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diff --git a/old/44076.txt b/old/44076.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8fcf8b3..0000000 --- a/old/44076.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3181 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Autumn Impressions of the Gironde, by -Isabel Giberne Sieveking - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Autumn Impressions of the Gironde - -Author: Isabel Giberne Sieveking - -Release Date: October 30, 2013 [EBook #44076] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTUMN IMPRESSIONS OF THE GIRONDE *** - - - - -Produced by Marc-AndrA(C) Seekamp, Ann Jury and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - AUTUMN IMPRESSIONS - OF THE GIRONDE - - - - - In Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt. Price 6s. - - RUSSIA OF TO-DAY - - BY - - E. VON DER BRUeGGEN - - THE TIMES says:-- -"Few among the numerous books dealing with the Russian Empire which -have appeared of late years will be found more profitable than Baron -von der Brueggen's 'Das Heutige Russland,' an English version of which -has now been published. The impression which it produced in Germany -two years ago was most favourable, and we do not hesitate to repeat -the advice of the German critics by whom it was earnestly recommended -to the notice of all political students. The author's reputation -has already been firmly established by his earlier works on 'The -Disintegration of Poland' and 'The Europeanization of Russia,' and in -the present volume his judgment appears to be as sound as his knowledge -is unquestionable." - - - - - Illustration: ANCIENT HEADDRESS IN AIRVAULT (DEUX SEVRES). - [_Frontispiece._ - - - - - Autumn Impressions - of the Gironde - - BY - - I. GIBERNE SIEVEKING - - AUTHOR OF - - "Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman," and - "A Turning Point of the Indian Mutiny." - -Once or twice, in every life--it may be in one form, it may be in -another--there comes one day the possibility of a glimpse through the -Magic Gates of Idealism. Some of us are not close enough to the opening -gates to catch a sight of what lies beyond, but in the eyes of those -who have seen--there is from that moment an ineffaceable, unforgettable -longing. - - [Illustration] - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - LONDON - Digby, Long & Co. - 18, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. - 1910 - - - - - TO FRANCE-- - THE COUNTRY OF MANY IDEALS - - - - -PREFACE - - -To each man or woman of us there is the Country of our Ideals. The -ideals may be newly aroused; they may be of long standing. But some -time or other, in some way or other, there is the country; there is the -place; there is the sunny spot in our imagination-world which _calls_ -to us--and calls to us in no uncertain voice. - -It is true we are not always susceptible to that call: it is true we -are not always responsive, but it is there all the same. Sometimes -there comes to us a day when that "call" is insistent, all-compelling, -irresistible; a day in which it sounds with indescribable music, -indescribable vibration, through that inner world into which we all go -now and again, when days are monotonous or depressing. - -It is impossible to conjecture why some country, some place, some -woman, should make that indescribable appeal which lays a hand on -the latch of those gates leading to that world of imagination which -exists in most of us far, far below the placid, shallow waters of -conventionalism. It is impossible to conjecture when or where the -voice and the call will sound in our ears. The man who hears it will -recognise what it means, but will in no way be able to account for it. - -He will only know with what infinite satisfaction he is sensible of the -touch which enables him to "slip through the magic gates," as a great -friend once expressed it, into the world of Idealism, of Imagination. - -True, the pleasure, the satisfaction, is elusive. He can lay no hand -upon those wonderful moments which come thus to him. Even before he -is aware that they have begun, he is conscious that they are already -slipping out of his grasp. - -What play has ever shown this more clearly than Maeterlinck's "Blue -Bird"? Though the children go from glory to glory of lustrous -imagination, though they can go back to the land of Old Memories, to -the land of the Future, yet they cannot stay there. Though they see and -rejoice to the full in the "Blue Bird," the spirit of Happiness, yet -that one soft stroking of its feathers is all that is possible before -it flies away. For every Ideal is winged: every Conception of Happiness -but a passing vision. We have but to attempt to grasp them to find -their elusiveness is a fact from which we cannot get away. - -For me, the France about which I have written in the following pages is -a country which calls to me from the world of my ideals, from the world -of my imagination. From across the seas that call stirs me and thrills -me indescribably. It is not the France of the Parisian; it is not the -France of the automobilist; it is not the France of the Cook's tourist. -It is the France upon whose shores one steps at once