+start for London about the 29th, so as to be ready to go to
+Knowsley[5] by the 30th, where we always spend the New Year's Day.
+
+  [5] The Earl of Derby's fine palace near Liverpool.
+
+We started off one morning after breakfast to interview the
+school-mistress and the Mayor--a most important personage. If you had
+ever seen St. Quentin you would hardly believe it could possess such
+an exalted functionary. The village consists of about twelve little,
+low gray houses, stretching up a steep hill, with a very rough road
+toward the woods of Borny behind. There are forty inhabitants, a
+church, and a school-house; but it _is_ a "commune," and not the
+smallest in France (there is another still smaller somewhere in the
+South, toward the Alpes Maritimes). I always go and make a visit to
+the Mayor, who is a very small farmer and keeps the drinking shop[6]
+of the village. We shake hands and I sit a few minutes in a wooden
+chair in the one room (I don't take a drink, which is so much gained),
+and we talk about the wants and general behaviour of the population.
+The first time I went I was on horseback, so we dismounted and had our
+little talk. When we got up to go he hurriedly brought out a bench for
+me to mount from, and was quite bewildered when he saw W. lift me to
+the saddle from the ground.
+
+  [6] Cabaret.
+
+The church is a pretty, old gray building--standing very high, with
+the little graveyard on one side, and a grass terrace in front, from
+which one has the most lovely view down the valley, and over the
+green slopes to the woods--Borny and Villers-Cotterets on one side,
+Chezy the other. It is very worn and dilapidated inside, and is never
+open except on the day of St. Quentin,[7] when the cure of La
+Ferte-Milon comes over and has a service. The school-house is a nice
+modern little house, built by W. some years ago. It looks as if it had
+dropped down by mistake into this very old world little hamlet.
+
+  [7] In August, I think.
+
+It is a short walk, little more than two kilometres from the gates of
+the big park, and the day was enchanting--cold and bright; too bright,
+indeed, for the low, gray clouds of the last days had been promising
+snow and I wanted it so much for my tree! We were quite a
+party--Henrietta, Anne, Pauline, Alice and Francis, Bonny the
+fox-terrier, and a very large and heavy four-wheeled cart, which the
+children insisted upon taking and which naturally had to be drawn up all
+the hills by the grown-ups, as it was much too heavy for the little
+ones. Bonny enjoyed himself madly, making frantic excursions to the
+woods in search of rabbits, absolutely unheeding call or whistle, and
+finally emerging dirty and scratched, stopping at all the rabbit holes
+he met on the way back, and burrowing deep into them until nothing was
+left but a stumpy little white tail wagging furiously.
+
+We went first to the Mayor, as we were obliged to ask his permission to
+give our party at the school. Nothing in France can be done without
+official sanction. I wanted, too, to speak to him about a church
+service, which I was very anxious to have before the Tree was lighted. I
+didn't want the children's only idea of Christmas to be cakes and toys;
+and that was rather difficult to arrange, as the situation is so
+strained between the clergy and the laiques, particularly the cure and
+the school-master. I knew I should have no trouble with the
+school-mistress (the school is so small it is mixed girls and boys from
+four to twelve--and there is a woman teacher; she is the wife of one of
+our keepers, and a nice woman)--but I didn't know how the Mayor would
+feel on the subject. However, he was most amiable; would do anything I
+wanted. I said I held very much to having the church open and that I
+would like as many people to come as it would hold. Would he tell all
+the people in the neighbourhood? I would write to the principal farmers,
+and I was sure we could make a most interesting fete. He was rather
+flattered at being consulted; said he would come up with us and open the
+church. It was absolutely neglected and there was nothing in the way of
+benches, carpets, etc. I told him I must go first to the school, but I
+would meet him at the church in half an hour.
+
+The children were already up the hill, tugging the big cart filled with
+pine cones. The school-mistress was much pleased at the idea of the
+Christmas Tree; she had never seen one except in pictures, and never
+thought she would really have one in her school. We settled the day, and
+she promised to come and help arrange the church. Then we went into the
+school-room, and it was funny to hear the answer--a roar--of "Oui,
+Madame Waddington," when I asked her if the children were "good"; so we
+told them if they continued very good there would be a surprise for
+them. There are only thirty scholars--rather poor and miserable looking;
+some of them come from so far, trudge along the high-road in a little
+band, in all weathers, insufficiently clad--one big boy to-day had on a
+linen summer jacket. I asked the teacher if he had a tricot underneath.
+"Mais non, Madame, ou l'aurait-il trouve?" He had a miserable little
+shirt underneath which may once have been flannel, but which was worn
+threadbare.
+
+We chose our day and then adjourned to the church, where the Mayor
+and a nice, red-cheeked, wrinkled old woman[8] who keeps the
+ornaments, such as they are, of the church were waiting for us. It was
+certainly bare and neglected, the old church, bits of plaster dropping
+off walls and ceilings, and the altar and one or two little statues
+still in good condition; but we saw we could arrange it pretty well
+with greens, the few flowers, chrysanthemums, Christmas roses, etc.,
+that were still in the green-house, a new red carpet for the altar
+steps, and of course vases, tall candlesticks, etc. There was one
+handsome bit of old lace on a white nappe for the altar, and a good
+dress for the Virgin. We could have the school benches, and the Mayor
+would lend chairs for the "quality." On the whole we were satisfied,
+and told W. triumphantly at dinner that the Mayor, so far from making
+any objection, was pleased as Punch; he had never seen a Christmas
+Tree either.
+
+  [8] La Mere Rogov.
+
+[Illustration: The Mayor and a nice, red-cheeked, wrinkled old woman
+were waiting for us.]
+
+The next day the list of the children was sent according to age and
+sex--also the old people; and we were very busy settling what we must do
+in the way of toys. The principal thing was to go to Paris and get all
+we wanted--toys, "betises", and shiny things for the Tree, etc.
+Henrietta and I undertook that, and we went off the same day that W.
+left for London. It was bitterly cold--the ground frozen hard--and we
+had a long drive, eighteen kilometres through Villers-Cotterets
+forest--but no snow, only a beautiful white frost--all the trees and
+bushes covered with rime. It was like driving through a fairy forest.
+When we had occasional gleams of sunlight every leaf sparkled, and the
+red berries of the holly stood out beautifully from all the white. The
+fine old ruins of La Ferte looked splendid rising out of a mass of
+glistening underwood and long grass. We are very proud of our old
+chateau-fort, which has withstood well the work of time. It was begun
+(and never finished) by Louis d'Orleans in 1303, and was never
+inhabited. Now there is nothing left but the facade and great round
+towers, but quite enough to show what it might have been. There is also
+a bas-relief, perfectly well preserved, over the big door, of the
+Coronation of the Virgin, the kneeling figure quite distinct. On the
+other side is a great grass place (village green) where the fetes of La
+Ferte take place, and where all the town dances the days of the
+"Assemblee." From the bottom of the terrace, at the foot of the low
+wall, one has a magnificent view over the town and the great forest of
+Villers-Cotterets stretching away in front, a long blue line on the
+horizon. In the main street of La Ferte there is a statue of Racine, who
+was born there. It is in white marble, in the classic draperies of the
+time, and is also in very good preservation. The baptismal register of
+Jean Racine is in the archives of La Ferte.
+
+The road all the way to Villers-Cotterets was most animated. It was
+market-day, and we met every description of vehicle, from the high,
+old-fashioned tilbury of the well-to-do farmer, to the peasant's
+cart--sometimes an old woman driving, well wrapped up, her turban on her
+head, but a knit shawl wound around it, carrying a lot of cheeses to
+market; sometimes a man with a cow tied behind his cart, and a calf
+inside. We also crossed Menier's equipage de chasse, horses and dogs
+being exercised. We talked a few minutes to Hubert, the piqueur, who was
+in a very bad humor. They had not hunted for some days, and dogs and
+horses were unruly. The horses were a fine lot, almost all white or
+light gray. We go sometimes to the meets, and the effect is very good,
+as the men all wear scarlet coats and the contrast is striking.
+
+We had an exhausting day in Paris, but managed to get pretty nearly
+everything. The little children were easily disposed of--dolls, drums,
+wooden horses, etc.; but the bigger boys and girls, who have outgrown
+toys, are more difficult to suit. However, with knives, paint-boxes,
+lotos (geographical and historical), for the boys; and handkerchief and
+work-boxes, morocco bags, etc., we did finally get our fifty objects.
+There are always extra children cropping up. Shopping was not very easy,
+as the streets and boulevards were crowded and slippery. We had a fairly
+good cab, but the time seemed endless. The big bazaars--Hotel de Ville,
+rue d'Amsterdam, etc.--were the most amusing; really, one could get
+anything from a five-sou doll to a menagere (the little cooking-stove
+all the peasant women use in their cottages). There were armies of
+extras--white-aproned youths, who did their best for us. We explained to
+one of the superintendents what we wanted, and he gave us a very
+intelligent boy, who followed us about with an enormous basket, into
+which everything was put. When we finally became almost distracted with
+the confusion and the crowd and our list, we asked the boy what he had
+liked when he was eleven years old at school; and he assured us all boys
+liked knives and guns.
+
+When we had finished with the boys we had the decorations for the Tree
+to get, and then to the Bon Marche for yards of flannel, calico, bas de
+laine, tricots, etc. We had given W. rendezvous at five at Henrietta's.
+He was going to cross at night. We found him there having his tea. He
+had seen lots of people; been to the Elysee and had a long interview
+with the President (Grevy); then to the Quai d'Orsay to get his last
+instructions from the Minister; and he had still people coming to see
+him. When we left (our train was before his) he was closeted with one of
+his friends, a candidate for the Institute, very keen about his vote
+which W. had promised him, and going over for about the twentieth time
+the list of the members to see what his chances were. However, I suppose
+all candidates are exactly alike, and W. says he is sure he was a
+nuisance to all his friends when he presented himself at the Institute.
+One or two people were waiting in the dining-room to speak to him, and
+his servant was distracted over his valise, which wasn't begun then. I
+promised him I would write him a faithful account of our fete once we
+had decided our day. We took the five-o'clock train down, and a nice
+cold drive we had going home. The roads were rather slippery, and the
+forest black and weird. The trees which had been so beautiful in the
+morning covered with rime, seemed a massive black wall hemming us in. It
+is certainly a lonely bit of country, once we had left the lights of
+Villers-Cotterets behind us, crossed the last railway, and were fairly
+started in the forest. We didn't meet anything--neither cart, carriage,
+bucheron, nor pedestrian of any kind.
+
+Henrietta was rather nervous, and she breathed a sigh of relief when we
+got out on the plains and trotted down the long hill that leads to La
+Ferte. The chateau lights looked very warm and home-like as we drove in.
+We gave a detailed account of all we had bought, and as we had brought
+our lists with us we went to work at once, settling what each child
+should have. I found a note from the Abbe Marechal, the cure of
+Laferte-Milon, whom I wanted to consult about our service. He is a very
+clever, moderate man, a great friend of ours, and I was sure he would
+help us and arrange a service of some kind for the children. Of course I
+was rather vague about a Catholic service; a Protestant one I could have
+arranged myself, with some Christmas carols and a short liturgy, but I
+had no idea what Christmas meant to Catholic minds. We had asked him to
+come to breakfast, and we would go over to the village afterward, see
+the church and what could be done. He was quite pleased at the idea of
+doing anything for his poor little parish, and he is so fond of children
+and young people that he was quite as much interested as we were. He
+knew the church, having held a service there three or four times. We
+walked over, talking over the ceremony and what we could do. He said he
+would give a benediction, bring over the Enfant Jesus, and make a small
+address to the children. The music was rather difficult to arrange, but
+we finally agreed that we would send a big omnibus to bring over the
+harmonium from La Ferte, one or two Sisters, two choir children, and
+three or four of the older girls of the school who could sing, and he
+would see that they learned two or three canticles.
+
+We agreed to do everything in the way of decoration. He made only one
+condition: that the people should come to the service. I could answer
+for all our household and for some of the neighbours--almost all, in
+fact--as I was sure the novelty of the Christmas Tree would attract
+them, and they wouldn't mind the church service thrown in.
+
+We went of course to see the Mayor, as the cure was obliged to notify
+him that he wished to open the church, and also to choose the day. We
+took Thursday, which is the French holiday; that left us just two
+days to make our preparations. We told Madame Isidore (the
+school-mistress) we would come on Wednesday for the church, bringing
+flowers, candles, etc., and Thursday morning to dress the Tree. The
+service was fixed for three o'clock--the Tree afterward in the
+school-room. We found our big ballots[9] from the bazaars and other
+shops, when we got home, and all the evening we wrote tickets and
+names (some of them so high-sounding--Ismerie, Aline, Leocadie, etc.),
+and filled little red and yellow bags, which were very troublesome to
+make, with "dragees."
+
+  [9] Big packages.
+
+Wednesday we made a fine expedition to the woods--the whole party, the
+donkey-cart, and one of the keepers to choose the Tree--a most important
+performance, as we wanted the real pyramid "sapin," tapering off to a
+fine point at the top. Labbey (keeper) told us his young son and the
+coachman's son had been all the morning in the woods getting enormous
+branches of pine, holly, and ivy, which we would find at the church. We
+came across various old women making up their bundles of fagots and dead
+wood (they are always allowed to come once a week to pick up the dead
+wood, under the keeper's surveillance). They were principally from
+Louvry and St. Quentin, and were staggering along, carrying quite heavy
+bundles on their poor old bent backs. However, they were very smiling
+to-day, and I think the burden was lightened by the thought of the
+morrow. We found a fine tree, which was installed with some difficulty
+in the donkey-cart; Francis and Alice taking turns driving, perched on
+the trunk of the tree, and Labbey walking behind, supporting the top
+branches.
+
+We found the boys at the church, having already begun their
+decorations--enormous, high pine branches ranged all along the wall, and
+trails of ivy on the windows. The maids had arrived in the carriage,
+bringing the new red carpet, vases, candelabras and tall candlesticks,
+also two splendid wax candles painted and decorated, which Gertrude
+Schuyler had brought us from Italy; all the flowers the gardener would
+give them, principally chrysanthemums and Christmas roses. It seems he
+wasn't at all well disposed; couldn't imagine why "ces dames" wanted to
+despoil the green-houses "pour ce petit trou de St. Quentin."
+
+We all worked hard for about an hour, and the little church looked quite
+transformed. The red carpet covered all the worn, dirty places on the
+altar steps, and the pine branches were so high and so thick that the
+walls almost disappeared. When the old woman (gardienne) appeared she
+was speechless with delight! As soon as we had finished there, we
+adjourned to the school-house, and to our joy snow was falling--quite
+heavy flakes. Madame Isidore turned all the children into a small room,
+and we proceeded to set up our Tree. It was a great deal too tall, and
+if we hadn't been there they would certainly have chopped it off at the
+top, quite spoiling our beautiful point; but as we insisted, they cut
+away from the bottom, and it really was the regular pyramid one always
+wants for a Christmas Tree. We put it in a big green case (which we had
+obtained with great difficulty from the gardener; it was quite empty,
+standing in the orangerie, but he was convinced we would never bring it
+back), moss all around it, and it made a great effect. The "garde de
+Borny" arrived while we were working, and said he would certainly come
+to the church in his "tenue de garde"; our two keepers would also be
+there.
+
+[Illustration: There was one handsome bit of old lace on a white nappe
+for the altar.]
+
+Thursday morning we went early (ten o'clock) to St. Quentin and spent
+over two hours decorating the Tree, ticketing and arranging all the
+little garments. Every child in the neighbourhood was hanging around the
+school-house when we arrived, the entrance being strictly forbidden
+until after the service, when the Tree would be lighted. I expressed
+great surprise at seeing the children at the school on a holiday, and
+there were broad grins as they answered, "Madame Waddington nous a dit
+de venir." It had snowed all night, and the clouds were low and gray,
+and looked as if they were still full of snow. The going was extremely
+difficult; not that the snow was very deep, but there was enough to make
+the roads very slippery. We had the horses "ferres a glace," and even
+the donkey had nails on his shoes. The country looked beautiful--the
+poor little village quite picturesque, snow on all the dark roofs, and
+the church standing out splendidly from its carpet of snow--the tall
+pines not quite covered, and always the curtain of forest shutting in
+the valley.
+
+We left the maids to breakfast with the keeper, and promised to be back
+at three o'clock punctually. Our coachman, Hubert, generally objects
+strongly to taking out his horses in bad weather on rough country roads
+and making three or four trips backward and forward; but to-day he was
+quite serene. He comes from that part of the neighbourhood and is
+related to half the village. Our progress was slow, as we stopped a good
+deal. It was a pretty sight as we got near St. Quentin: the church,
+brightly lighted, stood out well on the top of the hill against a
+background of tall trees, the branches just tipped with snow. The bell
+was ringing, the big doors wide open, sending out a glow of warmth and
+colour, and the carpet of white untrodden country snow was quite intact,
+except a little pathway made by the feet of the men who had brought up
+the harmonium. The red carpet and bright chrysanthemums made a fine
+effect of colour, and the little "niche" (it could hardly be called a
+chapel) of the Virgin was quite charming, all dressed with greens and
+white flowers, our tall Italian candles making a grand show.
+
+The La Ferte contingent had arrived. They had much difficulty in getting
+the omnibus up to the church, as it was heavy with the harmonium on top;
+however, everybody got out and walked up the hill, and all went off
+well. The Abbe was robing, with his two choir children, in the minute
+sacristy, and the two good Sisters were standing at the gate with all
+their little flock--about ten girls, I should think. There were people
+in every direction, of all sizes and ages--some women carrying a baby in
+their arms and pushing one or two others in a cart, some wretched old
+people so bent and wrinkled one couldn't imagine how they could crawl
+from one room to another. A miserable old man bent double, really,
+leaning on a child and walking with two canes, was pointed out to me as
+the "pere Colin," who makes the "margottins" (bundles of little dry
+sticks used for making the fires) for the chateau. However, they were
+all streaming up the slippery hillside, quite unmindful of cold or
+fatigue. We walked up, too, and I went first to the school-house to see
+if our provisions had come. Food was also a vexed question, as tea and
+buns, which would seem natural to us, were unknown in these parts. After
+many consultations with the women about us--lessiveuses (washerwomen),
+keepers' wives, etc.--we decided upon hot wine and brioches. The Mayor
+undertook to supply the wine and the glasses, and we ordered the
+brioches from the Hotel du Sauvage at La Ferte; the son of the house is
+a very good patissier. It is a funny, old-fashioned little hotel, not
+very clean, but has an excellent cuisine, also a wonderful sign board--a
+bright red naked savage, with feathers in his hair and a club in his
+hand--rather like the primitive pictures of North American Indians in
+our school-books.
