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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41588 ***
+
+ EUROPE FROM A MOTOR CAR
+
+ [Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+ _The approach to the Stelvio pass_ _Page 36_]
+
+ EUROPE
+ FROM A
+ MOTOR CAR
+
+ _By_
+ RUSSELL RICHARDSON
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+ RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
+ CHICAGO NEW YORK
+
+ _Copyright, 1914_
+ BY RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY
+
+ The Rand-McNally Press
+ _Chicago_
+
+
+ TO
+ MY MOTHER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER PAGE
+
+ _Preface_ 9
+
+ I Berlin to Marienbad 11
+
+ II Marienbad to Trafoi 24
+
+ III Crossing the Stelvio into Italy 36
+
+ IV A Visit to Lyons 65
+
+ V Chambéry to Nîmes 79
+
+ VI Nîmes to Carcassonne 97
+
+ VII Carcassonne to Tarbes 110
+
+ VIII Tarbes to Biarritz 122
+
+ IX A Day in Spain 130
+
+ X Biarritz to Mont-de-Marsan 143
+
+ XI Mont-de-Marsan to Périgueux 159
+
+ XII Périgueux to Tours 172
+
+ XIII The Châteaux of Touraine 182
+
+ XIV Orléans to Dieppe 197
+
+ XV Expenses and Suggestions 215
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+The Approach to the Stelvio Pass 2
+
+A French Highway 11
+
+The Brandenburger Thor 20
+
+Cutting Across the Glacier 34
+
+Lake Como, Most Beautiful of the Italian
+Lakes 44
+
+Italian Villas on Lake Como 48
+
+Above the Val d'Aosta 54
+
+The Rhone at Lyons 66
+
+Out of the Silence and Gloom 80
+
+The Ancient Roman Theater at Orange 86
+
+Arc de Triomphe at Orange 88
+
+The Palace of the Popes at Avignon 90
+
+The Ruined Bridge of St. Benezet at
+Avignon 92
+
+The Maison Carrée at Nîmes 94
+
+The Castle and Double Line of Fortifications
+at Carcassonne 102
+
+The Walled City of Carcassonne 104
+
+The Pyrenees Were in Sight 112
+
+Ice Peaks of the Pyrenees 116
+
+The Grande Plage at Biarritz 126
+
+The Ox-carts Were Curious Creations 134
+
+The Death Stroke 140
+
+A Familiar Village Scene in Provincial
+France 156
+
+A Miracle of Gothic Splendor 162
+
+A Convenient Way to Carry Bread 176
+
+The Road Swept Us Along the Bank of
+the Loire 180
+
+The Château of Loches Behind Its Imposing
+Entrance 186
+
+The Château of Chenonceaux 190
+
+The Château of Amboise on the Loire 194
+
+The Wheat Fields of Normandy 198
+
+The Gothic Cathedral at Chartres 200
+
+The Seine at Rouen 208
+
+Where Jeanne d'Arc was Burned at the
+Stake 212
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The following pages have not been written to supplement the thousands of
+guide books about Europe. Long, technical descriptions have been
+avoided. An endeavor has been made, rather, to give our personal
+impressions of the Old World from a motor car. Our itinerary overlooked
+the larger cities whose contents have been so well inventoried by
+Baedeker. The life of the peasantry, the small towns seldom visited by
+American tourists, quaint villages unapproached by any railroad, the
+superb roads and views of the Tyrol, the crossing of the Alps over the
+snow-crowned Stelvio into Italy, the flight through northern Italy to
+Como, loveliest of the Italian lakes--such unique experiences amid
+beautiful scenery appealed to us more than the attractions of the
+crowded metropolis. We were out for a motor ramble instead of a
+sight-seeing tour. Our route did not follow entirely the familiar
+highways of tourist traffic. From the summit of the Alps we were to see,
+far below us, the valleys of picturesque Savoy. Then came the long,
+thrilling descent into France through Provençe, that treasure land of
+Roman antiquity, through the Pyrenees, lifting their huge barriers
+between France and Spain, to Biarritz on the Atlantic. Spain was before
+us, the pastoral beauties of Limousin and Périgord, the châteaux of
+Touraine, and the cathedrals of Normandy.
+
+An important part of our equipment was the _Michelin Guide_, which, with
+its convenient arrangement and wealth of useful information about hotels
+and roads, rendered invaluable aid. Its maps were so clear that it was
+seldom necessary to retrace our path. By means of them we planned our
+route and found our way through the different countries.
+
+The writer wishes to thank Michelin & Co. of Paris, and Dr. Lehmann of
+the Benz Company in Mannheim, Germany, for their assistance and advice.
+The files of the _London Daily Mail_ contributed helpful suggestions.
+Obligation is also expressed to Mr. Charles Netcher, whose good judgment
+and motormanship were indispensable to the success of the trip.
+
+RUSSELL RICHARDSON.
+
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_A French highway_ _Page 178_]
+
+
+
+
+EUROPE FROM A MOTOR CAR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BERLIN TO MARIENBAD
+
+
+Before us was the long stretch of the Potsdamer Strasse bathed in the
+sunshine of a July morning. Slowly the speedometer began to devour the
+kilometers of the Kaiser's imperial city, and the low music of the siren
+seemed like a song of rejoicing that we were at last starting on our
+quest of motor experiences along the highways of Europe. The
+exhilaration of the moment called for speed, a leaping burst of it, but
+a Berlin street is unfortunately no place for speeding. Numerous
+helmeted policemen, vigilant guardians of German speed laws, were
+sufficient reminders that the way of the motor transgressor would be
+paved with heavy fines.
+
+These policemen looked like soldiers. In Berlin one is always surrounded
+by a military atmosphere. The city is the product and the producer of
+this martial spirit. The Prussian wars are written so completely in
+pages of bronze and marble, one has the impression of being among people
+who are on the verge of war and prepared for it. Even as we glided
+along, a huge Zeppelin air ship hovered above us, one of those ill-fated
+war machines which have so often met destruction.
+
+A little farther on, there was a stirring sound of military music, and
+our way was intercepted by a marching regiment. It was fully ten minutes
+before the last soldier passed. Such scenes are common in the capital of
+a country bounded on two frontiers by powerful nations, and dependent
+for its very existence upon the maintenance of a large standing army.
+
+Gradually the music grew fainter, the warnings of countless "verbotens"
+became less frequent. Soon we were riding through the Prussian country,
+pleasantly pastoral and interspersed by red-roofed villages. Everywhere
+were barracks and soldiers, and each small community was throbbing with
+industrial life. This was prosaic, military, modern Germany; that is, it
+might have seemed prosaic had we not seen it from a motor car. There is
+a quality of romance about all motoring in Europe. It is fascinating to
+appear unexpectedly among a people in the midst of their everyday
+activities, to see them as they really are, to flash for a brief moment
+upon the horizon of their local life, and then to whirl on to other
+scenes. Such a trip is never monotonous. There is magic in this song of
+the swift kilometers.
+
+The tourist, by train or on foot, is overwhelmed by details. He sees
+small cross-sections of life. But the motorist, of all travelers, can
+see larger outlines. For him a thousand details merge to form a unit
+which he can grasp; to paint a picture of clear-cut, dominating
+impressions and filled with life-long memories. Even "the best
+traveler[1] on foot--Barrow or Stevenson--can enjoy himself, or interest
+others, only by his impressions of the insistent details of each trudged
+mile. The motorist alone can perform the great deduction of travel. His
+privilege is to see the surface of his planet and the activities of his
+fellowmen unroll in impressive continuity. He moves along the vital
+lines of cause and effect. He sees how the earth has imposed character
+and habits upon her inhabitants."
+
+ [1] From "The Alpine Road of France," by Sir Henry Norman, M. P., in
+ _Scribner's Magazine_ for February, 1914.
+
+When one has seen Europe from a motor car, the geography of the Old
+World ceases to be a mass of hazy facts set off by indefinite
+boundaries. We had vaguely thought of the Alps as being in Switzerland.
+After crossing them twice, these mountain barriers, extending from
+Vienna to the Mediterranean, through Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and
+France, were to have a new meaning. Most of us would probably confuse
+the old provinces of France with the departments which correspond
+roughly to our states. But Normandy, Brittany, and Provençe have no more
+geographical significance to-day than "Mason and Dixon's Line," which
+once served as a boundary between North and South. Places which had
+previously existed for us, in cold print, were to glow with life and
+color, and were in turn to tell their romantic story. Now, when we look
+at our map of France, we can see "the great central wheat plain; the
+broad wine belt; the western _landes_; the eastern pine slopes; the
+welter of history in Touraine and Anjou; dear, yellow, dusty,
+windswept, singing, dancing, Provençe; the southward climatic procession
+of buckwheat, wheat, vine, olive, palm, and orange tree."[2]
+
+ [2] From "The Alpine Road of France," by Sir Henry Norman, M. P., in
+ _Scribner's Magazine_ for February, 1914.
+
+Our chronicle of this first day of motoring includes a brief glimpse of
+Wittenberg, where Luther burned the Papal Bull and thus kindled the
+flame of the Reformation. After Wittenberg came Leipzig, famed as the
+home of immortal Baedeker. One cannot ride far in Germany without
+encountering a city counting its population by the hundred thousand.
+This wealth of population explains in part how Prussia, only a
+generation ago so agricultural, could have changed so quickly into a
+vast workshop; there has always been a plentiful supply of labor.
+
+We stopped for the night at Chemnitz, a smoky city and with a dreary
+looking hotel showing in prominent letters the unpleasant name of "Hotel
+zur Stadt Gotha." The next morning we ran the easy gauntlet of
+customhouse formalities at Gottesgab, and crossed the Austrian frontier
+into Bohemia, that land of shadows and thorn in the flesh of the
+Austrian government where the gay colors of peasant dress hardly conceal
+the evidences of poverty and squalid misery, and where hunger appears to
+be driving out plenty. It is a country of peasants. There are millions
+of them, back in the Middle Ages as to their agricultural methods,
+unable to adapt themselves to the harsh, progressive realities of the
+present, and careless whether the abundant meal of to-morrow will make
+up for the meager repast of to-day.
+
+If you wish to see real misery, and to understand why the Bohemians
+emigrate in such great numbers to the United States, then take a motor
+trip through this most discontented and unhappy of all the Austrian
+provinces. Here amid picturesque and beautiful scenery one finds the
+rural slums of Europe. The small farm hamlets look forlorn and unkempt,
+the barnyards disorderly, the towns dirty and neglected, the people as
+if they were both the cause and effect of these conditions. It is a
+common sight of the road to see women harnessed with dogs or oxen. Here
+even wooden shoes would be something of a luxury.
+
+There is something fascinating about exploring these neglected corners
+of Europe in a motor car. The dress of the peasants is gay even though
+ragged, their life picturesque even in its poverty. One finds lights as
+well as shadows in the picture. Nature has softened the harsh lines of
+peasant life with dreamy, misty horizons, with pine-clad hills and
+dashing brooks, with pleasant vistas of distant mountains.
+
+On reaching Carlsbad about noon we found the season of this fashionable
+watering place at its height. Crowds of visitors were promenading in the
+street, returning from the baths and springs or trying to stimulate
+jaded appetites by a few breaths of the fine invigorating air. The place
+is really beautiful with its fine setting of Bohemian mountains.
+
+Friends were expecting us in Marienbad, so we resumed our journey early
+in the afternoon. This stretch of forty miles lay through the loveliest
+part of Bohemia. Such depths of blue atmosphere melting into the green
+of pine forests!
+
+The forestry system of Bohemia is something to admire and to study. For
+generations, governmental inspection has been tireless in its efforts to
+improve and develop the forests. There are many large estates which have
+their own private foresters; no opportunity for tree planting is
+neglected. On the smaller farms, if the soil is not adapted to the
+raising of fruits and vegetables, the state tells the farmer what trees
+will flourish best in that kind of soil. Thus no acre is wasted. Twice a
+year the official inspector decides what trees may be cut. If, during
+the year, some farmer wishes lumber, it is the inspector who decides
+what trees, if any, may be cut. No sooner has the tree fallen than a
+fresh sapling takes its place. The trees are planted in regular rows.
+There is no crowding. In such a land, forestry is a distinguished
+profession.
+
+For some distance the valley narrowed almost to a cañon. Then wider
+views opened, until from a wooded ridge we saw below us in the valley
+the village of Marienbad. Nature was good to her children when she
+fashioned this rare resort, lying so white and clean in its green cradle
+of high pine-covered hills.
+
+Much too briefly must we give our impressions of life at a Bohemian
+watering place. Every one lives out of doors. The many villas are
+generously provided with balconies to catch the sunshine and pine
+breezes. Unlike most health resorts, the atmosphere of the sick room is
+absent. Few invalids are to be seen. Most of the _Kurgäste_ come here
+for the purpose of reducing their weight. Their chief rule of life is to
+eat little and exercise much. The numerous tennis courts are constantly
+filled. The mountains invite to long walks. There are hot baths, steam
+baths, mud baths, and baths that would probably have been new even to
+the bath-loving Romans. The gymnasia are elaborately equipped with
+exercising apparatus. If one wishes to watch another phase of this
+struggle against excessive avoirdupois, he should rise at a dim gray
+hour and walk over to the Promenade. People of every nationality crowd
+about the mineral springs and then, with their glasses well filled, they
+take their places in the cosmopolitan throng which moves slowly up and
+down the long Promenade. One hears the confused murmuring of many voices
+in many languages, the favorite topics of this linguistic Babel
+relating to various ailments and the weight-reducing qualities of
+different mineral waters. A less corpulent arrival is looked upon with
+envy. Slowly the glasses are emptied, and then again filled. It is
+customary to walk up and down for an hour, while drinking two glasses of
+mineral water. With each swallow the _Kurgäste_ appear to be imbibing
+the hopes of their diminishing avoirdupois. The Germans are in the
+majority. They are always desperately conscientious in their endeavor to
+meet all the requirements of this simple but exacting life, possibly
+because they realize that a long devotion to beer and sandwiches is not
+the best means to preserve the youthful figure. Near the Promenade are
+weighing shops. A place like Marienbad naturally includes among its
+habitués some who could easily qualify for the monstrosity class. We
+remember one Egyptian phenomenon of enormous proportions who had to have
+his own private scales.
+
+After the hour at the spring comes a strenuous half-hour climb to a
+hilltop restaurant where breakfast is served. How inviting those
+repasts in the open air! The coffee is as good as can be found
+anywhere in Europe, and the scrambled eggs and _Schinken aus Prague_ are
+served by pretty Bohemian waitresses arrayed in all the colors of their
+native costumes. At these hilltop restaurants orchestra music is always
+an attractive feature of the breakfast.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Brandenburger
+Thor_ _Page 11_]
+
+One is never sure what distinguished statesmen or prince of royal blood
+is sitting near by. While we were breakfasting one morning a gentleman
+dressed in an ordinary business suit approached and sat alone at a table
+close at hand. We learned later that he was the Prime Minister of
+Russia.
+
+The activities and diversions of the day would be incomplete without a
+stroll after dinner down the pleasant Kaiserstrasse. At this evening
+hour all the visitors to Marienbad pass in leisurely review. The
+Austrian officers, erect and soldierly, make quite a striking
+appearance. Our attention was also attracted to the monks of Tepl, with
+their long black cloaks and broad-brimmed hats. They are the owners of
+Marienbad, and live in a monastery situated a few miles from the
+village. About two centuries ago the monks of Tepl began to realize the
+commercial possibilities of their springs. Forests were cut away;
+streets were laid; marshes blossomed into gardens and green lawns;
+splendid buildings were erected for patrons who wished to take the
+various baths, and to-day Marienbad is a village of hotels and villas.
+Last year there were about forty thousand visitors. The monks whom we
+saw looked sleek and well-fed. They lead an easy life, hunting, fishing,
+and managing their lucrative property. The monastic vow of poverty has
+probably long since ceased to mean much of a hardship.
+
+This fact of a modern village being controlled by a wealthy religious
+organization dating as far back as 1133 is most unique. It is doubtful
+if a parallel case can be found anywhere. The town shows in many ways
+the influence of its monastic administration. Licensed gambling halls,
+which are so prevalent in all of the French watering places, do not
+exist here. There is no night life. After ten o'clock in the evening the
+streets begin to look deserted. Amusement places of doubtful character
+have thus far found no footing in this simple village life. Considering
+the thousands of idle and pleasure-loving Europeans who throng every
+year to Marienbad, it seems remarkable that the general tone of the
+place should have been kept so high.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+MARIENBAD TO TRAFOI
+
+
+Even a congenial environment like that of Marienbad began to lack
+interest when we looked at our motor itinerary and saw awaiting us such
+rich experiences as climbing above the clouds over the snowbound
+Stelvio, or the sight of Carcassonne, tower-girt and formidable behind
+feudal walls. The call of the white road was irresistible when it led
+through the purple valleys of the Pyrenees to beautiful Biarritz on the
+Atlantic and to San Sebastian in Spain, where the Spanish king and queen
+hold summer court. The perfect day of blue skies added its persuasive
+voice.
+
+We were again on the road. The villas of Marienbad withdrew behind the
+mountains, and we settled down to the complete enjoyment of the ride
+through Bohemia and southern Germany to Munich. On either side were
+quaint scenes of Bohemian life. Every little farm hamlet had its pond of
+geese, with a goose girl tending her flocks. One of them threw us a
+flower. Her action meant more to us than she thought; it was a happy
+omen for the rest of the trip. Peasant women were toiling barefooted in
+the fields, or trudging along the road, bending under heavy burdens of
+wood. This human element in the scene was impressive. Here, as
+everywhere, the great drama of human life was being played. But the role
+of the actors was such a humble and pathetic one, so much of the land
+was given over to unfruitful fields, half cleared of stumps! There were
+no such pictures of content and prosperity as one finds everywhere in
+Germany and Holland. The houses were scarcely more than huts.
+
+We halted in some of the towns to take a first lesson in the Czeck or
+Bohemian dialect. The store signs were mysterious, with their
+hieroglyphics. One shop contained sewing machines, and the word
+"Singowiski" above the door hinted that this might be the Bohemian
+translation of Singer sewing machines. Road signs were not always
+visible, and less often intelligible. Then we were obliged to ask the
+way. If the source of our information was a town official he usually
+spoke in German, otherwise in Bohemian, an answer which did not relieve
+us of our uncertainty.
+
+The German frontier was reached about noon. Our _Triptyque_ received the
+customary official stamping at the _Zoll-amt_. To our great relief, no
+questions were asked about _Pichner Torte_, a very delicious kind of
+cake made only in Austria, and so good that tourists always lay in ample
+supplies. Such articles as a rule are heavily taxed at the Austrian
+frontier.
+
+Just at this moment Looloo, our French bull terrier, became sick. The
+shock of coming so suddenly into German territory was probably too much
+for her sensitive French temperament, but she soon revived after eating
+a piece of French dog biscuit. We lunched at a _Gasthaus_ in the small
+town of Furth im Walde. The first word on the wall which caught our
+attention was "_Ausstellung_." That was enough to make us feel that we
+were once more in the Fatherland. The Germans seem to be always holding
+or advertising exhibitions and fairs. "_Ausstellung_" and "_Practisch_"
+need have no immediate fear of losing their place in the vocabulary of
+the average German. There was no doubt of our being in Germany. We
+would have known it from the trim, clean farms. Order and thrift were in
+evidence, every stick of every wood pile in place--all such a contrast
+to Bohemian untidiness.
+
+Once more in the land of the Kaiser, and motoring through picturesque
+Bavaria, slow changing and old-fashioned, the mediæval part of modern
+Germany, a region of small towns and peasant farms. We were often
+delayed to pay the _Zoll_ of a few _pfennigs_. The impost was not
+onerous, but it was inconvenient to stop so often. Frequently a little
+girl or small boy would come out to collect our _pfennigs_, and would
+hold up flowers for us to purchase. On one occasion we saw an aged
+collector of tolls apparently overburdened by official cares, his head
+sunk in slumber, and a large beer stein on a table near him. The picture
+was so characteristic of the slow-moving life around us!
+
+Our motor flight through this fascinating region of Germany afforded
+opportunity to observe how the different towns had striven for a style
+of architecture original and unique. The houses had much warmth of
+color, much more than one would see in northern Germany. But then
+Bavaria is of course closer to Italy, and to the vivid landscapes, the
+bright sunny skies of the southland, and this difference in climate is
+naturally reflected in the life of the people. It is not surprising that
+the great artists of Germany should have come from the south.
+
+We remember vividly the town of Straubing, where we stopped to buy
+gasoline. In the middle of the street an old-fashioned clock tower rose
+above the red-tiled roofs and gabled houses. Many of the homes had
+attractive window gardens; red and blue were the prevailing colors. No
+one was in a hurry; life moved with a leisurely swing. Baedeker barely
+mentions Straubing, but we doubt if Nurnberg or Munich could show a
+street more typically south German or better worth the artist's brush.
+
+At this point should be mentioned the happy discovery of the lunch box
+which thoughtful friends had stowed away with the baggage. There had
+been so much to attract our attention that we had overlooked it. Our
+motor appetites were equal to the occasion; fruit, cakes, and cold
+chicken sandwiches received no mercy. It is unnecessary to add that
+scenery and sandwiches went well together, especially such scenery and
+such sandwiches.
+
+The landscapes were not more varied than the weather. At times the road
+was wet where a shower had just preceded us. All day the sunshine had
+brightened and faded. Now we noticed a battalion of dark clouds massing
+heavily above us; little by little the blue sky surrendered to the storm
+king; the artillery of heaven thundered into action. It was worth a
+wetting to see the storm sweep toward us and then fade into the gorgeous
+sunset which closed the day. The church spires of Munich were luminous
+in the golden light. Swiftly we sped down the long, straight road into
+the city. When we stopped before the comfortable Regina Palast Hotel our
+speedometer registered one hundred and eighty-five miles, the longest
+run of the trip. The country ahead of us was to prove too interesting
+for any attempt at long-distance records.
+
+The evening gave a pleasant glimpse of Bavarian life, of its good cheer
+and warm spirit of hospitality, so in contrast with the colder social
+customs of the north. The Berliner is reserved, exclusive. When he
+enters a café he would like, if possible, a table where he can sit
+alone. But Bavarian sociability is all-pervasive. The café where we
+passed an hour or so was filled with it. Tyrolean warblers in native
+costume occupied the stage fashioned to portray a bit of south German
+landscape. Song books were handed us. Every one joined in singing the
+rollicking folk songs. Of course the evening would have been incomplete
+without a visit to the famous _Brauerei_ and a cooling sample of
+_Münchner Brau_.
+
+After a couple of days in Munich we departed for Landeck, in the
+Austrian Tyrol, a ride of one hundred and eighty-two kilometers. For
+some distance our course was the same as the route to Ober-Ammergau.
+Lunch at a wayside inn included _Gänsebraten_, which can only be
+described as "_ausgezeichnet_." Bright Tyrolese landscapes flew by. It
+was glorious running, the air buoyant with the breath of the mountains,
+which rose in a jagged, majestic profile above little villages where the
+houses were painted with queer scenes of peasant life.
+
+At Garmisch we were in the heart of the Bavarian Tyrol. It was a good
+place to stop for a few minutes to watch the people, the women almost
+theatrical in the gay colors of their dress, the men equally gorgeous
+with their red neckties, green hats and vests, to say nothing of green
+leggings which left knee and ankle bare. Every one wore the feather.
+Garmisch is not far from the Austrian frontier, so we purchased five
+liters of gasoline, this necessary article being much more expensive in
+Austria than elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, on reaching the _Zoll-amt_ at
+Griesen we found that gasoline had jumped from forty-five or fifty
+_pfennigs_ to a _kronen_ a liter, an increase of about eight cents. The
+Austrian officials made us pay a duty of ninety _heller_ on the five
+liters of gasoline which we carried as reserve. They also enriched the
+treasury of their government by a duty of 3.60 _kronen_ on our twelve
+liters of oil, and thoughtfully suggested that we purchase five
+additional liters of gasoline at the Austrian rates. In view of our
+purchase in Garmisch, this invitation was declined. Had we carried a
+spare wheel and covers, they would have requested us to remove them and
+would have weighed them in an outhouse opposite the _Zoll-amt_. It is
+customary to charge duty on tires if the equipment be above a certain
+weight. If one carries the average equipment, there is usually no
+trouble.
+
+Just across the frontier a sign post, bearing the word "_Rechtsfahren_,"
+reminded us of the change in the rule of the road. The scenery grew
+wilder. Nowhere in Europe can be found a more perfect country for the
+motorist than the Austrian Tyrol, with its splendid roads and
+incomparable scenery. Steadily the road circled and climbed. It was the
+sunset hour. Shadows were creeping out of deep valleys; a snowy mountain
+was turning to a lovely rose color in the crucible of the afterglow. Far
+down among the shadows we spied a little lake, still and black under the
+overhanging mountains.
+
+The Post-Hotel in Landeck was surprisingly good. It is located right on
+the river Inn, which rushes noisily through the middle of the town.
+After an excellent _Abendessen_ we retired early, and were not long in
+yielding to the drowsy roar of the waters.