into _the land of -many ideals_. - -I should like here to thank three friends, Messieurs Henri Guillier, -Goulon, and E. G. Sieveking, who have most kindly given me permission -to print their photographs of the part of France through which I -travelled, and more than all, the greatest friend of all, who alone -made the journey possible. - I. Giberne Sieveking. - - - - - Autumn Impressions - of the Gironde - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -"Mails first!" shouted the captain from the upper deck, as the steamer -from Newhaven brought up alongside the landing stage at Dieppe, and the -eager flow of the tide of passengers, anxious to forget on dry land how -roughly the "cradle of the deep" had lately rocked them, was stayed. - -I looked round on the woe-begone faces of those who had answered the -call of the sea, and whose reply had been so long and so wearisome -to themselves. Why is it that a smile is always ready in waiting -at the very idea of sea-sickness? There is nothing humorous in its -presentment; nothing in its discomfort to the sufferers; but yet to the -bystander it invariably presents the idea of something comic, and, to -the man whose inside turns a somersault at the first lurch of the wave -against the side of the steamer, _mal-de-mer_ seems both a belittling, -as well as a very uncomfortable, part to play! - -At Dieppe the train practically starts in the street; and while it -waited for its full complement of passengers, two or three countrywomen -came and knocked with their knuckles against the sides of the -carriages, and held up five ruddy-cheeked pears for sale. (One uses the -term "ruddy-cheeked" for apples, so why not for pears, which shew as -much cheek as the former, only of a different shape?) - -The Dining-Car Service of the "_Chemin de fer de L'Ouest_," at Dieppe -airs some delightful "English" in its advertisement cards. For -instance: "A dining-car runs ordinary with the follow trains." "Second -and Third Class passengers having finished their meals can only remain -in the Dining-Car until the first stopping place after the station -at which a series of meals terminates and if the exigencies of the -service will permit." "Between meals.--First class passengers have -free use of the Restaurant at any time, and may remain therein during -the whole or part of the journey, if the exigencies of the service -will permit, and notably before the commencement of the first series -of meals and after the last one." "Second and Third Class passengers -can only be admitted to that section of the Restaurant which is -very clearly indicated (sic) for their use, for refreshments or the -purchase of provisions between two consecutive stopping points only. -All Second and Third Class passengers infringing these conditions must -pay the difference from second or third to first class for that part -of the journey effected in the Dining-Car in infraction (sic) with -the regulations." There is also this very tantalus-like notification: -"Various drinks as per tariff exhibited in the cars!" One half expects -to see this followed by: "Persons are requested not to touch the -exhibits!" - -Beyond Dieppe the country is mostly divided up into squares, flanked by -rows of trees, looking in the distance more like rows of ninepins than -anything else. From time to time, along the line, we passed cottages, -in front of which stood a countrywoman in frilled cap and blue skirt, -"at attention," as it were, holding in her hand, evidently as a badge -of office and signal to our engine-driver, a round stick, sometimes -red, sometimes purple. - -Some of these signallers stood absorbed in the importance of the work -in hand, (or rather stick in hand), but others had an eye to the -main chance of their own households, which was being enacted in the -cottage behind them, whether it concerned culinary arrangements or the -goings-on of the children, and while she wielded the _baton_ in the -service of her country, she minded (as we have been so often assured is -woman's distinctive, though somewhat narrowed, province!) things of low -estate--such as her saucepan, her _pot-au-feu_, her baby. - -In the far corner of our carriage, in black beaver, cassock and heavy -cloak, with parchment-like countenance, much-lined brow, and controlled -mouth, sat a young _cure_. He was engaged in saying a prolonged -"Office," but this did not hinder him from taking occasionally, "for -his stomach's sake, and his other infirmities," a little snuff from -time to time. - -We were bound for Paris, _en route_ for Arcachon. The train, as it went -along, disturbed crowds of finches, and amongst them here and there a -large sort of bird with black head and wings and white back, which I -could not identify, though it seemed to belong to the crow tribe, to -judge by the shape of its body and manner of its flight. - -From time to time we passed little sheltered villages: quiet, -grey-roofed, sentinelled by the inevitable poplar, and traversed -by a little softly-shining stream. The meadows were full of soft, -feathery-plumaged trees, of all shades of delicate tints; from the -yellow tint of the evening primrose to the pink of the campion, and the -shade of a