+
+Everything was there, and the children just forming the procession to
+walk to the church. Some of the farmers' wives were also waiting for us
+at the school-house, so I only had a moment to go into the big
+class-room to see if the Tree looked all right. It was quite ready, and
+we agreed that the two big boys with the keeper should begin to light it
+as soon as the service was over. Madame Isidore (the school-mistress)
+was rather unhappy about the quantity of people. There were many more
+than thirty children, but Henrietta and Pauline had made up a bundle of
+extras, and I was sure there would be enough. She told us people had
+been on the way since nine in the morning--women and children arriving
+cold and wet and draggled, but determined to see everything. She showed
+me one woman from Chezy, the next village (some distance off, as our
+part of the country is very scantily populated; it is all great farms
+and forests; one can go miles without seeing a trace of habitation). She
+had arrived quite early with two children, a boy and a girl of seven and
+eight, and a small baby in her arms; and when Madame Isidore
+remonstrated, saying the fete was for her school only, not for the
+entire country-side, the woman answered that Madame always smiled and
+spoke so nicely to her when she passed on horseback that she was sure
+she would want her to come. The French peasants love to be spoken to,
+always answer civilly, and are interested in the horses, or the donkey,
+or the children--anything that passes.
+
+[Illustration: They were all streaming up the slippery hillside.]
+
+We couldn't loiter, as the bell was tolling, the children already at the
+church, and some one rushed down to say that "M. le Cure attendait ces
+dames pour commencer son office." There was quite a crowd on the little
+"place," everybody waiting for us to come in. We let the children troop
+in first, sitting on benches on one side. In front of the altar there
+were rows of chairs for the "quality." The Sisters and their girls sat
+close up to the harmonium, and on a table near, covered with a pretty
+white linen cloth trimmed with fine old lace (part of the church
+property), was the Enfant Jesus in his cradle. This was to be a great
+surprise to me. When it was decided that the Sisters should come to the
+fete with some of the bigger girls, and bring the Enfant Jesus, they
+thought there must be a new dress for the "babe," so every child
+subscribed a sou, and the dress was made by the couturiere of La Ferte.
+It _was_ a surprise, for the Enfant Jesus was attired in a pink satin
+garment with the high puffed fashionable sleeves we were all wearing!
+However, I concealed my feelings, the good Sisters were so naively
+pleased. I could only hope the children would think the sleeves were
+wings.
+
+As soon as the party from the chateau was seated, every one crowded in,
+and there were not seats enough, nor room enough in the little church;
+so the big doors remained open (it was fairly warm with the lights and
+the people), and there were nearly as many people outside as in. The
+three keepers (Garde de Borny and our two) looked very imposing. They
+are all big men, and their belts and gun-barrels bright and shining.
+They stood at the doors to keep order. The Mayor, too, was there, in a
+black coat and white cravat, but he came up to the top of the church and
+sat in the same row with me. He didn't have on his tricoloured scarf,
+so I suppose he doesn't possess one.
+
+It was a pretty, simple service. When the cure and his two choir
+children in their short, white surplices and red petticoats came up the
+aisle, the choir sang the fine old hymn "Adeste Fideles," the
+congregation all joining in. We sang, too, the English words ("Oh, come,
+all ye Faithful"); we didn't know the Latin ones, but hoped nobody would
+notice. There were one or two prayers and a pretty, short address,
+talking of the wonderful Christmas night so many years ago, when the
+bright star guided the shepherds through the cold winter night to the
+stable where the heavenly babe was born. The children listened most
+attentively, and as all the boys in the village begin life as shepherds
+and cow-boys, they were wildly interested. Then there was a benediction,
+and at the end all the children in procession passed before the Enfant
+Jesus and kissed his foot. It was pretty to see the little ones standing
+up on tip-toe to get to the little foot, and the mothers holding up
+their babes. While this was going on, the choir sang the Noel Breton of
+Holmes, "Deux anges sont venus ce soir m'apporter de bien belles
+choses." There was some little delay in getting the children into
+procession again to go down to the school-house. They had been
+supernaturally good, but were so impatient to see the Tree that it was
+difficult to hold them. Henrietta and Pauline hurried on to light the
+Tree. I waited for the Abbe. He was much pleased with the attendance,
+and spoke so nicely to all the people.
+
+We found the children all assembled in the small room at the school-house,
+and as soon as we could get through the crowd we let them come in. The
+Tree was quite beautiful, all white candles--quantities--shiny
+ornaments and small toys, dolls, trumpets, drums, and the yellow and
+red bags of "dragees" hanging on the branches. It went straight up to
+the ceiling, and quite on top was a big gold star, the manufacture of
+which had been a source of great tribulation at the chateau. We forgot
+to get one in Paris, and sent in hot haste on Wednesday to La Ferte
+for pasteboard and gold paper; but, alas! none of us could draw, and
+we had no model. I made one or two attempts, with anything but a
+satisfactory result: all the points were of different lengths and
+there was nothing but points (more like an octopus than anything
+else). However, Pauline finally produced a very good one (it really
+looked like a star), and of course the covering it with gold paper was
+easy. The creche made a great effect, standing at the bottom of the
+Tree with a tall candle on each side. All the big toys and clothes
+were put on a table behind, where we all sat. Then the door was
+opened; there was a rush at first, but the school-mistress kept strict
+order. The little ones came first, their eyes round and fixed on the
+beautiful Tree; then the bigger children, and immediately behind them
+the "oldest inhabitants"--such a collection of old, bent, wrinkled,
+crippled creatures--then as many as could get in. There wasn't a sound
+at first, except some very small babies crowing and choking--then a
+sort of hum of pleasure.
+
+[Illustration: All the children in procession passed.]
+
+We had two or three recitations in parts from the older scholars; some
+songs, and at the end the "compliment," the usual thing--"Madame et
+chere Bienfaitrice," said by a small thing about five years old,
+speaking very fast and low, trying to look at me, but turning her head
+always toward the Tree and being shaken back into her place by Madame
+Isidore. Then we began the distribution--the clothes first, so as not to
+despoil the Tree too soon. The children naturally didn't take the
+slightest interest in warm petticoats or tricots, but their mothers did.
+
+We had the little ones first, Francis giving to the girls and Alice to
+the boys. Henrietta called the names; Pauline gave the toys to our two,
+and Madame Isidore called up each child. The faces of the children, when
+they saw dolls, trumpets, etc., being taken off the Tree and handed to
+each of them, was a thing to remember. The little girls with their dolls
+were too sweet, hugging them tight in their little fat arms. One or two
+of the boys began to blow softly on the trumpets and beat the drums, and
+were instantly hushed up by the parents; but we said they might make as
+much noise as they pleased for a few moments, and a fine "vacarme" (row)
+it was--the heavy boots of the boys contributing well as they moved
+about after their trains, marbles, etc.
+
+However, the candles were burning low (they only just last an hour) and
+we thought it was time for cakes and wine. We asked the children if they
+were pleased, also if each child had garment, toy, and "dragees," and to
+hold them up. There was a great scamper to the mothers to get the
+clothes, and then all the arms went up with their precious load.
+
+The school-children passed first into the outer room, where the keepers'
+wives and our maids were presiding over two great bowls of hot wine
+(with a great deal of water, naturally) and a large tray filled with
+brioches. When each child had had a drink and a cake they went out, to
+make room for the outsiders and old people. Henrietta and Pauline
+distributed the "extras"; I think there were about twenty in all,
+counting the babies in arms--also, of course, the girls from La Ferte
+who had come over with the Sisters to sing. I talked to some of the old
+people. There was one poor old woman--looked a hundred--still gazing
+spellbound at the Tree with the candles dying out, and most of the
+ornaments taken off. As I came up to her she said: "Je suis bien
+vieille, mais je n'aurais jamais cru voir quelque chose de si beau! Il
+me semble que le ciel est ouvert"--poor old thing! I am so glad I wasn't
+sensible, and decided to give them something pretty to look at and think
+about. There was wine and cakes for all, and then came the closing
+ceremony.
+
+We (the quality) adjourned to the sitting-room of the school-mistress
+(where there were red arm-chairs and a piano), who produced a bottle of
+better wine, and then we "trinqued" (touched glasses) with the Mayor,
+who thanked us in the name of the commune for the beautiful fete we had
+made for them. I answered briefly that I was quite happy to see them so
+happy, and then we all made a rush for wraps and carriages.
+
+The Abbe came back to the chateau to dine, but he couldn't get away
+until he had seen his Sisters and harmonium packed safely into the big
+omnibus and started for La Ferte. It looked so pretty all the way home.
+It was quite dark, and the various groups were struggling down the hill
+and along the road, their lanterns making a bright spot on the snow;
+the little childish voices talking, laughing, and little bands running
+backward and forward, some disappearing at a turn of the road, the
+lantern getting dimmer, and finally vanishing behind the trees. We went
+very slowly, as the roads were dreadfully slippery, and had a running
+escort all the way to the Mill of Bourneville, with an accompaniment of
+drums and trumpets. The melancholy plains of the Valois were transformed
+tonight. In every direction we saw little twinkling lights, as the
+various bands separated and struck off across the fields to some lonely
+farm or mill. It is a lonely, desolate country--all great stretches of
+fields and plains, with a far-away blue line of forests. We often drive
+for miles without meeting a vehicle of any kind, and there are such
+distances between the little hamlets and isolated farms that one is
+almost uncomfortable in the absolute solitude. In winter no one is
+working in the fields and one never hears a sound; a dog's bark is
+welcome--it means life and movement somewhere.
+
+[Illustration: There was some poor old woman still gazing spellbound.]
+
+It is quite the country of the "haute culture," which Cherbuliez wrote
+about in his famous novel, "La Ferme du Choquart." The farms are often
+most picturesque--have been "abbayes" and monasteries. The massive round
+towers, great gate-ways, and arched windows still remain;
+occasionally, too, parts of a solid wall. There is a fine old
+ruin--the "Commanderie," near Montigny, one of our poor little villages.
+It belonged to the Knights Templars, and is most interesting. The chapel
+walls are still intact, and the beautiful roof and high, narrow windows.
+It is now, alas! a "poulailler" (chicken-house), and turkeys and
+chickens are perched on the rafters and great beams that still support
+the roof. The dwelling-house, too, is most interesting with its thick
+gray walls, high narrow windows, and steep winding staircase. I was
+always told there were "donjons" in the cellars, but I never had the
+courage to go down the dark, damp, slippery staircase.
+
+We were quite glad to get back to our big drawing-room with the fire and
+the tea-table; for of course the drawback to our entertainment was the
+stuffiness (not to say bad smell) of the little room. When all the
+children and grown people got inmost of them with damp clothes and
+shoes-the odour was something awful. Of course no window could be opened
+on account of the candles, and the atmosphere was terrible. At the end,
+when it was complicated with wine and cake and all the little ones'
+faces smeared with chocolate and "dragees," I really don't know how we
+stood it.
+
+We had a very cheerful dinner. We complimented the Abbe upon his sermon,
+which was really very pretty and poetical. He said the children's faces
+quite inspired him, and beyond, over their heads, through the open door
+he got a glimpse of the tall pines with their frosted heads, and could
+almost fancy he saw the beautiful star.
+
+We were all much pleased with our first "Christmas in the Valois."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+A RACINE CELEBRATION
+
+
+MAREUIL-SUR-OURCQ, April 20th, 1899.
+
+I could scarcely believe I was in our quiet little town of La
+Ferte-Milon to-day. Such a transformation--flags flying, draperies at
+all the windows, garlands of greens and flowers across the streets, and
+a fine triumphal arch--all greens and flowers arranged about the centre
+of the Grande Rue. Many people standing about, looking on, and making
+suggestions; altogether, an air de fete which is most unusual in these
+sleepy little streets where nothing ever passes, except at four o'clock,
+when the three schools come out, and clatter down the street. The Ecole
+Maternelle comes first, the good Mere Cecile bringing up the rear of the
+procession, holding the smallest children, babies three and four years
+old, by the hand, three or four more clinging to her skirts, and guiding
+them across the perilous passage of the bridge over the canal. It is a
+pretty view from the bridge. The canal (really the river Ourcq,
+canalisee), which has preserved its current and hasn't the dead,
+sluggish look of most canals, runs alongside of the Mail, a large green
+place with grass, big trees, a broad walk down the centre, and benches
+under the trees. It is a sort of promenade for the inhabitants and also
+serves as a village green, where all the fairs, shows and markets are
+held. The opposite bank is bordered by quaint old houses, with round
+towers and gardens, full of bright flowers, running down to the water's
+edge. There is one curious old colombier which has been there for
+centuries; near the bridge there is a lavoir, where there are always
+women washing. They are all there to-day, but much distracted, wildly
+interested in all that is going on--and the unwonted stir in the
+streets; chattering hard, and giving their opinions as to the decoration
+of the arch, which is evidently a source of great pride to the town.
+
+On a bright sunny day, when the red roofs and flowers are reflected in
+the water, and it is not too cold, their work doesn't seem very hard;
+but on a winter afternoon, when they have to break the ice sometimes,
+and a biting wind is blowing down the canal, it is pitiable to see the
+poor things thinly clad, shivering and damp; their hands and arms red
+and chapped with cold. On the other side of the bridge, the canal
+wanders peacefully along through endless green meadows, bordered with
+poplars, to Marolles, a little village where there is the first ecluse
+on the way to Paris.
+
+We had been talking vaguely all winter of doing something at La
+Ferte-Milon to feter the bicentenaire of Racine. They were making
+preparations at Paris, also at Port Royal, and it seemed hard to do
+nothing in his native place. His statue in the Grande Rue is one of the
+glories of La Ferte.
+
+Jean Racine was born in La Ferte in 1639. He lost both father and mother
+young, and was brought up by his grandparents. He was sent first to
+school at Beauvais, later, while still quite a youth, to Port Royal. His
+stay there influenced considerably his character and his writings; and
+though he separated himself entirely from the "Solitaires" during the
+years of his brilliant career as poet and courtier, there remained
+always in his heart a latent tenderness for the quiet green valley of
+the Chevreuse, where he had passed all his years of adolescence,
+listening to the good Fathers, and imbibing their doctrines of the
+necessity of divine grace to complete the character. His masters were
+horrified and distressed when his talent developed into plays, which
+brought him into contact with actors and actresses, and made him an
+habitue of a frivolous Court.
+
+There is a pretty letter from one of his aunts, a religieuse de Port
+Royal, begging him to keep away from "des frequentations abominables,"
+and to return to a Christian life.
+
+His career was rapid and brilliant. He was named to the Academie
+Francaise in 1673, and when he retired from the theatre was a welcome
+and honoured guest at the most brilliant court of the world. He was made
+private historian to the King and accompanied him on various campaigns.
+There are amusing mentions of the poets-historians (Boileau was also
+royal historian) in the writings of their contemporaries, "les messieurs
+du sublime," much embarrassed with their military accoutrements and much
+fatigued by the unwonted exercise and long days on horseback. The King
+showed Racine every favour. He was lodged at Versailles and at Marly and
+was called upon to amuse and distract the monarch when the cares of
+state and increasing years made all diversions pall upon him. He saw the
+decline and disgrace of Madame de Montespan, the marvellous good fortune
+of Madame de Maintenon. His famous tragedies of Esther and Athalie were
+written at Madame de Maintenon's request for her special institution of
+St. Cyr, and the performances were honoured by the presence of the King.
+Racine himself directed the rehearsals and the music was composed by
+Jean Baptiste Moreau, organist of St. Cyr. The youthful actresses showed
+wonderful aptitude in interpreting the passionate, tender verses of the
+poet. Young imaginations worked and jealousies and rivalries ran high.
+After a certain number of representations Mme. de Maintenon was obliged
+to suspend the performances in public, with costumes and music. The
+plays were only given in private at the Maison de St. Cyr; the young
+scholars playing in the dress of the establishment. He made his peace
+with Port Royal before he died. He submitted Phedre to his former
+masters and had the satisfaction of being received again by the "Grand
+Arnauld,"[10] who had been deeply offended by his ingratitude and his
+criticisms and ridicule of many of his early friends and protectors. He
+asked to be buried there, and his body remained until the destruction
+and devastation of Port Royal, when it was removed to Paris and placed
+in the Church of St. Etienne des Monts.
+
+[10] "Le Grand Arnauld" (Antoine), one of the first and most
+influential of the celebrated "Solitaires" who established themselves
+at Port Royal, and one of the founders of the famous sect of
+Jansenists whose controversies with the Jesuits convulsed the whole
+religious world in France during the years 1662-1668. He was followed
+in his retreat by his mother (after the husband's death), his brother
+and four sisters, one of whom became the "Mere Angelique," Abbesse of
+Port Royal.
+
+He returned many times to La Ferte-Milon, and the great poet and
+private historian of the Roi Soleil must often have climbed the steep
+little street that leads to the ruins, and thought of the changes, since
+the little boy lay on the grass at the foot of the great walls, dreaming
+golden dreams of the future, which for him were so brilliantly realised.
+
+In a small country town one is slow to adopt new ideas, slower still to
+carry them out, but the Mayor and cure were both most anxious to do
+something in the birthplace of the poet, and that was the general
+feeling in the Department. After many discussions we finally arrived at
+a solution, or at least we decided what we wanted: a special service in
+the fine old church of Notre Dame, which stands beautifully on the hill,
+close to the ruins; a representation of the Comedie Francaise, and of
+course a banquet at the Sauvage, with all the official world, senators,
+Prefet, Academiciens--a band of music, a torch-light procession, and as
+many distinguished visitors as we could get hold of. _Funds_ of course
+were a necessary item, but all the countryside contributed largely, and
+we knew that the artists would give their services gratis.