+
+Breakfast was followed by an animated scene in front of our hotel. Amid
+a medley of motor horns, other cars were also departing. As we ascended
+beyond Landeck, the road swung with easy grades above the magnificent
+gorge of the Hoch Finstermünz pass, where we stopped for a picture. The
+ride from this point over the Reschen-scheideck pass was simply
+indescribable. In that exhilarating air, one seemed to be flying instead
+of motoring. We plunged through rocky tunnels, or hesitated as the road
+appeared to leap off into the abyss or the towering rock masses seemed
+to sweep forward as if to bar further progress. Then would come a sharp
+turn, opening up a new sweep of highway. The road was as good as we
+found anywhere on the trip, and wide enough for the motor cars that
+occasionally passed us. But accidents could easily have happened at the
+curves. Sure brakes and a tireless motor horn are invaluable at these
+critical moments.
+
+It was a pleasant surprise at Reschen to see a cozy villa flying the
+American flag, and to discover acquaintances in this secluded corner of
+the Old World. We had forgotten that buckwheat cakes could be so good.
+Our departure was accompanied with warnings about the difficulties of
+the Stelvio, which we were to climb the next day.
+
+After being shown the picture of this most formidable of mountain roads,
+with its serpentine windings, rising mile upon mile, and finally
+disappearing above the clouds, we wondered if the car could possibly
+ascend such a barrier, and if it would not be better to reach Italy by
+some less dangerous route. One motorist had attempted the feat a few
+weeks before, and after climbing eight thousand feet was forced to turn
+back on account of deep snowdrifts. Mention was also made of a
+particularly dangerous curve where there had once been a fatal accident.
+These reports were not encouraging, but nevertheless we wanted to make
+the attempt. Every one who motors in the Austrian Tyrol has but one
+dream, one ambition--to submit his skill and car to the supreme test of
+scaling the Stelvio.
+
+From Reschen the car ran along a pretty lake, then shot down a long
+grade to Mals and from there wound along to Neu Spondinig, where we
+stopped for a few minutes for tea and to exchange motor experiences
+with other travelers, on their way to Landeck over the same route by
+which we had come.
+
+[Illustration: _Cutting across the glacier_ _Page 38_]
+
+Leaving Neu Spondinig, we turned sharply to the right and into the gloom
+of a deep gorge, crossing the bridges of the impetuous Trafoier Bach and
+climbing for several kilometers to Trafoi, where a most marvelous view
+burst upon us. Until this moment the high walls of the gorge had shut us
+in, but now the road suddenly opened into a view so magnificent as to
+seem almost unreal. We were directly under the shadow of the Ortler,
+with its twelve thousand feet of rock and ice. The glittering whiteness
+of the Madatsch glacier formed with its ice floods a veritable _mer de
+glace_. The scene was so wild, the impression so overwhelming, that for
+some minutes we forgot to order rooms for the night at the fine Trafoi
+hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+CROSSING THE STELVIO INTO ITALY
+
+
+It was before seven that we started on the long climb. An early start is
+important when the main care is to keep the engine cool. Cloudless skies
+favored our attempt. Across the gorge we saw the towering Weiskugel, its
+snows turned to radiant silver while the valley was still in shadow. The
+Ortler was transfigured, the Madatsch dazzling--almost blinding until
+our eyes had grown wonted to the brilliant spectacle. Slowly the long
+grades sank behind us. It seemed better to set a steady, even though
+slow pace, and maintain it until the summit was reached. So we were
+forced to use second speed. The sides of the engine bonnet had been tied
+back to give the engine every possible bit of cool air. From "hairpin"
+to "hairpin" we went, these curves so sharp that at first it seemed
+impossible to make them without backing. How they twisted above us like
+the loops of a gigantic lasso flung far up the mountain, into the region
+of eternal snow! Imagine it! Forty-six of them! Only on one turn were
+we forced to back, but with a large, powerful car this record would have
+been impossible. Any car that cannot turn easily in a fifty-foot circle
+would better find some other way of reaching Italy. It is not pleasant
+to back up when the edge of the precipice is a matter of inches.
+
+When the Austrians built this road, a century ago, they were not
+thinking about motor cars. This masterpiece of road construction was
+intended for armies, not for automobiles. The makers of those curves,
+cut through heights of solid rock, never anticipated the luxurious modes
+of modern travel. If then they had only foreseen the coming of motor
+warfare, how much inconvenience would have been spared the impetuous
+motorist who to-day attempts to climb the Stelvio in a long, powerful
+car which cannot quite make the turns without backing. Surely, a few
+feet would have been added to those tantalizing, agonizing curves. How
+little the Austrians realized that their military invasion would be
+followed by the more peaceful motor invasion of our day.
+
+With every turn, our admiration for this perfect road increased. One
+marvels at such matchless feats of engineering, at such gigantic
+obstacles so completely overcome. Here, high retaining walls have been
+built to keep the road from crumbling away; there, mountain torrents
+that would have washed it away have been diverted. Turn after turn, and
+still higher to go! Pine woods gave way to stunted shrubbery, and then
+vegetation ceased altogether. We were above the clouds. Nothing but the
+sun above us. Snow banks appeared on either side; we could put out our
+hands and touch them. Then through Franzenshöhe, formerly the seat of
+the Austrian customhouse, to Ferdinandshöhe and the summit of Stelvio,
+9,041 feet above the sea, the highest point of motor or carriage travel
+in Europe.
+
+It is impossible to describe the thrill, the intoxication, of the moment
+as we stood there watching the ice fields roll away in great waves, as
+if the ocean, in a moment of wild upheaval, had been frozen. Leaving the
+car near the little Ferdinandshöhe hotel, we climbed an elevation of one
+hundred and fifty feet to the Hotel Dreisprachenspitze, where one
+stands at the apex of three countries. We could look down into Italy.
+The ice floods of Switzerland swept to the horizon; a hundred snow peaks
+flashed in the morning sun. In the other direction yawned the mighty
+gorge of the Stelvio, where it had taken us two hours and seven minutes
+to make eight miles. The wind was of razor keenness.
+
+On descending to arrange customhouse details with the Austrian
+officials, we found the car frozen in the ice. The hot steel-studded
+tires had melted a deep groove, and were now held fast in the prison of
+their own making. Even on the Stelvio we had not expected to be frozen
+fast on the first of August. In vain we opened wide the throttle. The
+wheels turned furiously without gaining an inch. Austrian soldiers came
+to our rescue. Half a dozen of us pushed from behind. Two American
+tourists who had just climbed the Stelvio from the Italian side in a
+Cadillac, also gave generous aid. With the additional help of pickaxes
+and quantities of sawdust, the car finally shook off its icy fetters.
+
+Meanwhile we had succeeded in snapping some kodak pictures without
+attracting the notice of the Austrian officers. The Stelvio is a
+military road, various forts are in the neighborhood, and the government
+regulations forbid the taking of photographs. In securing these pictures
+we ran the risk of heavier penalties than the confiscation of the camera
+and films.
+
+Fortune did not smile so cheerfully at the Italian _dogana_, two miles
+farther down. Hardly had we touched the kodak when Italian soldiers and
+customhouse officers rushed toward us. We were not sure whether we would
+be shot on the spot or simply left to languish in an Italian prison. One
+of the officers seized the camera, tied a red string around it, and
+sealed it. Observing that our ignorance of military regulations was
+fully equal to our ignorance of Italian, he instructed us in French not
+to open the camera until we were beyond Tirano, seventy miles away, the
+frontier town of the military zone.
+
+During the ascent the engine bore the chief strain. It had worked
+heroically without once faltering. Now, upon the long down grades of
+the Italian slope, we were forced to rely upon the brakes. The road
+descended with a continuous and fairly steep gradient for almost
+fourteen miles. It was dangerous, difficult work. We not only had to
+make the turns, which were just as sharp as on the Austrian side, but it
+was necessary to watch the straining brakes, releasing them when the
+grade permitted and alternating the emergency brake with compression.
+This was a feat demanding all the qualities of motormanship. Coolness
+and good judgment were indispensable at every curve of the descent. The
+road turned icy corners and edged along precipitous cliffs. If the
+brakes had refused to work, it would have been fatal; the downward
+plunge of the car would have been beyond control in a few seconds. But
+at that moment we were not thinking of danger. The thrill of the
+descent, the feeling of flying down from a great height, the ice peaks
+that rose higher above us, the stupendous chasm that at every curve
+opened newer and more savage depths--these were all a part of our
+exhilarating experience.
+
+We were coasting much of the time; gasoline and ignition had been cut
+off. Rocky walls hurled back the blast of our motor horn as we entered
+the slippery winter galleries of the Diroccamento defile. According to
+law, no vehicle may enter a tunnel if it is occupied. Farther down, the
+road looped like the coils of a great serpent, twisting, disappearing,
+only to reappear farther down as a faint streak of shimmering roadway.
+It was curious, that sensation of falling, always sinking lower and yet
+never reaching the bottom. One more sweep through the Braulio Valley,
+and we stopped for lunch before the luxurious hotel Bagni-Nuovi, that
+popular watering place for the leisure rich of Italy.
+
+Our first repast upon Italian soil very fittingly included macaroni and
+a generous _bottiglia di vino italiano_. After lunch we went into the
+terraced garden, fragrant with orange trees, overlooking dreamy Bormio,
+the gateway of Italy. The warm sunshine was delightful after having so
+recently faced the icy winds of the Stelvio.
+
+Here we joined an American party from Detroit, Mr. and Mrs. ----, who
+were chaperoning two attractive American girls on a motor trip through
+Italy and the Tyrol. They had rented an Italian car in Rome, but had not
+found the investment altogether satisfactory, the usual story of rented
+cars in Europe. These chance meetings with other Americans _en route_
+were among the pleasantest features of our trip. We would gladly have
+prolonged the visit, had it not been necessary to leave early in the
+afternoon if we were to reach Menaggio on Lake Como before dark.
+
+After descending into Bormio, one motors for some distance between high,
+vine-clad slopes, and then passes through two or three villages,
+typically Italian with their dilapidated churches and narrow, cobbled
+streets swarming with dirty children, many of whom took a special
+delight in darting across our track just as we were passing.
+
+Northern Italy is wonderfully picturesque. The long defile of S. Antonio
+Morignone, the antiquated towns, the slender _campaniles_ standing out
+so clearly in the misty, dreamy landscape, the plains of Lombardy with
+their scenes of peasant life,--these were all interesting details to be
+duly jotted down in the notebook of memory.
+
+It was haying time. The farming methods seemed so primitive; everything
+was hand work. We did not see a single labor-saving machine. The
+International Harvester Company would not have done a profitable
+business here. The hayricks were very small, and even these were often
+lacking, for barefooted women staggered under large bundles of hay. Yet
+these backward farmers make stalwart soldiers. Sturdy and frugal, they
+are, as in France, the backbone and hope of the nation. Europe
+recognizes the fine horsemanship of the Italian cavalry. The
+"Corazzieri," or royal bodyguard, is a magnificent corps. It is
+difficult to believe that most of these men are peasants.
+
+There was no need of a compass to learn that we were going west, for the
+afternoon sun shone full in our faces. This steady glare, and the
+dazzling reflection from the white, dusty road, became almost
+unbearable. It was constantly necessary to shield the eyes. There was no
+winding or turning. Often we overtook a hayrick occupying most of the
+highway. The driver was usually invisible in the soft depths of the
+hay, and so drowsy from the sun or liberal drafts of _chianti_ that
+persistent blasts of the motor horn were necessary to attract his
+attention. Tresenda was passed, and then Sondrio, the capital of the
+fertile Val Tellina, noted for its wines.
+
+[Illustration: _Lake Como, most beautiful of the Italian lakes_ _Page
+45_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+The sun was a glowing disk upon the horizon when we reached Colico upon
+Lake Como, most beautiful of the Italian lakes. There was a crimson
+light on the water. Red sails drifted lazily toward the shore. Across
+the lake the high mountains rose cone-like to a peak, like extinct
+volcanoes. From a distant bell tower floated the clear, sweet tones of
+the angelus. Before some of the houses, young Italians were playing
+melodies on guitars. Twilight was falling, that wonderful twilight so
+full of color and feeling, of the romance and sentiment of northern
+Italy. After several miles along the shore, through these fascinating
+scenes, we reached Menaggio.
+
+The evening in the cool lake garden of the Grand Hotel was a refreshing
+sequel to the afternoon's hot ride. We could see the government
+searchlight sweeping its bright rays in search of smugglers. The
+Italian lakes are partly in Italy and partly in Switzerland. Salt and
+tobacco are state monopolies in Italy. The poor people are forbidden
+even to pick up from the docks the few grains of salt which may have
+fallen during the loading and unloading of ships. Guards patrol the
+beaches to compel those who use the sea for a washtub, thoroughly to
+wring the salt water from the clothes. In spite of all the government's
+precautions, large quantities of salt and tobacco are smuggled in from
+Switzerland over the Italian lakes. The Italian officials are poorly
+paid. The operator of the searchlight which we saw received only eight
+dollars a month. The small salaries breed bribery and corruption, and it
+often happens, therefore, that on a dark night the government
+searchlight fails to discover a rowboat that goes out from the Swiss
+shore. The smugglers escape the vigilance of the swift revenue cutters,
+and make a successful landing on the Italian side.
+
+The next day was so hot that it seemed best to pass the time quietly at
+Menaggio, in our restful retreat. The rooms were large and airy, and
+open to the fresh lake breezes. The hotel had once been a villa, and
+with its private garden of thick plane trees was just such a spot as the
+dusty motorist delights to stumble upon after a long ride over the hot
+Italian roads.
+
+Our gasoline was running low, so noticing a sign with the words
+_Benzino-Lubrificanti_, we entered. The _commercianti_ spoke as much
+English as we spoke Italian. We compromised on gestures. In Italy it is
+a safe rule to pay about half the price asked. After half an hour of
+bargaining we obtained five liters of gasoline for forty-five
+_centesimi_ a liter. The price demanded at first was ninety-five
+_centesimi_. Our change included a couple of five-lira notes so dirty,
+greasy, and mangled that they looked in the last stages of the plague.
+We would have felt safer to have handled them with tongs. Within a few
+days we had received _kronen_, _heller_, _marks_, _pfennigs_, _lira_,
+_centesimi_. It was quite an education in the currency systems of
+Europe.
+
+On the way back to the hotel we entered the cathedral. To find so
+imposing an edifice amid so much poverty was a surprise. Equally
+astonishing was the way the steep hills behind the town were terraced
+and cultivated, as though the very rocks themselves had been made to
+blossom and bear fruit. An Italian woman across the street was filling
+her jug at a fountain. The nozzle, crumpled into a trefoil, was of the
+same style as that used by the Roman matrons twenty-five centuries ago.
+Little things like this show how slowly time has marched in these lake
+towns of northern Italy.
+
+The cool fragrance of early morning filled the air when we waved _addio_
+to our _padrone_ and followed the curves of the shore toward Como at the
+end of the lake. There is much in favor of an early start before the
+heat begins to quiver above the road and the air to resemble a
+continuous cloud of dust. Every foot of the way was interesting. There
+were bright-colored villas half smothered in vines; crumbling bell towers
+flung their shadows across our path; dizzy cliffs hung above us; the
+lake was constantly within view.
+
+At one of the turns a bicycle rider shot by. We missed him by an
+inch. He was followed by many others, scattered over the distance of a
+mile. They were all riding recklessly, rounding the corners at top speed
+and with heads bent low over the handle bars. Different numbers were
+pinned on their backs. This was evidently a long-distance bicycle race.
+It was nerve racking to meet so many curves and not to know whether the
+riders would pass us on the right or on the left. There is no fixed rule
+of the road in Italy. In towns having a tram, one turns to the left.
+Southern Italy is still more confusing, since each town has its own
+rule. In Como we motored down two or three streets before finally
+discovering, after many inquiries, the road running northward to Aosta
+in the Italian Alps.
+
+[Illustration: _Italian villas on Lake Como_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+We regretted our last glimpse of the lake. Instead of hazy mountains,
+blue sparkling waters, red sails, and pretty villas, the scenery changed
+to flat, uninteresting country. Novara was reached by noon, its streets
+baking in the fierce August sun. At the Hotel Italia the flies covered
+table and dishes. The ménu card presented difficulties; it was written
+in a very illegible Italian. We guessed at most of the courses, but
+macaroni was the only dish of which we were sure. But our plight was not
+quite so discouraging as that of another motorist who found that for
+three of his courses he had ordered eggs cooked in three different ways.
+The early afternoon was so hot that we had thought of taking a siesta,
+but soon gave up the idea. There were too many flies. The inmates of the
+garage were all fast asleep, and the two blinking men whom we aroused
+could not conceal their surprise at our unseasonable departure.
+
+Once out in the country, the dust invaded and pervaded everything. It
+was real Italian dust, that sifted into us and all but blinded us. The
+heat was terrific. For fear of bursting a tire, we halted in a drowsy
+village to let the car cool off under a shady chestnut tree. As if by
+magic, a score of dirty, ragged Italian children surrounded us, and
+begged for _centesimi_. We threw them a few coppers, but this vision of
+riches only served to redouble the clamor. Flight seemed the only price
+of tranquillity.
+
+A little way outside the village, a cloud rolled swiftly toward us. The
+motor car did not appear to be much more than a cloud when it passed us,
+so thick was the dust. If there is anything hotter or dustier than an
+Italian highway on the third of August, we do not wish to see it. The
+drivers of most of the small carts were curled up, content to let the
+patient mule take its own pace, provided their siesta was undisturbed.
+The shrill call of our horn often caused them to move a little; there
+would be a slight twitching of the reins, and then they would relax
+again into slumber. The mule never changed its course.
+
+Beyond Ivrea the country became more rolling and broken, and the Alps,
+which an hour before had appeared as blue, shadowy cloud masses, now
+lifted bold, distinct outlines. This contrast in scenery was as abrupt
+as it was impressive. Perhaps it was a ruined castle perched like an
+eagle's nest amid high crags. Within the same view, the eye beheld the
+vineyards, not planted in the usual manner of row above row, but arbor
+above arbor, supported by white stone pillars, and these arbors rising
+to the very summit of lofty hills.
+
+The road which had been winding and rising above the magnificent valley
+of Aosta now ran into a level stretch. We had opened wide the throttle,
+when all at once a motor car flashed around a curve two hundred yards
+ahead of us. An officer in the back seat waved to attract our attention,
+and kept pointing back to the curve. The warning was just in time, for
+as we waited within the shadow of the bend, another motor car shot at
+racing speed around the curve. She was a French racer. There had been no
+warning shriek of her horns; the road was so narrow at this point that a
+collision could hardly have been avoided without that precious second of
+warning.
+
+Every year in Europe reckless driving causes more accidents than all the
+steep roads of the Alps. This is the chief danger of motoring on the
+Continent. The roads are so good that there is the constant temptation
+to disregard the still small voice of prudence.
+
+The old Roman town of Aosta was in sight. This "Rome of the Alps" is a
+perfect treasure house of antiquities. Passing under ancient Roman
+arches, we rode down the quaint main streets to the Hotel Royal
+Victoria, situated, according to our _Michelin Guide_, "_près de la
+gare_." The hotel, although small, was clean. This fact of cleanliness
+speaks much for any hotel located in a small Italian town.
+
+Our morning promenade revealed much that was interesting. The middle of
+some of the streets was traversed by a mountain stream, the above-ground
+sewage system of Aosta. It was curious to notice how a part of the
+ancient Roman theater had become the supporting wall of a crowded
+tenement house. Aosta remains to-day almost undiscovered to the American
+tourist world. Yet there are few places where antiquity speaks more
+vividly. The market place was a scene of activity. This is the starting
+point for the crossing of the Petit St. Bernard pass. Here tourists were
+climbing into large excursion automobiles, and German mountain climbers
+were setting out, well equipped with long, iron-pointed poles, ice
+picks, ropes, and heavy spiked shoes for their battle with snow and
+ice.
+
+It was ideal weather for our second conquest of the Alps over the Petit
+St. Bernard, which is closed eight months out of the year. While very
+dangerous in places, the pass is free from the restrictions which the
+motorist finds on the Simplon. There, one has to give notice in writing
+of intention to cross. It is also necessary to pay five francs for a
+permit. The speed limit of six miles an hour is rigidly enforced.
+Nevertheless, as one experienced motorist told us, if the Simplon pass
+compels a speed of six miles an hour on the straight course, and one and
+three-fourths miles at the curves, the Petit St. Bernard ought to have a
+special speed-limit of three miles an hour on the straight and two
+guards at every corner. Except the Stelvio, there is probably not a more
+difficult mountain pass in Europe.
+
+We left Aosta to its memories of Roman days, threaded for some distance
+the tortuous windings of the Val d'Aosta, and crossed the Pont de la
+Salle above a high gorge. Near the ancient village of Pré St. Didier a
+rocky tunnel buried us temporarily from the outer world. Here the ascent
+began, and continued for some miles to La Thuile, the Italian
+_dogana_. As we climbed out of the valley the panorama included a
+sublime view of Mont Blanc, highest of the Alps.
+
+[Illustration: _Above the Val d'Aosta_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+At La Thuile, two Frenchmen, about to make the ascent on motor cycles,
+cautioned us about the dangers of the climb. The customhouse officials
+were unusually affable, and were delighted to be included in a group
+picture. Then the long climb of six miles to the summit began to reveal
+dangers and difficulties. One sharp curve followed another. We soon
+overtook the French motor cyclists. They were walking, having found the
+ascent too steep. It was thrilling to be able to look down into the
+sunshine and fertility of Italy and then to observe the barren world of
+rock and snow into which we had risen. The engine proved equal to the
+severe test. We used the same tactics which were so successful on the
+Stelvio, keeping the same pace until the summit was gained, where we let
+the car rest near the world-famous Hospice du Petit St. Bernard. Other
+cars had halted in succession, having made the ascent from the French
+side _en tour_ to Italy.
+
+There was missing one interesting personality who had greeted visitors
+to the _hospice_ in other years, the Abbé Chanoux, for fifty years
+rector of the _hospice_ and the last patriarch of that legendary region
+of the Alps. The _hospices_ of the Grand St. Bernard, and of the Simplon
+in Swiss territory, are managed by priests, but the Abbé Chanoux reigned
+alone in his mountain hospital, assisted by a few helpers and by his
+dogs. For half a century it was always a joy, when he saw some traveler
+less hurried than the others, to offer him a glass of _muscat_ in his
+workshop and then, after having shown his garden of Alpine plants, to
+point out the shortest road to La Thuile. To-day the tourist can see the
+Alpine garden and the grave where, at the age of eighty-one years, Abbé
+Chanoux was buried. The resting place is where he wished it to be, in
+view of Italy, France, Mont Blanc, and his beloved _hospice_.
+
+Just beyond the _hospice_ is a Roman column of rough marble bearing the
+statue of St. Bernard. One also sees, close by, a circle of large stones
+marking the spot where Hannibal is supposed to have held a council of
+war. A simple slab by the roadside designates the boundary line between
+Italy and France. As if to emphasize the fact that we were in France, a
+group of French soldiers were on duty close to the frontier. The cuisine
+of the restaurant Belvedere, with its attractive _carte du jour_, took
+us into the real atmosphere of the country.
+
+The descent of nearly eighteen miles from the summit to the French
+_douane_ at Séez, was like passing from mid-winter to mid-summer. What a
+superb stretch of motoring it was! The panorama, one of those marvelous
+masterpieces which nature rarely spreads before the eyes even of
+fortunate motorists! From our point of observation, on a level with the
+ice peaks, we could look for miles down into the plains of Savoy. Mont
+Blanc glistened like burnished silver. We could trace the mountain
+streams from their cradle in the glacier to their wild leaping from
+cascade to cascade and to the more peaceful flow through the valley.
+Pine forests mantled the lower part of the mountain.
+
+Ignition was cut off, and the car left to her own momentum. The grades
+were much steeper than on the Italian slope, and the curves without
+railing or protection of any kind. The slightest carelessness in
+steering would have been fatal. Flowers and grass began to cover the
+meadows. Pine forests surrounded us. Then we entered on the long, sharp
+descent to Séez, stopping at the _douane_ where the French officials
+came out to receive us.
+
+The following incident will sound almost too incredible even to be
+included in a story of motor experiences. There was a small duty to be
+paid on the gasoline which we were carrying. Our wealth consisted of
+American express checks, a few Italian coins, and some French change,
+insufficient by twenty _centimes_ to pay the duty. One of the officials
+advanced the twenty _centimes_ from his own pocket, thus saving us the
+inconvenience of trying to cash the express checks somewhere in the
+town. We wished to "snap" his picture, but his modesty was too great. He
+also refused the Italian coins which we tried to press upon him as a
+souvenir of the occasion. One associates customhouse officials with so
+many things that are unpleasant, that the incident naturally made a
+great impression on us.
+
+Our difficulties were by no means over. The winding road with its sharp
+grades required the greatest caution. Near the Pont St. Martin it
+appeared to run straight over a precipice, and then turned sharply to
+the right. This was the place where only a few weeks later an American
+party suffered a terrible accident. Their machine swerved while making
+the slippery turn, and fell nearly seventy feet among the rocks.
+
+For a distance of seventeen miles from Bourg St. Maurice to Mouthiers
+the road was in an appalling condition, any speed over ten miles an hour
+being at the risk of breaking the springs. A railroad was being
+constructed, and the heavy teams had raised havoc. We were creeping
+through this traffic, when the sudden halt of the wagon in front
+compelled us to stop. Two big teams, drawing stone, closed in on either
+side. The drivers, intent only on looking ahead, did not notice that
+their heavy wheels were in danger of smashing the car. We finally
+attracted their attention, but barely in time to avoid trouble. From
+Albertville our course was over the splendid Nationale, which runs from
+Paris to Italy.