robin's breast. An old countrywoman in a full satiny skirt, -carrying a long pole over her shoulder, was striding energetically -across a field as we passed. - -How one country gives the lie to another which holds as a -dictum--immutable, irreversible--that outdoor labour is not possible -for women! All over France men and women share equally the toil of the -fields, and no one can say that it has not developed a strong, healthy -type of woman, nor that the work is not effectively done. In some -places I even saw women at work on the railway lines. - -A few miles farther on we came upon an orchard of leafless fruit-trees -sprawling across a soft green slope; behind them, a little forest of -pine trees, their bare trunks _chassez-croisezing_ against a pale -saffron sky as we whirled by. Gnarled willows, with a diaphanous purple -haze upon their bare boughs, came into sight, a goat quietly grazing at -their roots; little meandering streams pottering quietly along between -willow trees; here and there splendid old slated-roofed farm-houses, -some with climbing trees trained up the front in regular, parallel -lines. - -Soon little plantations appeared, covered over with diminutive vines -trailed up stout, white sticks; at a little distance they looked like -clusters of dried red-brown leaves tied up by the stem, and drooping at -the top. Seen in the gloom, from a little distance in the train, these -lines of _petits vignoles_ looked like a detachment of foot soldiers -marching in file, with rifle on shoulder. We had, of course, come just -too late for the vintage; the day of the vines was over for this year. - -Now and again we caught sight of long strips of some vivid green plant, -unknown to me, but resembling nothing so much as a certain delicious -chicory and cream omelet on which we had regaled ourselves at Paris! -Magpies, here and there, fluttered over the white stretch of sandy -road, giving the effect of black letter type on a dazzling white page -of paper. - -An old woman in a blue skirt presented, as she bent over the stubble, -a sort of counter-paned back, patched with all sorts of different -coloured pieces of cloth: a little further on, a man, in white apron -and bib, was strolling along a furrow scattering handfuls of what -looked like white flour from a basket slung over his left arm. Up a -winding country road wound groups of blue-smocked villagers; the women -frilled-capped, the men baggily-trousered. Under the roofs of some -of the cottages were hanging bunches of some herb or other to dry. -At the corner of the road a picturesque blue cart was lying on its -side, making a useful bit of local colour, though _passe_ as regards -utilitarian purposes. On the higher ground were windmills, dotted about -in profusion: some of them had taken up a position on the top of some -pointed cottage roof. - -Over some of the cultivated strips of land were placed, at intervals, -sticks with what suggested a touzled head of hair, but which was in -reality composed of loose strands of straw. Along the sides of these -strips lie _citronnes_ (which, on mature acquaintanceship with the -district, I find are a sort of vegetable used largely in soup) strewn -loosely and carelessly about on the ground to ripen. The trees not -far from St. Pierre des Corps seem a great deal infested by various -kinds of fungi: that kind, whose scientific name I forget, which -grows bunchily, in shape like a bird's nest, and which give a sort of -uncombed appearance to the branches. - -We had intended, originally, to stop at Tours for the night but, -finding that our doing so would involve two changes, we altered our -minds, and determined to go straight on to Bordeaux. Then ensued the -enormous difficulty of rescuing our luggage; for, as everyone who has -travelled much abroad knows, the "red tape" which is always tied, with -great outward ceremony and pomp of circumstance, round one's goods and -chattels when travelling by train, is exceedingly difficult to undo, -and especially so at short notice. - -However, my companion plunged promptly _in medias res_ when, at the -Junction, the train allowed us a few minutes on the loose, and we -contrived to get our luggage out of the consignment labelled for -Tours--though it was at the very bottom of all the other trunks--and -transferred into the Bordeaux train, while I secured from the buffet a -basket of pears, some rolls and cold chicken, flanked by a bottle of -_vin ordinaire_. And, while on the subject of _vin ordinaire_, though -there is an old, well-worn saying to the intent that "good wine needs -no bush," yet I cannot help planting a little shrub to the honour of -the wine of the country in the fair country of the Gironde. - -Without exception, I found it excellent, and I can say in all -sincerity, that I do not desire a better meal or better wine to wash -it down, while travelling, than is put before one in the restaurants -of Bordeaux and the neighbourhood, especially in the country villages. -Seldom have I spent happier meal-times than were those I passed -opposite the two sentinelling bottles, one of white wine, the other -of red, which flanked (without money and without price) the simple, -excellently-cooked, second _dejeuner_ or _table d'hote_, whichever it -might chance to be. - -Dr. Thomas Fuller, of blessed memory, has left behind the wise -injunction that no man should travel before his "wit be risen." An -addendum might very well be added that he should not travel before his -judgment be up as well, and if Englishmen, who travel so much more -in body than in spirit, always saw to it that both their "wit" and -their judgment accompanied them to valet their mental equipment on -their travels, their somewhat insular views as regards foreign ways of -doing things, and foreign productions (such as the much, and unjustly, -decried _vin ordinaire_, for instance,) would be brushed up and cleared -of the cobwebs of tradition that are, in so many cases, over them even -in the present year of grace. - -To return, after this digression. After leaving Blois, the land was -mapped out in larger squares of vineyards, in which a different kind -of vine was growing: taller and bigger than the ones we had passed -earlier in the day. These were dark brown in leafage, topped by a -sort of flowery head. At the head of all the trees, that were denuded -of foliage, there was a little round cap of yellow leaves, growing -conically, and presenting a very curious effect when seen on the verge -of a distant line of landscape. In France trees are assisted and -instructed in their manner of growth. - -Poitiers was our next stop; it was just growing dusk as we slowed into -the station. Surely few cities offer more suggestive environment for -mystery and romance than does Poitiers, seen by the fading light of -a November afternoon. Dim heights surround the city; a broad, grey -river, in parts a dazzle of steely points, flows round the outskirts; a -glimpse is seen here and there, of spire, tower and battlements rising -from out the midst of wooded heights; of grey, winding roads leading -steeply down from the city on the hill, to the valleys and ravines -beneath. - -We had an additional adjunct to the general picturesqueness in a -long procession of priests, some wearing birettas, some sombreros, -accompanied by serried ranks of country-women in the long-backed white -caps peculiar to the district, with long, stiff white strings hanging -loose over the shoulder. It was evidently the end of some pilgrimage. -Poitiers is a city of many priests and religious orders, both of men -and women; of monasteries and nunneries. - -When the procession had wended its way out of the station, the platform -was appropriated by men carrying baskets of eggs, coloured with -cochineal. Now, as everyone who has travelled much in this part of -France is aware, really new-laid eggs, and matches, are apparently not -indigenous, so to speak, for neither can be procured without enormous -difficulty. I could have made quite a fortune over a few little boxes -of English safety matches I possessed! Nevertheless, sufficiently -ill-advised as to buy some of these eggs, we found that the colour was -distinctly appropriate; for the red of the eggs' autumn was upon them, -both materially and metaphorically. - -This information was conveyed to us promptly on "taking their caps off" -(as a child once happily expressed it to me). Their "autumn" tints -were very much "turned" indeed, and, in consequence, they speedily -made their "last appearance on any stage" on the road far beneath! I -remember on one occasion when remonstrating with the proprietor of -a hotel, regarding the flavour of much keeping that hung about his -new-laid eggs, he remarked that he only "took them as the _poulets_ -laid them down!" - -Directly after quitting Poitiers the air began to feel sensibly warmer, -until, when near Bordeaux, it became quite soft and balmy. At Libourne, -opposite our carriage was a cattle truck with this label upon it--"_Un -cheval, trois chevres, deux chiens, non accompagnees_" and, while -reading it, from the dark interior--for oral information--there came -two or three pathetic little bleats! Were they, we wondered, from one -of the three goats, who were no longer unaccompanied, but too closely -in company with one of the dogs? Before we had time for more than -momentary speculation, the double blast of the guard's tin trumpet -blared; there sounded his regulation short whistle, his hoarse cry of -"_En voiture_," the final wave, then the tip-tap of his sabots along -the platform; a final glimpse of his flat white cap, swinging hooded -cloak, and swaying, four-sided lantern, while he turned to grasp -the handle of his van, as the engine, started at last by reiterated -suggestion, moved slowly out of the station. - -As the train had a prolonged wait at the first of the two Bordeaux -stations, eventually we did not reach our end of Bordeaux till between -ten and eleven o'clock at night, and far nearer to eleven than ten. -Then ensued a long search for our possessions, sunk deep in the nether -regions of the luggage van. When at length they were unearthed we -started through darkened, noisy streets for our destination, which -it seemed to take an eternity of jolting over rough cobbled stones -to reach. However, we did reach it in course of time, and found the -proprietor, a sleepy chambermaid, and a _concierge_ in the hall of the -hotel to receive us. - -As one steps over the threshold of any hotel, whether it be at morning, -noon or night, one is conscious I think, at once, of being greeted by -a whiff of the hotel's own local spiritual atmosphere: its personal -note of individuality, so to speak; and, as it reaches one, there is -an immediate instinct of self-congratulation (if the atmosphere be a -pleasant one), or of regret at one's choice, if the reverse be the -case. In this case it was the latter, but we had gone too far (and too -late!) to retreat now. - -Nearly all French hotel bedrooms that I have ever been in seem to -have a surplusage of doors; it may be due to the same idea as when, -in the case of a theatre, numerous exits are provided to ensure the -safety of the audience; but, whatever the reason, the fact remains -that the doors are largely in excess of what we consider necessary in -England. Sometimes, indeed, one can hardly see the room for the doors! -Sometimes, again, besides having a few dozen doors on each side of the -bedroom, the windows open on to a balcony which is connected with all -the other bedrooms on that side of the hotel, and, to give as much -insecurity as possible, the windows decline to shut! It is thus indeed -brought home to me that the French are pre-eminently a sociable people! - -A man told me that once he slept in a bedroom abroad which had eleven -doors. Three or four of them opened into large _salons_. - -Then, too, there is so often a difficulty about the keys of the -emergency (?) doors. In most cases that I remember there were no keys; -either they had never been fitted with them, or else they had been -found to be a superfluity and lost. And all the precaution the occupier -of the room could take against invasion was a diminutive little bolt, -too weak and flimsy to be of any real use. - -I remember sleeping once in a room of this sort, where the doors -were innocent of any locks or keys, and my companion and I took the -precaution, therefore, before retiring to rest, of piling up a tower -(which would have been a tower of Babel had it fallen!) of all sorts -and kinds of articles. It reached, I think, almost to the top of the -door. - -In the morning, roused by the knock of the chambermaid, we only just -remembered in time, after calling out the customary permission to her -to enter, to rescind that permission. This last proved indeed a saving -clause for her, as the door opened outwards! - -The bedroom at Bordeaux had three doors. And the proprietor and -chambermaid to whom we showed our dissatisfaction at there being, as -usual, no keys, evidently considered us very childish to make a fuss -over such a trifle. - -Some other gentleman was sleeping next door, and I furtively tried -the bolt which was on our side, to see if it was pushed as far as -it would go. This roused the proprietor's wrath, as he declared the -gentleman was one of his oldest customers, and had been in bed some -hours! After quieting him down, we barricaded the doors in such ways as -were possible to us, after his and the chambermaid's departure, and, -retiring to rest, passed an uneventful night. The next morning we made -tracks for Arcachon. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -To go to Arcachon in autumn is to have spread before one's eyes, -for almost the entire journey, a perfect feast of colour. I never -in my life saw such a magnificent revel of tints massed together -in profusion, scattered broadcast over the country so lavishly and -unstintingly, as passed rapidly before my eyes that day. - -The vivid yellow of dwarf acacias; the brilliant crimson of some of the -vines; the dazzling gold of others; the dark sombre, olive green of the -dwarf pine-trees flecked here and there with splashes of vivid chrome -yellow from the embroidery on their bark of some lichen; here and there -a high ledge of thorn trees of pronounced terra-cotta. The prevailing -note of colour everywhere was a deep russet; in some places merging -into brilliant orange, picked out in sharp contrast with the pale -yellow leaves of the acacia, and the fainter speckling of those of the -silver birch, clear against the white glare of its trunk. - -The whole of Nature's paint-box seemed flung into one passionate last -declaration of colour on the canvas of the dying year. Flaming red, -soft carmine, deepening into vermilion; rich orange fading to darker -crimson; soft lilac changing swiftly to purple. The whole atmosphere, -as far as the eye could reach, seemed flaming, shimmering with a glow -as of a gorgeous sunset; red seemed literally painted deep into the -air; it seemed pulsing with flame colour. High on the banks were piled -the ferns in huge masses of crimson and rich chocolate brown; here -and there turning to brick red the dying fronds carpeting thickly the -ground all around and beneath the trees. - -Now and again, coming as almost a relief from the very excess of vivid -colour, would show up the welcome contrast given by a stretch of cold -lilac slate, and in the middle distance a line of the faintest rose -pink, delicate in tone, and indefinite as to outline. Beyond that, -the pale blue of the distant pines, far up the