+
+We arranged a breakfast at my house in Paris with Mons. Casimir-Perier,
+late President of the Republic, who was always ready to lend his
+influence for anything that interests the people, and teaches them
+something of their great men, and Mons. Claretie, Directeur of the
+Comedie Francaise, a most cultivated, charming man. He is generally
+rather chary of letting his pensionnaires play en province, but this
+really was an occasion to break through his rules, and he was quite
+ready to help us in every way. We had also M. Sebline, Senator of the
+Aisne, and l'Abbe Marechal, cure of La Ferte-Milon. We had wanted one of
+the Administrateurs of the Chemin de Fer du Nord to arrange about a free
+transport for the actors, but there seemed some trouble about getting
+hold of the right man, and Sebline promised to see about that.
+
+The Abbe Marechal and I were very ambitious for the theatrical part of
+the entertainment and had views of Esther with the costumes, and
+choruses of Moreau, but M. Claretie said that would be impossible. It
+was difficult enough to arrange in Paris with all the singers,
+instruments, and costumes at hand--and would be impossible in the
+country with our modest resources. I think the idea of a tent on a
+village green rather frightened him; and he didn't quite see the elite
+of his company playing in such a cadre--no decor--and probably very bad
+acoustics. However, Sebline reassured him. He knew the tent and its
+capabilities, having seen it figure on various occasions, comices
+agricoles, banquets de pompiers, at village fetes generally, and said it
+could be arranged quite well.
+
+We discussed many programmes, but finally accepted whatever M. Claretie
+would give--an act of "Les Plaideurs," and two or three of "Berenice,"
+with Mme. Bartet, who is charming in that role. The Abbe Marechal
+undertook the music in his church, and I was sure he would succeed in
+having some of the choruses of Esther. His heart was quite set on it.
+Once he had settled our programme, the conversation drifted away from
+the purely local talk, and was brilliant enough. All the men were clever
+and good talkers, and all well up in Racine, his career, and the various
+phases of his work.
+
+From the classics we got into modern plays and poets, and there of
+course the differences of opinion were wide; but I think the general
+public (people in the upper galleries) like better when they go to the
+Francaise to see a classic piece--Roman emperors and soldiers, and
+vestal virgins and barbarians in chains--and to listen to their long
+tirades. The modern light comedy, even when it treats of the vital
+subjects of the day, seems less in its place in those old walls. I quite
+understand one couldn't see Britannicus,[11] Mithridate, nor the Cid
+every evening.
+
+[11] I remember so well our cousin Arthur's description of his
+holidays spent at his grandmother's chateau. Every evening they read
+aloud some classical piece. When he had read Britannicus twice (the
+second time to appreciate more fully the beauties which were lightly
+passed over at first), he rebelled, had a migraine, or a sore throat,
+something which prevented his appearing in the drawing-room after
+dinner; and he and his cousins attired themselves in sheets, and stood
+on the corner of the wall where the diligence made a sharp turn,
+frightening the driver and his horses out of their wits.
+
+We came down here several times to see how things were getting on, and
+always found the little town quite feverishly animated. We had succeeded
+in getting the band of the regiment stationed at Soissons. I wrote to
+the Colonel, who said he would send it with pleasure, but that he
+couldn't on his own authority. An application must be made to the
+Ministere de la Guerre. There is always so much red tape in France. One
+writes and receives so many letters about anything one wants to do--a
+Christmas Tree in the school-house--a distribution of soup for the poor
+and old--a turn in a road to be rounded, etc. However, the permission
+was graciously accorded for the band. The Mayor's idea was to station it
+on the Mail, where quantities of people would congregate who couldn't
+get into the church or the tent.
+
+We went one day to have tea with the Abbe Marechal in his nice old
+presbytere; the salon opening out on a large, old-fashioned garden with
+fine trees, and a view of the church towers in the distance. He was
+quite pleased with all that he had arranged for his church service. One
+of his friends, Abbe Vignon, a most interesting man and eloquent
+preacher, promised to deliver a lecture on Racine from the pulpit; and
+M. Vincent d'Indy, the distinguished composer and leader of the modern
+school of music, undertook the music with Mme. Jeanne Maunay as singer;
+he himself presiding at the organ.
+
+I tried to persuade the proprietors of all the chateaux in the
+neighbourhood to come, but I can't say I had much success. Some had
+gout--some had mourning. I don't remember if any one "had married a wife
+and therefore couldn't come."
+
+However, we shall fill our own house, and give breakfast and dinner to
+any one who will come. To-day we have been wandering about on the green
+near the ruins, trying to find some place where we can give our friends
+tea. The service in the church will certainly be long, and before the
+theatrical performance begins we should like to arrange a little
+gouter--but where? It is too far to go back to our house, and the
+Sauvage, our usual resort, will be packed on that day, and quite off its
+head, as they have two banquets morning and evening. The "Cafe des
+Ruines," a dirty little place just under the great walls of the chateau,
+didn't look inviting; but there was literally nothing else, so we
+interviewed the proprietor, went in to the big room down stairs, which
+was perfectly impossible, reeking with smoke, and smelling of cheap
+liquor; but he told us he had a "tres belle salle" up stairs, where we
+should be quite alone. We climbed up a dark, rickety little turning
+staircase, and found ourselves in quite a good room, with three large
+windows on the green; the walls covered with pictures from the cheap
+illustrated papers, and on the whole not too dirty. We have taken it for
+the afternoon, told the patron we would come to-morrow, put up tables,
+and make as many preparations as we could for the great day. He was very
+anxious to furnish something--some "vin du pays;" but we told him all we
+wanted was fire, plenty of hot water, and a good scrubbing of floor and
+windows.
+
+It is enchanting this afternoon. We are taking advantage of the fine
+weather to drive about the country, and show our friends some of our big
+farms and quaint little villages. They look exactly as they did a
+hundred years ago, "when the Cossacks were here," as they say in the
+country. Some of the inns have still kept their old-fashioned signs and
+names. Near May, on the road to Meaux, Bossuet's fine old cathedral
+town, there is a nice old square red-brick house, "L'Auberge du Veau qui
+Tete" (The Inn of the Sucking Calf), which certainly indicates that this
+is great farming country. There are quantities of big white oxen, cows,
+and horses in the fields, but the roads are solitary. One never meets
+anything except on market day. The Florians who live in Seine et Marne,
+which is thickly populated--villages and chateaux close together--were
+much struck with the loneliness and great stretches of wood and plain.
+
+We are praying for fine weather, as rain would be disastrous. The main
+street looks really charming. The green arch is nearly finished, and at
+night, when everything is illuminated, will be most effective.
+
+
+22nd. It rained yesterday afternoon and all night--not light April
+showers, but a good, steady downpour. Francis and Ctesse. de Gontaut
+arrived from Paris in his little open automobile. Such a limp, draggled
+female as emerged from the little carriage I never saw. They had had
+some sharp showers; pannes (breakdowns), too, and she _says_ she pushed
+the carriage up all the hills. She didn't seem either tired or cross,
+and looked quite bright and rested when she reappeared at dinner.
+
+Various friends arrived this morning, and we have been in La Ferte all
+the afternoon. The draperies and festoons of flowers don't look any the
+worse for the heavy rain, and at least it is over, and we shall probably
+have sun to-morrow. The tent is up on the green, and looks fairly large.
+I don't think any one will see anything except in the first eight or ten
+rows of chairs, but it seems they will all hear. The stage was being
+arranged, and, much to our amusement, they told us the Empire chairs and
+tables had been lent by the Abbe Marechal. He is a collectionneur, and
+has some handsome furniture. We inspected our tea-room, which didn't
+look too bad. Our men were there with tables, china, etc., and when it
+is all arranged we shall have quite a respectable buffet. The landlord
+was very anxious to decorate the tables with greens, flags, and perhaps
+a bust of Racine with a crown of laurels, but we told him it would be
+better not to complicate things.
+
+The view was lovely to-day from the top of the hill--the ruins looking
+enormous, standing out against the bright blue sky, and soft and pink at
+the top where the outline was irregular and the walls crumbling a
+little. We had some difficulty in collecting our party, and finally
+discovered Francis, Ctesse de Gontaut and Christiani having chocolate
+and cakes in the back parlour of the grocer's shop (nothing like
+equality on these occasions), who was telling them all the little gossip
+of the town, and naming the radicals who wouldn't go to the church.
+
+We had a pleasant evening with music and "baraque"--which is not very
+fatiguing as a mental exercise. I tried to send all the party to bed
+early, and have come upstairs myself, but I still hear the click of the
+billiard balls, and sounds of merriment downstairs. It is a splendid
+starlight night, the sky quite blue over the pines. I think we shall
+have beautiful weather for our fete. I have very vague ideas as to how
+many people we shall have for breakfast and dinner to-morrow, but the
+"office" is warned. I hope we shan't starve.
+
+
+April 24th. Monday.
+
+We had a beautiful and most successful day yesterday. All the household
+was stirring fairly early, as we had to get ourselves in to La Ferte
+before 12 o'clock. We started in all sorts of conveyances--train,
+carriage, voiturette--and found the Grande Rue full of people. The
+official breakfast was over, also the visit to the Mairie, where there
+are a few souvenirs of the poet--his picture, acte de naissance,[12]
+and signature. The procession was just forming to climb up the steep,
+little street that leads to the church, so we took a short cut (still
+steeper), and waited outside the doors to see them arrive. It was a
+pretty sight to see the cortege wind up the path--the Bishop of
+Soissons and several other ecclesiastics in their robes, blackcoated
+officials, some uniforms--the whole escorted by groups of children
+running alongside, and a fair sprinkling of women in light dresses,
+with flowers on their hats, making patches of colour. The church was
+crowded--one didn't remark the absence of certain "esprits forts" who
+gloried in remaining outside--and the service was most interesting.
+The lecture or rather "Eloge de Racine" was beautifully given by the
+Abbe Vignot. It was not very easy for a priest to pronounce from the
+pulpit an eulogium on the poet and dramatic author who had strayed so
+far from the paths of grace and the early teachings of Port Royal,
+where the "petit Racine" had been looked upon as a model pupil
+destined to rise high in the ecclesiastical world; but the orator made
+us see through the sombre tragedies of Phedre, Britannicus and others
+the fine nature of the poet, who understood so humanly the passions
+that tempt and warp the soul, and showed a spirit of tolerance very
+remarkable in those days. He dwelt less upon the courtier; spoke more
+of the Christian of his last days. He certainly lent to the "charm of
+the poet, the beauty of his voice," for it was impossible to hear
+anything more perfect than the intonation and diction of the speaker.
+
+[12] Birth certificate.
+
+There was a short address from Monseigneur Deramecourt, Bishop of
+Soissons--a stately figure seated on the Episcopal throne in the
+chancel. The music was quite beautiful. We had the famous "Chanteurs de
+St. Gervais," and part of the chaeurs d'Esther, composed by Moreau, and
+sung in splendid style by Mme. Jeanne Maunay, M. Vincent d'Indy
+accompanying on the organ. The simple sixteenth century chaunts sung by
+the St. Gervais choir sounded splendidly in the fine old cathedral. The
+tones seemed fuller and richer than in their Paris church.
+
+We went out a little before the end to see what was going on on the
+green. It was still quite a climb from the church, and all the people of
+the upper town had turned out to see the sight. It is quite a distinct
+population from the lower town. They are all canal hands, and mostly a
+very bad lot. The men generally drink--not enough to be really
+intoxicated (one rarely sees that in France), but enough to make them
+quarrelsome; and the women almost all slatternly and idle. They were
+standing at their doors, babies in their arms, and troops of dirty,
+ragged, pretty little children playing on the road, and accompanying us
+to the green, begging for "un petit sou."
+
+We saw the cortege winding down again, the robes and banners of the
+clergy making a great effect, and we heard in the distance the strains
+of the military band stationed on the Mail--echoes of the Marseillaise
+and the "Pere la Victoire" making a curious contrast to the old-world
+music we had just been listening to in the church. Our party scattered
+a little. Francis went down to the station with his auto to get the
+Duc and Duchesse d'Albufera, who had promised to come for the Comedie
+and dinner. They are neighbours, and have a beautiful place not very
+far off--Montgobert, in the heart of the Villers-Cotteret forest. He
+is a descendant of Suchet, one of Napoleon's Marshals, and they have a
+fine picture of the Marshal in uniform, and various souvenirs of the
+Emperor. Francis had some difficulty in making his way through the
+Grande Rue which was packed with people very unwilling to let any
+vehicle pass. However, they had a certain curiosity about the little
+carriage, which is the first one to appear in this part of the
+country--where one sees only farmers' gigs on two high wheels, or a
+tapissiere, a covered carriage for one horse. However, as every one
+knew him they were good natured enough, and let him pass, but he could
+not get any further than the foot of the street--too steep for any
+carriage to venture.
+
+It was a pretty sight as we got to the Place. Quantities of people
+walking about--many evident strangers, seeing the ruins for the first
+time. There was a band of schoolboys, about twenty, with a priest, much
+excited. They wanted to go in the tent and get good places, but were
+afraid of missing something outside, and were making little excursions
+in every direction, evidently rather worrying their Director. The tent,
+fairly large, looked small under the shadow of the great walls. We
+looked in and found a good many people already in their places, and saw
+that the first two or three rows of red arm-chairs were being kept for
+the quality. One of the sights was our two tall men standing at the door
+of the rather dirty, dilapidated "Cafe des Ruines," piloting our friends
+past the groups of workmen smoking and drinking in the porch, and up the
+dark, rickety staircase. I don't think any one would have had the
+courage to go up, if Henrietta hadn't led the way--once up, the effect
+of our banqueting-hall was not bad. The servants had made it look very
+well with china and silver brought from the house, also three or four
+fresh pictures taken from the illustrated papers to cover those which
+already existed, and which looked rather the worse for smoke and damp.
+We were actually obliged to cover General Boulanger and his famous
+black charger with a "Bois de Boulogne le Matin," with carriages,
+riders, bicycles, pretty women and children strolling about.
+
+The view from the windows was charming, and it was amusing to watch all
+the people toiling up the path. We recognised many friends, and made
+frantic signs to them to come and have tea. We had about three-quarters
+of an hour before the Comedie began, and when we got to the tent it was
+crowded--all the dignitaries--Bishop, Prefet, Senator, Deputy (he didn't
+object to the theatrical performance), M. Henri Houssaye, Academician;
+M. Roujon, Directeur des Beaux Arts, sitting in the front row in their
+red arm-chairs, and making quite as much of a show for the villagers as
+the actors.
+
+The performance began with the third act of "Les Plaideurs," played with
+extraordinary entrain. There were roars of laughter all through the
+salle, or tent--none more amused than the band of schoolboys, and their
+youthful enjoyment was quite contagious. People turned to look at them,
+and it was evident that, if they didn't see, they _heard_, as they never
+missed a point--probably knew it all by heart. Then came a recitation by
+Mlle. Moreno, who looked and spoke like a tragic muse the remorse and
+suffering of Phedre. The end of the performance--the two last acts of
+Berenice--was enchanting. Mme. Bartet looked charming in her floating
+blue draperies, and was the incarnation of the resigned, poetic, loving
+woman; Paul Mounet was a grand, sombre, passionate Titus, torn between
+his love for the beautiful Queen and his duty as a Roman to choose only
+one of his own people to share his throne and honours. The Roman Senate
+was an all-powerful body, and a woman's love too slight a thing to
+oppose to it. Bartet was charming all through, either in her long
+plaintes to her Confidante, where one felt that in spite of her repeated
+assurances of her lover's tenderness there was always the doubt of the
+Emperor's faith or in her interviews with Titus--reproaching him and
+adoring him, with all the magic of her voice and smile. It was a triumph
+for them both, and their splendid talent. With no decor, no room, no
+scenic illusions of any kind, they held their audience enthralled. No
+one minded the heat, nor the crowd, nor the uncomfortable seats, and all
+were sorry when the well-known lines, said by Mme. Bartet, in her
+beautiful, clear, pathetic voice
+
+   "Servons tous trois d'exemple a l'Univers
+    De l'amour la plus tendre et la plus malheureuse
+    Dont il puisse garder l'histoire douloureuse,"
+
+brought to a close the fierce struggle between love and ambition.
+
+As soon as it was over, I went with Sebline to compliment the actors. We
+found Bartet, not in her dressing-room, but standing outside, still in
+her costume, very busy photographing Mounet, superb as a Roman Emperor.
+He was posing most impatiently, watching the sun slowly sinking behind
+the ruins, as he wanted to photograph Berenice before the light failed,
+and the time was short. They were surrounded by an admiring crowd, the
+children much interested in the "beautiful lady with the stars all over
+her dress." We waited a few moments, and had a little talk with them.
+They said the fete had interested them very much and they were very glad
+to have come. They were rather taken aback at first when they saw the
+tent, the low small stage, and the very elementary scenery--were afraid
+the want of space would bother them, but they soon felt that they held
+their audience, and that their voices carried perfectly. They were
+rather hurried, as they were all taking the train back to Paris, except
+Bartet, who had promised to stay for the banquet. I had half hoped she
+would come to me, but of course I was obliged to waive my claim. When I
+saw how much the Prefet and the official world held to having her--when
+I heard afterwards that she had had the seat of honour next to the
+Bishop I was very glad I hadn't insisted, as she certainly doesn't often
+have the opportunity of sitting next to a Bishop. It seems he was
+delighted with her.
+
+We loitered about some little time, talking to all our friends. The view
+from the terrace was beautiful--directly at our feet the little town,
+which is literally two streets forming a long cross, the Grande Rue a
+streak of light and color, filled with people moving about, and the air
+alive with laughter and music. Just beyond, the long stretches of green
+pasture lands, cut every now and then by narrow lanes with apple trees
+and hawthorn in flower, and the canal winding along between the green
+walls of poplars--the whole hemmed in by the dark blue line of the
+Villers-Cotteret forest, which makes a grand sweep on the horizon.