+
+It is always a pleasant experience to motor on these famous highways, to
+observe the governmental system of tree planting, and to study what
+trees have been found most suitable in certain regions to protect the
+road and the traveler. The ornamental horse chestnut and maple greeted
+us most often in the small towns of eastern and northern France. Long
+rows of plane trees formed one of the familiar and beautiful sights of
+Provençe. We often saw these trees fringing the fields to give shelter
+and protection from the blasts of the mistral. It was also interesting
+to notice how fruit trees have in many places replaced forest trees
+along the road. These national highways, so much improved by Napoleon,
+were for us like open books for the study of the French trees.
+
+It has been well noted that "while the state has the right to plant
+along the national roads, at any distance it pleases from the adjoining
+property, it exercises this right with judicious moderation and leaves,
+as a rule, two meters--six and one-half feet--between the trees and the
+outside edge of the roadway.
+
+"Tree planting is let in small contracts, sometimes as low as five
+thousand francs apiece. The object of this is to promote competition and
+to attract specialists, such as gardeners and nurserymen, who are hardly
+likely to have the means for undertaking large contracts.
+
+"Government inspectors see that the contractor plants well-formed trees,
+free from disease and in every way first class.
+
+"As the best planting season is short, a fine is imposed for every day's
+delay. When the contractor gets his pay, a certain sum is retained as a
+guarantee; and for two years he is responsible for the care of the trees
+and for the replacing of any that died or that proved defective. The sum
+held back until the final acceptance of his work, protects the
+government from danger of loss."[3]
+
+ [3] From "French Roads and their Trees," by J. J. Conway, in _Munsey's
+ Magazine_ for October, 1913.
+
+There was no hurry about reaching Chambéry, our headquarters for the
+night. The distance of a few miles could easily be covered before dark,
+so we halted for a little while by the roadside. The car was in
+remarkably good condition after the tremendous strain of the day's ride.
+Dimly, in the distance, towered the snow-clad heights where we had been
+motoring only a short time before. By thus tarrying a while we enjoyed
+dazzling retrospect, present beauty, and alluring prospect.
+
+A big Peugot tore by. These wide, smooth highways of crushed stone
+invite speed. There is a speed limit of eighteen miles in the open
+country, but it has long been a dead letter. The French system is to
+allow the motorist to choose his own pace, but to make him fully
+responsible for accidents. By thus heavily penalizing careless driving,
+the law works to develop the driver's discretion and does not impose
+farcical speed limits. This absence of burdensome regulations eliminates
+an endless amount of friction, and is one of many conditions in France
+which have contributed to the pleasure and comfort of foreign
+motorists.
+
+Now we were in Savoy, celebrated for its mountain scenery, its lakes,
+and curious peasant villages. There was a home feeling in our return to
+this beautiful French province, for we had motored here a previous
+summer. Many a delightful motor ramble was associated with the names of
+Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc; Evian-les-Bains, on Lake Geneva;
+Annecy, on the lake of the same name, that quaint city which so charmed
+the Prince of Wales, a few years ago, with its arcaded, winding streets
+and old-world charm; Aix-les-Bains, the noted and popular watering
+place; and there, only a few miles away, Chambéry, historic city of the
+dukes of Savoy and of the kings of Italy. It was fine to see that same
+blue atmosphere about us again, and, above all, to think that for weeks
+our motor wanderings were to be in France, the one country on the
+continent of Europe where an American can feel most at home, and where
+the motorist can find, amid diversity of scenery, a provincial life
+charming alike for its hospitality and old-fashioned customs. Riding
+through the twilight to Chambéry, we hunted up the Hôtel de France.
+This hotel could hardly have been described as luxurious, but it was
+comfortable, as are most of the hotels in the provinces.
+
+The chief interest of Chambéry centers about the Rue des Arcades. At one
+end of the arcaded street is the curious Fontaine des Elephants. This
+monument, on four bronze elephants, is dedicated "to the Comte de
+Boigne, who settled here after his romantic life of soldiering in India
+and bestowed much of the fruit of the pagoda-tree upon the town." At the
+other end of the street are the high, massive walls which protect the
+château where the dukes of Savoy lived and where some of the kings of
+Italy were born. There is little enough to recall the glamour and
+glitter of those proud days. The city, with its more prosaic emblems of
+civil and military authority, now occupies the château.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A VISIT TO LYONS
+
+
+At Chambéry we interrupted our trip through southern France to visit
+Lyons, the center of the silk industry not only for France but for the
+entire world. For once, we traveled by train. There is an element of
+strain about mountain motoring which is as severe upon driver as upon
+car. A diversion is not only welcome but almost necessary to the
+motorist who has twice guided his car over the Alps within the short
+space of a few days. The exhilaration of looking down into France or
+Italy from the summit of the Alps does not lessen the dangers of the
+long descent, where for considerable stretches every foot of the way is
+crowded with possibilities of accident.
+
+Lyons, while usually overlooked by the vast army of summer tourists,
+holds, in many respects, a unique place among the world's great cities.
+We would speak of its magnificent location upon two rivers, the rapid
+Rhone and the sluggish Saône; of the twenty-seven bridges that cross
+them; of the many miles of tree-lined quays, which hold back the spring
+floods and offer a lovely promenade to the people. No one who has seen
+Lyons will forget how the houses rise in picturesque confusion, tier
+piled above tier, to the heights of Fauvière, where some of the Roman
+emperors lived centuries ago, and where, on the site of the old Roman
+forum, stands a beautiful church, overlooking the city and embracing one
+of the views of Europe of which one never tires. On a clear day the Alps
+are visible, and the snows of Mont Blanc, and just outside the city one
+can see the two rivers uniting in their sweep to the Mediterranean.
+
+Lyons is a military stronghold. Its prominence as a manufacturing and
+railroad center indicates, of course, its great strategic importance.
+Seventeen forts guard the hills around the city. The army is much in
+evidence. This constant coming and going of the French soldiers gives
+much color and animation to the street scenes. Everyone is impressed by
+the cuirassiers. They are powerfully built and look so effective, like
+real soldiers who could uphold the traditions of Napoleon's time, and
+who would feel much more at home on the battle field than at an
+afternoon tea. We saw the Zouaves, in their huge, baggy red _pantalons_
+and with their faces tanned by exposure to the tropical sun of Algeria.
+Their red caps reminded us of the Turkish fez.
+
+[Illustration: _The Rhone at Lyons_ _Page 65_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+The Place des Terraux, peaceful enough to-day with its busy shops and
+clouds of white doves, witnessed many a tragic spectacle of the French
+Revolution. The guillotine stood in the center of the square. Lyons,
+always royalist in its sympathies, was one of the first cities to raise
+the standard of revolt against the excesses of the revolutionists in
+Paris. The consequences of this act were fatal and terrible. The Reign
+of Terror in Paris was surpassed by the more gruesome reign of terror in
+Lyons. An army was sent against the city, which was finally captured,
+after a desperate resistance. "Then the convention resolved to inflict
+an unheard-of punishment; it ordered the destruction of a part of the
+city and the erection on the ruins of a pillar, with the inscription,
+'Lyons waged war with liberty; Lyons is no more.'"[4]
+
+ [4] _Political History of Modern Europe_, by Ferdinand Schwill, Ph.D.
+
+The city was "the scene of perhaps the greatest cruelty of the
+Revolution, when women who had begged for mercy to their dear ones, were
+tied to the foot of the guillotine and compelled to witness hours of
+butchery."[5] It was soon found that the guillotine did not work fast
+enough. The defect was quickly remedied. Hundreds of captives were taken
+outside the city, where the guns of the revolutionists continued the
+slaughter on a larger and more satisfactory scale.
+
+ [5] From "The Alpine Road of France," by Sir Henry Norman, M. P., in
+ _Scribner's Magazine_, February, 1914.
+
+Possibly the most interesting fact about modern Lyons is its industrial
+prominence. Baedeker tells us that the city exports annually over one
+hundred million dollars' worth of silk. Its life seems to be founded
+upon this one industry. The rich Lyonnais are silk manufacturers. The
+museum of silks is the finest thing of its kind in Europe. In the old
+part of the city is the statue of Jacquard, the inventor of the silk
+loom. As we walked through the narrow streets, there could be heard the
+sharp clicking of the shuttles, a sign that the weavers were busy at
+their looms. We were shown the "conditioning house," where the imported
+raw silk is tested and subjected to a high temperature. This is the
+first important step in the manufacture of silk, which in the raw state
+absorbs moisture readily. But by exposing the silk to heat at a
+temperature of seventy-two to seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit, the
+water evaporates and the weight of the silk may then be ascertained. To
+prevent fraud it is then marked by a sworn valuer. France raises very
+little raw silk, most of it being imported from Japan and China. Out of
+a population of nearly half a million, nearly a third is directly
+engaged in the production of silk, and the workers in the surrounding
+districts would probably number as many more. For a distance of thirty
+miles, outside of Lyons, the country is dotted with little houses, each
+containing one or more looms. The prosperity of few large cities is more
+clearly the result of a single industry.
+
+Americans are especially interested in Lyons for its connection with the
+starting of silk manufacturing in the United States. A short time ago
+we were shown a letter written in 1863 by an American living in Lyons.
+He refers to the excitement created in this district by the rumor that
+weavers were being engaged with a view to establishing silk
+manufacturing in the United States on a very extensive scale, and that
+several companies had been formed and had sent out agents to purchase in
+Lyons all the machinery and looms used in the manufacture of silk. The
+writer doubted if the conditions in the United States would make
+possible the success of the venture. In spite of this prediction, the
+industry developed rapidly, so that to-day nine hundred American
+manufacturers have a combined annual output valued at over two hundred
+million dollars. At the time of the assassination of Lincoln the United
+States government received a silk flag from the weavers of Lyons
+dedicated to the people of the United States in memory of Abraham
+Lincoln. The flag was of the finest fabric and was inscribed: "Popular
+subscription to the Republic of the United States, in memory of Abraham
+Lincoln. Lyons, 1865."
+
+But while the United States is making more silk than France, Lyons
+remains the real center and heart of the industry. American high-power
+looms are mostly engaged in turning out, by the mile, a cheaper kind of
+silk, and largely confined to standard grades in most common use. The
+thread is much coarser. After having lived in Lyons it is possible to
+understand why this city continues to be the center of the silk
+industry, even when we consider that this is a mechanical age, and that
+the inventions of one nation spread quickly to competing nations.
+American manufacturers are using the Jacquard loom, a Lyonnais
+invention. The first American looms were imported from Lyons, but one
+thing which was not bought and imported with the loom, was that aptitude
+for handling it which is inborn in the Lyonnais. Machinery has its
+limitations, and back of the machine is the question of efficient labor.
+The trained hand of the workman is needed at every turn. The looms of
+Lyons are famous for their light, soft, brilliant tissues. The silk
+thread woven into many of these beautiful products is so fine that two
+and one-half million feet of it would weigh only two and one-fifth
+pounds.
+
+It is an experience to see the weavers at their work, and to watch the
+sure, skillful way in which they weave the thousands of delicate threads
+into harmonies of color. Their skill is the heritage that has come down
+from father to son. These workmen have a start of many centuries over
+their American competitors. Their ancestors were weaving silk before
+America was discovered, the industry being started in Lyons in 1450 by
+Italian refugees. Traditions count for a great deal in the silk
+industry, and from the moment when Lyonnais weavers gained the Grand
+Prix from their Venetian rivals, under Louis XIV, in the latter half of
+the seventeenth century, their looms were busy making costly robes and
+rare tapestries for the royalty of Europe. In the museum at Lyons is a
+robe worn by the famous Catherine II of Russia. One is shown tapestries
+that adorned the apartments of Marie Antoinette in the Tuileries at
+Paris, and the throne room of Napoleon I in the palace at Versailles.
+Money could not buy these precious souvenirs of the Lyonnais looms. Many
+of the gorgeous robes worn at the coronation ceremony of George V were
+made in Lyons. To-day, as in the past, to make these rich silks and
+brocades that France is exporting, there is needed not only the skill of
+the worker, but the soul of the artist. This artistic French temperament
+is the important and deciding factor that makes Lyons the center of the
+silk industry. There has been the attempt to create in the United States
+a style which would be distinctly American. It failed. The German
+emperor also encouraged efforts to create a style which would be
+typically German. The result was the same. The atmosphere in these
+countries is too commercial and mechanical for artistic vitality. In
+such an environment it is said that the French weavers who are employed
+in American silk factories become less effective, and lose much of their
+artistic originality. The industrial pace is too fast. The cost of labor
+in the United States is so great that the emphasis has to be placed on
+speed and quantity in order to cover the cost of production. But in
+Lyons, with a cheaper labor cost, the organization of hand and power
+looms is so perfect that a manufacturer is able to fill large orders
+readily.
+
+A superior loom organization, combined with a temperament naturally
+artistic and creative, explains the advantage of the Lyonnais
+manufacturer over his American rival, and why it is that American buyers
+for our large department stores come to Lyons twice a year to select
+designs and place orders with the Lyonnais manufacturers. Department
+stores which cater to the wealthiest class of trade have their
+representatives permanently stationed here to keep in closest possible
+touch with the latest French fashions.
+
+This question of style is of such absorbing interest to the average
+American home that it will be worth while to notice the forces at work
+in Lyons to produce it. Paris is so largely the parade ground for new
+fashions that nearly everyone overlooks the tremendous influence of
+Lyons in the creation of styles. The hundred and more silk manufacturers
+of Lyons have their own designers, who are constantly devising new
+patterns and color combinations. Most of the new designs and color
+schemes that appear every season in muslins, taffetas, satins, in all
+the varied kinds and qualities of silk, have their origin here. This is
+the creative source. It is Paris that discriminates and decides to which
+of these new patterns it will give expression in the models which will
+be copied in all the fashion centers of the world. Paris has the
+artistic sense of knowing how to combine the materials that Lyons
+furnishes. The two cities work together. The famous fashion stores of
+Paris and the silk manufacturers of Lyons are the primary factors in the
+creation of styles, and yet, after all, the origin of style is to be
+found in the spirit of the times. Our restless age craves constant
+change. A century ago in France, when life moved more slowly, the silk
+dress was an important part of the bride's trousseau, and after being
+worn on special occasions through her life, was handed down to the next
+generation. But to-day the styles change with the seasons.
+
+And as they change in Paris so they change in the United States. If we
+look at this question of style simply from the standpoint of
+organization, it seems remarkable how perfectly every little detail of
+the complicated machinery has been worked out. A French silk
+manufacturer, who arrived in Lyons after a visit to several American
+cities, was impressed not only with the rapidity with which styles
+spread from the upper to the middle classes, and the quickness with
+which the American people grasp new ideas of dress, but also with the
+fact that Paris fashions appear in New York and Chicago at almost the
+same time that they appear in Paris. He saw accurate reproductions of
+the spring Paris fashions, made in America of French materials, and with
+the color, the line, the idea, the detail, so perfectly reproduced that
+it would have been difficult to decide between them and the Paris
+garment. More and more we are coming to realize our great debt to
+France, and to the Old World, for our education in matters of taste, for
+our appreciation of beauty in line and color.
+
+And in Lyons one comes closest to this artistic spirit in the workshops
+of the weavers, and especially those who work on the hand looms. There
+are thousands of these weavers of the old school that has done so much
+to make famous the silk industry of the city. Their wages are small and
+they work amid surroundings of extreme poverty. We visited some of them
+in their shops. Often we found the loom situated in a damp, gloomy
+basement, or on the top floor of some old house that looked as though it
+might have passed through the storm and stress of the period of the
+French Revolution. These sanitary conditions are so bad that in 1911
+there was organized a charitable company with the sole purpose of
+providing decent lodgings where the weavers could work under improved
+conditions of light and shade. We always found them hospitable, eager to
+exhibit their work and explain the workings of the loom. In one workshop
+the weaver was busy with a piece of satin, the design being wrought in
+silver and gold. For this beautiful bit of tapestry, which had been
+ordered for one of the apartments of the Queen of England in Windsor
+Castle, the workman was receiving only one dollar a day. On another loom
+there was being reproduced a piece of sixteenth-century brocade. A
+French millionaire had noticed the original in a museum and wanted an
+exact reproduction of it for a new château he is building. After a
+morning passed amid such scenes, you feel that Lyons is worth visiting,
+if for no other reason than to see at their work these artists of the
+loom who are so closely associated with one of the world's oldest and
+most interesting industries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CHAMBÉRY TO NÎMES
+
+
+From Chambéry our course ran southwest through the Midi, that great
+sweep of territory stretching across the Mediterranean basin from the
+Alps to the Pyrenees and embracing many of the most interesting regions
+in France.
+
+Our departure, early in the afternoon, was under somber skies. We were
+just reaching the outskirts of the city when the engine gave evidence of
+trouble. The car ran for a little way and then stopped. An investigation
+revealed the necessity of cleaning the spark plugs. While engaged in
+this work, we did not notice the approach of an ox team which came
+swinging along the road, drawing a two-wheeled cart, the wheels high and
+heavy, of a type which one often sees in the Midi. We were bending over
+the engine, with no thought of impending danger, when, without warning,
+the great wheels were upon us. The driver was evidently asleep; it was
+too late to attract his attention. The wheel grazed one of us, and
+then, as the oxen swung in, crushed the other against the fender. It was
+fortunate that the fender yielded just enough to cause him to be forced
+under it and thus saved him from serious injury. Our car carried the
+scars of that encounter until the end of the trip. We were just as well
+satisfied that it was the car which bore the scars.
+
+Not more than a mile or so from the scene of this adventure, a sign
+called attention to a long tunnel just ahead. The signs of the French
+roads speak an expressive language, they are so elaborately worked out
+for the traveler's convenience. This time it was a voice of warning.
+Lamps were lighted. The tunnel closed over us. We could just make out
+the faint star of daylight ahead. Weird shadows danced in front of the
+car. In the silence and gloom, the noise of our progress over the
+slippery road was greatly magnified. We emerged from the tunnel to find
+ourselves above a broad valley and nearing the small town of Les
+Echelles.
+
+[Illustration: _Out of the silence and gloom_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+Until this point our course was the route to the Grande Chartreuse, the
+monastery where, in mediæval days, the monks concocted a soothing
+cordial to refresh the hours of rude toil. The road now branched off in
+another direction. Our hopes of catching a glimpse of the celebrated old
+monastery, built high amid enshrining mountains, were doomed to
+disappointment. A storm was about to break. Heavy clouds, weighted down
+by their burdens of water, blotted out everything. From a patch of blue
+sky above Les Echelles, the sun streamed, and then disappeared. We raced
+down the easy slope to gain shelter in the village a mile away. Swiftly
+the thick curtain of rain closed in. It was a question whether we would
+be able to reach shelter before the fury of the elements burst upon us.
+Once more our car proved equal to the emergency, and we poked our way
+into the shed adjoining a village inn and waited until the worst of the
+storm had subsided. The rain continuing, we put up the top, and started
+in time to see a brilliant rainbow arching the whole valley. It was only
+for a moment. For the rest of the afternoon we splashed steadily
+through puddles and mud.
+
+The scenery changed. Mountain landscapes gave place to the lowlands of
+the Midi, barren rocks to fertile peasant farms. It was all a glimpse of
+France as she really is; not like Germany, a land of large cities, but
+rather of small towns and rural hamlets where peasant ownership is a
+fact, and where the peasantry form a mighty political force. France, so
+torn by rival factions, would be like a machine without a balance wheel
+if it were not for a large peasant class attached to the soil by the
+bond of ownership. The life of the French peasant is not easy. He toils
+long hours for small rewards. Even in the rain, we could see him
+continuing at his work. But he is free. Those two or three acres are his
+own. That is the great point. This fact of possession, by creating local
+ties and by fostering patriotism, is the safeguard of the country. His
+implements appeared to be of the simplest; probably most of those whom
+we saw working on that rainy afternoon had never seen a steam plow or a
+harvesting machine. The homes were equally rude. Everywhere in France
+we noticed the absence of those cozy, comfortable houses which are so
+characteristic of the average American farm. Few fences were to be seen,
+possibly because of the spirit of justice as regards property rights, or
+perhaps because the land laws had been so perfectly worked out.
+
+We entered Romans through a street so unusually wide as to be a pleasant
+surprise. Darkness was coming on. Road signs were indistinct, so we were
+forced to inquire the way to Valence. The people were obliging. Whether
+we were in the country or in some small town, there was always in
+evidence that same spirit of hospitable helpfulness which we found at
+the French _douane_ in Séez.
+
+The street lamps of Valence were burning when we arrived at the Hôtel de
+la Croix d'Or, so well known to all who journey from Paris to the
+Riviera. The marble entrance was quite imposing, but apparently after
+reaching the top of the staircase the builders were suddenly seized by a
+passion for economy, since the interior was very plain, like most of
+the hotels in the French provincial towns. The dinner, however, made up
+for other deficiencies. Here, and all through the Midi, we could be sure
+of delicious _haricots verts_, _omelette_, and _poulet_; and what may
+seem strange, we never became tired of these dishes. The art of cooking
+them must be a monopoly of the French cuisine, for they never tasted so
+good in other countries.
+
+Valence is more of a place to stop _en tour_ than to visit for
+sight-seeing. It is fortunate in being situated on the main route from
+Paris to the Riviera, the road that we were to follow, and probably the
+most popular and most frequented motor road in France. Over its smooth,
+broad surface passes the winter rush of motorists seeking the warmer,
+more congenial climate of the Mediterranean shores.
+
+We often found more or less trouble in getting out of the larger French
+towns. The streets are apt to have a snarl and tangle. Carts and wagons
+block the way. Roads are the worse for wear. This seemed to us one of
+the big differences between France and Germany. The German town is neat,
+clean, well-kept as if the watchful eye of municipal authority were
+always on the alert to notice and remedy small defects. The average
+French town looks neglected. The people are just as thrifty, but they
+appear to care less for appearances.
+
+From Valence we swung more quickly than usual into the splendid Route
+Nationale above mentioned. It was Sunday. Peasants were entering and
+coming from the small age-worn churches. At that hour the fields looked
+strangely deserted. Blue skies were radiant, the air agreeably cooled by
+the rain of the night before, the dust well laid. More and more we were
+yielding to the fascination of Europe from a motor car. Train schedules
+did not trouble us. We were independent. There were no worries about
+having to arrive or depart at a certain hour. Life on the road was a
+constant flow of new impressions, new experiences. Every village had its
+own unique attraction. Many motor cars passed us, each one an object of
+interest. Possibly in our cruise along these high seas of the French
+roads our feelings were a little like those of the mariner when he
+sights a passing ship. Where does she hail from? Where her probable
+destination? Of what make? What flag is she flying? It was always a
+welcome sight to view the Stars and Stripes flying toward us. One can
+usually tell the American car even when some distance away, it is built
+so high. We noticed many Fords and Cadillacs. There is not much of a
+market in Europe for the expensive American car, because the foreign
+high-priced car is considered by the Europeans to be good enough. The
+cheaper American product has a market because few of the foreign firms
+make a cheap car.
+
+High noon was upon us, the heat oppressive, our appetites ravenous, when
+we stopped in the poor little village of Pierrelatte. The prospect for
+lunch was not encouraging. A single stray resident appeared at the other
+end of the silent street. The houses might have been occupied by
+peasants who wrested mere existence from a barren soil. The inn, which
+was pointed out to us, would never have been recognized as such. It
+looked more like a venerable ruin. In an American town of this size we
+would have hesitated before entering, and then probably would have
+turned away in despair to look for a bakery shop to stay the pangs of
+hunger. But we were growing familiar with the small French towns. It
+does not take long to discover that a hotel with an exterior symbolizing
+woe and want can have a very attractive interior at lunch time.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+_The ancient Roman theater at Orange_ _Page 88_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+We are still carrying pleasant memories of that lunch. There was _potage
+St. Germain_, made as only the French can make it. The oil for the
+_salade_ was from the neighboring olive groves of Provençe. The
+_haricots verts_ picked that morning in the garden, the _raisins_ fresh
+from the vineyard. Best of all were the mushroom patties. One portion
+called for another. Our hostess was pleased; there was no mistaking our
+genuine appreciation of her cooking. Interrupting her culinary labors,
+she told us that the mushrooms were of her own canning. Each year it was
+necessary to lay in a larger supply. Tourists had found them so good
+that, on leaving, they had left orders for shipment to their home
+addresses. Now she was planning to erect a small factory. Her recital
+was interrupted by a Frenchman, who implored "_une troisième portion_."
+He purchased a dozen cans of mushrooms, and if they had been gold
+nuggets he could not have stowed them away more carefully in his car.
+The French are authorities when it is a question of good things to eat.
+
+The road to Orange was like a continuous leafy arbor. This shimmering
+arcade was too refreshingly cool to be covered quickly. On the outskirts
+of Orange we halted to see the Arc de Triomphe, a wonderful echo from
+the age of Tiberius. The arch stands in a circular grassy plot and the
+road divides, as if this product of the Roman mind were too precious to
+be exposed to the accidents of ordinary traffic.