rising ground upon -the horizon. The stems of the pines are a rich, red brown, flaked in -places, and covered, some of them, with various coloured lichens and -fungi. These trees are, most of them, seamed and scarred with one slash -down the middle for the resin. At a few inches from the ground is -fastened a little cup, into which the resin flows, and at certain times -men go round to collect the cupfuls. Each _resinier_ has, in order to -earn his livelihood, to notch three hundred pines each day; this is -done with a sort of hatchet. The little cups were an invention of a -Frenchman named Hughes, in 1844, but were never used until some time -after his death; so he personally reaped no benefit from the invention. - -After the oil is collected, it is subjected to many distillations, -some of which, as it is well known, are used medically. Here and -there in the woods are stacked, in the shape of a hut, sloped and -sloping, little bundles of faggots. Under the trees, white against the -sombre shade of the pines, gleam the sandy paths which traverse the -wide heathy plains which, alternately with the forests, make up the -landscape of this part of the Landes. These are varied, now and again, -by roads the colour of rich iron ore. The fences here are all made of -the thinnest lath striplings and seem put up more as suggestions than -to compel! - -On the plains, cows wandered, accompanied always by their own special -woman (generally well on in years, with a huge overshadowing hat and -large umbrella) in waiting, who paused when the cow paused, moved on -when she moved on, ruminated when she ruminated,--"Where the cow goes, -there go I," her day's motto. We often saw a solitary cow meandering -about up the middle path between two clumps of vines, and nibbling -thoughtfully at the leaves of the vines themselves; these last looking -like gooseberry bushes. Sometimes a countrywoman would drive three -cows in front of her, and besides that would push a wheelbarrow full of -cabbages. Other women, again, we noticed working on the line, and some -washing in a stream, clad in red knickerbockers and huge boots. - -As a rule, unlike our own spoilt meadows, the country is singularly -little disfigured by advertisements, but everywhere we went we were -confronted by the haunting words, "_Amer picon_," sometimes in placards -on a cottage wall, sometimes in a field, sometimes blazoned up on a -platform. At last it became so inevitable and so familiar, that we -used to feel quite lost if a day should go by without a trace of its -mystical letters anywhere! It occurred as continually before our eyes -as the word "_gentil_" sounds on one's ears from the lips of the French -madame. And everyone knows how often _that_ is! - -Just before reaching the station of Arcachon, our carriage stopped -close beside a line of trucks. French trucks, in this part of the -country, have an individuality all their own. They have a little -twisting iron staircase, a little covered box seat high above the -trucks' business end, and very wonderful inscriptions along their -sides. On these we made out that it was etiquette for "Hommes 32, -40," and "Chevaux 8" to travel together! But if it were etiquette -for them to do so, it would certainly, in practice, be as cramping -and reasonless as are many of the injunctions of etiquette in social -matters! - -Arrived at Arcachon, we found an array of curious cabs, furnished -inside with curtains on rings, of all kinds of flowrery patterns in -which very fully-blown roses and enormous chrysanthemums figured -largely. In one of these we drove to the hotel among the pines, to -which as we thought we had been recommended. It turned out, later, -that we had not been directed to that hotel at all, but then it -was too late to change. No one in this hotel could speak a word of -English intelligibly. We found later on that the _concierge_ could -say "va-terre," "Rome," "carrich" and "yes," but as these words -had to be said many times before they even approached the distant -semblance of any English words one had ever heard, and as, even when -understood, they did not convey much information, taken singly and not -in connection with any previous sentence, his assistance as interpreter -was not to be counted on. - -I went the round of the bedrooms accompanied by the manageress. She -managed a good deal with her hands in the way of language, and I -managed some, with the aid of my little dictionary, which was my -inseparable companion throughout our entire trip, always excepting -the nights; and even then I am not sure if I did not have it under my -pillow! - -Somehow the hotel had an empty feeling about its passages and rooms, -and the bedroom shutters were all barred and consequently, when -opened by the manageress, gave a sort of deserted, half drowsy air to -the rooms, which prevented my being at all impressed with them. We -descended the stairs again, my companion talking volubly but, to me, -(owing to an unfortunate personal disability for all languages except -my own), unintelligibly almost. - -On our return to the entrance hall I found that an expectant group -awaited us, consisting of the hotel proprietor, the _concierge_, a -chambermaid, a