+
+It was lovely driving back to Mareuil, toward the bright sunset clouds.
+We had a gay dinner and evening. I never dared ask where the various men
+dressed who came to dinner. The house is not very large, and every room
+was occupied--but as they all appeared most correctly attired, I suppose
+there are resources in the way of lingerie and fumoir which are
+available at such times, and Francis's valet de chambre is so accustomed
+to having more people than the house can hold that he probably took his
+precautions. Francis started off for the banquet at the Sauvage in his
+voiturette, but that long-suffering vehicle having made hundreds of
+kilometres these last days, came to grief at the foot of "la Montagne de
+Marolles," and he was towed back by a friendly carter and arrived much
+disgusted when we were half through dinner.
+
+We heard all the details of the dinner from the Abbe Marechal. Certainly
+the banqueting hall of the Sauvage will not soon again see such a
+brilliant assembly. Madame Bartet was the Queen of the Fete, and sat
+between the Bishop and the Prefet. There were some pretty speeches from
+M. Henri Houssaye, M. Roujon--and of course the toast of the President
+accompanied by the Marseillaise.
+
+The departure to the train was most amusing--all the swells, including
+Bartet, walking in the cortege, escorted by a torch-light procession,
+and surrounded by the entire population of La Ferte.
+
+The Grande Rue was illuminated from one end to the other, red Bengal
+lights throwing out splendidly the grand old chateau and the towers of
+Notre Dame.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+A CORNER OF NORMANDY
+
+
+BAGNOLES DE L'ORNE, July-August.
+
+It is lovely looking out of my window this morning, so green and cool
+and quiet. I had my petit dejeuner on my balcony, a big tree in the
+garden making perfect shade and a wealth of green wood and meadow in
+every direction, so resting to the eyes after the Paris asphalt. It
+seems a very quiet little place. Scarcely anything passing--a big
+omnibus going, I suppose, to the baths, and a butcher's cart. For the
+last ten minutes I have been watching a nice-looking sunburned girl with
+a big straw hat tied down over her ears, who is vainly endeavouring to
+get her small donkey-cart, piled high with fruit and vegetables, up a
+slight incline to the gate of a villa just opposite. She has been
+struggling for some time, pulling, talking, and red with the exertion.
+One or two workmen have come to her assistance, but they can't do
+anything either. The donkey's mind is made up. There is an animated
+conversation--I am too high up to hear what they say. Finally she leaves
+her cart, ties up her fruit in her apron, balances a basket of eggs with
+one hand on her head, and disappears into the garden behind the gate. No
+one comes along and the cart is quite unmolested. I think I should have
+gone down myself if I had seen anyone making off with any of the fruit.
+It is a delightful change from the hot stuffy August Paris I left
+yesterday. My street is absolutely deserted, every house closed except
+mine, the sun shining down hard on the white pavement, and perfect
+stillness all day. The evenings from seven till ten are indescribable--a
+horror of musical concierges with accordions, a favorite French
+instrument. They all sit outside their doors with their families and
+friends, playing and singing all the popular songs, and at intervals all
+joining in a loud chorus of "Viens Poupoule." Grooms are teaching lady
+friends to ride bicycles, a lot of barking, yapping fox-terriers running
+alongside. There is a lively cross-conversation going on from one side
+of the street to the other, my own concierge and chauffeur contributing
+largely. Of course my balcony is untenable, and I am obliged to sit
+inside, until happily sleep descends upon them. They all vanish, and the
+street relapses into perfect silence. I am delighted to find myself in
+this quiet little Norman bathing-place, just getting known to the
+French and foreign public.
+
+It is hardly a village; the collection of villas, small houses, shops,
+and two enormous hotels surrounding the etablissement seems to have
+sprung up quite suddenly and casually in the midst of the green fields
+and woods, shut in on all sides almost by the Forest of Ardennes, which
+makes a beautiful curtain of verdure. There are villas dotted about
+everywhere, of every possible style; Norman chalets, white and gray,
+with the black crossbeams that one is so familiar with all over this
+part of the country; English cottages with verandas and bow-windows;
+three or four rather pretentious looking buildings with high perrons and
+one or two terraces; gardens with no very pretty flowers, principally
+red geraniums, some standing back in a nice little green wood, some
+directly on the road with benches along the fence so that the
+inhabitants can see the passers-by (and get all the dust of the roads).
+But there isn't much passing even in these days of automobiles. There
+are two trains from Paris, arriving at two in the afternoon and at
+eleven at night. The run down from Paris, especially after Dreux, is
+charming, almost like driving through a park. The meadows are
+beautifully green and the trees very fine--the whole country very like
+England in appearance, recalling it all the time, particularly when we
+saw pretty gray old farmhouses in the distance--and every now and then a
+fine Norman steeple.
+
+There are two rival hotels and various small pensions and family houses.
+We are staying at the Grand, which is very comfortable. There is a
+splendid terrace overlooking the lake; rather an ambitious name for the
+big pond, which does, however, add to the picturesqueness of the place,
+particularly at night, when all the lights are reflected in the water.
+The whole hotel adjourns there after dinner, and people walk up and down
+and listen to the music until ten o'clock. After that there is a decided
+falling off of the beau monde. Many people take their bath at half past
+five in the morning and are quite ready to go to bed early. The walk
+down in the early morning is charming, through a broad, shaded
+alley--Allee de Dante. I wonder why it is called that. I don't suppose
+the poet ever took warm baths or douches in any description of
+etablissement. I remember the tale we were always told when we were
+children, and rebelled against the perpetual cleansing and washing that
+went on in the nursery, of the Italian countess who said she would be
+ashamed, if she couldn't do all her washing in a glass of water. It is
+rather amusing to see all the types. I don't think there are many
+foreigners. I hear very little English spoken, though they tell me
+there are some English here. We certainly don't look our best in the
+early morning, but the women stand the test better than the men. With
+big hats, veils, and the long cloaks they wear now, they pass muster
+very well and don't really look any worse than when they are attired for
+a spin in an open auto; but the men, with no waistcoats, a foulard
+around their throats, and a very dejected air, don't have at all the
+conquering-hero appearance that one likes to see in the stronger sex.
+
+The etablissement is large and fairly good, but nothing like what one
+finds in all the Austrian and German baths. When I first go in, coming
+out of the fresh morning air, I am rather oppressed with the smell of
+hot air, damp clothing, and many people crowded into little hot
+bath-rooms. There are terrible little dark closets called cabinets de
+repos. Many doctors in white waistcoats and red ribbons are walking
+about; plenty of baigneuses, with their sleeves rolled up, showing a red
+arm that evidently has been constantly in the water; people who have had
+their baths and are resting, wrapped up in blankets, stretched out on
+long chairs near the windows; bells going all the time, cries of
+"Marie-Louise," "Jeanne," "Anne-Marie." It is rather a pandemonium. Our
+baigneuse, who is called Marie-Louise, is upstairs. At the top of the
+stairs there is a grand picture of the horse who discovered the
+Bagnoles waters, a beautiful white beast standing in a spring, all water
+lilies and sparkling water. A lovely young lady in a transparent green
+garment with roses over each ear, like the head-dress one sees on
+Japanese women, is holding his bridle. The legend says that a certain
+gallant and amorous knight of yore, having become old and crippled with
+rheumatism, and unable any longer to make a brave show in tournaments
+under fair ladies' eyes, determined to retire from the world, and to
+leave his horse--faithful companion of many jousts--in a certain green
+meadow traversed by a babbling brook, where he could end his days in
+peace. What was his surprise, some months later, to find his horse
+quietly standing again in his old stable, his legs firm and straight,
+his skin glossy, quite renovated. The master took himself off to the
+meadow, investigated the quality of the water, bathed himself, and began
+life anew with straightened limbs and quickened pulses. The waters
+certainly do wonders. We see every day people who had arrived on
+crutches or walking with canes quite discarding them after a course of
+baths.
+
+[Illustration: L'Etablissement, Bagnoles de l'Orme.]
+
+The hotel is full, mostly French, but there are of course some
+exceptions. We have a tall and stately royal princess with two daughters
+and a niece. The girls are charming--simple, pretty, and evidently much
+pleased to be away for a little while from court life and etiquette.
+They make their cure quite regularly, like any one else, walking and
+sitting in the Allee Dante. The people don't stare at them too much.
+There are one or two well-known men--deputies, membres de
+l'Institut--but, of course, women are in the majority. There is a
+band--not very good, as the performers, some of them good enough alone,
+had never played together until they came here. However, it isn't of
+much consequence, as no one listens. I make friends with them, as usual;
+something always draws me to artists. The boy at the piano looks so
+thin--really as if he did not get enough to eat. He plays very well,
+told me he was a premier prix of the Conservatoire de Madrid. When one
+thinks of the hours of work and fatigue that means, it is rather
+pathetic to see him, contented to earn a few francs a night, pounding
+away at a piano and generally ending with a "cake walk," danced by some
+enterprising young people with all sorts of remarkable steps and
+gestures, which would certainly astonish the original negro performers
+on a plantation.
+
+The view from the terrace at night is pretty--quantities of lights
+twinkling about among the trees, and beyond, always on each side and in
+front, the thick green walls of the forest quite shutting in the quiet
+little place. We are usually the last outside. It grows cooler as the
+evening gets on, and I fancy it is not wise to sit out too late after
+the hot bath and fatigue of the day.
+
+It is a splendid automobiling country, and every afternoon there is a
+goodly show of motors of all sizes and makes waiting to take their
+owners on some of the many interesting excursions which abound in this
+neighbourhood. We have an English friend who has brought over his
+automobile, a capital one--English make--and we have been out several
+times with him. The other day we went to Domfront--a lovely road, almost
+all the way through woods, the forest of Audaine with its fine old trees
+making splendid shade. We passed through the Etoile--well known to all
+the hunting men, as it is a favourite rendezvous de chasse. It is a
+lovely part of the forest, a great green space with alleys running off
+into the woods in all directions. Some of them, where the ground was a
+little hilly, looked like beautiful green paths going straight up to the
+clouds.
+
+We kept in the forest almost all the way--as we got near Domfront the
+road rising all the time, quite steep at the end, which, however, made
+no perceptible difference in our speed. The big auto galloped up all the
+hills quite smoothly and with no effort. It was a divine view as we
+finally emerged from the woods--miles of beautiful green meadows and
+hedges stretching away on each side and a blue line of hills in the
+distance. We had been told that we could see Mont St. Michel and the sea
+with our glasses, but we didn't, though the day was very clear. Domfront
+is a very old walled town, with round towers and a great square donjon,
+perched on the top of a mountain. A long stretch of solid wall is still
+there, and some of the old towers are converted into modern dwellings.
+It looked out of place to see ordinary lace curtains tied back with a
+ribbon and pots of red geraniums in the high narrow windows, when one
+thought of the rough grim soldiers armed to the teeth who have stood for
+hours in those same windows watching anxiously for the first glimpse of
+an armed band appearing at the edge of the meadows. The chateau must
+have been a fine feudal fortress in its time and has sheltered many
+great personages. William the Conqueror, of course--he has apparently
+lived in every chateau and sailed from every harbour in this part of
+Normandy--Charles IX, Catherine de Medicis, and the Montgomery who
+killed Henri II in tournament.
+
+[Illustration: In Domfront some of the old towers are converted into
+modern dwellings.]
+
+It was too early to go home, so we went on to the Chateau de Lassay. We
+raced through pretty little clean gray villages, looking peaceful and
+sleepy and deserted and evidently quite accustomed to automobiles. No
+one took much notice of us. There were only a few old people and
+children in the streets; all the men were working in the fields
+gathering in their harvest. Lassay is quite a place, with hotels, shops,
+churches, and an old Benedictine convent. We left the auto in the
+square, as it couldn't get up the narrow, steep little road to the
+hotel. There were swarms of beggars of all ages--old women, girls,
+children--lining the road before we got to the chateau. Monsieur B.
+(deputy), who was with us, remonstrated vigorously, particularly with
+stout, sturdy young women who were pursuing us, but they didn't care a
+bit, and we only got rid of them once we had crossed the moat and
+drawbridge and got into the court-yard, where a wrinkled and red-cheeked
+old woman locked the door after us. The chateau is almost entirely in
+ruins, but must have been splendid. There is a sort of modern
+dwelling-house in the inner court, but I fancy the proprietor rarely
+lives there. It is enormous. There are eight massive round towers
+connected by a courtine (little green path) that runs along the top of
+the ramparts. The big door that opens on the park is modern, and makes
+decidedly poor effect after the fine old pointed doorway that gives
+access to the great court-yard. The park, with a little care and a
+little money spent on it, would be beautiful, but it is quite wild and
+uncared for. There are splendid old trees, some of them covered entirely
+with ivy growing straight up into the branches and giving a most
+peculiar effect to the trees; ragged green paths leading to woods;
+running waters with little bridges thrown over them; a splendid
+vegetation everywhere, almost a jungle in some places--all utterly
+neglected. The old woman took us through the "casemates"--dark stone
+galleries with little narrow slits for windows or to fire through; they
+used to run all around the house, connected by a subterranean passage,
+but they are now, like all the rest, half in ruins. It was most
+interesting. We had not the energy, any of us, to go up into the tower
+and see the view--we had seen it all the way, culminating at Domfront
+on the top of the mountain, and though very beautiful, it is always the
+same--great stretches of green fields, hedges, and fine trees. It is a
+little too peaceful and monotonous for my taste. I like something bolder
+and wilder. A high granite cliff standing out in the sea, with the great
+Atlantic rollers breaking perpetually against it, appeals to me much
+more than green fields and cows standing placidly in little clear
+brooks, and clean, comfortable farmhouses, with pretty gray Norman
+steeples rising out of the woods, but my companions were certainly not
+of my opinion and were enchanted with the Norman landscape. We had a
+long ride back in the soft evening light. I am afraid to say how many
+kilometres we went in the three hours we were away.
+
+It has been warm these last days. There is a bit of road absolutely
+without shade of any kind we have to pass every time we go to the
+etablissement, which is very trying. I love the early morning walk,
+everything is so fresh and the air singularly light and pure. It seems
+wicked to go into that atmosphere of hot air and suffering humanity,
+which greets one on the threshold of the bathhouse. To-day I have been
+driving with the princess. She does not like the automobile when she is
+making a cure--says it shakes her too much.
+
+We had a pretty drive, past the chateau of Couterne, which is most
+picturesque. A beautiful beech avenue leads up to the house, which is
+built of brick, with round towers and a large pond or lake which comes
+right up to the walls. It is of the sixteenth century, and has been
+inhabited ever since by the same family. One of the ancestors was
+"chevalier et poete" of Queen Marguerite of Navarre. I had a nice talk
+with the princess about everything and everybody. I asked her if she had
+ever read "The Lightning Conductor." As her own auto is a Napier, I
+thought it would interest her. I told her all the potins (little gossip)
+of the hotel--that people said her youngest daughter was going to marry
+the King of Spain, and the general verdict was that the princess would
+make "a beautiful queen." Every one is horror-struck at the murder of
+the Russian Minister of the Interior, and I suppose it is only a
+beginning.
+
+This afternoon I have been walking in the lovely woods at the back of
+the etablissement. It is rather a steep climb to get to the point de vue
+and troublesome walking, as the paths are dry and slippery and the roots
+of the pine-trees that spread out over the paths catch one's heels
+sometimes. Some people spend all their day high up in the pines--take up
+books, seats, work, and gouter, and only come down after six, when the
+air gets cooler. We saw parties seated about in all directions and had
+glimpses of the white dresses, which are a uniform this year, flitting
+through the trees. It was very pretty, but not like the walls of
+Marienbad, with the splendid black pine forest all around and every now
+and then a glimpse of a green Alm (high field on the top of a mountain),
+with the peasant girl in her high Tyrolean hat and clean white
+chemisette standing on the edge, with her cows all behind her and the
+bells tinkling in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Chateau de Lassay.]
+
+It was so warm this evening that we sat out until ten o'clock. We had a
+visit from Comte de G., son-in-law of our friend Mrs. L.S. He lives at
+Deauville, and had announced himself for Monday morning for breakfast at
+twelve. He _did_ come for breakfast, but on Tuesday morning, having been
+en route since Monday morning at seven o'clock. He was in an automobile
+and everything happened to him that can happen to an automobile except
+an absolute smash. He punctured his tires, had a big hole in his
+reservoir, his steering gear bent, his bougies always doing something
+they oughtn't to. He dined and slept at Falaise; rather a sketchy
+repast, but as he told us he could always get along with poached eggs,
+could eat six in an ordinary way and twelve in an emergency, we were
+reassured; for one can always get eggs and milk in Normandy. He arrived
+in a perfectly good humour and made himself very pleasant. He is an old
+soldier--a cavalry officer--and doesn't mind roughing it.
+
+The journey from Deauville to Bagnoles is usually accomplished in three
+or four hours. Falaise, the birthplace of William the Conqueror, is an
+interesting old town, but looks as if it had been asleep ever since that
+great event. The old castle is very fine, stands high, close to the edge
+of the cliff, so that the rock seems to form part of the great walls.
+There is one fine round tower, and always the grass walk around the
+ramparts.
+
+The views are beautiful. Looking down from one of the narrow, pointed
+windows, still fairly preserved, we had the classic Norman landscape at
+our feet--beautiful green fields, enormous trees making spots of black
+shade in the bright grass, the river, sparkling in the sunshine, winding
+through the meadows, a group of washerwomen, busy and chattering,
+beating their clothes on the flat stones where the river narrows a
+little under the castle walls, and a bright blue sky overhead.