+
+The antique theater at the other end of the town is just as remarkable
+for architectural splendor. It is not enough to say that this structure
+is the largest and most magnificent of its kind in the world. It is also
+the best preserved. Every year in August dramatic and lyrical
+performances are given by _La Comédie Française_. Thus, after nearly
+twenty centuries, the theater is still serving its original purpose.
+We were impressed by the auditory facilities. One of us stood on the
+lowest tier of seats, and the other on the topmost row. Even a whisper
+was distinctly audible. The erection of buildings with such perfect
+acoustics may perhaps be classed among the lost arts.
+
+[Illustration: _Arc de Triomphe at Orange_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+Southward from Orange, the country began to look more like Italy. Olive
+and mulberry trees were more numerous. The cypress trees, so often seen
+in Italian cemeteries, gave an impression of solemnity, almost of
+melancholy, to the country. At times they fringed the highway or stood
+alone upon the horizon like a distant steeple against a crimson sunset.
+
+The twilight was full of a brooding, dreamy silence as of communion with
+the past. This is the atmosphere of Provençe, an atmosphere of "old,
+forgotten, far-off things and battles long ago." If one is interested in
+wonderful ruins that suggest the might of Rome's empire, then let him go
+to Provençe, that part of southern France where the Romans founded their
+_provincia_, and where they built great cities. We found the hotels
+rather dreary. The towns were quiet. Many of them, like Pierrelatte,
+looked so poor. The streets were dirty and littered. One notices these
+things at first, and then forgets them, the air is so clear, the
+sunshine so dazzling, the horizons so distinct, the stars so bright.
+
+Much of the country is barren and rocky. But the rocks as well as the
+ruins have a rich, golden brown color from being steeped for centuries
+in this bright southern sun. The people are romantic, impractical, happy
+in their poverty, singing amid grinding routine. They have their own
+dialect, which is very musical. Even the names of their towns and cities
+are full of music, for example, Montélimar, Avignon, Carcassonne. The
+country, with its Roman ruins, its bright sun, its rich color, its
+laughter, and song, is like another Italy. Nowhere except in that land
+do we come so close to the great things of Roman antiquity.
+
+We reached the Grand Hôtel in Avignon at nightfall, but dined outside
+that we might the better observe the life of the people. The sweet voice
+of an Italian street singer made it easy for us to imagine ourselves
+under the skies of Florence or Naples. Avignon is the most Italian
+looking city in France.
+
+[Illustration: _The Palace of the Popes at Avignon_ _Page 91_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+The following morning was devoted to rambling. Sometime we must spend a
+week in this interesting walled city on the Rhone, where the popes lived
+between 1305 and 1377 in the huge palace that resembles a fortress. If
+there were nothing to Avignon but its high mediæval walls and watch
+towers, the place would be worth a long pilgrimage. These gray ramparts,
+apparently new, were actually built in the fourteenth century. What a
+picture they gave us of stormy feudal times, when even the Church was
+compelled to seek safety behind strong walls!
+
+The Palais des Papes is a colossal structure. We have forgotten what
+pope it was who was besieged here for years by a French army, and then
+escaped by the postern; it does not matter. The palace walls looked high
+and thick enough to defy all attack. The scenes of vice and profligacy
+during this period must have rivaled the court life of an ancient Roman
+emperor. There was one pope, John XXII, who in eighteen years amassed a
+fortune of eighteen million gold florins in specie, not to mention the
+trifling sum of seven millions in plate and jewels. Perhaps it was just
+as well for the popes of that time that the walls of their fortress
+towers were high and thick.
+
+Above the palace of the popes and the adjoining cathedral is the
+Promenade des Doms, a public garden. We followed one of the paths that
+led along the edge of a high precipice. This view is one of the sights
+of Avignon. It embraces the valley of the Rhone, the swiftest river in
+France. The rapid current winds and disappears. Nearly opposite, on the
+other shore, is the village of Villeneuve. It is desolate enough now,
+with no trace of the beautiful villas which the cardinals built and
+where they were wont to revel amid luxury after the day's duties at the
+palace. Beyond the town we could see the stately towers of Fort St.
+André, in that early period a frontier fortress of France, so jealous of
+the growing power of the papacy. Most appealing of all, was the broken
+bridge of St. Benezet, resisting with its few remaining arches the
+hastening Rhone. Above one of the piers is the little Chapel of St.
+Nicholas. The bridge is a romantic relic of the gay life of Avignon when
+the city was the refuge of the popes. Daudet, in his _Lettres de mon
+Moulin_, tells us that the streets were too narrow for the _farandole_,
+so the people would place the pipes and tambourine on the bridge and
+there, in the fresh wind of the Rhone, they would dance and sing.
+
+[Illustration: _The ruined bridge of St. Benezet at Avignon_ _Page 92_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+ "Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, 'on y danse;
+ Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tous en rond."
+
+The distance to Nîmes was so short that we decided to motor there for
+lunch, see the vast Roman amphitheater and the world-famous Maison
+Carrée, and then push on to Montpellier, where we planned to spend the
+night and perhaps remain for a day or so.
+
+The ride was more memorable for the oppressive heat than for any
+particular charm of scenery. It was noon when we crossed the river and
+looked back for a last view of the huge Palais des Papes. The sun blazed
+upon the white road, which quivered like white heat. There were few
+trees. The engine hood was so hot that we could not touch it. It would
+not have surprised us if one tire, or all of them, had burst; they
+probably would have done so if we had gone much farther. The glare was
+so intense that we entirely overlooked the little _octroi_ station on
+the edge of the town. We, however, were not overlooked. Some one was
+shouting and waving a hundred yards behind us. It was not inspiring to
+back slowly through our own dust to convey the valuable information that
+we carried nothing dutiable. Of course, at a time like this, the engine
+refused to start. After vigorously "cranking" for a quarter of an hour,
+and suffering all the sensations of sunstroke, we moved on to the Hôtel
+du Luxembourg for _déjeuner_.
+
+Among our recollections of the lunch at this hotel were the ripe, purple
+figs. There is no reason why we should confess how quickly this
+delicious fruit disappeared. Farther north, in Berlin, such figs would
+have been a luxury, and might have appeared for sale at a fancy price in
+some store window. In Nîmes they were served as a regular part of the
+lunch. We could almost have traced our trip southward by the fruits that
+were served us from time to time.
+
+[Illustration: _The Maison Carrée at Nimes_ _Page 95_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+The broad boulevards and shady avenues of Nîmes form a small part of the
+attractions of this prosperous city. There are fine theaters and cafés,
+especially the cafés with tables and chairs extending into the streets
+to accommodate the crowds of thirsty patrons. It was pleasant to be a
+part of this typically French environment, to watch this group or that,
+with their gestures, shrugging of shoulders, laughter, and rapid
+conversation. Many phases of French life pass before so advantageous an
+observation point.
+
+But Nîmes is not simply a modern city. Nowhere else in France, not even
+in Orange, does one get a clearer idea of what the splendor of Roman
+civilization must have been. _Provincia_ was a favorite and favored
+province of the empire; Nîmes was the center of provincial life. For
+five centuries the different emperors took turns in enriching and
+embellishing it. We visited the Maison Carrée, most perfect of existing
+Roman temples, inspected the gateway called the Porte d'Auguste, looked
+up at the Tour Magne, a Roman tower, saw the remains of the Roman baths,
+and then made our way to the amphitheater, smaller than the Colosseum
+but so wonderfully preserved that you simply lose track of the
+centuries. The great stones, fitting so evenly without cement, have that
+same rich, golden brown color, the prevailing color tone of Provençe. We
+entered the amphitheater through one of many arcades, the same arcades
+through which so many generations of toga-clad Romans had passed to
+applaud the gladiatorial combats. Now the people go there to see the
+bull fights which are held three or four times a year. On that
+particular afternoon a large platform had been erected for the orchestra
+in the middle of the arena. Open-air concerts are very popular in Nîmes
+during the summer.
+
+It was something of a shock to pass from these scenes of Roman life by a
+jump into a motor car--the amphitheater illustrating the grandeur of
+Rome's once imperial sway, the motor car symbolizing the spirit of our
+rushing modern age. The contrast was startling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+NÎMES TO CARCASSONNE
+
+
+There was abundance of time to arrive in Montpellier before dark, so we
+let the speedometer waver between thirty and thirty-five kilometers. The
+road was hardly a model of smoothness. We were not always enthusiastic
+about the roads in the Midi. On the whole, they were not much more than
+average, and not so good as we had expected to find them after that
+first experience on the Route Nationale to Chambéry. Where there was a
+bad place in the road we usually saw a pile of loose stones waiting to
+be used for repair, but many of these piles looked as though they had
+been waiting a long time. The roads are apparently allowed to go too
+long before receiving attention. Owing to the increasing amount of heavy
+traffic, the deterioration in recent years has been more rapid than
+formerly. In some of the provinces, like Touraine, there were short
+stretches of roadway in urgent need of repair. With conditions as they
+now are, the money voted by the government is insufficient to keep up
+the standard of former years. England now expends more than twice as
+much per mile as France, but while the French roads are in danger of
+losing to England the supremacy they have so long enjoyed, we cannot
+state too clearly that, taken as a whole, they are still the finest on
+the Continent. It is probable that the present signs of decadence are
+only temporary. The government is fully alive to the needs of the hour.
+In all probability the movement headed by President Poincaré more fully
+to open up the provinces to motor-tourist travel will have a good effect
+upon road conditions.
+
+It would be hard to find a small French city which makes such a pleasant
+first impression as Montpellier; there is such an atmosphere of culture.
+One does not need to be told that this is a university town. Municipal
+affairs seem to be well regulated; the _hôtel de ville_ would do credit
+to a much larger city. We discovered an open-air restaurant located upon
+an attractive _place_. The _garçon_, after receiving a preliminary
+_pourboire_, served us so well that we returned there the next day.
+
+Everybody who visits Montpellier will remember the Promenade de Peyrou
+which rises above the town. The scenic display is great. Only a few
+miles away, and in clear view, tosses the restless Mediterranean. The
+prospect made us realize how far south we had come since the starting of
+our tour from Berlin. Another interesting bit of sight-seeing in the
+neighborhood is the Jardin des Plantes, a remarkable botanical garden
+which was founded as far back as 1593 by Henry IV, and is said to be the
+oldest in France.
+
+Whatever the indictment against French roads in the Midi, the stretch
+from Montpellier to Carcassonne was above reproach. Much of the way it
+was the French highway at its best. Wide-spreading trees arched our
+route. We would have been speeding every foot of the distance if the
+beautiful scenery had not acted as a constant brake. For a little way we
+ran close to the sea. The fresh salt breeze fanned our faces. It was a
+rare glimpse of the Mediterranean. This enchanting scene lasted but a
+moment, for the road swerved into the great vineyards of the Midi, an
+Arcadian land of peace and plenty, the home of a wine industry
+celebrated since Roman times. As far as the eye could reach, nothing but
+these green waves that billowed and rolled away from either side of the
+road. There was a touch of fall in the air, a glint of purple amid the
+green. Ripening suns and tender rains had done their work. The road led
+through Béziers, bustling center of preparations for the harvest. On
+several occasions we passed a wagon loaded with wine casks so large that
+three horses with difficulty drew it. The capacity of those huge casks
+must have been thousands of gallons.
+
+At Béziers we could have taken the direct route to Toulouse, but then we
+would have missed seeing Carcassonne, the most unique architectural
+curiosity in France and perhaps in the whole world. Our roundabout
+course brought us to Capestang, a scattered peasant village inhabited by
+laborers in the vineyards. The luxuries and even the ordinary
+conveniences seemed far away from these homes. The shutters consisted of
+nothing but a couple of boards bolted or nailed together and clumsily
+working on a hinge. It was a region of flies; certainly they had
+invaded the little inn where we lunched. A heavy green matting tried
+ineffectually to take the place of a screen door, and let in thousands
+of unbidden guests. Under these circumstances our lunch was a hasty one.
+As the noontide heat was too great to permit a start, we gladly accepted
+the invitation of our _hôtesse_ to see the church. The cool interior
+induced us to prolong our acquaintance with the sacred relics and to
+admire with our guide a statue of St. Peter whose halo had become
+somewhat dimmed by the dust of centuries.
+
+The afternoon's ride to Carcassonne was in the face of a strong wind. It
+was our first experience with the mistral, a curious and disagreeable
+phenomenon of Provençe. There was no let-up to the storms of dust it
+swept over us. There were no clouds; simply this incessant wind that
+hurled its invisible forces against the car, at times with such violence
+that we were almost standing still. A heavy rainstorm would have been
+preferable; at least we would not then have been so blinded by the dust.
+Occasionally the shelter of the high hills gave a brief respite from
+the choking gusts.
+
+All at once we forgot about the wind. In full view from the road was a
+hill crowned by the towers and ramparts of a mediæval city, a marvelous
+maze of battlements, frowning and formidable as if the enemy were
+expected any moment. We rode on to _la ville basse_, the other and more
+modern Carcassonne, a little checkerboard of a city with streets running
+at right angles and so different from the usual intricate streets of
+mediæval origin. Securing rooms at the Grand Hôtel St. Bernard, we
+hastened back, lest in the meantime an apparition so mirage-like should
+have disappeared. The first view of this silent, fortified city makes
+one believe that the imagination has played tricks. There is something
+fairy-like and unreal in the vision. It seems impossible that so
+majestic a spectacle could have survived the ages in a form so perfect
+and complete.
+
+Carcassonne had always been one of our travel dreams. From somewhere
+back in high-school days came the memory of a French poem about an old
+soldier, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, who longed to see _la cité_.
+One day he started on his pilgrimage, but he was sick and feeble. His
+weakness increased, and death overtook him while the journey was still
+unfinished. He never saw Carcassonne. Since that time we had wondered
+what kind of place it was that had made such an impression upon the
+French writers, and induced the French government to make of it a
+_monument historique_.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The castle and double line of fortifications at Carcassonne_ _Page
+103_]
+
+At that moment, as we climbed the hill, the past seemed more real than
+the present. We looked for armored knights upon the wall, and listened
+for the rattle of weapons, the sharp challenge of the sentry. Crossing
+the drawbridge over the deep moat, we were conducted by the _gardien_
+along the walls and through the fighting-towers, great masses of masonry
+that had known so often the horrors of attack and siege. In this double
+belt of fortifications there were sentinel stations and secret tunnels
+by which the city was provisioned in time of war. Here, was a wall that
+the Romans had built; there, a tower constructed by the Visigoths; and
+all so well preserved, as if there were no such thing as the touch of
+time or the flight of centuries. Other places, like Avignon, show the
+military architecture of the Middle Ages, but it is the work of a single
+epoch. The defenses of Carcassonne show all the systems of military
+architecture from Roman times to the fourteenth century. Nowhere in the
+world can be found such a perfect picture of the military defenses of
+the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. The walls and the huge
+round towers tell their own thrilling tales of Roman occupation, of
+Visigothic triumph, and of conquering Saracen. Then we could understand
+why the old French soldier longed to see Carcassonne, and why tourists
+from all over the world include the city in their itinerary of places
+that must be visited.
+
+From our lofty observation point on the ramparts there was visible a
+great range of country, the slender windings of the river Aude, the
+foothills of the Pyrenees, and the vague summits of the Cévennes. We
+followed a silent grass-grown street to the church of St. Nazaire. It
+was beautiful to see the windows of rare Gothic glass in the full glow
+of the setting sun. Such burning reds, such brilliant blues and purples!
+"_C'est magnifique comme c'est beau._" A French family was standing near
+us. Before leaving the church, we looked back. They were still under the
+spell of that glory of color.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The walled city of Carcassonne_]
+
+There may have been an elevator in the Grand Hôtel St. Bernard, but we
+were not successful in locating it. In a general way, this modest
+hostelry was of the same type which one finds in most of the small
+French cities like Valence and Avignon. We were of course greatly
+interested in gathering and comparing impressions of provincial hotel
+life. This was particularly interesting in a country like France, where
+the provinces with their rural and small-town life represent to such a
+marked degree the nation as a whole. It is always an instructive
+experience to discover how other countries live, and to compare their
+standard of living with our own. The hotel life of any country, if we
+keep away from fashionable tourist centers, usually gives an
+illuminating insight into the customs of that people. We had often
+noticed that the French are indifferent to matters relating to domestic
+architecture. So long as the kitchen performs its functions well, so
+long as the quality of the cuisine is above criticism, it does not
+matter if the rooms are small and gloomy or if the architect forgets to
+put a bathroom in the house. The Frenchman likes to dine well. The café
+ministers to his social life. But with these important questions settled
+to his satisfaction, he is not inclined to be too exacting about his
+domestic environment.
+
+If we keep in mind these general observations, it will be easier for us
+to understand the defects and advantages of the French provincial hotel.
+Most of the hotels where we passed the night would not begin to compare,
+in many ways, with the hotels to be found in American towns of the same
+size. We noticed a characteristic lack of progressiveness in so many
+respects. It was exceptional to find running hot and cold water. The
+corridors were narrow and gloomy, the electric light poor for reading.
+If there was an elevator, it usually failed to work. Bathing facilities
+were on the same primitive scale. The attractions of the writing room
+were conspicuous for their absence. In France it is usually the writing
+room that suffers most; either it is a gloomy, stuffy chamber, more
+fitted to be a closet than a place for correspondence, or else located
+with no idea of privacy, and in full view of everyone coming in and
+going out. There were no cheerful lounging or smoking rooms. Had it been
+winter, the heating facilities would probably have left much to be
+desired, and we might often have repeated our experience at the Hôtel
+Touvard in Romans. It was January, and very cold. Arriving early in the
+afternoon, we found that our rooms had absorbed a large part of the
+frigidity of out-of-doors. Complaints were fruitless. We were informed
+that it was not the custom of the hotel management to heat the rooms
+before seven o'clock in the evening.
+
+In our selection of hotels we followed the advice contained in the
+excellent _Michelin Guide_, which has a convenient way of placing two
+little gables opposite the names of hotels above the average. While
+they were not pretentious, the quality of service was surprisingly good.
+We could always get hot water when we wanted it. The _maître de l'hôtel_
+was always on the alert to render our stay as comfortable as possible,
+and to give us any information to facilitate sight-seeing. Most of the
+hotels had electric lights, such as they were; the bedrooms were clean
+and comfortable, the cuisine faultless. If it be true that one pays as
+high as two francs for a bath, that is because bathing among the French
+is more of the nature of a ceremony than a habit. As for the small and
+neglected writing room, we must remember that in France the café usurps
+that function of the American hotel. This is a national custom. How the
+Frenchman lives in his café! Here he comes before lunch for his
+_aperitif_, to discuss business or politics, to write letters, to read
+the newspapers and play games, to enjoy his _tasse de café_ after lunch,
+and in summer to while away the drowsy hours of the early afternoon
+while listening to open-air music.
+
+It was pleasant to meet in Carcassonne two American students from
+Joliet, Illinois, who were making a long European tour on "Indian" motor
+cycles. One of them had received not less than six punctures the
+preceding day and was awaiting in Carcassonne the arrival of another
+tire. He was beginning to be a little doubtful about the perfect joys of
+motor cycling on the French roads. Neither of them spoke French, but
+their resourceful American gestures had up to that point extricated them
+from situations both humorous and annoying.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CARCASSONNE TO TARBES
+
+
+Our ride toward Toulouse led us steadily into southwestern France and
+nearer the Pyrenees. From time to time the landscape, with its fields of
+fodder corn, was peculiarly American. The illusion never lasted long; a
+château appeared on a distant hill, or a sixteenth-century church by the
+roadside, and we were once more in Europe, with its ancient architecture
+and historical association, with its infinite change of scenery and
+life.
+
+Our trip never grew monotonous. There was always the element of the
+unexpected. For instance, in the village of Villefranche we rode into
+the midst of a local _fête_. Banners overhung the road; flags were
+flying from the windows; ruddy-cheeked girls in gay peasant dress were
+practicing in the dusty street a rustic two-step or _farandole_ in
+preparation for the harvest dance.
+
+While entering Toulouse we narrowly escaped disaster. It was not late,
+but our depleted funds made it necessary to reach a bank before closing
+time. Suddenly a bicycle rider shot out from a cross street. There was a
+"whish" as we grazed his rear wheel. The infinitesimal fraction of an
+inch means a good deal sometimes.
+
+We were too late; the banks were closed. The next day was a business
+holiday, and the following day was Sunday. Our letter-of-credit would
+not help us before Monday. But as luck would have it, we were able to
+discover and fall back upon a few good American express checks. Our
+hotel, the Tiviolier, gave us a poor rate of exchange, but almost any
+exchange would have looked good at that poverty-stricken moment.
+
+Toulouse, the flourishing and lively capital of Languedoc, is a city of
+brick still awaiting its Augustus to make of it a city of marble. The
+old museum must have been a splendid monastery. We dined in three
+different restaurants, and fared sumptuously in them all. The
+_cassoulet_ of Toulouse was so good that we tried to order it in other
+towns. The experiences of the day very fittingly included a trolley ride
+along the banks of the famous Canal du Midi, and a visit to the
+remarkable church of St. Sernin, considered the finest Romanesque
+monument in France.
+
+It would have been difficult not to make an early start the next
+morning, the air was so keenly exhilarating. The usually turbid Garonne
+revealed limpid depths and blue skies as we crossed the bridge. The road
+dipped into a valley and then, ascending, spread before us imposing
+mountain ranges. The Pyrenees were in sight; every mile brought them
+nearer. The name was magical. It suggested landscapes colorful and
+lovely, strange types of peasant dress, songs that had been sung the
+same way for centuries, exquisite villages that had never been awakened
+by the locomotive's whistle. Range retreated behind range into
+mysterious cloud realms. The road was like a _boulevard Parisien_ under
+the black bars of shadow cast by the poplar trees.
+
+At St. Gaudens, where we stopped before the Hôtel Ferrière for lunch, an
+American party was just arriving from the opposite direction. There were
+three middle-aged ladies and a French chauffeur who did not appear to
+understand much English. The question of what they should order for
+lunch was evidently not settled. One of them wished to order _potage St.
+Germain_. Another thought it would be better to have something else for
+a change, since they had partaken of _potage St. Germain_ the preceding
+day. The remaining member of the party was sure it would be nicer if
+they saved time by all ordering the same thing, but did not suggest what
+that should be. The chauffeur, who looked hungry and cross, merely
+contributed a long-suffering silence to the conversation.
+
+[Illustration: _The Pyrenees were in sight_ _Page 112_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+Leaving our car in the garage and our sympathy with the unfortunate
+chauffeur, we went in to give appreciative attention to a well-served
+ménu. So long as we remained in France we never failed to order
+sardines. There is a certain quality and delicacy about the flavor of
+the French sardine which one misses outside of that country. Coffee was
+served outside, under the trees in front of the hotel, where we could
+watch the life of the road. St. Gaudens is on the main highway passing
+through the Pyrenees to Cannes and Nice on the Riviera. It is also the
+central market for the fine cattle of the Pyrenees, and for their sale
+and distribution to other parts of France and the outside world. We
+could see them swaying lazily along the road, big, powerful creatures
+with wide horns and glossy skin.
+
+Descending from St. Gaudens into the plain, we shot along the highway to
+Montréjeau, where there was a steep ascent through this bizarre little
+town, very Italian looking with its arcaded streets, red roofs, and
+brightly painted shutters. Then the moors of a high plateau swept by us
+until we darted downward and curved for several miles through a
+beautiful wooded valley.
+
+One of the front tires was evidently in trouble. It was our first
+puncture in more than thirteen hundred miles of motoring, not a bad
+record when one considers the frequency of such accidents on European
+roads, where the hobnails of peasants lie in ambush at every turn. We
+halted by the side of the road, to put on a fresh tire, refusing many
+offers of assistance from passing cars.
+
+An unusual reception awaited us near Tournay. The whole barnyard family
+had taken the road for their private promenade. There were a couple of
+mules, some goats, half a dozen geese, and a large white bull. He was a
+savage looking brute as he stood facing us and angrily pawing the
+ground. It did not add to our composure when a gaunt collie, awakened by
+the noise, came snarling up to the car. At this eventful moment, the
+engine stopped running. No one of us was in a hurry to alight and "crank
+up." The barnyard clamor would have rivaled the well-known symphony of
+the Edison Phonograph Company of New York and Paris. At last a peasant
+appeared. He whistled to the dog and succeeded in driving the bull to
+one side, so that we could edge by to less dangerous scenes.
+
+The standard of living in these mountain communities is not high. We saw
+one farmhouse where the goats moved in and out as if very much at home
+and on the same social footing as their peasant owners. A mile farther
+on, we were spectators at a dance which the peasants were giving along
+the roadside. There was an orchestra of two violins and a cornet,
+enthroned upon a wooden platform brightly decorated with flags and
+flowers. A dozen couples were dancing up and down the road. Wooden shoes
+were all the style. This unique ballroom floor impressed us as being
+rather dusty. Steepsided valleys yawned in quick succession. There were
+views of the snowy Pyrenees. On the side of a mountain we caught a
+moment's glimpse of Tarbes in the plain.
+
+The Grand Hôtel Moderne was a happy surprise. The elevator actually
+worked, and the running hot and cold water was a boon delightful to find
+after these dusty mountain roads. Tarbes is chiefly interesting for its
+great horse-breeding industry. Barère, the regicide, described by
+Macaulay as coming "nearer than any person mentioned in history or
+fiction, whether man or devil, to the idea of consummate and universal
+depravity," was born here in 1755. Tourist traffic has found Tarbes to
+be a convenient stopping place on the through route from Biarritz on the
+Atlantic to the winter resorts of the Mediterranean shores, and also a
+natural center for excursions to the Pyrenees. We remained in Tarbes
+an extra day to make the trip to Lourdes, the tragic Mecca for
+increasing thousands of Catholic pilgrims.
+
+[Illustration: _Ice peaks of the Pyrenees_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+A short half-hour's ride and then Lourdes, without doubt one of the most
+dismal and melancholy places in the world. We are certain that nothing
+would ever draw us there again. For many, the trip is a pilgrimage of
+faith; others go from curiosity; but for so many suffering thousands the
+miraculous spring at Lourdes is the goal of anxious hopes. They gather
+from all parts of France, from England, Scotland, and Ireland, and even
+from distant parts of Europe. Last year there were over six hundred
+thousand visitors. Around us, on that afternoon, we saw the sick and the
+dying. Some were hobbling along on crutches, others walking helplessly
+with sightless eyes. Many were being carried on stretchers, and there
+were sights that we would rather not mention. It seemed as if all the
+diseases to which mortal humanity is heir were represented in that
+pathetic throng. The following newspaper account describes the
+pilgrimage which left Paris in August, 1913:
+
+"The great Austerlitz Railway station in Paris presented a strange and
+terrible scene--and above all, a distressingly pitiful one--yesterday
+afternoon, when the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes set forth on the long
+journey to the little Pyrenean village. During last night thirty-three
+special long trains converged on Lourdes from every quarter of France.
+Every train ran slowly because of the many sick people on board. And
+this morning all the trains will reach their destination and will
+discharge their pilgrims at the station near the shrine.
+
+"From two to four o'clock, the greater part of the Austerlitz station
+was given up entirely to the pilgrims. The railway servants withdrew,
+and their places were taken by hundreds of saintly faced Little Sisters
+of the Assumption, and brave men of all ages and all ranks in life, all
+wearing the broad armlet that denoted their self-sacrificing service to
+the sick and helpless. One by one, on stretchers, in bath chairs, over a
+thousand suffering people, men and women of all ages, youths and little
+children, entered the great hall of the station.
+
+"Each, as he or she is brought in, is laid upon a bench transformed
+into an ambulance, to await the departure of the train. A silence that
+is almost oppressive falls upon the usually noisy station; people speak
+in whispers, and move with silent feet.
+
+"Then the train--the long white train for the _grands malades_--moves
+softly in to the platform, and each poor human parcel is gently convoyed
+to its allotted place. Eventually, the long task is over, and then came
+the last moving ceremony. The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris passed slowly
+down the train and blessed the sick within it. A moment after, without a
+whistle or a sound, the long white train moved out.
+
+"Eight other equally long trains followed, the last bearing at the rear
+the Red Cross flag."
+
+We watched the procession forming to move toward the sacred miraculous
+spring, such a sad procession,--the halt, the maimed, and the blind, who
+had come, many of them, thousands of miles to bathe in the icy waters
+and be healed. Attendants passed us, carrying a sick man on a stretcher;
+the eyes were closed, the features white and fixed. We saw a mother
+clasping a sick child; she also joined the slow, pitiful procession.
+Where will you find such a picture of human suffering! It was all like
+the incurable ward of a vast open-air hospital.
+
+The fame of Lourdes dates back to 1858, when a little village girl,
+fourteen years old, named Bernadette Soubirons, said that she had seen
+and talked with the Virgin. This happened several times. Each time the
+Virgin is said to have commanded the child to tell others, and to have a
+church built above the spring, since its waters were to have miraculous
+powers of healing. Crowds went with her to the grotto, but she was the
+only one who saw anything. The Bishop of Tarbes believed in her visions.
+The fact that the child was "diseased, asthmatic, and underfed," and
+also that "she was not particularly intelligent," did not make any
+difference. Pope Pius X issued a Bull of endorsement. A basilica was
+built above the grotto, and from that time the thousands kept coming in
+increasing numbers every year.
+
+We noticed that not all of the visitors to Lourdes had come on a
+pilgrimage of faith. Everywhere one sees signs with large letters
+warning against pickpockets. The evidence of business enterprise was
+also unmistakable. There were large hotels; one long street was devoted
+to bazaars for selling pious mementos; the windows of many shops
+contained tin cans of all sizes for sale, these to be filled with
+Lourdes water. The many advertisements of Lourdes lozenges, made from
+Lourdes water, and the women dressed in black, sitting at the gates of
+the garden and selling wax candles, all helped to give the place an
+atmosphere of commercial enterprise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TARBES TO BIARRITZ
+
+
+From Tarbes the road climbed a high hill above the city and then flung
+its marvelous coils through the mountains to Pau, that fashionable
+English resort where the Pyrenees can be seen marshaling their peaks in
+such grandeur. The country around Pau looked very English. There were
+neat villages with high-pitched roofs, spreading trees, and a feeling of
+repose in the scenery very characteristic of the large English estate.
+With almost fantastic suddenness, the landscape changed. Peasant houses
+showed traces of Spanish influence. We saw no horses; plows and country
+carts were drawn by bullocks. Such fine looking cattle of the Pyrenees,
+hundreds of them! It seemed at least every few minutes that a new drove
+crowded in confusion down the road or across it, and made it very
+difficult for us to get through. There were many bulls. One hears so
+many exciting tales about the savage bulls of the Pyrenees that we were
+prepared for an attack at almost any time.
+
+If any one would like to make sure of having an eventful experience, we
+suggest that he motor through the Pyrenees in a red car. Other motor
+cars kept the dust clouds flying. At one railway crossing we counted ten
+automobiles waiting for the bar to be lifted.
+
+A score of hungry motorists were lunching in the village inn of Orthez
+when we arrived. One of them, a Frenchman, told us by all means to see
+the curious fortified bridge that crosses the Gave in this village.
+"_C'est très curieux. C'est quelque chose à voir!_" The ruin, with the
+high stone tower in the middle of the bridge, is a thrilling relic of
+the religious wars. One can see the tower window through which the
+unfortunate priests and friars were forced by the Protestants to leap
+into the rapid stream. Those who breasted the strong current were killed
+as they climbed out on the banks.
+
+Bayonne was calling us. Our speedometer registered the kilometers so
+quickly that there were fully two hours of daylight to spare when we
+crossed the long bridge over the Adour in search of the Grand Hôtel. One
+street led us astray, and then another, until we were in the suburbs
+before discovering our mistake. It was a fortunate mistake, for we were
+here favored with a view of the fortifications of Bayonne and the
+ivy-covered ruin of Marrac, the château where Napoleon met the Spanish
+king Ferdinand and compelled him to renounce the throne in favor of his
+brother Joseph. It is one of the strange turnings of history that the
+same city where Joseph was proclaimed King of Spain should have
+witnessed, six years later, the downfall of his hopes.
+
+Our return search was more successful. We found the Grand Hôtel, and
+then were half sorry that we had found it. The hotel was crowded, the
+only _chambre_ placed at our disposal not large enough for two people.
+An extra cot had been put in to meet the emergency. The room was gloomy,
+and opened on a stuffy little court. Many repairs were under way, so
+that the appearance of the hotel was far from being at its best. Had it
+not been raining heavily we would have gone on to Biarritz; but the
+torrents were descending. For one night we submitted to the inevitable
+and to the inconvenience of our cramped quarters. On descending, we
+noticed other tourists still arriving. Possibly these new victims were
+stowed away in the elevator or in the garage.
+
+Our stay in Bayonne was, under the circumstances, not long, but long
+enough for us to become acquainted with the _jambon delicieux_ and the
+_bonbons_ for which the city is so well known. After paying our
+_compte_, including a garage charge of two francs,--the first which we
+had paid since leaving Chambéry,--we covered the few remaining
+kilometers to Biarritz, stopping _en route_ to pick up ten liters of
+gasoline in order to avoid the more extravagant prices of that
+playground for Europe's royalty and aristocracy. The choicest feature of
+our rooms at the Hôtel Victoria was the splendid outlook upon the
+Atlantic and its ever-changing panorama of sky and sea. The Spanish
+season was in full swing. There is always a season in the golden curve
+of Biarritz's sunny sands. The Spanish invasion during the hot summer
+months is followed by that of the French, when Parisian beauties
+promenade in all the voluptuous array of costly toilettes. For a couple
+of months, Paris ceases to be the proud capital of French animation and
+gayety. During the winter, the place takes on the appearance of an
+English colony; and the Russian royal family has made spring a
+fashionable time for the invasion from that country.
+
+The charm of Biarritz is irresistible. It is easy to see why Napoleon
+III made it the seat of his summer court and built the Villa Eugénie,
+which has since become the Hôtel du Palais. If one searched the whole
+coast line of Europe, it would be hard to find a spot so rich in natural
+beauty. The sea has such wide horizons; no matter how calm the weather,
+the snowy surges are always rolling on the Grande Plage. Other smaller
+beaches alternate with rugged, rocky promontories. The coast line is
+very irregular, full of arcades, caverns, and grottoes. At sunset, when
+the wind falls and the air is clear, the coast of Spain appears, the
+mountains respond to the western glow, and the low cadence of the waves
+makes the scene too wonderful for words.
+
+We always looked forward to the morning plunge into the cool breakers.
+Eleven o'clock was the popular hour. Then the Plage was covered with
+brilliant tent umbrellas. There were the shouts of the bathers as the
+green, foaming combers swept over them. The beach was a kaleidoscope of
+color and animation. Dark-eyed _señoritas_, carrying brightly colored
+parasols and robed in the latest and most original French toilettes,
+walked along the shore. The Spanish women are very fond of dress, and
+especially of anything that comes from Paris. Often the breeze would
+sweep aside their veils of black silk, and show their powder-whitened
+faces. French girls, daintily gowned and with complexions just as
+"artistic," were busy with delicate embroidery. There were Basque
+nursemaids whose somber black-and-white checkerboard costumes contrasted
+with the latest styles from the gay metropolis. All types were there,
+from the portly German who adjusted his monocle before wading into the
+frothy brine, to the contemplative Englishman who smoked his pipe while
+watching the animated scenes around him. Where will one find a more
+cosmopolitan glimpse of fashionable Europe in the enjoyment of a summer
+holiday! After the plunge comes the drying off on the warm sands, or
+the walk, barefooted and in bathrobe, along the Plage; then lunch in the
+casino restaurant above the sea, while an Italian orchestra plays music
+that one likes to hear by the ocean. For our _tasse de café_ we would
+choose one of the cafés along the crowded avenue Bellevue. What a
+display of wealth and fine motor cars!
+
+[Illustration: _The Grande Plage at Biarritz_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+On one of these occasions we saw the young King of Spain stop his
+Spanish car before one of the stores. He was bareheaded, and was driving
+his own car. One of his officers sat with him. The king is a keen
+sportsman, and motoring is one of his favorite diversions. Under the
+reign of this popular and aggressive young monarch there ought to be
+great progress in the improvement of the Spanish roads and in the
+opening of Spain's scenic wealth to the tourist world. Toward the close
+of the afternoon every one went to the beautiful casino to enjoy the
+concert and _une tasse de thé_, and then later in the evening to watch
+the brilliant spectacle of dress and gayety.
+
+The interesting places around Biarritz are part of its attraction. If we
+had stayed there for months, there could have been an excursion for
+each day. Placed beside the ocean, at the foot of the Pyrenees, close to
+the Spanish frontier and amid the fascinating Basque country where the
+people have retained all their primitive ways and quaint dress, Biarritz
+makes an ideal center for one-day trips. The excursion which we enjoyed
+most was to the Spanish resort of San Sebastian, a modern seaside town
+where the king and queen pass the summer in their splendid Villa
+Miramar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A DAY IN SPAIN
+
+
+There is always a thrill about motoring for the first time in a new
+country. We had long looked forward to crossing the Spanish frontier and
+visiting the summer capital of King Alfonso XIII. It was a ride of about
+thirty miles, far too short for one of the most interesting sweeps of
+country to be found anywhere in Europe.
+
+There was plenty of variety. This Basque country, forming a triangular
+corner of northern Spain and reaching over into France, is full of it.
+The people speak a dialect which is as much a puzzle to Spanish as to
+French. Until less than half a century ago, they had retained their
+independence. Proud of their history, and claiming to be the oldest race
+in Europe, they still cling to their language and hold to their ancient
+customs, their dances, songs, and pastoral plays. In this region of
+valleys and mountains we were always within sight or sound of the sea,
+the road approaching a smooth, white beach washed with foam, or sinking
+into a quiet valley drowsy with the faint monotone of the waves.
+
+A few miles before reaching Spain is the old seaside town of St.
+Jean-de-Luz, once the winter headquarters of Wellington and now buried
+in the shade of its venerable trees. The life in this little village of
+only four thousand people was not always so simple as it is now. Louis
+XIV was a frequent visitor, with his courtiers. One can see the château
+where the "Grand Monarque" lodged at the time of his marriage to the
+Infanta Marie Thérèse of Spain on June 9, 1660. Another page from this
+gorgeous period is the church of St. Jean Baptiste, where the ceremony
+took place. Following the Basque custom, the upper galleries are
+reserved for the men, while the area below is reserved for the women.
+
+On reaching the Franco-Spanish frontier village of Béhobie a French
+officer appeared and, after he had entered the necessary details in his
+book, allowed us to cross the bridge over the Bidassoa River into Spain.
+This part of the town is called Béhobeia. It is a unique arrangement,
+this administration of what is practically one and the same town by two
+different countries. Yet the difference between Béhobie and Béhobeia is
+as great as the difference between France and Spain. The houses across
+the river began to display the most lively colors. It would have been
+hard to say whether browns, pinks, blues, or greens predominated. Some
+of the people wore blue shoes. Red caps were the style for cab drivers.
+Of course we looked around for some of our "castles in Spain," but saw
+instead the Spanish customhouse. An official came out, modestly arrayed
+in more than Solomon's glory. He wore red trousers, yellow hose, and
+blue shoes, and looked as though in more prosperous days he might have
+been a _matador_. We had forgotten to bring along a fluent supply of
+Spanish. The oversight caused us no inconvenience. French is sufficient
+to carry one through any matter of official red tape.
+
+One hears many reports about the difficulty of passing the Spanish
+customhouse, the severity of the examination, of the long delays. At our
+hotel in Biarritz they told us that the only safe way would be to pay
+eight francs to a private company on the French side of the frontier,
+and that with the _passavant_ so obtained, together with our
+_triptyque_, we would not only secure prompt service but also make this
+company responsible for our safety while in Spain. So much solicitude
+made us wonder just what percentage of our eight francs would be
+received by this hotel proprietor, so we decided to cross the frontier
+without the much advised _passavant_.
+
+These warnings proved to be exaggerated. The delay was not greater than
+it would have been in France or Germany. The _douaniers_ were,
+nevertheless, keenly alert to prevent the smuggling of motor supplies
+for purposes of sale in Spain. These articles are much more expensive in
+Spain than elsewhere in Europe. The number of our tires was noted, so
+that the officials could make sure that we carried the same number of
+tires out of the country. Another arrangement, new to us, was the method
+of ascertaining how much the gasoline duty would be. The amount of
+gasoline in the tank was calculated by depth only and not by capacity.
+
+A hundred fascinating scenes of Spanish country life attracted our
+attention. Peasant women, evidently returning from market, bestraddled
+patient little donkeys, or walked, balancing on their heads burdens of
+various kinds. One of them carried a baby under one arm, a pail filled
+with wine bottles under the other, and all the time preserved with her
+head the equilibrium of a basket piled several stories high with
+household articles. We would not have been greatly surprised to see
+another baby tucked away somewhere in the top story. These peasant types
+looked bent and worn, their wrinkled faces old from drudging toil in the
+fields; they fitted in perfectly with the dilapidated farmhouses. The
+country was fertile, with vineyards and cornfields, but a prosperity in
+such contrast with the wretched homes of the people. Little donkeys
+strained in front of heavily loaded wagons that would have taxed the
+strength of a large horse. The ox carts were curious creations, the
+wheels being without spokes, as though made from a single piece of flat
+board. The small chimneys on the houses resembled those which we had
+seen in Italy. We did not see a single plow, not even a wooden one; the
+peasants of the Basque country use instead the _laga_, or digging
+fork, an implement shaped like the letter "h."
+
+[Illustration: _The ox-carts were curious creations_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+San Sebastian is a clean, fresh-looking city, a place essentially,
+almost exaggeratedly, Spanish, with all that gayety and vivid
+architecture which one naturally expects to see in a place patronized by
+the royal court. It was hopeless to think of finding a place for our car
+in any garage. They were all full. This was the day of the bull fight.
+From different parts of Spain, as well as from France, motorists had
+swarmed in to see the _matadors_ show their skill and daring. In Spain
+the people divert themselves at the bull fight very much as we would go
+to see a baseball game. We saw motor cars stationed in long files in the
+streets.
+
+Leaving our car to stand in the rear of one of these imposing lines, we
+strolled down a bright, picturesque street to the Concha. Just as La
+Grande Plage represents Biarritz, so the Concha represents San
+Sebastian. "Concha" suggests a bay shaped like a shell. The word exactly
+describes the beautiful body of water around which the city is built.
+Through the narrow channel we could see the waves roll in, contracted
+at first, then widening as they sweep down the bay to break on the long,
+curving stretch of yellow sand. From the Concha we could see the white
+walls of the royal Villa Miramar. The fortress La Mota guarded from its
+high elevation the narrow entrance to the harbor. We walked along the
+Paseo de la Concha, in the dense shade of tamarisk trees which nearly
+encircled the bay. Sitting in chairs under the trees were Spanish girls,
+their dark eyes glowing through their black lace veils. The scene was
+full of color, completely Spanish, the green of the tamarisks shining
+between the golden sands and the white villas which edged the water. We
+watched the bathers, haughty dons from Madrid and peasants from Aragon,
+for the moment on a level in the joyous democracy of the surf.
+
+After lunching at the Continental Hotel, fronting on the Concha, we
+turned our steps in the direction of the amphitheater, where the bull
+fight was to take place. The tickets cost twelve _pesetas_ (about $2.40)
+apiece. It was not with any anticipation of pleasure that we decided to
+watch the Spaniards engage in their national sport. The bull fight is a
+combination of a scene from the Chicago stockyards and from an ancient
+Roman arena. It is a succession of shivers and thrills, from the first
+blast of the trumpet announcing the entry of the _toreadors_ to the
+final _estocade_, when the last bull falls dying upon the bloody sand.
+Few of the _toreadors_ die a natural death. Connected with the large
+amphitheater is the operating room, where the wounded fighters can
+receive prompt treatment. We were told that it is customary for them to
+receive the sacrament before entering into the arena. Their coolness and
+dexterity in sidestepping the mad rushes of the bull are wonderful. But
+the moment comes when the bull is unexpectedly quick, when the foot
+slips just a little, or when the eye misjudges the precious fraction of
+an inch which may mean life or death. We noticed at regular intervals,
+around the arena, wooden barriers, placed just far enough from the main
+encircling barrier to let the hard-pressed _toreador_ slip in, when
+there was no time to vault.
+
+These exhibitions take place all over Spain, and in San Sebastian at
+least once a week. There is keen rivalry between Spanish cities over
+the skill of their _toreadors_. Bull fighting is not on the decline. The
+city of Cordova has just started a school for the training of
+professional bull fighters.
+
+When we arrived the amphitheater was crowded to the highest tier of
+seats. The vast crowd, impatient, whistled and shouted. Attendants
+passed among the spectators, selling Spanish fans painted with
+bull-fight scenes. The large orchestra was playing. Suddenly, above the
+music and the noise of the crowds, sounded the piercing blast of a
+trumpet. The music ceased. The crowd became silent, then cheered and
+clapped as doors swung open and two horsemen dashed out and made the
+tour of the arena. They were followed by a procession of _toreadors_,
+_picadores_, and _banderilleros_, with their attendants. The _picadores_
+were armed with long pikes with which to enrage the bull. They were
+mounted on wretched skeletons of so-called horses, with one eye
+blindfolded. Six bulls were to battle with their tormentors before
+finally falling, pierced by the _toreador's_ sword. Three or four horses
+are usually killed by each bull. The _banderilleros_ appear in the
+second phase of the struggle, after the horses have been killed. They
+are on foot. Their work is to face the bull, infuriated by the pikes of
+the _picadores_, and to plant in his neck several darts, each over two
+feet long and decorated with ribbons. The _toreador_ comes on the scene
+the last of all, when the bull, though tired, is still dangerous. It
+would be a mistake to imagine that the bulls are spiritless, or have
+been so starved that they are weak, without strength, energy, and
+courage. These animals that we saw leap into the arena were all
+specially bred Andalusian bulls, the very picture of strength and wild
+ferocity.
+
+We have no desire to describe in detail the barbarous spectacle which
+followed. In front of us sat an American couple. It was the lady's first
+bull fight, and when the moment was critical, the scene a gory confusion
+of bull, horses, and _picadores_, she would scream and hide her face
+behind her fan. In contrast, were the Spanish girls seated around us.
+Their faces were whitened more by powder than by emotion. They would
+languidly move embroidered fans, or wave them with gentle enthusiasm
+when the _banderillero_ planted a daring dart or the _toreador_ thrust
+home the death stroke.
+
+There was one moment in that exhibition, however, when even their
+hardened indifference to suffering was touched. One of the
+_banderilleros_ planted his dart in the neck of the bull, but slipped
+while trying to get away from the enraged beast. There was a cry of
+horror, a groan of pity from the crowd as the great armed head lifted
+its victim and hurled him thirty feet through the air. The man struck
+heavily on the sand, moved a little, and then lay motionless. There was
+no shouting at that moment. An agony of suspense pervaded the
+amphitheater. But the bull was given no opportunity to follow up his
+attack; a _toreador_ waved a red cape before his eyes; another dart was
+planted in his neck. He turned savagely to face and charge on his new
+assailants, who nimbly avoided his rush. The wounded man was carried
+from the arena. The enthusiasm and cheers of the crowd were unbounded
+when he revived and struggled with the attendants to get back into the
+arena.
+
+[Illustration: _The death stroke_
+
+Copyright by Underwood & Underwood]
+
+After all, human nature has changed but little under these southern
+skies, so that what the plebeian sought in the gladiatorial combats of
+the amphitheater, the Spaniard or Frenchman of to-day seeks and finds in
+the bloody scenes of the _course de tauraux_.
+
+We left early to get a start of the rush of motor cars for the French
+frontier, but others had done the same thing, so that by the time the
+Spanish authorities had stamped our _sortie definitive_, we found the
+international bridge filled with cars, all impatiently waiting to take
+their turn at the French _douane_. Then amid a whirl of dust and a
+blowing of horns, car after car leaped for the homeward flight. Ahead of
+us and behind us, cars of every make, motor horns of every variety. The
+dust fog was continuous. Every one seemed racing to get out of it. It
+was a likely place for an accident. There was the wind-smothered shriek
+of a horn as a French racer shot by to lead the exciting procession.
+Farther ahead, the road turned sharply, and we stopped to find thirty or
+forty cars held up at a railway crossing. One of them was the French
+racer; officers were taking her number. It was growing dark, and we
+lighted our lamps. Looking back from the summit of a long hill, we could
+see the lights of other cars swiftly ascending around the curves. The
+wind was rising. Through the twilight came the dull roaring of heavy
+surf. A revolving beacon light, appearing and then disappearing,
+announced that we were once more in Biarritz.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BIARRITZ TO MONT-DE-MARSAN
+
+
+Our three days in Biarritz had grown to three short weeks before we were
+able to break the spell of the alluring Grande Plage and shape our
+course in a northeasterly direction, along the foothills of the
+Pyrenees, through the picturesque regions of Périgord and Limousin to
+Tours and the châteaux country. Bayonne, the fortress city, looked
+peaceful enough with its tapering cathedral spires rising above the
+great earthen ramparts, now grass-grown and long disused to war. Not far
+from Bayonne the road forked; we were in doubt whether to continue
+straight on or to turn to the left. A group of workingmen near by ceased
+their toil as we drew near to ask for information. The answer to our
+question was very different from what we expected. One of them
+approached the car, brandishing a scythe in a manner more hostile than
+friendly, and asked if we were Germans. This question concerning our
+nationality came with all the force of a threat. The restless scythe
+cut a nearer airy swath. He had recognized the German make of our car,
+and was convinced that we belonged to the hated _nation allemande_. A
+German motor car is not the safest kind of an introduction to these
+French peasants, especially when the _vin du pays_ has circulated
+freely. If appearances counted for anything, this particular peasant was
+quite inclined to use his scythe for more warlike purposes than those
+for which it was originally intended. But his companions, more peaceably
+disposed, seizing him, drew him back from the car and gave us, although
+reluctantly, the necessary information.
+
+It was not our first experience of this kind. In France there is a
+strong sentiment against Germany. Our German car was often the target
+for unfriendly observation. This fierce ill feeling appears to be
+increasing. Never since the war of 1870 has there been such a period of
+military activity in the two countries. Germany is raising her army to a
+total of nearly nine hundred thousand men, at an initial cost of two
+hundred and fifty million dollars, and a subsequent annual cost of fifty
+million dollars. France has decided to meet these warlike preparations
+by keeping under the colors for another year the soldiers whose term of
+service would have expired last fall. This measure adds about two
+hundred thousand soldiers to the fighting strength of the French army.