+
+We walked through the Grande Place--picturesque enough. On one side the
+Church of La Trinite, and in the middle of the Place the bronze
+equestrian statue of William the Conqueror. It is very spirited. He is
+in full armor, lance in hand, his horse plunging forward toward
+imaginary enemies. They say the figure was copied from Queen Mathilde's
+famous tapestries at Bayeux, but it looked more modern to me. I remember
+all the men and beasts and ships of those tapestries looked most
+extraordinary as to shape. Monsieur R. took over the young princesses
+the other day in his auto. They were very keen to see the cradle of
+their race. It was curious to see the descendants of the great rough
+soldier starting in an auto, fresh, pretty English girls, dressed in the
+trotteuses (little short skirts) that we all wear in the country,
+carrying their Kodaks and sketching materials.
+
+All this part of the country teems with legends of the great warrior.
+Years ago, when we were at Deauville, we drove over to Dives to
+breakfast--one gets a very good breakfast at the little hotel. We
+wandered about afterward down to the sea (William the Conqueror is said
+to have sailed from Dives), and into the little church where the names
+of all the barons who accompanied him to England are written on tablets
+on the walls. We saw various relics and places associated with him and
+talked naturally a great deal about the Conqueror. On the way home (we
+were a large party in a brake) one of our compatriots, a nice young
+fellow whose early education had evidently not been very comprehensive,
+turned to me, saying; "Do tell me, what did that fellow conquer?" I
+could hardly believe my own ears, but unfortunately for him, just at
+that moment we were walking up a steep hill and everybody in the
+carriage overheard his remark. It was received with such shouts of
+laughter that any explanation was difficult, and one may imagine the
+jokes, and the numerous and fabulous conquests that were instantly put
+down to the great duke's account. The poor fellow was quite bewildered.
+However, I don't know if an American is bound to know any history but
+that of his own country. I am quite sure that many people in the
+carriage didn't know whom Pocahontas married, nor what part she played
+in the early days of America. But it was funny all the same.
+
+We have been out again this afternoon in Monsieur R.'s auto--a charming
+turn. We started out by the Etoile, as Monsieur R. wanted to show it to
+some gentlemen who were with us. The drive, if anything, was more lovely
+than the first time, the slanting rays of the sun were so beautiful
+shining through the rich green foliage, making patterns upon the hard,
+white road. We raced all over the country, through countless little
+villages, all exactly alike, sometimes flying past a stately old brick
+chateau just seen at the end of a long, beech avenue, sometimes past an
+old church standing high, its gray stone steeple showing well against
+the bright, cloudless sky, and a little graveyard stretching along the
+hillside, the roads bordered on each side with high green banks and
+hedges, the orchards full of apple-trees, and the whole active
+population of the village in the fields. It is a beautiful month to be
+in Normandy, for one must have sun in these parts. As soon as it rains
+everything is gray and cold and melancholy, the forest looks like a
+great high black wall, the meadows are shrouded in mist, and the damp
+strikes through one. Now it is smiling, sunny, peaceful.
+
+We have frightened various horses to-day; a quiet old gray steed, driven
+by two old ladies in black bonnets. They were too old to get out, and
+were driving their horse timidly and nervously into the ditch in their
+anxiety to give us all the road. However, we slowed up and the horse
+didn't look as if he could run away. Two big carthorses, too, at the end
+of a long line, dragging a heavy wagon, turned short round and almost
+ran into us; also a very small donkey, driven by a little brown girl,
+showed symptoms of flight. I don't know the names of half the villages
+we passed through. Near Bagnoles we came to La Ferte-Mace, which looks
+quite imposing as one comes down upon it from the top of a long hill.
+The church makes a great effect--looks almost like a cathedral. Bagnoles
+looked very animated as we came back. People were loitering about
+shopping--quite a number of carriages and autos before the door of the
+Grand Hotel, and people sitting out under the trees in the gardens of
+the different villas. It was decidedly cool at the end of our outing; I
+was glad to have my coat.
+
+This morning after breakfast, in the big hall, where every one
+congregates for coffee, we had a little political talk--not very
+satisfactory. Everybody is discontented and everybody protests, but no
+one seems able to stop the radical current. The rupture with the Vatican
+has come at last, and I think might have been avoided if they had been a
+little more patient in Rome. There will be all sorts of complications
+and bitter feeling, and I don't quite see what benefit the country at
+large will get from the present state of things. A general feeling of
+irritation and uncertainty, higher taxes--for they must build
+school-houses and pay lay-teachers and country cures. A whole generation
+of children cannot be allowed to grow up without religious instruction
+of any kind. I can understand how the association of certain religious
+orders (men) could be mischievous--harmful even--but I am quite sure
+that no one in his heart believes any harm of the women--soeurs de
+charite and teachers--who occupy themselves with the old people, the
+sick, and the children. In our little town they have sent away an old
+sister who had taught and generally looked after three generations of
+children. When she was expelled she had been fifty years in the town and
+was teaching the grandchildren of her first scholars. Everybody knew
+her, everybody loved her; when any one was ill or in trouble she was
+always the first person sent for. Now there is at the school an
+intelligent, well-educated young laique with all the necessary brevets.
+I dare say she will teach the children very well, but her task ends with
+the close of her class. She doesn't go to church, doesn't know the
+people, doesn't interest herself in all their little affairs, and will
+never have the position and the influence the old religieuse had.
+
+I am sorry to go away from this quiet little green corner of Normandy,
+but we have taken the requisite number of baths. Every one rushes off as
+soon as the last bath (twenty-first generally) is taken. Countess F.
+took her twenty-first at six o'clock this morning, and left at ten.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A NORMAN TOWN
+
+
+VALOGNES, August.
+
+I seem to have got into another world, almost another century, in this
+old town. I had always promised the Florians I would come and stay
+with them, and was curious to see their installation in one of the
+fine old hotels of the place. The journey was rather long--not
+particularly interesting. We passed near Caen, getting a very good
+view of the two great abbayes[13] with their towers and spires quite
+sharply outlined against the clear blue sky. The train was full. At
+almost every station family parties got in--crowds of children all
+armed with spades, pails, butterfly nets, and rackets, all the
+paraphernalia of happy, healthy childhood. For miles after Caen there
+were long stretches of green pasture-lands--hundreds of cows and
+horses, some of them the big Norman dray-horses resting a little
+before beginning again their hard work, and quantities of long-legged
+colts trotting close up alongside of their mothers, none of them
+apparently minding the train. We finally arrived at the quiet little
+station of Valognes. Countess de Florian was waiting for me, with
+their big omnibus, and we had a short drive all through the town to
+their hotel, which is quite at one end, a real country road running in
+front of their house. It is an old hotel standing back from the road
+and shut in with high iron gates. There is a large court-yard with a
+grass-plot in the middle, enormous flower-beds on each side, and a
+fine sweep of carriage road to the perron. A great double stone
+staircase runs straight up to the top of the house, and glass doors
+opposite the entrance lead into the garden. I had an impression of
+great space and height and floods of light. I went straight into the
+garden, where they gave me tea, which was most refreshing after the
+long hot day. They have no house party. The dowager countess,
+Florian's mother, is here, and there was a cousin, a naval officer,
+who went off to Cherbourg directly after dinner. The ground-floor is
+charming; on one side of the hall there are three or four salons, and
+a billiard-room running directly across the house from the garden to
+the court-yard; on the other, a good dining-room and two or three
+guests' rooms; the family all live upstairs.
+
+  [13] Abbaye aux Hommes, Abbaye aux Dames.
+
+It is a delightful house. My room is on the ground-floor, opening from
+the corridor, which is large and bright, paved with flagstones. My
+windows look out on the entrance court, so that I see all that goes on.
+As soon as my maid has opened the windows and brought in my petit
+dejeuner, I hear a tap at the door and the countess's maid appears to
+ask, with madame's compliments, if I have all I want, if I have had a
+good night, and to bring me the morning paper. The first person to move
+is the dowager countess, who goes to early mass every morning. She is a
+type of the old-fashioned French Faubourg St. Germain lady; a straight,
+slender figure, always dressed in black, devoted to her children and to
+all her own family, with the courteous, high-bred manner one always
+finds in French women of the old school. She doesn't take much interest
+in the outside world, nor in anything that goes on in other countries,
+but is too polite to show that when she talks to me, for instance, who
+have knocked about so much. She doesn't understand the modern life, so
+sans gene and agitated, and it is funny to hear her say when talking of
+people she doesn't quite approve of, "Ils ne sont pas de notre monde."
+
+[Illustration: Entrance to hotel of the Comte de Florian.]
+
+Then comes the young countess, very energetic and smiling, with her
+short skirt and a bag on her arm, going to market. She sees me at the
+window and stops to know if I am going out. Will I join her at the
+market? All the ladies of Valognes do their own marketing and some of
+the well-known fishwomen and farmers' wives who come in from the
+country with poultry would be quite hurt if Madame la Comtesse didn't
+come herself to give her orders and have a little talk. This morning I
+have been to market with Countess Florian. The women looked so nice
+and clean in their short, black, heavily plaited skirts, high white
+caps, and handkerchiefs pinned over their bodices. The little stalls
+went all down the narrow main street and spread out on the big square
+before the church. The church is large, with a square tower and fine
+dome--nothing very interesting as to architecture. Some of the stalls
+were very tempting and the smiling, red-cheeked old women, sitting up
+behind their wares, were so civil and anxious to sell us something.
+The fish-market was most inviting--quantities of flat white turbots,
+shining silver mackerel, and fresh crevettes piled high on a marble
+slab with water running over them. Four or five short-skirted,
+bare-legged fisher girls were standing at the door with baskets of
+fish on their heads. Florian joined us there and seemed on the best of
+terms with these young women. He made all kinds of jokes with them, to
+which they responded with giggles and a funny little half-courtesy,
+half-nod. Both Florians spoke so nicely to all the market people as we
+passed from stall to stall. The poultry looked very good--such fat
+ducks and chickens. It was funny to see the bourgeoises of Valognes
+all armed with a large basket doing their marketing; they looked at
+the chickens, poked them, lifted them so as to be sure of their
+weight, and evidently knew to a centime what they had to pay. I fancy
+the Norman menagere is a pretty sharp customer and knows exactly what
+she must pay for everything. The vegetable stalls were very well
+arranged--the most enormous cabbages I ever saw. I think the old
+ladies who presided there were doing a flourishing business. I did not
+find much to buy--some gray knitted stockings that I thought would be
+good for my Mareuil[14] boys and some blue linen blouses with white
+embroidery, that all the carters wear, and which the Paris dressmakers
+transform into very pretty summer costumes. I bought for myself a
+paper bag full of cherries for a few sous, then left the Florians, and
+wandered about the streets a little alone. They are generally narrow,
+badly paved, with grass growing in the very quiet ones. There are many
+large hotels standing well back, entre cour et jardin, the big doors
+and gate-ways generally heavy and much ornamented--a great deal of
+carving on the facades and cornices, queer heads and beasts. Valognes
+has not always been the quiet, dull, little provincial town it is
+to-day. It has had its brilliant moment, when all the hotels were
+occupied by grands seigneurs, handsome equipages rolled through the
+streets, and its society prided itself on its exclusiveness and grand
+manner. It used to be said that to rouler carrosse at Valognes was a
+titre de noblesse, and the inhabitants considered their town a "petit
+Paris." In one of the plays of the time, a marquis, very fashionable
+and a well-known courtier, was made to say: "Il faut trois mois de
+Valognes pour achever un homme de cour." One can quite imagine "la
+grande vie d'autrefois" in the hotel of the Florians. Their garden is
+enchanting--quantities of flowers, roses particularly. They have made
+two great borders of tall pink rose-bushes, with dwarf palms from
+Bordighera planted between, just giving the note of stiffness which
+one would expect to find in an old-fashioned garden. On one side is a
+large terrace with marble steps and balustrade, and beyond that, half
+hidden by a row of fruit-trees, a very good tennis court. We just see
+the church-tower at one end of the garden; and it is so quiet one
+would never dream there was a town near. The country in every
+direction is beautiful--real English lanes, the roads low, high banks
+on each side, with hawthorn bushes on top--one drives between thick
+green walls. We have made some lovely excursions. They have a big
+omnibus with a banquette on top which seats four people, also a place
+by the coachman, and two great Norman posters, who go along at a good
+steady trot, taking a little gallop occasionally up and down the
+hills.
+
+  [14] Mareuil is the name of the village near our place in France.
+
+Countess de Nadaillac, Countess Florian's sister-in-law, arrived to-day
+with her daughter for a short visit. We had a pleasant evening with
+music, billiards, and dominoes (a favorite game in this country). The
+dowager countess always plays two games, and precisely at half-past nine
+her old man-servant appears and escorts her to her rooms. We all break
+up early; the ten o'clock bell is usually the signal. It rings every
+night, just as it has done for hundreds of years. The town lights are
+put out and the inhabitants understand that the authorities are not
+responsible for anything that may happen in the streets of Valognes
+after such a dangerous hour of the night.
+
+... There are some fine places in the neighborhood. We went to-day to
+Chiffevast, a large chateau which had belonged to the Darus, but has
+been bought recently by a rich couple, Valognes people, who have made a
+large fortune in cheese and butter. It seems their great market is
+London.
+
+They send over quantities via Cherbourg, which is only twenty minutes
+off by rail. It is a splendid place--with a fine approach by a great
+avenue with beautiful old trees. The chateau is a large, square
+house--looks imposing as one drives up. We didn't see the master of the
+house--he was away--but madame received us in all her best clothes. She
+was much better dressed than we were, evidently by one of the good Paris
+houses. Countess Florian had written to ask if we might come, so she was
+under arms. She was a little nervous at first, talked a great deal, very
+fast, but when she got accustomed to us it went more easily, and she
+showed us the house with much pride. There was some good furniture and
+one beautiful coverlet of old lace and embroidery, which she had found
+somewhere upstairs in an old chest of drawers. They have no
+children--such a pity, as they are improving and beautifying the place
+all the time. The drive home was delightful, facing the sunset. I was
+amused with the Florians' old coachman. He is a curiosity--knows
+everybody in the country. He was much interested in our visit and asked
+if we had seen "la patronne"--said he knew her well, had often seen her
+on a market day at Valognes, sitting in her little cart in the midst of
+her cheeses and butter; said she was a brave femme. How strange it must
+seem to people like that, just out of their hard-working peasant
+life--and it _is_ hard work in France--to find themselves owners of a
+splendid chateau and estate, receiving the great people of the country.
+I dare say in ten or twelve years they will be like any one else, and if
+there were sons or daughters the young men would get into parliament or
+the diplomatic career, the daughters would marry some impoverished scion
+of a noble family, and cheeses and butter would be forgotten.
+
+We had one delightful day at Cherbourg. The Prefet Maritime invited us
+to breakfast with him at his hotel. We went by rail to Cherbourg, about
+half an hour, and found the admiral's carriage waiting for us. The
+prefecture is a nice, old-fashioned house, in the centre of the town,
+with a big garden. We took off our coats in a large, handsome room
+upstairs. The walls were covered with red damask and there were pictures
+of Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon. It seems the Queen slept in that
+room one night when she came over to France to make her visit to Louis
+Philippe at the Chateau d'Eu. We found quite a party assembled--all the
+men in uniform and the women generally in white. We breakfasted in a
+large dining-room with glass doors opening into the garden, which was
+charming, a blaze of bright summer flowers. We adjourned there for
+coffee after breakfast. The trees were big, made a good shade, and the
+little groups, seated about in the various bosquets, looked pretty and
+gay. When coffee and liqueurs were finished we drove down to the quay,
+where the admiral's launch was waiting, and had a delightful afternoon
+steaming about the harbour. It is enormous, long jetties and breakwaters
+stretching far out, almost closing it in. There was every description of
+craft--big Atlantic liners, yachts, fishing boats, ironclads, torpedoes,
+and once we very nearly ran over a curious dark object floating on the
+surface of the water, which they told us was a submarine. It did not
+look comfortable as a means of transportation, but the young officers
+told us it was delightful.
+
+[Illustration: Market women. Valognes.]
+
+We got back to Valognes to a late dinner, having invited a large party
+to come over for tennis and dinner the next day. The Florians are a
+godsend to Cherbourg. They are most hospitable, and with automobiles the
+distance is nothing, and one is quite independent of trains. Yesterday
+four of our party went off to Cherbourg to make a cruise in a
+torpedo-boat. The ladies were warned that they must put on clothes which
+would not mind sea-water, but I should think bathing dresses would be
+the only suitable garments for such an expedition. They were remarkable
+objects when they came home, Mademoiselle de Nadaillac's hat a
+curiosity, also her white blouse, where the red of her hat-ribbons and
+cravat had run. However, they had enjoyed themselves immensely--at least
+the girl. Countess de Nadaillac was not quite so enthusiastic. They got
+into dry clothes and played tennis vigorously all the afternoon.
+
+We had a pleasant family evening. Mademoiselle de Nadaillac has a pretty
+voice and sang well. Florian and I played some duets. I joined in the
+dowager's game of dominoes, which I don't seem to have mastered, as I
+lose regularly, and after she left us, escorted by her faithful old
+butler (a light shawl over his arm to put on her shoulders when she
+passed through the corridors), we had rather an interesting conversation
+about ways and manners in different countries, particularly the way
+young people are brought up. I said we were a large family and that
+mother would never let us read in the drawing-room after dinner. If we
+were all absorbed in our books, conversation was impossible. We were all
+musical, so the piano and singing helped us through. Madame de Florian,
+whose father, Marquis de Nadaillac, is quite of the old school, said
+they were not even allowed to work or look at pictures in the _salon_
+after dinner! Her father considered it disrespectful if any of his
+children did anything but listen when he talked. They might join in the
+conversation if they had anything intelligent to say. She told us, too,
+of some of the quite old-fashioned chateaux that she stayed in as a
+girl, and even a young married woman. There was one fire and one lamp in
+the drawing-room. Any one who wanted to be warm, or to work, was obliged
+to come into that room. No fires nor lamps allowed anywhere else in the
+house; a cup of tea in the afternoon an unheard-of luxury. If you were
+ill, a doctor was sent for and he ordered a tisane; if you were merely
+tired or cold, you waited until dinner-time.
+
+We have also made a charming expedition to Quineville, a small seaside
+place about an hour and a half's drive, always through the same green
+country, our Norman posters galloping up all the hills. We passed
+through various little villages, each one with a pretty little gray,
+square-towered church. There was plenty of passing, as it was market
+day. We met a good many peasant women carrying milk in those curious old
+brass bowls one sees everywhere here. Some of them are very handsome,
+polished until they shine like mirrors, with a delicate pattern lightly
+traced running around the bowl. They balance them perfectly on their
+heads and walk along at a good swinging pace. They all look prosperous,
+their skirts (generally black), shoes, and stockings in good condition,
+and their white caps and handkerchiefs as clean as possible. Quineville
+is a very quiet little place, no hotel, and rows of ugly little houses
+well back from the sea, but there is a beautiful stretch of firm white
+sand. To-day it was dead low tide. The sea looked miles away, a long
+line of dark sea-weed marking the water's edge. There were plenty of
+people about; women and girls with stout bare legs, and a primitive sort
+of tool, half pitchfork, half shovel, were piling the sea-weed into the
+carts which were waiting on the shore. Children were paddling about in
+the numerous little pools and making themselves wreaths and necklaces
+out of the berries of the sea-weed--some of them quite bright-coloured,
+pink and yellow. We wandered about on the beach, sitting sometimes on
+the side of a boat, and walking through the little pools and streams. It
+was a lonely bit of water. We didn't see a sail. The sea looked like a
+great blue plain meeting the sky--nothing to break the monotony. We got
+some very bad coffee at the restaurant--didn't attempt tea. They would
+certainly have _said_ they had it, and would have made it probably out
+of hay from the barn. The drive home was delicious, almost too cool, as
+we went at a good pace, the horses knowing as well as we did that the
+end of their day was coming.... We have been again to market this
+morning. It was much more amusing than the first time, as it was horse
+day, and men and beasts were congregated in the middle of the Cathedral
+Square. There was a fair show--splendid big carthorses and good cobs and
+ponies--here and there a nice saddle-horse. There were a good many women
+driving themselves, and almost all had good, stout little horses. They
+know just as much about it as the men and were much interested in the
+sales. They told me the landlady of the hotel was the best judge of a
+horse and a _man_ in Normandy. She was standing at the entrance of her
+court-yard as we passed the hotel on our way home, a comely, buxom
+figure, dressed like all the rest in a short black skirt and sabots. She
+was exchanging smiling greetings and jokes with every one who passed and
+keeping order with the crowds of farmers, drivers, and horse-dealers who
+were jostling through the big open doors and clamoring for food for
+themselves and their animals. She was the type of the hard-working,
+capable Frenchwoman of whom there are thousands in France.
+
+Some years ago I was on the committee for a great sale we had in our
+arrondissement in Paris for the benefit of "L'Assistance par le
+Travail," an excellent work which we are all much interested in. I was
+in charge of the buffet, and thought it better to apply at once to one
+of the great caterers, Potel and Chabot, and see what they could do for
+us. We made an appointment, and Mme. de B. and I drove down to the
+place. The manager was out, but they told us that Madame was waiting for
+us in the back shop. We found rather a pretty woman, very well dressed
+in velvet, with diamond earrings, and I was put out at first--thought
+that didn't look like business. However, we talked a few minutes; she
+said her husband was obliged to go to the country, but would certainly
+come and see me the next day. Then she stepped up to her desk, where
+there was a big book open, said she understood we wished to give an
+order for a buffet for a charity sale, and was at once absorbed in
+sandwiches, tea and coffee, orangeade, and all the requirements for such
+an occasion. She was perfectly practical and gave us some very useful
+hints--said she supposed we wanted some of their maitres d'hotel. We
+thought not--our own would do. That, she said, would be a great mistake.
+They weren't accustomed to that sort of thing and wouldn't know how to
+do it. One thing, for instance--they would certainly fill all the
+glasses of orangeade and punch much too full and would waste a great
+deal. Their men never filled a glass entirely, and consequently gained
+two on every dozen. She told us how much we wanted, made out the
+estimate at once, and ended by asking if we would allow them to present
+the tea as their contribution to the charity. It didn't take more than
+twenty minutes--the whole thing. She then shut up her book, went to the
+door with us, thanked us for giving them the order, and hoped we would
+be satisfied. That business capability and thriftiness runs through
+almost all Frenchwomen of a certain class, and when I hear, as of course
+I often do, the frivolous, butterfly, pleasure-loving Frenchwoman spoken
+of, that energetic, hard-working bourgeoise comes into my mind. We all
+who live in France know the type well.
+
+The whole nation is frugal. During the Franco-German War, my husband,
+who had spent all the dreary months of the invasion at his chateau in
+the country, was elected a member of the Assemblee Nationale, which met
+at Bordeaux. They were entirely cut off from Paris, surrounded by
+Prussian troops on all sides, and he couldn't get any money. Whatever he
+had had at the beginning of the war had been spent--sending off recruits
+for one of the great army corps near his place. It was impossible to
+communicate with his banker or any friends in Paris, and yet he couldn't
+start without funds. He applied to the notary of La Ferte-Milon, the
+little town nearest the chateau. He asked how much he wanted. W. said
+about 10,000 francs. The notary said, "Give me two days and I will get
+it for you." He appeared three days afterward, bringing the 10,000
+francs--a great deal of it in large silver five-franc pieces, very
+difficult to carry. He had collected the whole sum from small farmers
+and peasants in the neighbourhood--the five-franc pieces coming always
+from the peasants, sometimes fifty sewed up in a mattress or in the
+woman's thick, wadded Sunday skirt. He said he could get as much more if
+W. wanted it. It seems impossible for the peasant to part with his money
+or invest it. He must keep it well hidden, but in his possession.
+
+... We had a pretty drive this afternoon to one of Florian's farms, down
+a little green lane, some distance from the high-road and so hidden by
+the big trees that we saw nothing until we got close to the gate. It was
+late--all the cows coming home, the great Norman horses drinking at the
+trough, two girls with bare legs and high caps calling all the fowl to
+supper, and the farmer's wife, with a baby in her arms and another
+child, almost a baby, pulling at her skirts, seated on a stone bench
+underneath a big apple-tree, its branches heavy with fruit. She was
+superintending the work of the farm-yard and seeing that the two girls
+didn't waste a minute of their time, nor a grain of the seed with which
+they were feeding the chickens. A little clear, sparkling stream was
+meandering through the meadows, tall poplars on each side, and quite
+at the end of the stretch of green fields there was the low blue line of
+the sea. The farmhouse is a large, old-fashioned building with one or
+two good rooms. It had evidently been a small manor house. One of the
+rooms is charming, with handsome panels of dark carved wood. It seemed a
+pity to leave them there, and almost a pity, that the Florians could not
+have made their home in such a lovely green spot, but they would have
+been obliged to add to the house enormously, and it would have
+complicated their lives, being so far away from everything.
+
+[Illustration: Old gate-way. Valogues.]
+
+... We have had a last walk and flanerie this morning. We went to the
+Hospice, formerly a Benedictine convent, where there is a fine gate-way
+and court-yard with most extraordinary carving over the doors and
+gate--monstrous heads and beasts and emblems alongside of cherubs and
+beautiful saints and angels. One wonders what ideas those old artists
+had; it seems now such distorted imagination. We walked through some of
+the oldest streets and past what had been fine hotels, but they are
+quite uninhabited now. Sometimes a bric-a-brac shop on the ground-floor,
+and some sort of society on the upper story, but they are all neglected
+and half tumbling down. There is still splendid carving on some of the
+old gate-ways and cornices, but bits of stone and plaster are falling
+off, grass is growing between the paving stones of the court-yards, and
+there is an air of poverty and neglect which is a curious contrast to
+the prosperous look of the country all around--all the little farms and
+villages look so thriving. The people are smiling and well fed; their
+animals, too--horses, cows, donkeys--all in good condition.
+
+I have played my last game of dominoes in this fine old hotel and had my
+last cup of tea in the stiff, stately garden, with the delicious salt
+sea-breeze always coming at four o'clock, and the cathedral chimes
+sounding high and clear over our heads. I leave to-morrow night for
+London, via Cherbourg and Southampton.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+NORMAN CHATEAUX
+
+
+We never remained all summer at our place. August was a disagreeable
+month there--the woods were full of horse-flies which made riding
+impossible. No nets could keep them off the horses who were almost
+maddened by the sting. They were so persistent that we had to take them
+off with a sharp stick. They stuck like leeches. We generally went to
+the sea--almost always to the Norman Coast--establishing ourselves in a
+villa--sometimes at Deauville, sometimes at Villers, and making
+excursions all over the country.
+
+Some of the old Norman chateaux are charming, particularly those which
+have remained just as they were before the Revolution, but, of course,
+there are not many of these. When the young ones succeed, there is
+always a tendency to modify and change, and it is not easy to mix the
+elaborate luxurious furniture of our times with the stiff old-fashioned
+chairs and sofas one finds in the old French houses. Merely to look at
+them one understands why our grandfathers and grandmothers always sat
+upright.
+
+One of the most interesting of the Norman chateaux is "Abondant," in the
+department of the Eure-et-Loir, belonging until very recently to the
+Vallambrosa family. It belonged originally to la Duchesse de Tourzel,
+gouvernante des Enfants de France (children of Louis XVI and Marie
+Antoinette). After the imprisonment of the Royal Family, Madame de
+Tourzel retired to her chateau d'Abondant and remained there all through
+the Revolution. The village people and peasants adored her and she lived
+there peacefully through all those terrible days. Neither chateau nor
+park was damaged in any way, although she was known to be a devoted
+friend and adherent of the unfortunate Royal Family. A band of
+half-drunken "patriots" tried to force their way into the park one day,
+with the intention of cutting down the trees and pillaging the chateau,
+but all the villagers instantly assembled, armed with pitchforks, rusty
+old guns and stones, and dispersed the rabble.
+
+Abondant is a Louis XV chateau--very large--seventeen rooms en
+facade--but simple in its architecture. The Duchess occupied a large
+corner room on the ground-floor, with four windows. The ceiling (which
+was very high) and walls covered with toiles de Jouy. An enormous bed a
+baldaquin was trimmed with the same toile and each post had a great
+bunch of white feathers on top.
+
+In 1886, when one of my friends was staying at Abondant, the hangings
+were the same which had been there all through the Revolution. She told
+me she had never been so miserable as the first time she stayed at the
+chateau during the lifetime of the late Duchesse de Vallambrosa. They
+gave her the Duchesse de Tourzel's room, thinking it would interest her
+as a chambre historique. She was already nervous at sleeping alone on
+the ground-floor, far from all the other inmates of the chateau. The
+room was enormous--walls nearly five metres high--the bed looked like an
+island in the midst of space; there was very little furniture, and the
+white feathers on the bed-posts nodded and waved in the dim light. She
+scarcely closed her eyes, could not reason with herself, and asked the
+next morning to have something less magnificent and more modern.
+
+In all the bedrooms the dressing-tables were covered with dentelle de
+Binche[15] of the epoch, and all the mirrors and various little boxes
+for powder, rouge, patches, and the hundred accessories for a fine
+lady's toilette in those days, were in Vernis Martin absolutely
+intact. The drawing-rooms still had their old silk hangings--a white
+ground covered with wreaths of flowers and birds with wonderful bright
+plumage--hand-painted--framed in wood of two shades of light green.
+
+  [15] Binche, name of a village in Belgium where the lace is made.
+
+The big drawing-room was entirely panelled in wood of the same light
+green, most beautifully and delicately carved. These old boiseries were
+all removed when the chateau was sold. After the death of the Duchesse
+de Tourzel the chateau went to her niece, the Duchesse des Cars--who
+left it to her niece, the Duchesse de Vallambrosa, a very rare instance,
+in France, of a property descending directly through several generations
+in the female line.
+
+It was sold by the Vallambrosas. The old wood panels are in the Paris
+house of a member of that family. The park was very large and
+beautifully laid out, with the fine trees one sees all over Normandy.
+
+Twenty years ago a salle de spectacle "en verdure" still existed in the
+park--the seats were all in grass; the coulisses (side scenes) made in
+the trees of the park--their boughs cut and trained into shape, to
+represent green walls, a marble group of allegorical figures at the
+back. It was most carefully preserved--the seats of the amphitheatre
+looked like green velvet and the trees were always cut in the same
+curious shapes. It seemed quite a fitting part of the fine old place,
+with its memories of past fetes and splendours, before the whirlwind of
+liberty and equality swept over the country.
+
+Many of the chateaux are changing hands. The majorat (entail) doesn't
+exist in France, and as the fortunes must always be divided among the
+children, it becomes more and more difficult to keep up the large
+places. Life gets dearer every day--fortunes don't increase--very few
+young Frenchmen of the upper classes do anything. The only way of
+keeping up the big places is by making a rich marriage--the daughter of
+a rich banker or industrial, or an American.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our cousins, Comte and Comtesse d'Y----, have a pretty little old place
+not very far from Villers-sur-Mer, where we went sometimes for
+sea-bathing. The house is an ordinary square white stone building, a
+fine terrace with a flight of steps leading down to the garden on one
+side. The park is delightful--many splendid old trees. Until a few years
+ago there were still some that dated since Louis XIV. The last one of
+that age--a fine oak, with wide spreading branches--died about two years
+ago, but they cannot make up their minds to cut it down. I advised them
+to leave the trunk standing--(I think, by degrees, the branches will
+fall as they are quite dead)--cover it with ivy or a vine of some kind,
+and put a notice on it of the age of the tree.
+
+The house stands high, and they have splendid views--on one side, from
+the terrace, a great expanse of green valley looking toward Falaise--on
+the other, the sea--a beautiful, blue summer sea, when we were there the
+other day.
+
+We went over from Villers to breakfast. It was late in the season, the
+end of September--one of those bright days one sometimes has in
+September, when summer still lingers and the sun gives beautiful mellow
+tints to everything without being strong enough to make one feel the
+heat. The road was lovely all the way, particularly after we turned off
+the high road at the top of the Houlgate Hill. We went through countless
+little Norman lanes, quite narrow, sometimes--between high green banks
+with a hedge on top, and the trees meeting over our heads--so narrow
+that I wondered what would happen if we met another auto. We left the
+sea behind us, and plunged into the lovely green valley that runs along
+back of the coast line. We came suddenly on the gates of the chateau,
+rather a sharp turn. There was a broad avenue with fine trees leading up
+to the house--on one side, meadows fenced off with white wooden palings
+where horses and cows were grazing--a pretty lawn before the house with
+beds of begonias, and all along the front, high raised borders of red
+geranium which looked very well against the grey stone.
+
+We found a family party, Comte and Comtesse d'Y----, their daughter and
+a governess. We went upstairs (a nice wooden staircase with broad
+shallow steps) to an end room, with a beautiful view over the park,
+where we got out of all the wraps, veils, and glasses that one must have
+in an open auto if one wishes to look respectable when one arrives, and
+went down at once to the hall where the family was waiting.
+
+The dining-room was large and light, high, wide windows and beautiful
+trees wherever one looked. The decoration of the room was rather
+curious. The d'Y----s descend--like many Norman families--from William
+the Conqueror, and there are English coats-of-arms on some of the
+shields on the walls. A band which looks like fresco, but is really
+painted on linen--very cleverly arranged with some composition which
+makes it look like the wall--runs straight around the room with all
+sorts of curious figures: soldiers, horses, and boats, copied exactly
+from the famous Bayeux tapestries, the most striking episodes--the
+departure of the Conqueror from Dives--the embarkation of his army (the
+cavalry--most extraordinary long queerly shaped horses with faces like
+people)--the death of Harold--the fighting Bishop Odo--brother of the
+Conqueror, who couldn't carry a lance, but had a good stout stick which
+apparently did good service as various Saxons were flying horizontally
+through the air as he and his steed advanced; one wonders at the
+imagination which could have produced such extraordinary figures, as
+certainly no men or beasts, at any period of time, could have looked
+like those. The ships were less striking--had rather more the semblance
+of boats.
+
+However, the effect, with all the bright colouring, is very good and
+quite in harmony with this part of the country, where everything teems
+with legends and traditions of the great Duke. They see Falaise, where
+he was born, from their terrace, sometimes. We didn't, for though the
+day was beautiful, there was a slight haze which made the far-off
+landscapes only a blue line.
+
+After breakfast we went for a walk in the park. They have arranged it
+very well, with rustic bridges and seats wherever the view was
+particularly fine. We saw a nice, old, red brick house, near the farm,
+which was the manoir where the Dowager Countess lives now. She made over
+the chateau to her son, in her life time, on condition that he would
+keep it up and arrange it, which he has done very well. We made the
+tour of the park--passing a pretty lodge with roses and creepers all
+over it and "Mairie" put upon a sign; d'Y----is mayor of his little
+village and finds it convenient to have the Mairie at his own gate. We
+rested a little in the drawing-room before going back, and he showed us
+various portraits and miniatures of his family which were most
+interesting. Some of the miniatures are exactly like one we have of
+father, of that period with the high stock and tight-buttoned coat. The
+light was lovely--so soft and warm--in the drawing-room, and as there
+were no lace curtains or vitrages, and the silk curtains were drawn back
+from the high plate glass windows, we seemed to be sitting in the park
+under the trees. They gave us tea and the good little cakes, "St.
+Pierre," a sort of "sable," for which all the coast is famous.
+
+The drive home was enchanting, with a lovely view from the top of the
+hill; a beautiful blue sea at our feet and the turrets and pointed roofs
+of the Villers houses taking every possible colour from the sunset
+clouds.
+
+We went back once more to a the dansant given for her seventeen-year-old
+daughter. It was a lovely afternoon and the place looked charming--the
+gates open--carriages and autos arriving in every direction--people came
+from a great distance as with the autos no one hesitates to undertake a
+drive of a hundred kilometres. The young people danced in the
+drawing-room--Madame d'Y---- had taken out all the furniture, and the
+parents and older people sat about on the terrace where there were
+plenty of seats and little tea-tables. The dining-room--with an abundant
+buffet--was always full; one arrives with a fine appetite after whirling
+for two or three hours through the keen salt air. The girls all looked
+charming--the white dresses, bright sashes, and big picture hats are so
+becoming. They were dancing hard when we left, about half past six, and
+it was a pretty sight as we looked back from the gates--long lines of
+sunlight wavering over the grass, figures in white flitting through the
+trees, distant strains of music, and what was less agreeable, the
+strident sound of a sirene on some of the autos. They are detestable
+things.