+This increase of armament involves necessarily the admission of the
+increase of suspicion and antagonism.
+
+At such a time of tension and suspense it was for us a rare privilege to
+motor through the French provinces, to stop in the small towns and
+villages and to hear from the lips of the people themselves an
+expression of their attitude toward Germany. Rural France is
+conservative; opinions and ideas form slowly, yet there can be no doubt
+but that their views represent the sentiment of the French nation which
+is so largely agricultural. No feature of our long tour through France
+was more instructive than this opportunity to study at first hand the
+influences at work to widen the gulf between the two nations. We
+conversed with soldiers, officers, peasants in the fields, and casual
+French acquaintances whom we met in the cafés and hotels. Every one
+admitted the gravity of the situation, and said that nothing short of
+the actual shadow of German invasion could have induced France to submit
+to the tremendous sacrifices incident to the large increase of the army.
+
+The enthusiasm with which France has consented to the enormous
+sacrifices entailed by increasing the army on so large a scale shows how
+widespread is the impression of impending conflict. France realizes that
+there is only one way to prevent war, and that is to be so strong that
+Germany will hesitate to take the fatal step. There have been past
+menaces of invasion, and while it is true that Germany has not made war
+for over forty years, she has repeatedly threatened it. William I and
+Moltke wanted to attack France in 1874 and again in 1875, before she had
+recovered from the effects of 1870, to make it impossible for her again
+to become a power of the first rank. Russia and England supported
+France; Germany drew back to wait for another chance. Professor
+Lamprecht, the great German historian, regrets that Germany did not
+hurl her armies against France at that time. In the Delcassé crisis of
+1905 France was again threatened. We know now that the Morocco
+negotiations between France and Germany in 1911 kept Europe on the verge
+of war for months.
+
+This movement toward a more vigorous expression of French national
+spirit, while gathering strength for the last ten years, actually dates
+from the sending of the gunboat _Panther_ to Agadir in 1911. This was
+the igniting spark. It was in that moment that the French nation found
+itself. The generation that lived through and followed the disastrous
+war of 1870 was saddened and subdued. There was little of that spirit of
+national self-confidence; politics played a larger role than patriotism.
+But now a new generation is to the front. Young France is coming into
+power, and the result is a rebirth of self-confidence and aggressiveness
+along patriotic lines. It will no longer be possible for Germany to be
+successful in a policy of intimidation against France, as she was in the
+Congress of Berlin in 1878. The new France is too patriotic, too proud,
+too conscious of her own strength, to concede to any unreasonable demand
+for economic compensation that Germany or Austria might make.
+
+If there were no other reason for possibility of war, the internal
+situation in Germany itself would be enough to place France on her
+guard. In spite of Germany's industrial progress, the struggle of the
+masses for bread is nowhere more bitter. The intense competition in the
+markets of the world, the necessity of paying interest on borrowed
+capital, the fact of a vast and rapidly increasing population--all this
+spells low wages in a country where taxes are high and where the burdens
+of armament are fast becoming unbearable. Such conditions make for
+socialism. Already the socialists form the most powerful party in the
+Reichstag. The Kaiser wishes peace, but he is, above all, a believer in
+monarchical institutions. If socialism continues to spread with its
+present rapidity, no one doubts that he would stake Germany's supremacy
+in a foreign war in order to unite the nation around him and to divert
+the people from their struggle for a more democratic form of
+government. A successful war with France would not only mean rich
+provinces, a big war indemnity, but it would also mean a new prestige
+for the Hohenzollern government, sufficient to carry it through the
+socialistic perils of another generation.
+
+In view of these facts, it is not surprising that the French nation
+considers a conflict inevitable, and especially when they see the Kaiser
+appealing to his already overtaxed and discontented people to make a
+supreme sacrifice. With Germany the question is one of economic
+existence. She can feed her population for only a fraction of a year.
+More and more she finds herself dependent upon rival nations for
+foodstuffs and raw materials. She has built up great steel and iron
+industries, but the supply of ore in the province of Silesia will be
+exhausted, at the present rate of consumption, in about twenty-five
+years. Germany will then be totally dependent upon France, Spain, and
+Sweden for iron ore. But France has an eighty per cent superiority over
+Spain and Sweden in her supply of this material. Her richest mines are
+situated in Basse-Lorraine, hardly more than a cannon shot from the
+German frontier. By the conquest of a few miles in Lorraine, she would
+secure enough iron ore to supply her iron and steel industries for
+centuries. A suggestive commentary upon Germany's aggressive plans may
+be noted in the German atlas of Steiler. It writes the names of
+different countries and their cities in the spelling of each country.
+The French cities and provinces are written in French, with the
+exception of provinces of Basse-Lorraine, Franche-Comté, and Bourgogne.
+These are written in German.
+
+Another force in Germany making for war is the Pan-German League. This
+is the war party of the armor-plate factories of the officers of the
+army and navy, of a large part of the German press, of the Crown Prince,
+of many who have intimate relations with the Kaiser. The spectacular
+demonstrations of the Crown Prince in the Reichstag against the too
+peaceful policy of the Chancellor at the time of the Morocco
+negotiations, the sending of the _Panther_ to Agadir, the enormous
+increase of the army and navy in recent years, the arbitrary suppression
+of French influence in Alsace-Lorraine, have all been the fruits of its
+efforts. There can be no question of the tremendous power of this
+organization which is so close to the heart of the Crown Prince. If the
+Kaiser should die to-morrow, France might well have reason to distrust
+the warlike and impulsive young ruler who would ascend the Hohenzollern
+throne. The Crown Prince has recently written a book called _Germany in
+Arms_. Its warlike fervor shows how little he is in sympathy with the
+emperor's loyalty to peace. What makes the influence of the Crown Prince
+all the more dangerous is the great discontent to-day in Germany with
+the government's foreign policy "of spending hundreds of millions upon a
+fruitless and pacific imperialism."
+
+Added to all these influences which are straining the relations between
+France and Germany, is the question of Alsace-Lorraine, for more than
+two centuries a French province and ceded to Germany after the
+Franco-Prussian War as a part of the price of peace. It is now a
+generation and more that Germany has tried to assimilate the province,
+but with so little success that to-day the people persist more than ever
+in their sympathy with French culture and their hostility toward
+Germany. There has been immigration; probably two fifths of the
+population are Germans, but the two peoples do not mix. The silent
+struggle between two civilizations goes on. The reason for the failure
+of German government in Alsace-Lorraine is due to its refusal to
+recognize this dual civilization. Alsace is largely French in sympathy;
+but instead of letting the people cling to their local customs, Germany
+has tried to make them think and speak German, and adopt the German
+ways. Instead of enjoying an equality with the other states in the
+regulation of local affairs, the province is treated as a vassal state,
+the governor being responsible to the Kaiser. Naturally such a system of
+government means the continual clash of the two nationalities. The
+teaching of French and French history has been almost suppressed in the
+schools, and the younger generation compelled to learn German. "But
+they are French at heart, and after leaving school return again to the
+traditions of their family. After forty years, no music stirs them like
+the _Marseillaise_." It is said that the little Alsatian schoolboys,
+when on a trip to the frontier, decorate their hats and buttonholes with
+the French colors. No one can be long in Strassburg without realizing
+the futility of Germany's campaign against French influence. It is true
+that there is a certain veneer of German civilization; the policemen
+wear the same uniform as the Berlin police; German names appear over the
+principal shops; but in the stores and cafés one hears the middle-class
+Alsatians speaking French; French clothes, French customs prevail. In a
+word, the people, without French support, have gradually become more
+French in feeling and in culture than at the moment of annexation. One
+effect of this struggle against Germany's brutal and arbitrary policy
+has been to start a strong undercurrent of sympathy in France. In many
+of the French towns one sees Alsace postcards in the store windows. The
+picture on one card was a reproduction of a French painting. A soldier
+appears on the lookout in a forest. Not far away is a captive bound to
+a tree. He is watching with expectant joy the coming of the soldier. One
+can easily guess that the captive is Alsace, the soldier, France. We
+might also speak of the petty annoyances practiced by the German
+authorities in Alsace upon any one suspected of French sympathy.
+Sporting clubs have been dissolved. One reads of French sportsmen who
+have been refused permission to rent "shootings." The most recent
+measure of oppression gives the governor of the province absolute power
+to suppress all French newspapers, as well as all societies supposed to
+favor French culture.
+
+This is only a part of the evidence at hand, which gives the impartial
+observer reason to believe that the friction of nationalities in Alsace
+is the prelude to the larger and more terrible struggle to-day is
+regarded in France as inevitable. At the School of Political Science in
+the sorbonne at Paris, where the superiority of German methods used to
+be accepted without question, it is said the professors can now hardly
+mention them, for fear of hostile demonstrations.
+
+This question of Franco-German relations has already overshadowed
+Europe. All attempts to promote a more friendly understanding have been
+fruitless. Even though the present tension be only temporary, it is very
+doubtful if there can be any approach to better relations until Germany
+has solved the question of Alsace-Lorraine, abandoning her policy of
+rough-shod assimilation, recognizing the existence of a dual
+civilization, granting autonomy of local affairs, and welcoming the
+province, on an equal footing with the other German states, to the
+brotherhood of the empire. With this source of discord removed,
+Alsace-Lorraine might become a bond instead of a barrier between France
+and Germany. Such a solution, however remote, would be an important step
+toward a more auspicious era of friendly feeling, of good faith.
+Unfortunately, the Kaiser is opposed to this conciliatory policy. The
+fact that Alsace-Lorraine belongs to the empire as a whole, and is
+therefore a bond of unity between the German states, makes him unwilling
+to disturb the present arrangement and to recognize anything approaching
+a dual government in Alsace-Lorraine.
+
+In the light of the above facts, our encounter with the French peasant
+was of deep significance. We could see behind it the forces--economic,
+political, and sentimental--that are at work to divide France and
+Germany. Naturally, we were on the lookout for any incident of this kind
+which would give us a clearer view of the great question which is
+placing such terrible burdens upon the two countries.
+
+We shall not easily forget our experience in one French town. It was
+Sunday evening, and the street was crowded with peasants and artisans.
+One of us had stuck in his hat a Swiss feather, such as is commonly worn
+in the Tyrol of southern Germany. He purchased a French newspaper, and
+after glancing through it, dropped it in the gutter. This harmless act
+very nearly involved us in serious trouble. A burly Frenchman, noticing
+the feather and taking him for a German, resented the apparently
+contemptuous way in which the journal had been thrown in the street.
+"_Vous avez insulté la patrie_," he said in a loud voice. Like a flash
+the rumor spread in the street that three Germans had insulted
+France, and a threatening crowd surrounded us. A restaurant offering the
+nearest refuge, we stepped inside to order _une demi-tasse_ and to wait
+until the excitement had subsided. The _garcon_ refused to serve us.
+Outside, the crowd grew larger. Then a policeman appeared. Upon learning
+that we were Americans, he quickly appreciated the humor of the
+situation, and explained the misunderstanding to the crowd pressing
+around the door. The excitement abated as quickly as it arose, and we
+were allowed to continue our walk without further interruption.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_A familiar village scene in provincial France_ _page 157_]
+
+Mont-de-Marsan has little to relieve the monotony of its narrow village
+life. We bumped over cobbled streets to the Hôtel Richelieu, securing
+pleasant rooms which opened on an attractive little court, enlivened by
+a murmuring fountain. Dinner was hardly over when the silence of the
+country began to settle along the deserted streets. Such a soporific
+environment was sleep-compelling. An alarm clock was not necessary, for
+at early dawn the street resounded with a medley of noises, the varied
+repertoire of the barnyard,--a hundred of them, in fact. Geese,
+chickens, goats, and sheep were all tuning up for the village fair. It
+is a mystery how we motored through that maze of poultry and small
+wooden stands heaped with fruits, poultry, game, even dry goods--a kind
+of open-air department store. The clerks were grizzled peasant women,
+some of them eating their breakfast of grapes and dry bread, others
+displaying tempting fruit to entice us into a purchase.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MONT-DE-MARSAN TO PÉRIGUEUX
+
+
+Motoring on to St. Justin, we plunged into an immense forest broken only
+now and then by small clearings and extending for nearly sixty miles to
+the lumber town of Casteljaloux. Woodland depths shut out the view. Mile
+followed mile of dark pines and somber perspective, an endless
+succession of dim forest glades. The sappers were at their work, peeling
+the bark from the long trunks and attaching small earthenware cups to
+catch the resinous gum. The road was so easy and smooth that we did not
+find it difficult to take notes. From the lumber yards of Casteljaloux
+was blown the fragrant odor of fresh-sawn pine. Bright sunshine flooded
+the wide-open country. The freedom of the fields was around us again.
+Here and there a maple showed the first gorgeous colors of autumn.
+
+In the enjoyment of these peaceful scenes we ran unexpectedly through an
+encampment of French soldiers. The army was getting ready for the
+autumn maneuvers. Rifles were stacked, and heavy accouterments deposited
+on the grass. There were three or four large Paris omnibuses transformed
+into kitchens, motor-propelled and equal to a speed of twenty miles an
+hour. Soldiers and officers watched us curiously, almost suspiciously.
+Our notebooks were hastily put aside. To be detected taking notes from a
+German motor car in a French encampment might have had unpleasant
+consequences, or at least subjected us to serious inconvenience. One of
+the officers took our number; another "snapped" us with a camera, but
+there was no attempt to interfere with our progress.
+
+The infantry wore long blue coats and red trousers. One wonders why the
+French army, otherwise so scientifically equipped, should have such
+showy uniforms. If France went to war to-morrow, her soldiers would be
+at a great disadvantage. These uniforms would be a conspicuous target at
+the farthest rifle range. All other modern armies, like those of
+Germany, England, or Italy, have adopted the "invisible" field dress.
+But in France the colors have not changed from the blue and red of
+Napoleon's soldiers. A few years ago the War Minister Berteaux tried to
+introduce a uniform of green material. His efforts were without success;
+the old color tradition was too strong. A French officer commented as
+follows: "The French army is one of the most routine-bound in Europe. In
+some things, like flying, we have a lead, because civilians have done
+all the preliminary work, but in purely military matters, like uniforms,
+officialdom delays reform at every turn. It was not until 1883 that we
+gave up wearing the gaiters and shoes of Napoleon's time, and took to
+boots like other armies." Even the officers whom we saw from our motor
+car were dressed in scarlet and gold, red breeches, and sky-blue tunics
+with gold braid.
+
+A little farther on we passed several motor cars filled with French
+officers; just behind them came a dozen Berliet trucks of a heavy
+military type, loaded with meat and ammunition. These are the times of
+motor war. The automobile has revolutionized the old method of food
+supply. The long, slow train of transport wagons, unwieldy and drawn by
+horses, has been replaced by swift motor trucks. The French army is
+unsurpassed in mechanical equipment. No effort has been spared to give
+the army the full benefit of technical and scientific improvements. This
+year, for the first time, the Paris motor omnibuses are serving as
+meat-delivery vans. With this innovation, the army can have fresh meat
+every morning, instead of the canned meats of other years. The supply
+stations can be, in safety, thirty miles from the front, and yet remain
+in effective communication with the troops. France is in grim earnest.
+The army is ready and competent. The terrible lessons of the
+Franco-Prussian war of 1870 have been learned.
+
+A French officer with whom we conversed on the subject of the French and
+German armies, spoke of the superiority of the French artillery over
+German guns in the recent Balkan war. He said that the French were
+counting upon their great advantage in this respect to offset the German
+superiority in numbers. Commenting on the wish of the Kaiser to visit
+Paris, he was quite sure that the Kaiser would never repeat the
+performance of his grandfather, Emperor William I, and arrive in
+Paris at the head of the German army.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_A miracle of Gothic splendor_]
+
+Our lunch in Marmande reminded us of a banquet, but we were not yet
+French enough to do full justice to three kinds of meat. France is
+essentially a country of fields and gardens. How we looked forward to
+every _déjeuner_ and every _dîner_ so bountifully spread with the famous
+products of her soil! The cuisine of these small towns would not suffer
+in comparison with the hotels of larger cities. One is served more
+generously for half the price, and the cooking is just as good.
+
+A delightful succession of little foreign touches brightened the ride
+from Marmande,--the sluggish bullock carts, and vineyards interspersed
+with tobacco fields, small churches with bell cotes guarded by solemn,
+century-old cypress trees; or perhaps it was an old Gothic house or an
+ancient gateway with a piece of mediæval wall still clinging to it. In
+one village we saw bizarre stores, where the doorway and window were
+one. This must be a survival of Roman times, because we had seen the
+same thing in Pompeii. We were quickly called back from antiquity,
+however, by the cement telegraph poles which lined the road for some
+miles. It was a surprise to see such evidence of progress in a region
+where the years leave so few traces of their march.
+
+By this time the weather had become the chief topic of conversation. A
+storm was swiftly approaching. Tall cypress trees creaked and swayed in
+the wind; the dark clouds, nearly above us, shot out murky, ominous
+streamers, like the tentacles of a gigantic octopus; a few big drops
+fell; then the floodgates burst. The drenching downpour was so sudden
+that there was no time to put up the top of the car. A tall tree offered
+refuge, but soon each separate leaf had a tiny waterfall of its own.
+Fortune did not entirely desert us, for a small farmhouse, near by,
+promised a more substantial shelter. It was just the kind of peasant's
+home that we had often seen from the roadside: an exterior of rustic
+quaintness, built of stone and rough timbers, and artistically framed in
+rustic vines and flowers. What would the interior look like? We knocked.
+A barefooted peasant woman opened the door. She was surprised to see
+three dripping apparitions, apparently swept in by the rage of the
+elements, but her invitation to enter could not have been more cordial.
+The "_salon_" served the purposes of kitchen, bedchamber, and dining
+room. There was no trace of carpet or rug on the cobble-stoned floor.
+The heap of straw in the corner did not disclose whether it was for dog
+or goat. On the wall hung a cheap color-print of Napoleon. The
+hospitable "_Asseyez-vous_" called our attention to a single decrepit
+chair. There was not even a wooden table. The rain, pattering down the
+chimney, had almost extinguished the blaze in the small open fireplace.
+Could anything have been more barren or forlorn! Judging from the
+appearance of our _hôtesse_, the bathtub either did not exist or had
+long since ceased to figure prominently in the domestic life of the
+household. Two other peasant women of the same neglected appearance
+entered without knocking. One of them was barefooted; the other would
+have been if she had not worn heavy _sabots_. Both of them greeted us,
+but their dialect was unintelligible. The sun coming out we said
+good-by with all the polite French phrases at our command. The three
+peasant women stood in the doorway and waved their ragged aprons till we
+disappeared over the hill.
+
+The bridge spanning the Dordogne into cheerful Bergerac showed a town
+busy with festal preparation for the coming of President Poincaré. Pine
+branches were being wound around telephone poles; festoons of green
+decorated the houses; windows were bright with flags; the streets
+overhung with arches bearing inscriptions of welcome. We stopped at a
+tea shop which was also a _boulangerie_.
+
+It was interesting to discover, from the local papers, that our route
+for the next two days was to be part of the itinerary selected by
+President Poincaré for his tour through the French provinces.
+
+This trip resulted from the president's desire to know his people
+better, to become acquainted with their local life, to visit their
+industries, and especially to attract the attention of the motor world
+to beautiful and interesting regions of France which had too long been
+neglected,--these slumberous small towns of the Dordogne, Limousin and
+Périgord, hidden from the broad travel track, rich in local traditions
+and peculiarities, wrapped in their old-world atmosphere, surrounded by
+exquisite landscapes with marvelous horizons. For these towns, the
+president's coming was a big event. Some of them recalled that since the
+days of Louis XI no ruler of the state had visited their village.
+
+We were to see Périgueux, with its precious relics of Roman life and of
+the Middle Ages; Limoges, noted for its beautiful enamels and the center
+of the porcelain industry. It was this part of France, so little visited
+even by the French themselves, that President Poincaré chose for his
+week of motoring. For him, as well as for us, it was to be a delightful
+voyage of discovery.
+
+The twenty-nine miles to Périgueux proved a memorable motor experience.
+Much of the way was among steep, tree-covered slopes. No one met us
+along the road.
+
+It is surprising how far one can motor in France without seeing any
+trace of human life; areas of deserted country are so common; abandoned
+farmhouses appear so frequently. The reason lies not alone in the drift
+of population to the larger towns and cities, but in the fact that the
+French birth rate is failing to hold its own. France, so rich in other
+respects, is actually threatened by a decreasing population. In 1911 the
+number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 33,800. In the first
+third of the last century, when the death rate was much higher than now,
+there were six births to every death; in 1871 the ratio had fallen to
+two births to each death; in 1901 it was even. If we consider the number
+of births per 10,000 inhabitants during the decades of the last century,
+we find the series to be an invariably decreasing one--from 323 in 1800
+to 222 in 1900. In 1870 Germany and France had each about 38,000,000.
+Germany now has over 67,000,000, a gain of 27,000,000 over the present
+French population of 39,340,000. France is thus placed at a great
+disadvantage in the matter of national defense. If we assume the German
+army to be only 750,000 soldiers, there would be one soldier to every 89
+inhabitants; France, to have the same army, would be obliged to have one
+soldier to every 52 or 53 inhabitants. The fact that the French
+soldiers will now be compelled to serve three years in the army, as
+compared with two years in Germany, shows how France is now paying the
+penalty for neglecting that vital national problem of population.
+
+Our ride to Périgueux gave vivid emphasis to the above figures. There
+was little evidence of peasant life. One had the impression of roaming
+through a vast, uninhabited country.
+
+From the top of a hill the town, and the valley of the Isle, stretched
+beneath us a lovely view; the windings of the river Isle, its bridges
+mirrored in the crimson flood. Wooded hills faded slowly into the blue
+depths of twilight. The graceful Byzantine _campanile_ and domes of St.
+Front reminded us of the church of St. Marks in Venice. Europe has few
+more romantic corners. Descending the hill, we motored over the river
+and into the town, under arches of electric lights arranged in letters
+to spell words of greeting to the president.
+
+The Grand Hôtel du Commerce should have been torn down years ago. It was
+a good example of how poor a provincial hotel can be. Even the
+recommendation of the Touring Club of France could not make us forget
+the musty smells that filled rooms and corridors. We opened wide all the
+windows. After a few minutes, the fresh air revived us.
+
+For a place that occupies so little space in the pages of Baedeker,
+Périgueux is unique. Numerous remains from the different epochs of
+history may be found. The Roman period, the Middle Ages, the
+Renaissance, and modern times have all left their imprint. There is the
+massive tower of Vesône, once part of a Gallo-Roman temple. The Château
+Barrière has one curious feature: a railroad runs through the deep moat
+of feudal times. We shall need all our superlatives to describe the
+Jardin des Arènes. Where else will you find a public garden laid out on
+the site of an ancient Roman amphitheater, keeping the same size, the
+same circular form, and even preserving some of the original arches to
+admit the modern public? A French journalist once wrote that "even
+without its bright sunlight, even without imagination, Périgueux remains
+one of the quaintest towns in the world and one of those places which
+the French people would visit in crowds if it were situated in another
+country." Viewed from a distance, the cathedral of St. Front makes a
+striking appearance; the five huge domes might have been transplanted
+from St. Sophia of Constantinople.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+PÉRIGUEUX TO TOURS
+
+
+From Périgueux we followed the Isle for some distance before turning to
+wind over the hills. It was a region of chestnut trees, the
+_marronniers_ for which the province is so celebrated. For miles the
+trees formed a stately hedge along both sides of the highway, and groves
+of them were in the near distance, their spreading branches reminding us
+of English oaks.
+
+The ascent continued to Thivièrs, a tiny village of the Dordogne. One of
+the _vieux citoyens_ pointed out the Hôtel de France as the best place
+to lunch. "_On mange très bien lábas_," he said. The lunch was a _chef
+d'oeuvre_. We had never tasted such _poulet au casserole_ or such
+_cotelettes de mouton grillées_. The _lievre_ had a delicious _suc de
+viande_ which went well with the _pommes frités_. There was _vin à
+discrétion_, and, besides, different kinds of _fromage_ and the French
+melons, golden and juicy and always the best part of the repast.
+
+Nothing is more delightfully characteristic of these small towns like
+Thivièrs than the delicacies peculiar to them. These little communities,
+so different from each other in local customs and mannerisms, are just
+as unique and original in their cooking. It was always interesting, when
+we had lunch or dinner in a new place, to scan the ménu for some new
+dish that we had never tasted. Whenever the _garcon_ or _maître de
+l'hôtel_ pointed to an item on the ménu and said, "_C'est une specialitè
+de la maison_," then we knew that something good was coming. One never
+tires of these French delicacies. Our regret at leaving them behind was
+usually tempered by the consolation that something equally new and
+delicious was awaiting us in the next place _en route_. Each one of the
+following names recalls experiences that we shall not soon forget. These
+are simply samples. The list would be too long if we named them all; the
+_truites_ of Chambéry; the mushroom patties of Pierrelatte; the _jambon_
+of Bayonne; the _truffes_ of Périgueux; the _rillettes_ and _vins_ of
+Tours; the _miel du Gatinais_ of Orléans; the fried sole of Chartres and
+Dieppe. In Normandy, sweet cider was often placed on the table instead
+of the mild _vin du pays_. The cheese, _patisserie_, and fruits were
+good everywhere.