+
+We were very comfortable at Villers in a nice, clean house looking on
+the sea, with broad balconies at every story, where we put sofas and
+tables and green blinds, using them as extra salons. We were never in
+the house except to eat and sleep. Nothing is more characteristic of the
+French (particularly in the bourgeoise) than the thorough way in which
+they _do_ their month at the sea-shore. They generally come for the month
+of August. Holidays have begun and business, of all kinds, is slack.
+Our plage was really a curiosity. There is a splendid stretch of sand
+beach--at low tide one can walk, by the shore, to Trouville or Houlgate
+on perfectly firm, dry sand. There are hundreds of cabins and tents,
+striped red and white, and umbrellas on the beach, and all day long
+whole families sit there. They all bathe, and a curious fashion at
+Villers is that you put on your bathing dress in your own house--over
+that a peignoir, generally of red and white striped cotton, and walk
+quite calmly through the streets to the etablissement. Some of the
+ladies and gentlemen of mature years are not to their advantage. When
+they can, if they have houses with a terrace or garden, they take their
+meals outside, and as soon as they have breakfasted, start again for the
+beach. When it is low tide they go shrimp-fishing or walk about in the
+shallow water looking for shells and sea-weed. When it is high tide, all
+sit at the door of their tents sewing, reading, or talking--I mean, of
+course, the petite bourgeoisie.
+
+At other places on the coast, Deauville or Houlgate, the life is like
+Newport or Dinard, or any other fashionable seaside place, with
+automobiles, dinners, dressing, etc. They get all the sea air and
+out-of-door life that they can crowd into one month. One lady said to me
+one day, "I can't bathe, but I take a 'bain d'air' every day--I sit on
+the rocks as far out in the water as I can--take off my hat and my shoes
+and stockings."
+
+There is a great clearing out always by the first of September and then
+the place was enchanting--bright, beautiful September days, one could
+still bathe, the sun was so strong; and the afternoons, with just a
+little chill in the air, were delightful for walking and driving. There
+was a pretty Norman farm--just over the plage--at the top of the falaise
+where we went sometimes for tea. They gave us very good tea, milk, and
+cider, and excellent bread and butter and cheese. We sat out of doors in
+an apple orchard at little tables--all the beasts of the establishment
+in the same field. The chickens and sheep surrounded us, were evidently
+accustomed to being fed, but the horses, cows, and calves kept quite to
+the other end. We saw the girls milking the cows which, of course,
+interested the children immensely.
+
+We made some charming excursions in the auto--went one Saturday to
+Caen--such a pretty road through little smiling villages--every house
+with a garden, or if too close together to allow that, there were pots
+of geraniums, the falling kind, in the windows, which made a red curtain
+dropping down over the walls. We stopped at Lisieux--a quaint old Norman
+town, with a fine cathedral and curious houses with gables and
+towers--one street most picturesque, very narrow, with wooden houses,
+their projecting roofs coming so far over the street one could hardly
+see the sky in some places. There were all kinds of balconies and
+cornices most elaborately carved--the wood so dark one could scarcely
+distinguish the original figures and devices, but some of them were
+extraordinary, dragons, and enormous winged animals. We did not linger
+very long as we were in our new auto--a Martini hill-climber--built in
+Switzerland and, of course (like all automobilists), were anxious to
+make as fast a run as possible between Villers and Caen.
+
+The approach to Caen is not particularly interesting--the country is
+flat, the road running through poplar-bordered fields--one does not see
+it at all until one gets quite near, and then suddenly beautiful towers
+and steeples seem to rise out of the green meadows. It was
+Saturday--market day--and the town was crowded--every description of
+vehicle in the main street and before the hotel, two enormous red
+60-horse-power Mercedes--farmers' gigs and donkey carts with cheeses and
+butter--a couple generally inside--the man with his blue smock and
+broad-brimmed hat, the woman with a high, clean, stiff-starched muslin
+cap, a knit shawl over her shoulders. They were not in the least
+discomposed by the bustle and the automobiles, never thought of getting
+out of the way--jogged comfortably on keeping to their side of the road.
+
+We left the auto at the hotel and found many others in the court-yard,
+and various friends. The d'Y----s had come over from Grangues (their
+place). He is Conseiller General of Calvados, and market day, in a
+provincial town, is an excellent occasion for seeing one's electors.
+There were also some friends from Trouville-Deauville, most of them in
+autos--some in light carriages. We tried to make a rendezvous for tea at
+the famous patissier's (who sends his cakes and bonbons over half the
+department), but that was not very practical, as they had all finished
+what they had to do and we had not even begun our sightseeing. However,
+d'Y---- told us he would leave our names at the tea-room, a sort of club
+they have established over the patissier's, where we would be quieter
+and better served than in the shop which would certainly be crowded on
+Saturday afternoon. We walked about till we were dead tired.
+
+St. Pierre is a fine old Norman church with beautiful tower and steeple.
+It stands fairly well in the Place St. Pierre, but the houses are much
+too near. It should have more space around it. There was a market going
+on, on the other side of the square--fruit, big apples and pears,
+flowers and fish being heaped up together. The apples looked tempting,
+such bright red ones.
+
+We went to the two abbayes--both of them quite beautiful--St.
+Etienne--Abbaye aux Hommes was built by William the Conqueror, who was
+originally buried there. It is very grand--quite simple, but splendid
+proportions--a fitting resting-place for the great soldier, who,
+however, was not allowed to sleep his last sleep, undisturbed, in the
+city he loved so well. His tomb was desecrated several times and his
+remains lost in the work of destruction.
+
+We went on to the Abbaye aux Dames which is very different; smaller--not
+nearly so simple. The facade is very fine with two square towers most
+elaborately carved, the steeples have long since disappeared; and there
+are richly ornamented galleries and balustrades in the interior of the
+church, not at all the high solemn vaulted aisles of the Abbaye aux
+Hommes. It was founded by Queen Mathilde, wife of William the Conqueror,
+and she is buried there--a perfectly simple tomb with an inscription in
+Latin. There was at one time a very handsome monument, but it was
+destroyed, like so many others, during the Revolution, and the remains
+placed, some years after, in the stone coffin where they now rest. We
+hadn't time to see the many interesting things in the churches and in
+the town, as it was getting late and we wanted some tea before we
+started back. We found our way to the patissier's quite easily, but
+certainly couldn't have had any tea if d'Y---- had not told us to use
+his name and ask for the club-room. The little shop was crowded--people
+standing and making frantic dashes into the kitchen for chocolate and
+muffins. The club-room upstairs was quite nice--painted white, a good
+glass so that we could arrange our hair a little, one or two tables--and
+we were attended to at once. They brought us the specialite of the
+place--light, hot brioches with grated ham inside--very good and very
+indigestible.
+
+We went home by a different road, but it looked just like the
+other--fewer little hamlets, perhaps, and great pasture fields, filled
+with fine specimens of Norman dray horses and mares with long-legged
+colts running alongside of them. It was late when we got home. The
+lighthouses of Honfleur and Havre made a long golden streak stretching
+far out to sea, and the great turning flashlight of St. Adresse was
+quite dazzling.
+
+We went back over the same ground two or three days later on our way to
+Bayeux. The town is not particularly interesting, but the cathedral is
+beautiful and in wonderful preservation--the columns are very
+grand--every capital exquisitely carved and no two alike. Our guide, a
+very talkative person--unlike the generality of Norman peasants, who are
+usually taciturn--was very anxious to show us each column in detail and
+explain all the really beautiful carving, but we were rather hurried as
+some of the party were going to lunch at Barbieville--Comte Foy's
+chateau.
+
+On the same place as the cathedral is the Hotel de Ville, with the
+wonderful tapestries worked by the Queen Mathilde, wife of William the
+Conqueror. They are really most extraordinary and so well preserved. The
+colours look as if they had been painted yesterday. I hadn't seen them
+for years and had forgotten the curious shapes and vivid colouring. We
+went to one of the lace shops. The Bayeux lace is very pretty, made with
+the "fuseau", very fine--a mixture of Valenciennes and Mechlin. It is
+very strong, though it looks delicate. The dentellieres still do a very
+good business. The little girls begin to work as soon as they can thread
+their needle, and follow a simple pattern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The F.'s enjoyed their day at Barbieville, Comte Foy's chateau, very
+much. They said the house was nothing remarkable--a large square
+building, but the park was original. Comte Foy is a racing man, breeds
+horses, and has his "haras" on his place. The park is all cut up into
+paddocks, each one separated from the other by a hedge and all
+connected by green paths. F. said the effect from the terrace was quite
+charming; one saw nothing but grass and hedges and young horses and
+colts running about. Comtesse Foy and her daughters were making lace.
+The girls went in to Bayeux three or four times a week and took lessons
+from one of the dentellieres.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
+
+
+One year we were at Boulogne for the summer in a funny little house, in
+a narrow street just behind the port and close to the Casino and beach.
+There were a great many people--all the hotels full and quantities of
+automobiles passing all day. The upper part of the town is just like any
+other seaside place--rows of hotels and villas facing the sea--some of
+the houses built into the high green cliff which rises steep and almost
+menacing behind. Already parts of the cliff have crumbled away in some
+place and the proprietors of the villas find some difficulty in letting
+them. The front rooms on the sea are charming, but the back
+ones--directly under the cliff--with no air or sun, are not very
+tempting. There is a fine digue and raised broad walk all along the sea
+front, with flowers, seats, and music stand.
+
+It is a perfectly safe beach for children, for though the channel is
+very near and the big English boats pass close to the shore, there are
+several sand banks which make the beach quite safe, and from seven in
+the morning till seven at night there are two boats au large and two men
+on the beach, with ropes, life-preservers, and horns which they blow
+whenever they think the bathers are too far out. There is an "Inspecteur
+de la Plage," a regular French official with a gold band on his cap, who
+is a most important and amiable gentleman and sees that no one is
+annoyed in any way. We made friends with him at once, moyennant une
+piece de dix francs, and he looked after us, saw that our tents were put
+up close to the water, no others near, and warned off stray children and
+dogs who were attracted by our children's toys and cakes.
+
+The plage is a pretty sight on a bright day. There are hundreds of
+tents--all bright-coloured. When one approaches Boulogne from the sea
+the beach looks like a parterre of flowers. Near the Casino there are a
+quantity of old-fashioned ramshackly bathing cabins on wheels, with very
+small boys cracking their whips and galloping up and down, from the
+digue to the edge of the water, on staid old horses who know their work
+perfectly--put themselves at once into the shafts of the
+carriages--never go beyond a certain limit in the sea.
+
+All the bathers are prudent. It is rare to see any one swimming out or
+diving from a boat. A policeman presides at the public bathing place
+and there are three or four baigneurs and baigneuses who take charge of
+the timid bathers; one wonderful old woman, bare-legged, of course, a
+handkerchief on her head, a flannel blouse and a very short skirt made
+of some water-proof material that stood out stiff all around her and
+shed the water--she was the premiere baigneuse--seventy years old and
+had been baigneuse at Boulogne for fifty-one years. She had bathed C. as
+a child, and was delighted to see her again and wildly interested in her
+two children.
+
+There were donkeys, of course, and goats. The children knew the goat man
+well and all ran to him with their mugs as soon as they heard his
+peculiar whistle. They held their mugs close under the goat so that they
+got their milk warm and foaming, as it was milked directly into their
+mugs. The goats were quite tame--one came always straight to our tents
+and lay down there till his master came. Every one wanted to feed them
+with cakes and bits of sugar, but he would never let them have anything
+for fear it should spoil their milk.
+
+Another friend was the cake man, dressed all in white, with his basket
+of brioches and madeleines on his head--then there were the inevitable
+Africans with fezes on their heads and bundles of silks--crepes-de-chine
+and ostrich feathers, that one sees at every plage. I don't think they
+did much business.
+
+The public was not all distinguished. We often wondered where the people
+were who lived in the hotels (all very expensive) and villas, for, with
+very rare exceptions, it was the most ordinary petite bourgeoisie that
+one saw on the beach--a few Americans, a great many fourth-rate English.
+They were a funny contrast to the people who came for the Concours
+Hippique, and the Race Week. One saw then a great influx of
+automobiles--there were balls at the Casino and many pretty,
+well-dressed women, of both worlds, much en evidence. The chatelains
+from the neighbouring chateaux appeared and brought their guests.
+
+For that one week Boulogne was quite fashionable. The last Sunday of the
+races was a terrible day. There was an excursion train from Paris and
+two excursion steamers from England. We were on the quay when the
+English boats came in and it was amusing to see the people. Some of them
+had left London at six in the morning. There were all sorts and kinds,
+wonderful sportsmen with large checked suits, caps and field glasses
+slung over their shoulders--a great many pretty girls--generally in
+white. All had bags and baskets with bathing suits and luncheon, and in
+an instant they were swarming over the plage--already crowded with the
+Paris excursionists. They didn't interfere with us much as we never went
+to the beach on Sunday.
+
+F. was fishing all day with some of his friends in a pilot boat. (They
+brought back three hundred mackerel), had a beautiful day--the sea quite
+calm and the fish rising in quantities. C. and I, with the children,
+went off to the Hardelot woods in the auto. We established ourselves on
+a hillside, pines all around us, the sea at our feet, a beautiful blue
+sky overhead, and not a sound to break the stillness except sometimes,
+in the distance, the sirene of a passing auto. We had our tea-basket,
+found a nice clear space to make a fire, which we did very prudently,
+scooping out a great hole in the ground and making a sort of oven. It
+was very difficult to keep the children from tumbling into the hole as
+they were rolling about on the soft ground, but we got home without any
+serious detriment to life or limb.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The life in our quarter on the quais is very different, an extraordinary
+animation and movement. There are hundreds of vessels of every
+description in the port. All day and all night boats are coming in and
+going out: The English steamers with their peculiar, dull, penetrating
+whistle that one hears at a great distance--steam tugs that take
+passengers and luggage out to the Atlantic liners, lying just outside
+the digue--yachts, pilot boats, easily distinguished by a broad white
+line around their hulls, and a number very conspicuously printed in
+large black letters on their white sails, "baliseurs," smart-looking
+little craft that take buoys out to the various points where they must
+be laid. One came in the other day with two large, red, bell-shaped
+buoys on her deck which made a great effect from a distance; we were
+standing on the pier, and couldn't imagine what they were; "avisos"
+(dispatch-boats), with their long, narrow flamme, which marks them as
+war vessels, streaming out in the wind. Their sailors looked very
+picturesque in white jerseys and blue berets with red pompons. Small
+steamers that run along the coast from Calais to Dunkirk--others, cargo
+boats, broad and deep in the water, that take fruit and eggs over to
+England. The baskets of peaches, plums, and apricots look most
+appetizing when they are taken on board. The steamers look funny when
+they come back with empty baskets, quantities of them, piled up on the
+decks, tied to the masts. Many little pleasure boats--flat, broad rowing
+boats that take one across the harbour to the Gare Maritime (which is a
+long way around by the bridge), a most uncomfortable performance at low
+tide, as you go down long, steep, slippery steps with no railing, and
+have to scramble into the boat as well as you can.
+
+Of course, there are fishing-boats of every description, from the modest
+little sloop with one mast and small sail to the big steam trawlers
+which are increasing every year and gradually replacing the
+old-fashioned sailing-boat. One always knows when the fishing-boats are
+arriving by the crowd that assembles on the quay; that peculiar
+population that seems natural to all ports, young, able-bodied sailors,
+full of interest about the run and the cargo--old men in blue jerseys
+who sit on the wall, in the sun, all day, and recount their
+experiences--various officials with gold bands on their caps, men with
+hand carts waiting to carry off the fish and fishwives--their baskets
+strapped on their backs--hoping for a haul of crabs and shrimps or fish
+from some of the small boats.
+
+_All_ the cargo of the trawlers is sold before they arrive to the
+marieurs (men who deal exclusively in fish), and who have a contract
+with the big boats. There is no possibility of having a good fish except
+at the Halles, where one can sometimes get some from one of the smaller
+boats, which fish on their own account and have no contract; but even
+those are generally sold at once to small dealers, who send them off to
+the neighbouring inland towns. In fact, the proprietor of one of the
+big hotels told me he had to get his fish from Paris and paid Paris
+prices.
+
+The fishwives, the young ones particularly, are a fine-looking
+lot--tall, straight, with feet and legs bare, a little white cap or
+woollen fichu on their heads--they carry off their heavy baskets as
+lightly as possible, taking them to the Halles where all the fish must
+go. They are quite a feature of Boulogne, the young fishwives. One sees
+them often at low tide--fishing for shrimps, carrying their heavy nets
+on their shoulders and flat baskets strapped on their backs into which
+they tip the fish very cleverly. They are quite distinct from the
+Boulonaises matelottes, who are a step higher in the social scale.
+_They_ always wear a wonderful white cap with a high starched frill
+which stands out around their faces like an aureole. They, too, wear
+short full skirts, but have long stockings and very good stout
+_shoes_--not sabots--which are also disappearing. They turn out very
+well on Sundays. I saw a lot of them the other day coming out of
+church--all with their caps scrupulously clean--short, full, black or
+brown skirts; aprons ironed in a curious way--_across_ the apron--making
+little waves (our maids couldn't think what had happened to their white
+aprons the first time they came back from the wash--thought there had
+been some mistake and they had some one's else clothes--they had to
+explain to the washerwoman that they liked their aprons ironed
+straight); long gold earrings and gold chains. They are handsome women,
+dark with straight features, a serious look in their eyes. Certainly
+people who live by the sea have a different expression--there is
+something grave, almost sad in their faces, which one doesn't see in
+dwellers in sunny meadows and woodlands.
+
+We went this morning with the Baron de G., who is at the head of one of
+the fishing companies here, to see one of their boats come in and
+unload. It was a steam trawler, with enormous nets, that had been
+fishing off the English coast near Land's End. There were quite a number
+of people assembled on the quay--a policeman, a garde du port, an agent
+of the company, and the usual lot of people who are always about when a
+fishing-boat comes in. Her cargo seemed to be almost entirely of fish
+they call here saumon blanc. They were sending up great baskets of them
+from the hold where they were very well packed in ice; half-way up they
+were thrown into a big tub which cleaned them--took off the salt and
+gave them a silvery look. They are put by hundreds into hand-carts which
+were waiting and carried off at once to the Halles. They had brought in
+3,500 fish, but didn't seem to think they had made a very good haul. The
+whole cargo had been sold to a marieur and was sent off at once, by
+him, all over the country.
+
+Other boats were also sending their cargo to the Halles. They had all
+kinds of fish--soles, mackerel, and a big red fish I didn't know at all.
+I wouldn't have believed, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, that
+such a bright-coloured fish could exist. However, a very sharp little
+boy, who was standing near and who answered all my questions, told me
+they were rougets. We went on to the Halles--a large gray stone building
+facing the sea--rather imposing with a square tower on top, from which
+one can see a long way out to sea and signal incoming fishing-boats. It
+was very clean--water running over the white marble slabs, and women,
+with pails and brushes, washing and wiping the floor. It is evidently a
+place that attracts strangers; many tourists were walking about--one
+couple, American, I think, passing through in an automobile and laying
+in a stock of lobsters and crabs (the big deep-sea crabs) and rougets.
+The man rather hesitated about leaving his auto in the streets; they had
+no chauffeur with them, tried to find a boy who would watch it. For a
+wonder none was forthcoming, but two young fishwives, who were standing
+near, said they would; when the man came back with his purchases he gave
+each of them a five-franc piece, which munificence so astounded them
+that they could hardly find words to thank him.
+
+Quantities of fish of all kinds had arrived--some being sold a la criee,
+but it was impossible to understand the prices or the names of the
+fish--at least for us. The buying public seemed to know all about it.
+The fishwives were very busy standing behind the marble slabs with short
+thick knives, with which they cut off pieces of the large fish when the
+customer didn't want a whole one, and laughing and joking with every
+one. Here and there we saw a modern young person in a fancy blouse, her
+hair dressed and waved, with little combs, but there were not many. We
+bought some soles and shrimps. M. de G. tried to bargain a little for
+us, but the women were so smiling and so sure we didn't know anything
+about it, or what the current price of the fish was, that we had not
+much success.
+
+The trawlers are gradually taking away all the trade from the
+old-fashioned fishing-boats. They go faster, carry more and larger nets,
+and are, of course, stronger sea-boats. They are not much more
+expensive. They burn coal of an inferior quality and their machinery is
+of the simplest description. There is not the loss of life with them
+that there must be always with the smaller sailing-boats.
+
+Newfoundland is the most dangerous fishing ground, as the men have so
+much to contend with--the passing of transatlantic liners and the cold,
+thick fogs which come up off the banks--all of them prefer the Iceland
+fishing. The cold is greater, but there is much less fog and very few
+big boats to be met en route. Few of the Boulogne boats go to
+Newfoundland. It is generally the boats from Fecamp and some of the
+Breton ports that monopolize the fishing off the Banks. It seems that
+men often die from the cold and exposure in these waters. From the
+old-fashioned sailing-boats they usually send them off--two by two in a
+dory (they don't fish from the big boats); they start early, fish all
+day; if no fog comes up, they are all right and get back to their boats
+at dark, but if a sudden fog comes on they often can't find their boats
+and remain out all night, half frozen. _One_ night they can stand, but
+_two_ nights' cold and exposure are always fatal. When the fog lifts the
+little boat is sometimes quite close to the big one, but the men are
+dead--frozen. M. de G. tells us all sorts of terrible experiences that
+he has heard from his men, and yet they all like the life--wouldn't lead
+any other, and have the greatest contempt for a landsman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+There is a fruit stall at the corner of our street, where we stop every
+morning and buy fruit on our way down to the beach. We have become most
+intimate with the two women who are there. One, a young one with small
+children about the age of ours (to whom she often gives grapes or
+cherries when they pass), and the other a little, old, wrinkled,
+brown-faced grandmother, who sits all day, in all weathers, under an
+awning made of an old sail and helps her daughter. She has very bright
+eyes and looks as keen and businesslike as the young woman. She told us
+the other day she had _forty_ grandchildren--all the males, men and
+boys, sailors and fishermen and "mousses"--many of the girls fishwives
+and the mothers married to fishermen or sailors. I asked her why some of
+them hadn't tried to do something else--there were so many things people
+could do in these days to earn their living without leading such a rough
+life. She was quite astonished at my suggestion--replied that they had
+lived on the sea all their lives and never thought of doing anything
+else. Her own husband had been a fisherman--belonged to one of the
+Iceland boats--went three or four times a year regularly--didn't come
+back one year--no tidings ever came of ship or crew--it was God's will,
+and when his time came he had to go, whether in his bed or on his boat.
+And she brought up all her sons to be sailors or fishermen, and when two
+were lost at sea, accepted that, too, as part of her lot, only said it
+was hard, sometimes, for the poor women when the winter storms came and
+the wind was howling and the waves thundering on the beach, and they
+thought of their men ("mon homme" she always called her husband when
+speaking of him), wet and cold, battling for their lives. I talked to
+her often and the words of the old song,
+
+   "But men must work and women must weep,
+   Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
+   And the harbour bar be moaning,"
+
+came back to me more than once, for the floating buoy at the end of the
+jetty makes a continuous dull melancholy sound when the sea is at all
+rough, and when it is foggy (the channel fogs come up very quickly) we
+hear fog horns all around us and quite distinctly the big sirene of Cap
+Gris Nez, which sends out its long wailing note over the sea. It is very
+powerful and is heard at a long distance.
+
+The shops on the quay are an unfailing source of interest to me. I make
+a tour there every morning before I go down to the beach. They have such
+a wonderful variety of things. Shells of all sizes--enormous pink ones
+like those I always remember standing on the mantelpiece in the nursery
+at home--brought back by a sailor brother who used to tell us to put
+them to our ears and we would hear the noise of the sea--and beautiful
+delicate little mother-of-pearl shells that are almost jewels--wonderful
+frames, boxes, and pincushions, made of shells; big spoons, too, with
+a figure or a ship painted on them--knives, penholders, paper-cutters
+and brooches, made out of the bones of big fish--tassels of
+bright-coloured sea-weed, corals, vanilla beans--curiously worked
+leather belts--some roughly carved ivory crosses, umbrella handles,
+canes of every description, pipes, long gold earrings, parrots, little
+birds with bright-coloured feathers, monkeys--an extraordinary
+collection.
+
+I am sure one would find many curious specimens if one could penetrate
+into the back of the old shops and pull the things about--evidently
+sailors from all parts of the world have passed at Boulogne. Still I
+don't hear many foreign languages spoken--almost always French and
+English; occasionally a dark face, with bright black eyes, strikes one.
+We saw two Italians the other day, talking and gesticulating hard,
+shivering, too, with woollen comforters tied over their caps. There was
+a cold fog and we were all wrapped up. It must be awful weather for
+Southerners who only live when the sun shines and go to bed when it is
+cold and gray. There are all sorts of itinerants, petits marchands, on
+the other side of the quay, looking on the water--old women with fruit
+and cakes--children with crabs and shrimps--dolls in Boulonaise
+costume--fishwives and matelottes, stalls with every description of
+food, tea, coffee, chocolate, sandwiches, and fried potatoes. The
+children bought some potatoes the other day wrapped up in brown
+paper--quite a big portion for two sous--and said they were very good.
+
+The quais are very broad, happily, for everything is put there. One
+morning there were quantities of barrels. I asked what was in them.
+Salt, they told me, for the herring-boats which are starting these days.
+Nets, coils of ropes, big sails, baskets, boxes, odd bits of iron, some
+anchors--one has rather to pick one's way. An automobile has been
+standing there for three or four days. I asked if that was going to
+Iceland on a trawler, but the man answered quite simply, "Oh, no,
+Madame, what should we do with an automobile in a fishing-boat. It
+belongs to the owner of one of the ships, and has been here en panne
+waiting till he can have it repaired."
+
+We went one evening to the Casino to see a "bal des matelottes." It was
+a curious sight--a band playing on a raised stand--a broad space cleared
+all round it and lots of people dancing. The great feature, of course,
+was the matelottes. Their costumes were very effective--they all wore
+short, very full skirts, different coloured jackets, short, with a belt,
+very good stout shoes and stockings, and their white frilled caps. They
+always danced together (very rarely with a man--it is not etiquette for
+them to dance with any man when their husbands or lovers are at sea),
+their hands on each other's shoulders. They dance perfectly well and
+keep excellent time and, I suppose, enjoy themselves, but they look very
+solemn going round and round until the music stops. Their feet and
+ankles are usually small. I heard an explanation the other day of their
+dark skins, clean cut features, and small feet. They are of Portuguese
+origin. The first foreign sailors who came to France were Portuguese.
+Many of them remained, married French girls, and that accounts for that
+peculiar type in their descendants which is very different from the look
+of the Frenchwoman in general. There are one or two villages in Brittany
+where the women have the same colouring and features, and there also
+Portuguese sailors had remained and married, and one still hears some
+Portuguese names--Jose, Manuel--and among the women some Annunziatas,
+Carmelas, etc. We had a house in Brittany one summer and our kitchen
+maid was called Dolores.
+
+
+CAP GRIS NEZ.
+
+We made a lovely excursion one day to Cap Gris Nez--just at the end of a
+wild bit of coast about twenty-five kilometres from Boulogne. The road
+was enchanting on the top of the cliff all along the sea. We passed
+through Vimereux, a small bathing-place four or five miles from
+Boulogne, and one or two other villages, then went through a wild
+desolate tract of sand-hills and plains and came upon the lighthouse,
+one of the most important of the coast--a very powerful light that all
+inward-bound boats are delighted to see. There are one or two villas
+near on the top of the cliff, then the road turns sharply down to the
+beach--a beautiful broad expanse of yellow sand, reaching very far out
+that day as it was dead low tide.
+
+In the distance we saw figures; couldn't distinguish what they were
+doing, but supposed they were fishing for shrimps, which was what our
+party meant to do. The auto was filled with nets, baskets, and clothes,
+as well as luncheon baskets. The hotel--a very good, simple one--with a
+broad piazza going all around it, was half-way down the cliff, and the
+woman was very "complaisante" and helpful--said there were plenty of
+shrimps, crabs, and lobsters and no one to fish. She and her husband had
+been out at four o'clock that morning and had brought back "quatre
+pintes" of shrimps. No one knew what she meant, but it was evidently a
+measure of some kind. I suppose an English pint. She gave us a cabin
+where the two young matrons dressed, or rather undressed, as they
+reappeared in their bathing trousers--which stopped some little distance
+above the knee--very short skirts, bare legs, "espadrilles" on their
+feet, and large Panama hats to protect them from the sun. The men had
+merely rolled up their trousers. They went out very far--I could just
+make them out--they seemed a part of the sea and sky, moving objects
+standing out against the horizon.
+
+I made myself very comfortable with rugs and cushions under the cliff--I
+had my book as I knew it would be a long operation. It was
+enchanting--sitting there, such a beautiful afternoon. We saw the
+English coast quite distinctly. There was not a sound--no bathing cabins
+or tents, nobody on the shore, but a few fishermen were spreading nets
+on poles to catch the fish as the tide came up. The sea was quite blue,
+and as the afternoon lengthened there were lovely soft lights over
+everything; such warm tints it might almost have been the Mediterranean
+and the Riviera. A few fishing-boats passed in the distance, but there
+was nothing to break the great stillness--not even the ripple of the
+waves, as the sea was too far out. It was a curious sensation to be
+sitting there quite alone--the blue sea at my feet and the cliff rising
+straight up behind me.
+
+The bay is small--two points jutting out on each side, completely
+shutting it in. There are a good many rocks--the water dashes over them
+finely when the tide is high and the sea rough. I got rather stiff
+sitting still and walked about a little on the hard beach and talked to
+the fishermen. They were looking on amused and indulgently at our
+amateurs, and said there were plenty of fish of all kinds _if_ one knew
+how to take them. They said they made very good hauls with their nets in
+certain seasons--that lots of fish came in with the tide and got
+stranded, couldn't get back through the nets. One of them had two
+enormous crabs in his baskets, which I bought at once, and we brought
+them home in the bottom of the auto wrapped up in _very thick_ paper, as
+they were still alive and could give a nasty pinch, the man said.
+
+About five, I thought I made out my party more distinctly; their faces
+were turned homeward, so I went to meet them as far as the dry sand
+lasted. I had a very long walk as the tide was at its lowest. They came
+back very slowly, stopping at all the little pools and poking their nets
+under the rocks to get what they could. They had made a very fair basket
+of really big shrimps, were very wet, very hungry, and very pleased with
+their performance.
+
+We had very good tea and excellent bread and butter at the hotel. They
+gave us a table on the piazza in the sun which finished drying the
+garments of the party. I fancy they had gone in deeper than they
+thought. However, salt water never gives cold and nobody was any the
+worse for the wetting. The woman of the hotel said we ought to go to see
+a fisherman's hut, on the top of the cliff near the lighthouse, before
+we went back. The same family of fishermen had lived there for
+generations, and it was a marvel how any one _could_ live in such a
+place. We could find our way very easily as the path was marked by white
+stones. So we climbed up the cliff and a few minutes' walk brought us to
+one of the most wretched habitations I have ever seen: a little low
+stone hut, built so close to the edge of the cliff one would think a
+violent storm must blow it over--no windows--a primitive chimney, hardly
+more than a hole in the roof--a little low door that one had to stoop to
+pass through, one room, dark and cold--the floor of beaten earth, damp
+and uneven, almost in ruts. There were two beds, a table, two chairs,
+and a stove--nondescript garments hanging on the walls--a woman with a
+baby was sitting at the table--another child on the floor--both
+miserable little, puny, weak-eyed, pale children. The woman told me she
+had six--all lived there--one man was sitting on the bed mending a net,
+another on the floor drinking some black stuff out of a cup--I think
+the baby was drinking the same--two or three children were stretching
+big nets on the top of the cliff--they, too, looked miserable little
+specimens of humanity, bare-legged, unkempt, trousers and jackets in
+holes; however, the woman was quite cheerful--didn't complain nor ask
+for money. The men accepted two francs to drink our health. One wonders
+how children ever grow up in such an atmosphere without light or air or
+decent food.
+
+The drive home was beautiful--not nearly so lonely. Peasants and
+fishermen were coming back from their work--women and children driving
+the cows home. We noticed, too, a few little, low, whitewashed cottages
+in the fields, almost hidden by the sand-hills, which we hadn't seen
+coming out.
+
+
+HARDELOT.
+
+Hardelot was a great resource to us. It is a fine domain, beautiful pine
+woods running down to the sea--a great stretch of green meadow and a
+most picturesque old castle quite the type of the chateau-fort. The
+castle has now been transformed into a country club with golf-links,
+tennis, and well-kept lawns under big trees which give a splendid shade
+and are most resting to the eye after the glare of the beach. There is
+no view of the sea from the castle, but from the top of the towers on a
+fine day one just sees a quiver of light beneath the sky-line which
+might be the sea.
+
+The chateau has had its history like all the old feudal castles on the
+sea-board and has changed hands very often, being sometimes French and
+sometimes English. It was strongly fortified and resisted many attacks
+from the English before it actually came into their possession. Part of
+the wall and a curious old gate-way are all that remain of the feudal
+days. The castle is said to have been built by Charlemagne. Henry VIII
+of England lived in it for some time, and the preliminaries of a treaty
+of peace between that monarch and Francois I were signed there--the
+French and English ambassadors arriving in great state--with an endless
+army of retainers. One wonders where they all were lodged, as the castle
+could never have been large--one sees that from the foundations; but I
+fancy habits were very simple in those days, and the suites probably
+slept on the floor in one of the halls with all their clothes on, the
+troopers keeping on their jack-boots so long that they had to be cut off
+sometimes--the feet and legs so swollen.
+
+The drive from the club to the plage is charming. Sometimes through
+pretty narrow roads with high banks on each side, with hedges on top,
+quite like parts of Devonshire, and nice, little, low, whitewashed
+cottages with green shutters and red doors, much more like England than
+France.
+
+We stopped at a cottage called the Dickens House, where Charles Dickens
+lived for some time. It is only one story high--white with green
+shutters--stands at the end of an old-fashioned garden filled with all
+sorts of ordinary garden-flowers--roses, hollyhocks, larkspurs, pinks,
+all growing most luxuriantly and making patches of colour in the green
+surroundings. We saw Dickens' study, his table still in the window
+(where he always wrote), looking over the garden to an endless stretch
+of green fields.
+
+The plage is very _new_. There is a nice clean hotel, with broad piazzas
+and balconies directly on the sea and a few chalets are already built,
+but there is an absolute dearth of trees and shade. There was quite a
+strong sea-breeze the day we were there, and the fine white sand was
+blown high into the air in circles, getting into our eyes and hair.
+There is a splendid beach--miles of sand--not a rock or cliff--absolutely
+level. The domain of Hardelot belongs to a company of which Mr. John
+Whitley was the president. He had concessions for a tramway from
+Boulogne to Hardelot which will certainly bring people to the plage
+and club. Now there is only an auto-bus, which goes very slowly and is
+constantly out of order; once the club is organized, I think it cannot
+fail to be a charming resort. There is plenty of game in the forest
+(they have a good piece of it), perfect golf and tennis grounds--as
+much deep-sea fishing as one wants. We went often to tea at the
+chateau. F. played golf, and we walked about and sat under the trees,
+and the children were quite happy playing on the lawns where they were
+as safe as in their nurseries.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATEAU AND COUNTRY LIFE IN FRANCE***
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