+
+Another item, which we cannot overlook, never appeared on the ménu and
+yet always flavored the whole repast. That was the geniality, the
+provincial hospitality, which greeted us in every little inn and hotel.
+The welcome was just as hearty as the farewell. If there was some one
+dish that we especially liked, the _patronne_ was never satisfied till
+she was sure that we had been bountifully served. After so many
+experiences like these, it is easy to understand why the foreign
+motorist feels so much at home in France.
+
+It was a splendid run to Limoges. The long grades were scarcely
+noticeable, the easy curves rarely making it necessary to check our
+speed. Donkey carts were fashionable, and _sabots_, as usual, in style.
+There was always a shining river or green valley in sight. Haute-Vienne,
+arrayed in flags and evergreens, awaited the coming of the president.
+Here, as all along the route, we saw the same joyful picture of festal
+preparations. The bridge over the river Vienne was like a green arbor.
+
+Some of the worthy citizens of these communities were probably more
+familiar with town affairs than the current events of the outer world.
+We read in a local journal of a shopkeeper who shouted a lusty "_Vive
+Faillières_," to greet the president's arrival. The mayor of one village
+threw himself in front of the presidential car, and threatened to commit
+suicide if the president did not make a speech, as he had done in a
+neighboring town. These petty municipal jealousies gave us a picture of
+France in miniature. What country is more torn by faction! Internal
+dissension is the nation's peril.
+
+The river kept us company until Limoges was in sight. The president had
+left the city only a few hours before our arrival. Decorations were
+still in their splendor. One _arc de triomphe_ bore the words "_Vive
+Poincaré_." Another read, "_Nos fleurs et nos coeurs_." This popular
+ovation seems remarkable when we consider the strength of socialism in
+France, and the fact that Limoges is a socialistic center. The mayor, a
+socialist, refused to receive the president. The City Council was not
+present at the festivities of welcome. Municipal buildings like the
+Hôtel de Ville were not decorated. All this was in accordance with
+instructions received from the leaders of the socialistic party. It was
+even considered unsafe for the president to include Limoges in his
+itinerary. But the people, the wage earners, the various trade
+organizations, acted for themselves. Their spontaneous, enthusiastic
+greeting was all the more striking in contrast with the cold
+indifference of the city authorities. To be in an important French city
+at just this time, on the very day when the president was there, to see
+all the preparations for his welcome, to hear the people talk about him
+and praise him, made us feel that we had been close indeed to one of the
+great personalities of modern Europe. France has found her leader, a man
+of vast energy who understands his country's problems and is peculiarly
+fitted to solve them. His motor tour through the provinces was like a
+triumphal march. Everywhere he preached that gospel of unity which is
+the great need of the hour.
+
+Thanks to a letter of introduction, we had the interesting privilege of
+visiting a porcelain factory and of seeing the different processes
+through which the product passes from the shapeless lump of clay to the
+final touch of the artist's brush. The city reflects the artistic spirit
+of its inhabitants. One notices many attractive garden plots and window
+gardens, and the beauty of the flowers appears in their art. These
+artists can reproduce them in porcelain and enamel because first of all
+they have painted them in their hearts.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_A convenient way to carry bread_]
+
+After Limoges, came Tours as the goal of the day's run through the
+pastoral beauties of Limousin to the châteaux of Touraine. The air was
+crisp and clear. Two hours of easy running through the bright September
+sunshine brought us to the Palais Hôtel in Poitiers before
+noon--Poitiers, the city of old Romanesque churches and older
+traditions, where are living so many of the _vieille noblesse_ who would
+rather eat dry bread than make their sons work. The echoes of Parisian
+rush do not penetrate these quiet streets. The people drink _tilleul_
+after lunch instead of coffee. The effect is to make them drowsy. In
+fact, we have seldom visited a place with such an atmosphere of
+slumber. After lunch the _patronne_ offered to show us some of the
+hotel rooms. Most of them were connected with a private _salle de bain_.
+The price was so reasonable that we at once placed this hotel in a class
+by itself. As before stated, bathrooms do not enter largely into the
+life of the French home or hotel. Even in cities like Tours, the public
+bathtub still makes its round from house to house once a week, or once a
+month as the case may be. An Englishman, who so often places cleanliness
+above godliness, is unable to understand this French indifference to the
+blessings of hot and cold water. In Lyons, the third largest city of
+France, there is a popular saying that only millionaires have the _salle
+de bain_ in their homes. These facts will help to explain why the Hôtel
+Palais, with its many bathrooms, made such an impression on us. We
+regret that our snapshot of this hotel did not turn out well. We would
+have had it enlarged and framed.
+
+From Poitiers to Tours one is on the famous Route Nationale No. 10, that
+remarkable highway which Napoleon built across France into Spain when
+his soldiers made the long march only to meet defeat in the Peninsular
+campaign. We had followed it from Bayonne to Biarritz and on to San
+Sebastian. To see this familiar sign again seemed like the greeting of
+an old friend. It looks like an army road, the trees are planted with
+such military precision. One could almost feel the measured step to
+martial music. This straight-away stretch for so many miles through the
+country suggested the great soldier himself. Like his strategy, there
+was no unnecessary swerving. It was the shortest practicable line to the
+enemy's battle front. These magnificent _routes nationales_ are the best
+illustration of the order and system that he gave to French life. We
+have often thought too much emphasis has been laid on the destructive
+side of Napoleon's career. He shook Europe, but Europe needed to be
+shaken. The divine-right-of-kings theory needed to be shattered. France
+needed to be centralized. If our motoring in that country had been
+limited to Route Nationale No. 10, this would have been enough to give
+us a new appreciation of Napoleon as a constructive force.
+
+The afternoon's ride flew all too quickly. It was glorious, as evening
+approached, to watch the harvest moon growing brighter and larger on our
+right, while the sunset fires slowly changed from burning colors to
+dusky gray. Tours was in sight, Tours on the Loire, names that we had
+always linked with the châteaux of Touraine. A multitude of lights
+gleamed from the plain below. Descending the hill, we crossed the Loire
+to the Hôtel Metropole.
+
+Tours was not what we had anticipated. One reads about the kings of
+France who resided here, from Louis IX to François I. Plundering
+Visigoths, ravaging Normans, Catholics and Huguenots, even the Germans
+in 1870, all in their turn assailed the unfortunate city. We looked for
+half-ruined palaces and vine-covered, crumbling walls. The reality
+spread a different picture. Aside from the streets and houses of
+mediæval Tours, little remains of great historic interest. This large,
+busy industrial center produces so many articles that the list resembles
+a section from the new Tariff Act.
+
+We enjoyed varying our châteaux excursions with rambles in the city.
+There are old gabled houses in the Rue du Change, where the overhanging
+stories rest on brackets richly carved. One loses all sense of
+direction in some of these intricate streets. The cathedral compelled us
+to linger longer than we had intended. The ages have given such a warm,
+rich gray to the stones that the usual atmosphere of frozen grandeur was
+absent. Our interest in Gothic glass and mediæval pillars was diverted
+by a wedding that was going on in the cathedral. One of the priests, who
+was assisting in the ceremonies, left his duties to offer us his
+services as guide; there is always a certain magnetic power to the
+American tip. Of course we climbed the Royal Staircase of the North
+Tower, even counting the number of steps. The fact that our numbers did
+not correspond is all that saves this part of our story from resembling
+a quotation from Baedeker. The panorama showed the city spread out in a
+plain between the Loire and the Cher. We grew to have an intimate
+feeling for these old cathedral towers. When returning along the Loire
+from our châteaux trips, it was always a beautiful sight to see them in
+the distance, clear-cut and luminous, or looking like majestic shadows
+in the haze of twilight.
+
+[Illustration: _The road swept us along the bank of the Loire_ _Page
+181_]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE
+
+
+Tours made a convenient headquarters for our explorations in Touraine,
+where along the banks of the Loire and the Indre were enacted the most
+important events in French history from Charles VII to Henry IV. Every
+one would be interested in an historical course having for subjects
+these Renaissance homes of France's gallantry and beauty. One lingers,
+and imagines the scenes of magnificent revel, the court life of kings
+and queens when the artistic and architectural glory of France was at
+its zenith.
+
+It was easy to plan our one-day trips so as to include on the same
+circuit several of the most famous châteaux. The first day we motored to
+Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon, Rigny-Ussé, and Langeais, in the order named.
+The distances were short, perhaps one hundred and twenty-five kilometers
+in all, so that we could go leisurely and yet return to Tours before
+dark.
+
+With this wonderful program before us, we crossed the Loire, and
+traversing a wooded country with areas of vineyards and gardens, came to
+Azay-sur-Indre. There were not even hints of a château, nothing but the
+aimless cobbled streets of the typical French town. We halted beside a
+long wall which holds back the encroaching village and betrays no sign
+of the surprise in store within. Any one about to see his first château
+would do well to visit Azay-le-Rideau, a veritable gem of Renaissance
+style. This graceful pile of white architecture, as seen to-day, belongs
+to the early part of the sixteenth century. François I built it. That
+patron of the _beaux arts_ has placed our twentieth century under
+lasting obligation. Every line is artistic. There is the picture of airy
+lightness in the turrets and carven chimneys that rise from the high
+sloping roofs of blue slate. In gratitude for the preservation of this
+perfect work one forgets the ravages of the French Revolution. Passing
+over a small bridge, we followed the _gardien_ through the sculptured
+doorway and up the grand staircase so often ascended by François and his
+Parisian favorites. We were permitted to see the ancient kitchen and
+old kitchen utensils of wrought iron. Paintings and Flemish tapestries
+adorned the billiard room. The king's bedroom has a fine specimen of
+rare mediæval flooring. The ballroom, with its Gobelin tapestries,
+suggested the artistic luxury of the age. From nearly every window there
+were pleasing outlooks on a green woodland and on the sunny branch of
+the Indre, which surrounds the château on three sides. It was all a
+picture of peace. Azay-le-Rideau is a château of elegance, instead of
+defense. One could imagine it built by a king who had leisure to collect
+beautiful works of art and whose throne was not seriously threatened by
+invading armies.
+
+Quite different from it is the château of Chinon, an immense ruined
+fortress built on a hill above the Vienne River. The walls are as
+impregnable as rocky cliffs. Chinon was the refuge of a king who had
+need of the strongest towers. Charles VII, still uncrowned, assembled
+here the States-General while the English were besieging Orléans. It was
+a time of despair. The French were divided, discouraged, helpless,
+their richest provinces overrun by English armies. At this lowest ebb of
+French history, a simple peasant girl came to Chinon. Only a solitary
+gable and chimneypiece remain of the Grande Salle du Trône where Jeanne
+d'Arc told the king of her visions from heaven and of mysterious voices
+commanding her to save the nation. We entered the tower, her rude
+quarters till she departed a few weeks later to lead the French troops
+to the victory of Orléans.
+
+After lunch we motored through the gardens of Touraine to the
+magnificent château of Ussé. The elegant grounds and surrounding woods
+formed an appropriate setting. Terraces descended to the wall below,
+where our view swept over a wide range of picturesque country, watered
+by the Indre. Much to our regret, we were not permitted to visit the
+château, which is now occupied by a prominent French family.
+
+Langeais, a few miles away, gave us a more hospitable welcome. It is a
+superb stronghold upon the Loire, and has dark, frowning towers and a
+heavy drawbridge which looks very mediæval. The widow of M. Siegfried,
+a Parisian millionaire, lives here part of the year with her daughter.
+M. Siegfried, who bought the château, was interested in art as well as
+in ships. He lavished his wealth to furnish the different rooms with
+furniture and _objets d'art_ peculiar to the period. His will provides
+that after the wife's death the château is to belong to the Institute of
+France, and that a sum equal to six thousand dollars is to be devoted to
+its upkeep. Other tourists had arrived. The _concierge_ conducted our
+party through the many different rooms, lavishly furnished and decorated
+in the period of Louis XI and Charles VIII. There were wide, open
+fireplaces. We were interested in the Grand Salon, where the marriage of
+Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany was celebrated in 1491.
+
+The return to Tours led along the banks of the Loire. Rain was falling,
+a cold drizzle which the rising wind dashed in our faces. The wide
+sweeps of the river grew indistinct. There were few carts to check our
+homeward spurt through the darkening landscape. We were fortunate in
+having so comfortable a hostelry for a goal. The dinner, equal to the
+best French cuisine, proved a pleasant ending to a memorable day.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Chateau of Loches behind its imposing entrance_ _Page 187_]
+
+The next morning ushered in one of those golden fall days that seemed
+made for "châteauing." The swift kilometers soon carried us to Loches,
+that impressive combination of state prison, Château Royal, and grim
+fortress overlooking the valley of the Indre. So many horrible memories
+are linked with the prisons of Loches that we almost hesitate to record
+our impressions. We have seen the dungeon cells of the Ducal Palace in
+Venice and the equally gruesome chambers of the Castle of Chillon, but
+the dungeons of Loches are the most fear-inspiring that we have ever
+penetrated. Perhaps a part of this impression was due to the _concierge_
+who showed us the prisons where famous captives were incarcerated and
+tortured at the will of monarchs. There was one dark cell with a deep
+hole, purposely fashioned that the victims should stumble headlong to
+their fate. Our guide gave us a graphic description of this method of
+execution. In that gloomy hole, his sudden climax of "_Très horrible_,"
+would have made any one shiver. Some of these cells extend an
+interminable distance underground. It is not the most cheerful
+experience to descend deeper and deeper into this subterranean darkness,
+to see the daylight growing fainter, to hear the trickle of water from
+the cold rocks, and then to imagine the slow, frightful death of many a
+political captive. Louis XI, not satisfied with the capacity of the
+dungeon, built a great round tower, the Tour Neuve, where he imprisoned
+the rebellious barons whose lives could not be taken.
+
+Some one has written of this amiable king that "his reign was a daily
+battle, carried on in the manner of savages, by astuteness and cruelty,
+without courtesy and without mercy." In the cell occupied by Ludovico
+Sforza, the Duke of Milan, may be seen the paintings, sun dial, and
+inscriptions with which he tried to ward off approaching madness. This
+prisoner is said to have died from the joy of regaining his liberty.
+Louis XI was resourceful in his method of imprisonment. In a
+subterranean room of the Tour Neuve we were shown where the Cardinal
+Balue was suspended in a small cage. One reads that he "survived so much
+longer than might have been expected this extraordinary mixture of
+seclusion and exposure." Almost as horrible was the window cell in one
+of the torture chambers. The prisoner was confined on a narrow stone
+ledge between two rows of bars. There was barely space to stand up or
+lie down. A handful of straw served for a bed. On the one side, he was
+exposed to the elements, and on the other, he viewed the torments of
+fellow prisoners.
+
+We turned with relief to less hideous scenes, to the apartments of the
+Château Royal, occupied by the irresolute Charles VII, the terrible
+Louis XI, and their successors; to the tower, from the top of which we
+had a commanding view of the quaint, mediæval town and the wandering
+Indre. Our guide did not forget to show us the tomb of Agnes Sorel, the
+beautiful mistress of Charles VII. Two little angels kneel at her head,
+while her feet rest on two couchant lambs, symbols of innocence. The
+monument would have made an appropriate resting place for a martyred
+saint.
+
+From Loches, we motored through a deep forest to the château of
+Montrésor, well protected on its rocky height by a double encircling
+wall, flanked with towers. Once within these formidable barriers, we
+were delighted with the pleasant grounds and green arbors above the
+valley of the Indrois. The building dates from the commencement of the
+sixteenth century, and was small enough to look more like a home than a
+palace. The _concierge_ spoke of a distinguished Polish family who
+occupied it part of the year. This was the first "home château" we had
+seen. Everything looked livable; there was warmth and coziness and
+refinement in the different rooms. We felt almost like intruders into
+this domestic atmosphere. Some of the paintings were by great artists.
+One was Fleury's "The Massacre of the Poles at Warsaw," on April 8,
+1861. There were rare specimens of antique furniture, and, most
+interesting of all, the "Treasury of the Kings of Poland," consisting in
+part of the large gold dish and silver soup tureen presented to John
+Sobieski by the city of Vienna, and of the silver-gilt services of
+Sobieski and of Sigismond II, King of Poland. The château has a rich
+collection of works of art and souvenirs relating to the history of
+Poland.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Chateau of Chenonceaux_ _Page 191_]
+
+The Hôtel de France nearby spread before us a ménu so good that we
+confiscated the _carte du jour_ as a souvenir.
+
+Eagerly we looked forward to Chenonceaux, built on the Cher, most
+exquisite of the French châteaux and for centuries the rendezvous of wit
+and beauty. Motor cars lined the roadside by the gates of the park. Some
+of the visitors had driven in carriages from the nearest railway
+stations. We sauntered down an avenue of trees to a large garden, rather
+a formal piece of landscape work. The drawbridge offered access to the
+château. François I purchased it. Later, Henry II, ascending the throne,
+gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. The French women of that day
+had a big share in the shaping of history; the conversations of the
+boudoir were often more influential than state councils. Diane built a
+bridge which connected the castle with the other side of the river.
+Twelve years later, the death of Henry II gave his widow, Catherine de'
+Medici, a chance to relieve her embittered feelings. She forced Diane to
+exchange Chenonceaux for another château. Upon the bridge built by her
+rival, Catherine erected a long gallery, surmounted by a banqueting
+hall. This fairy-like structure is so strangely placed, one is reminded
+of a fantastic ship moored in the river. It is remarkable for its
+celebrated Renaissance architecture and for the absence of bloody
+traditions. "Blois is stained with the blood of Guise; Amboise was the
+scene of massacre; Loches stands upon unnumbered dungeons; Chenonceaux
+alone has no bloodstain on its stones and no groan has ever risen from
+its vaults. Eight generations of kings took their pleasure there, and a
+long line of brilliant and beautiful women makes its history like a rope
+of pearls." Even the gloomy, plotting Catherine did nothing to disturb
+the peaceful records and gorgeous _fêtes_ of Chenonceaux. In the
+"_chambre de Diane de Poitiers_" we saw a painting representing
+Catherine. Those cold, brooding eyes looked capable of anything, from
+the murder of the Duc de Guise to the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
+
+Two other châteaux of our itinerary still remained, Amboise and Blois,
+the latter perhaps the most famous of them all. We decided to visit
+these châteaux _en route_ down the valley of Loire to Orléans. The
+following morning we bade farewell to Tours. The road swept us along the
+left bank of the Loire, all aglitter in the September sunshine. What a
+wonderful stream it is, the longest river in France, with its basin
+embracing one fourth of that country! There is not a river in the world
+like it. One feels the breath of romance, the spell of historical
+associations, the beauty of its curves sweeping through a smiling land.
+"Perhaps no stream, in so short a portion of its course, has so much
+history to tell."[6] Along its banks flourished for three centuries the
+court of the Valois kings. There are vineyards, the remains of mediæval
+forests, little villages that have scarcely changed in a hundred years,
+and splendid châteaux like those of Blois, Chaumont, Chambord, and
+Amboise, almost reflecting their towers in the water and rich in the
+wonders of the French Renaissance.
+
+ [6] _Old Touraine_, by T. A. Cook.
+
+Of all the châteaux along the Loire, Amboise enjoys the finest
+situation. From across the river we could see this dark Gothic mass
+rising from its cliff-like walls to dominate the town and far-winding
+stream. The panorama from the high terrace is one of the indescribable
+views of France. The real treasure of Amboise is the exquisite Chapelle
+de Saint Hubert, due to Charles VIII. His artistic zeal was tragically
+interrupted. We saw the low doorway where, according to tradition, he
+struck his head and killed himself while hastening to play tennis. On
+the terrace is a bust of Leonardo da Vinci, who died here in 1519. The
+name of Catherine de' Medici is connected with a frightful scene that
+occurred in the courtyard. A Huguenot conspiracy to capture the youthful
+François II was discovered. The fierce Catherine not only witnessed the
+executions from a balcony, but insisted upon the company of her
+horrified daughter-in-law, Mary Stuart. Twelve hundred Huguenots were
+butchered. One writer[7] makes the following grim comment: "It was a
+long job, of course, to kill so many, and the company could hardly be
+expected to watch it all, but the noble victims were reserved for their
+special entertainment after dinner." Catherine seems to have had a
+peculiar fondness for these innocent and edifying spectacles. We
+descended the spiral roadway of the colossal tower up which Emperor
+Charles V rode on horseback when he visited François I. This inclined
+plane was so perfect and gradual that our motor car could have climbed
+it with ease.
+
+ [7] Sir Henry Norman, M. P., in "The Alpine Road of France," in
+ _Scribner's Magazine_, February, 1914.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Chateau of Amboise on the Loire_]
+
+Recrossing the Loire, we rode on to Blois for lunch at that famous
+hostelry, the Hôtel d'Angleterre, close by the river's edge. To the
+château of Blois belongs historical preëminence. This great castle was
+the center of French history in the sixteenth century. Elaborate and
+imposing, Blois recalls the splendor of the age as well as its crimes.
+Such fireplaces and such ceilings! The colors are crimson and gold. Amid
+this gloomy grandeur moved Catherine de' Medici. The memory of her
+presence alone is enough to make the air heavy with intrigue and murder,
+with all the passions that inflamed the religious wars. Joining the
+usual tourist crowd, we visited her apartments, including the bedroom
+where she died in 1589, at the age of seventy, the most infamous of
+French queens. To us, the strangest fact in the life of this fierce,
+blood-loving queen is that she was permitted to die a natural death. In
+one of the chambers were curious secret cupboards where she may have
+concealed her jewels. The floor above suggested a terribly realistic
+picture of the assassination of the Duc de Guise, whose popularity and
+influence had aroused the jealousy of Catherine and Henry III. The
+_concierge_ explained all the tragic details. This was the _salle du
+conseil_, where, on the morning of the assassination, the duke was
+summoned by the queen to a council; that, the _cabinet neuf_, where the
+king remained while the fatal blows were being struck. And there, in the
+king's chamber, at the foot of the bed, the spot where the body lay when
+the king exclaimed, "He seems greater in death than in life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+ORLÉANS TO DIEPPE
+
+
+Leaving the châteaux country, we proceeded to Orléans in the lower part
+of the Loire valley, spending the night at the Hôtel Saint Aignan. The
+general appearance of the city is prosperous and modern. The walls which
+once surrounded it have been turned into promenades. Everything in
+Orléans seems connected with Jeanne d'Arc. There is a bronze equestrian
+statue with bas-reliefs of the "Maid" who, clad in white armor, led her
+soldiers from victory to victory. We hope sometime to be present at the
+brilliant "Fête de Jeanne d'Arc," which is held every year on May 8, in
+commemoration of her raising the siege of Orléans in 1429. Small shops
+display postal cards representing scenes from her life. The Musée is
+filled with interesting souvenirs. In the cathedral, where the people
+worship her as a saint, we saw on the walls votive tablets bearing
+inscriptions of gratitude to her for recovery from sickness. In the same
+street is the "Maison de Jeanne d'Arc" where she was received by the
+Duc d'Orléans during the eventful siege. That morning was filled with an
+interesting series of historical sidelights.
+
+From the vineyards of Touraine to the wheat fields of Normandy; the
+change was complete. Like an endless white ribbon, the road stretched
+straight through the vast plain of La Beauce, the granary of France.
+What far reaches of level fields! There were no telegraph poles, no
+hedges, no fences. We seemed to be moving through a strange solitude,
+empty of human face or habitation. The distant farmhouses and windmills
+were too much like specks on the horizon to seem real. There is, after
+all, no scenery to compare with the beauty of the lowlands, where every
+mood of heaven, every change of sky, is part of a wonderful picture. The
+weather, which was threatening when we left Orléans, now looked more and
+more like a storm. No shelter was in sight, nothing but the open
+country, the great dome of heaven, and the road ever narrowing ahead of
+us until its indistinct thread merged into a faint blur. Swift clouds
+took on a greenish, copper-colored hue, which deepened into black as
+they swirled toward us. Then the hailstones began to fall with a
+stinging force that increased with every movement. It was one of those
+furious hailstorms of northern France which are as characteristic of
+that region as the mistral is of the Midi. There were no mitigating
+influences. The wind was pitiless, untempered even by the shelter of a
+tree or barn. By stopping the car and crouching behind it, we secured a
+little protection from the biting blasts. The sun soon burst through the
+cloud barriers. We continued toward Chartres, stopping for a moment at a
+railway crossing to "kodak" a passing freight train.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The wheat fields of Normandy_]
+
+The approach to Chartres was impressively picturesque. The double spires
+of its vast Gothic cathedral, growing more distinct, finally towered
+above the moat and the Porte Guillaume, the fourteenth-century gateway
+of the city. Our hotel, the Grand Monarque, gazed upon the turmoil of a
+village fair. The din was deafening. A merry-go-round added the blare of
+brazen music; several hand-organs were in discordant evidence. We
+mingled with the peasants around the small booths, and were almost
+enticed by a _jolie paysanne_ into buying a pair of small _sabots_. Our
+ride in the small motor car of the merry-go-round was the dizziest burst
+of speed on our whole trip.
+
+Little Chartres is overshadowed by its mighty cathedral. All interest
+concentrates there. Many consider it the finest in France. Every one
+would agree that the interior is incomparable. Nowhere can we find a
+more sublime expression of Gothic art. Those who fashioned this "sacred
+rock-work set to music" belong to the great unknown; their names are
+buried somewhere back in the early part of the thirteenth century when
+the cathedral was built. At least, they have given us a picture of their
+times; such structures could not be erected now. Our age is attuned to a
+different key; there are too many distracting influences. Then, there
+were no popular theaters, and few books or forms of amusement. The
+church was the natural center of thought and life. Only the religious
+inspiration of a people naturally artistic could have created the
+immortal works which the cathedral builders have bequeathed.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Gothic cathedral at Chartres_ _Page 200_]
+
+For a few miles outside of Chartres we were again on Route Nationale No.
+10. The blue-and-white advertisements of various productions appeared
+close to the road signs. This is a common practice of the French
+advertisers, who wish to catch the eye of the _voyageur_. We had no idea
+there were so many different makes of _pneus_ and _chocolats_. In the
+roadside hamlets the French advertiser makes use of the sides of barns
+and the corners of houses, but there is very little landscape
+advertising. Being Americans, we were impressed by this absence of
+disfiguring advertisements along the countryside in Normandy and other
+parts of France. The "Bull Durham" herd, so often found in American
+meadows, would not thrive in French pastures. It would be taxed out of
+existence.
+
+Hardly had we sat down to lunch in the Hôtel du Grand Cerf of Nonancourt
+when there was a great shouting and beating of drums outside. A group of
+conscripts marched noisily by. They wore red, white, and blue cockades,
+and neckties of the same color, in curious contrast to their simple
+peasant dress. In accordance with the provincial custom, it was a day
+of feasting to signalize their admission to the army. In two weeks they
+were to leave their homes to begin the long, tedious period of military
+service. A young _cuirassier_ whom we met in Limoges, and who had just
+completed his first year of service in the cavalry, related interesting
+experiences of life in the French army. The discipline is severe. The
+German soldier is not subjected to a more rigorous training. The rising
+hour is 5 A.M. in the spring, and 4 A.M. in the summer. There are long,
+exhausting marches. As often as two or three times a week the recruits
+are awakened in the middle of the night to make a long march. Life is
+made to conform as closely as possible to the conditions of actual war.
+A day's work of eighteen hours is not unusual. Naturally, this means
+hardship, but it also means good soldiers. The French army is very
+democratic. Rich and poor are treated alike. Both live together in the
+barracks. There are no privileges. Even if a recruit is wealthy, he is
+not allowed to keep a valet. Every man is his own domestic. The German
+army is not nearly so democratic. There, if the recruit has means, he
+can keep a servant and may live out of barracks in a comfortable
+apartment.
+
+The conscripts whom we saw in Nonancourt were destined to anything but
+an easy, inactive life. For infantry as well as cavalry there is the
+same grueling routine. The three hours of drilling in the morning do not
+include gymnasium exercises for three-quarters of an hour. Such menial
+duties as peeling potatoes, or washing dishes and clothes, form part of
+the morning's work. The short noon respite is followed by three hours of
+military exercises. During this period of training the recruits receive
+only one cent a day, besides clothing, guns, and very simple fare. The
+term of service has recently been extended from two to three years, to
+offset the increases of the German army. The average age of enlistment
+is about eighteen years, an age when the American boy is entering
+college or laying the foundation for a business career. In comparison,
+the French boy is heavily handicapped. Even if his school days end at
+the age of sixteen, he can do little in business. The French business
+man does not think it worth while to prepare the boy for an important
+position, since his military service is so close at hand. France pays a
+terrible price for national security. The financial cost, burdensome
+though it is, is the smallest item. Frenchmen who have lived in the
+United States often speak of the great advantages enjoyed by the young
+American who can devote to his education or to his life work those three
+precious years which the French youth must give to the army.
+
+Anatole France, the distinguished French writer, was among those who
+protested against the new military law. "This addition of a year to the
+conscription comes on us just when France is moving forward with a new
+energy, both in science and industry. It will be a grave blow to all our
+higher life. Medicine especially will be injured, for the medicine of
+the army is not the medicine of the civil state. French science requires
+the time of its young students, and that will be gravely curtailed. The
+demand for another army year from all young Frenchmen, imposed without
+any exemptions, will draw off the best from every field of life. It
+comes at a moment of great industrial development. It will check that
+development. It comes at a moment of expansion in our arts, especially
+in sculpture. It will be a heavy blow. Sculpture is not practiced on the
+battlefield."
+
+We wonder if there is any help for Europe! How will it all end? So far
+as we can now foresee, the peace conference at The Hague, to have been
+held in 1915, has been indefinitely postponed. Instead of this gathering
+of the nations to establish some practical basis for limitation of
+armaments, there is the prospect of increased armaments. The burdens,
+already so crushing, are apparently only the prelude to what is coming.
+England is the pacemaker on the sea. Mr. Winston Churchill, in his
+recent speech before the House of Commons, urged that the naval budget
+for 1915 be raised to over a quarter billion dollars. He said: "The
+naval estimates for the next year are the largest in British history,
+$257,750,000. The causes which might lead to a general war have not been
+removed. The world is arming as it never armed before. All attempts at
+arresting it have been ineffectual." Germany is more than ever a nation
+in arms. At the present rate of increase, her standing army in time of
+peace will soon number more than a million men. France, which less than
+a year ago passed the Three Years' Service Bill, already faces the
+possible necessity of adding still another year to the term of military
+service.
+
+Count Witte, the Russian statesman, has estimated that forty per cent of
+the total income of the great powers is absorbed by their armies and
+navies. He said: "Unless the great states which have set this hideous
+example agree to call a halt and to knit their subjects into a pacific,
+united Europe, war is the only issue I can perceive. And when I say war,
+I mean a conflict which will surpass in horror the most brutal armed
+conflicts known to human history, and entail distress more widespread
+and more terrible than living men can realize."
+
+Russia is making sweeping military reforms. The disastrous war with
+Japan taught valuable lessons. The reorganization of the army includes
+vast increases of men, and especially the improvement in facilities of
+transportation. The railroad network in process of construction on her
+western frontier will probably be completed in 1915. When the plans of
+the Czar are realized in 1917, Russia will have one of the most
+formidable armies in the world, a war machine with a fighting strength
+of over four million men.
+
+"Throughout Austria-Hungary there is just now a feeling of considerable
+dread of Russia's ulterior motives in a number of measures, military and
+otherwise, that are being discussed in political circles here. Of
+greatest moment in that connection is a short but vigorous speech made
+by the Hungarian premier, Count Tisza, before the Parliament. It was
+delivered while advocating the new army increase bill (since adopted by
+a large majority), which raises considerably the annual quota of
+recruits. After bewailing the necessity of imposing new burdens on a
+nation impoverished and already staggering under its load, he termed the
+contemplated increase in the fighting strength of the army an absolute
+necessity. 'The shadows of a coming big war are thrown ahead, and the
+losing side will forfeit its national life, or at least expect a painful
+amputation,' he cried."
+
+In every country where we motored there was scarcely an hour which did
+not bring the sound of drums, the sight of barracks, of soldiers
+drilling or on the march. Whether in Germany, Austria, Italy, or France,
+there were the same sights of preparation for war. The sacrifices of
+peace in 1914 are hardly less exhausting than were the sacrifices of war
+in 1813.
+
+"What a reflection on modern diplomacy the whole situation casts! A
+policy which men like Gray and Asquith have repeatedly characterized as
+one of madness, as one leading to bankruptcy, as one that makes a
+mockery of peace by throwing away half its benefits, is pursued because
+the diplomats can't agree on a plan of armament limitation. It is
+admitted that the frenzied rivalry in armament increase adds nothing to
+the relative strength of any power or group of powers, yet the frenzied
+rivalry continues at the expense of industry and constructive social and
+economical reforms. If the 'causes of a general war' in Europe have not
+been removed, what has diplomacy been doing and of what use are the
+alliances, the ententes, and understandings among the powers? Might not
+a little courage and boldness in pushing the armament-limitation idea
+and appealing to public, business, and democratic sentiment force the
+hands of the routine-ridden diplomats?"
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_The Seine at Rouen_ _Page 210_]
+
+For nearly twenty miles the road cut a white swath through the treeless
+plain of St. André to the cathedral town of Evreux. The wheat fields and
+cathedrals of Normandy should be mentioned in the same sentence. France,
+so full of the picturesque, has few finer sights than the view of these
+airy cathedral spires while one is still miles away from any town. We
+zigzagged into the valley of Iton, climbed, swooped downward, and
+crossing that hurrying stream, ran beside the river Eure into the main
+street of Louviers. The warning, "_Allure modère_," was unnecessary. The
+cobble stones were sufficient to make us slacken speed. The beauty of
+the church of Nôtre Dame served to stop us completely. The church, with
+its profuse embroidery of rich, delicate carving, shone like a jewel
+amid the motley and jumbled houses. It was like finding a rosebush
+blooming in the gutter of some neglected street. Through the forest of
+Pont de l'Arche to the town of the same name, where we crossed the
+Seine, past bright little Norman cottages, our route shot ahead to
+Rouen, the center of cotton manufacturing for France, the most
+interesting mediæval city in Normandy, and renowned the world over for
+splendid Gothic churches. After inspecting the rooms of two or three
+hotels, we chose the Hôtel d'Angleterre, close by the crowded traffic of
+the Seine.
+
+Sight-seeing in Rouen is more convenient by carriage than by motor car.
+We moved from the abbey church of St. Ouen to the church of St. Maclou.
+If Europe had no other remains of Gothic art, Rouen would be enough to
+describe all the splendor of that style of architecture. The cathedral
+is a whole library of description in itself. Curious is the legend of
+the Tour de Beurre, built by money received from indulgences sold, and
+permitting the people to eat butter in Lent.
+
+"At the base of the Tour St. Romain, there still stands the lodge of the
+porter whose duties from very early times right up to 1760, included the
+care of the fierce watchdogs who were at night let loose in the
+cathedral to guard its many precious treasures from robbers. How much
+would we give for a glimpse of one of those porters walking through the
+cavernous gloom of these echoing aisles, with his lamp throwing strange
+shadows from the great slouching dogs!"[8]
+
+ [8] From _Motor Routes of France_, Part I, by Gordon Home.
+
+The central tower rises into a great spire of open iron work, more than
+one and a half times as high as the steeple of Trinity Church in New
+York. One seldom sees anything so quaintly picturesque as the little
+wooden cloister, Aître Saint-Maclou. From its courtyard, the burial
+ground for so many victims of the Black Death of 1348, one sees mediæval
+spires which rise in all directions. Another vivid reminder of the past
+is the archway of the Grosse Horloge, with its huge clock in colors of
+blue and gold and dating from the sixteenth century.
+
+But the impressions of Rouen that thrilled us most related to the sad
+closing days of Jeanne d'Arc. At Orléans we saw her in the hour of
+victory, a young girl dictating to experienced generals, cutting her way
+through the English army around the city and bringing provisions and
+succor to the beleaguered inhabitants. Our _cocher_ escorted us to the
+tower where, with instruments of torture around her, she faced and
+baffled her brutal inquisitors. In the old market place, the scene of
+her martyrdom, one is shown a simple slab which reads, "Jeanne d'Arc, 30
+Mai, 1431." This marks the spot where she was burned at the stake.
+
+The last lap of the trip, the ride to Dieppe on the English Channel, was
+past many large Norman farms. Neat haystacks dotted the rolling acres.
+Nowhere else had we seen so many horses,--big, powerful creatures.
+Normandy breeds and exports them. Apple orchards were in constant view.
+Coasting down a long hill into the city, we left the car in the garage
+of the Grand Hôtel, and joined an enthusiastic crowd which was watching
+a football game between Dieppe and Rouen.
+
+The new France is keenly interested in sports and games. In 1912 there
+was held in Paris the International Congress for Physical Culture, the
+idea being to impress upon the young the need for physical development.
+The extent to which the idea of physical culture has captured France
+will be evident from the following figures: in 1896 the various
+athletic societies had less than fifty thousand members; to-day, they
+have more than three hundred thousand members. France has indeed entered
+upon a new era. The chief characteristic of it is not literary but
+practical, self-assertive, and everywhere for action. The young
+Frenchman of to-day is more interested in sports than in art or
+literature. A French professor recently said: "I have lived my life in
+my library. There I have passed through my intellectual crises. There I
+have experienced my most fervent emotions. In the lives of my sons I
+notice that books play a very little part, or if they read, it is
+biography, and especially the biography of men of action like Napoleon."
+
+[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
+
+_Where Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake_]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Now comes the pang of keen regret. We are close to the end. These weeks
+of unmingled joy stand around us like a group of friends, as if to stay
+our leaving. Four thousand miles of motoring, in five countries, and
+without an accident! Our car has taken on personality. Here, climbing a
+mountain to the very summit whose far-away vistas held us enchanted, or
+rushing down on the other side, we skirted some quiet lake that lay
+embosomed in its own loveliness; there, a wild glen with its mysterious
+depths beckoning us to halt! We have seen the peasantry, as in France,
+looked upon their quaint costumes and customs, and caught the simple
+melody of their songs. We have gone close to palaces, and wondered
+whether prince or peasant were the happier. We have seen châteaux that
+were tragedies and cathedrals that were poems. We have seen the
+conscripts file slowly past, each surrendering three years of the most
+important period of his life. Then, we have contrasted a nation as a
+military camp with our own great republic, without a large standing
+army, but safe. And now, homeward bound to the freest land beneath the
+sun, America!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+EXPENSES AND SUGGESTIONS
+
+
+The purchase of the car at the Benz factory in Mannheim, Germany,
+plunged us at once into a maze of police regulations. It was necessary
+to secure a driving license. With us in the United States this is hardly
+more than a matter of routine. Not so in Germany, where the examination
+is really a formidable affair. It is especially difficult for a
+foreigner to secure a driving license. He may be able to give evidence
+proving that he has driven a car for years in his own country. This fact
+makes no difference. It is not even taken into consideration. Every
+possible opportunity is given the candidate to make mistakes, and thus
+to prove that he is not qualified to receive the desired certificate. No
+detail of motormanship is overlooked. There is an age requirement of
+eighteen years. First came the physical examination. Then it was
+necessary to spend two hours a day in the shop for five and a half weeks
+so as to become thoroughly acquainted with the various parts of the
+motor car. The candidate is given an opportunity to see motor cars taken
+apart and put together. In this way he is made familiar with the use and
+purpose of every part of the car. The crucial test begins when he is
+called upon to show his skill as chauffeur. It is customary to drive one
+hundred miles in the city and surrounding country. The official police
+inspector who accompanies him is resourceful in his tests. Under his
+supervision the car is driven through crowded streets, and made to back
+up and turn around in difficult places,--in fact, to meet all the
+emergencies of motor travel. Even after the examination has been passed
+successfully, there is a delay of several days before the license is
+given the final stamp of official approval. The license for which we
+made application on February 22 was not secured until April 10. It cost
+one hundred _marks_ (about twenty-five dollars). Of this amount, one
+half goes to the state and the balance to the shop giving the candidate
+his instruction in motor-car mechanics. The inspector receives ten
+dollars for his services. There is also a customary charge of one
+dollar and a half for the number plate.
+
+Americans who have lived for a considerable time in Germany are always
+impressed with the numerous occasions when the state interferes in the
+private life of the individual; the foreign motorist is no exception to
+this rule of coming at once into contact with the state. He no sooner
+crosses the frontier than the state compels him to pay a tax. Even
+though he remains in the country but a single day, he is forced to
+secure a tax license which costs three _marks_ (about seventy-five
+cents). These tax licenses are issued to cover periods of from one to
+ninety days, the license good for three months costing fifty _marks_. If
+one remains longer than ninety days it is necessary to renew this
+license or _Steuerkarte_. The annual tax on motor cars varies according
+to the power of the car. A car of 13.9 horse power (German rating) would
+be taxed one hundred and twenty _marks_. The German tax net spreads
+everywhere. At the time of our sojourn in that country the city of
+Munich was considering the introduction of a tax on cats. Such a tax
+would without doubt be the first of its kind in the world. In southern
+Germany the small towns still continue to exact imposts of ten
+_pfennigs_ (three cents) from the motor cars passing over their roads.
+In spite of the complaint that this tax is a serious obstacle to trade
+and traffic, there is no immediate prospect of its being removed.
+France, in contrast to Germany, does not subject the foreign motorist to
+a tax unless his sojourn exceeds a period of four months.
+
+The annual dues of the Rheinische Automobile Club amounted to forty
+_marks_. Membership in an organization of this kind is necessary to
+secure the _triptyques_ which are so indispensable to the motorist whose
+itinerary includes several countries of Europe. The usefulness of this
+important document has been described so often that we do not feel
+called upon to make further comment here. Our international driving
+permit based upon the special license issued by the state was also
+secured for a small fee from the automobile club above mentioned.
+
+Among the incidental expenses, the cost of repairs is apt to figure
+largely, particularly when one is motoring along mountain highways.
+Such services are much cheaper in Europe than in the United States. In
+our case the item was so small as to be almost negligible. The car was
+so carefully overhauled and inspected before leaving the factory that we
+suffered little inconvenience or delay. Our tire troubles were limited
+to a single puncture. Continental tires in the rear and Excelsior in the
+front gave excellent service. Notwithstanding the wear and tear of
+mountain motoring, we found it necessary to use only one of the two
+reserve tires.
+
+Gasoline was everywhere obtainable. In Germany and France the price is
+about thirty-seven cents a gallon, but in Austria and Spain it is much
+higher, generally approximating eighty cents a gallon. In Italy, where
+bargaining is necessary, the price usually dropped from eighty cents to
+less than forty-eight cents a gallon. A Bosch magneto greatly increased
+the speed and climbing ability of the car, and enabled us to average
+about twenty-one miles to every gallon of gasoline. In France the cost
+of this necessary article is not fixed. Neighboring towns often showed
+a difference of several cents in the cost per gallon. But although the
+price is not uniform, the fine quality is, and always gave excellent
+results. As a part of our equipment we carried as reserve a five-gallon
+sealed can of gasoline and a similar quantity of oil. On these it was
+occasionally necessary to pay a duty of a couple of cents at the
+numerous _octroi_ stations in France. The inconvenience of these imposts
+was usually more burdensome than the amount of the tax. For our oil,
+which would have cost about forty cents a gallon in the United States,
+we averaged one dollar and ten cents a gallon.
+
+Our hotel bills were not high. We had expected to find them much higher.
+Two dollars or two dollars and a half was sufficient as a rule to cover
+dinner, chamber, and breakfast. For instance, our rooms at the Hôtel de
+France cost one dollar each, the dinner _table d'hôte_ seventy-five
+cents each, and breakfast thirty cents, the usual prices which secured
+us satisfactory accommodations nearly everywhere in France. Every hotel
+had its garage, a fact which we did not always find to be true of the
+hotels in Germany. The garage was often not much more than a shed or
+lean-to, but it always offered the shelter and protection necessary for
+our one-or two-night stops. Sometimes there was a garage charge of one
+franc (nineteen and one half cents) a day, but this was exceptional. If
+the car was washed we were expected to pay from thirty-five to fifty
+cents for this extra service. The scale of prices in Germany and Austria
+was possibly twenty per cent higher, but nowhere was there any attempt
+to take advantage of the fact that we were foreigners.
+
+The motor tourist is such a familiar sight abroad that the stopping of a
+motor car before a provincial hotel does not excite unusual interest. It
+is rather an everyday occurrence, an accustomed detail of the day's
+routine. France especially, more than any other country in Europe, has
+become a land of motor tourists. The large well-to-do class turns
+naturally to motoring for recreation and diversion.
+
+The Frenchman practices thrift in his hours of leisure and travel as
+well as in his business. This fact probably explains in great part the
+comparatively low level of hotel charges to be found in that country.
+Contrary to the popular idea, there are not two sets of charges, one for
+the European and a higher one for the American. We were never expected
+to pay for services that were not rendered in more than ample measure.
+On the contrary, we had daily opportunities to observe the effort made
+to give us the best possible service for the prices charged. This was
+true not only of the hotels but of the restaurants as well. Of course,
+for a dollar a day we did not expect to have a _chambre de luxe_. It is
+really a constant surprise to see how much one can get in the way of
+clean, comfortable rooms and appetizing meals for a small outlay.
+
+France is a country by itself in this respect. There is perhaps no
+country where the traveler can get so much for his money. In no other
+land of Europe can one motor so cheaply. It is always possible to avoid
+the big towns as sleeping places and at meal times, and yet run no risk
+of not enjoying the finest cooking and a comfortable night's lodging.
+Austria is the most expensive country for the motorist. Spain and
+central and southern Italy are so little patronized by motor traffic
+that they do not need to be included in our comparison.
+
+The consideration of incidental expenses brings us to the question of
+tipping, without doubt the most perplexing and the most misunderstood of
+all the problems that confront the foreign motorist in Europe. Long
+before his steamer touches the shore of the Old World, he has visions of
+an extended line of servants standing with outstretched hands to receive
+the expected shower of coins. For the majority of tourists it is almost
+an ordeal to leave a European hotel. How often we have heard the
+question, "What shall I give?" The average American has such an
+instinctive sense of fairness, of wanting to do the right thing, that a
+matter of this kind assumes an importance out of all proportion to the
+value of the tip. He is willing to be liberal; on the other hand, he is
+not eager to pose as a philanthropic and charitable institution created
+to satisfy the needs of every hotel employee who says "_Guten Tag_" or
+"_Bon jour_" to him when he enters the hotel. The trouble is that in
+borrowing this custom from Europe we have so Americanized it that we
+find it difficult to get the European viewpoint and to adapt ourselves
+readily to the practice as it exists to-day across the water. The
+American _voyageur_ is so accustomed to doing things in a large way that
+it is not easy for him to appreciate the European system of small
+percentages. His common mistake is to give larger tips than are expected
+and overlook the small tips which do not seem to be so important. He
+hesitates to give a small tip, and in such cases would prefer to give
+none at all.
+
+We have read somewhere the story of a Frenchman who was visiting the
+United States for the first time. He ate a sixty-cent meal in a New York
+restaurant. Following the custom in Paris, he left five per cent of the
+bill, three cents, for the waiter. Many of us could probably confess to
+an equal uncertainty and helplessness in the presence of our first
+tipping experience in Europe. Baedeker's classic rule of ten per cent of
+the total amount of the bill seems strangely inadequate when a traveler
+has stayed only one night at a hotel and finds that his bill is about
+two dollars. The problem of dividing twenty cents so that every one
+will be satisfied is a task that he would willingly turn over to
+somebody else. As a matter of fact, while there is no arbitrary rule, it
+does not take long to discover that the _pourboire_ and _Trinkgeld_ are
+fixed and permanent institutions, as solid in their reality as the
+Credit Lyonnais or the Reichsbank. One is expected to give at least
+something, even if the service rendered has been merely nominal. The
+French and German systems of coinage, with their _5-centime_ and
+_10-pfennig_ pieces, fit in so conveniently to the European standards of
+tipping. Judging from our experience, the tourist will be most quickly
+at ease who observes the custom as it is practiced by the inhabitants of
+the country, and then makes his own scale of tips slightly larger.
+Foreigners are expected to be a little more liberal. The quality of
+service received will ordinarily more than compensate for this slight
+increase. In Valence, where we stayed only one night, the bill,
+including chamber, dinner, and breakfast, amounted to twenty francs for
+two people. Our tips were itemized as follows:
+
+ FRANCS CENTIMES
+ Garçon 50
+ Femme de chambre 50
+ Valet de chambre 50
+ Concierge 1
+ Garage 25
+ -- --
+ Total 2 75
+
+If there was an _ascenseur_ in the hotel the elevator boy never looked
+insulted when we gave him ten or fifteen _centimes_. If extra service
+was rendered, we paid for it accordingly. This scale of tipping secured
+us good service in the small provincial towns. In the larger places the
+_maître de l'hôtel_ (head waiter) plays a more important role and ranks
+in tipping dignity with the _concierge_. In Italy the equivalent of four
+cents per person would be considered liberal in most restaurants. In
+Germany, where the rise in cost of living is more noticeable than in
+France, the item of tipping was slightly larger. Austria gave us the
+most difficulty. Here the system is more complicated. The
+_Speise-traeger_ who brings you food, the _Piccolo_ who ministers to
+your thirst, the _Zahl-kellner_ who receives payment for the bill, all
+expect their contribution of _hellers_. These dignitaries were
+ordinarily satisfied with tips of twenty, ten, and forty _hellers_ in
+the order named. The value of _hellers_ and _centimes_ is so nearly
+equal that it was not confusing to pass from the Austrian to the French
+system of coinage.
+
+The largest single item of expense was of course the cost of
+transportation, which always depends on the size and weight of the car.
+The cost of ocean transportation for an ordinary four-seated touring car
+would run from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and
+seventy-five dollars. To this amount must be added fifty dollars to
+cover cost of boxing. In our case, since the car was purchased abroad,
+it was necessary to pay a duty of thirty per cent on the original cost,
+minus the agent's commission of twenty-five per cent.
+
+
+ Transcriber's note:
+
+ _Underscores_ have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts.
+ The Illustration captions were printed without accents. This has
+ been left as it was in the original.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Europe from a Motor Car, by Russell Richardson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41588 ***
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