daughter of the house, my friend and the coachman of the -flowery-papered cab. Our luggage had also put in an appearance and was -on the step by the door. - -Nothing in the world--as far, of course, as regards minor matters of -life--is so difficult or so unpleasant to retreat from, as is hotel, -after you have been inspecting it in company with its authorities, -when they definitely expect you mean to remain, and when your luggage -has been removed from your cab by your too obsequious coachman! I -felt my decision weaken, die in my throat. I had fully meant on -the way downstairs to declare a negative to mine host's offer of -accommodation. Presently I had swallowed it, for on what ground could I -now trump up an excuse, and direct the removal of our portmanteaux to -an adjoining hotel? and the next thing was to face the thing like a man -and order our traps to be taken to our room. - -And, after all, we were very fairly comfortable during our stay, until -confronted by an exorbitant charge at the end--my disinclination -to remain, in the first instance, being merely due to the somewhat -forsaken, gloomy look of the rooms, giving a certain oppressive -introductory atmosphere to the hotel. - -November is the "off" season at Arcachon, and I can well understand -that it should be so, for there seemed no particular reason why anybody -should go and stay there at that time! I had been recommended, rather -mistakenly as it afterwards proved, to try it for my health, but it was -so bitterly cold the whole time of our stay that I rather regretted -having gone there at all, as I had come abroad in search of a mild, -warm climate. However, one good point in the hotel was that the -_salle-a-manger_ was always well warmed, and evenly warmed, with pipes -round the walls, and it was exceedingly prettily situated in the midst -of the pines. - -There were but twelve of us who daily frequented it; and we might -almost have belonged to the Trappist Order for all the conversation -that was heard. Never have I been at such quiet _table d'hotes_ as -those that took place there. The company consisted of an old man -and his wife, who kept their table napkins in a flowery chintz case -which the man never could tackle, but left to the woman's skill to -manipulate each evening. Both seemed to think laughter was most wrong -and improper in public. A consumptive, very shy young man who had to -have a hot bottle for his feet; a consumptive older man whose continual -cough approached sometimes, during the courses, to the very verge of -something else, and who passed his handkerchief from time to time -to his mother for inspection; a very bent and solitary man by the -door who had "shallow" hair growing off his temples, deeply sunken -eyes, black moustache and receding chin, and who had the air of a -conspirator, and a few other uninteresting couples. - -The _menu_ was delightfully worded sometimes. Such items as "Veal -beaten with carrots," "Daubed green sauce," "Brains in butter," proved -no more attractive to the palate than they were to the eye. But, apart -from these delicacies, the fare was exceedingly appetising; oysters, -as common as sparrows, played always a large part, (the charge per -dozen, 1-1/2 d.) Then, the last thing at night, our cheerful, bright-faced -chambermaid used to bring us the most delicious iced milk. - -There was a curious, but so far as we could see un-enforced, regulation -hung up in the _salle-a-manger_, to the effect that if one was late -for _table d'hote_ one would be punished by a fine of fifty centimes. -The evenings we usually spent in our bedroom; it being the off-season -there was practically nowhere else to go to. But it was cosy enough up -there, with our pine log fire blazing up the chimney, its brown streams -of liquid resin running down the surface of the wood, alight, and -dripping from time to time in dazzling splashes on to the tiles below. - -The only drawback to our comfort--and it was a drawback--was that -the young man who had such unpleasant coughs and upheavals during -_table d'hote_ paced restlessly and creakily up and down overhead -continuously, both in the evening as well as in the early morning, and -was, to judge by the sounds, always trying the effects of his bedroom -furniture in different parts of the room, and generally altering its -geography. He had quite as pronounced a craze for patrolling as had -John Gabriel Borkman. - -There are few more irritating sounds, I think, than a creak, whether -it be of the human boot or of a door. Of the many penances which have -been devised from time to time could there be a more irritating form -of nerve flagellation than an insistent, recurring squeak when you are -vainly endeavouring to write an article, an important letter, or, if it -be night, to get to sleep? A squeak in two parts, as this particular -one was, was calculated to make one ready for any deed of violence! -One knew so well when one must expect to hear it, that it got in time -to be like the hole in a stocking which, as an old nurse's dictum ran, -one "looks for, but hopes never to find!" Thus one half unconsciously -listened for the creak. So great is the power of the Insignificant -Thing! - -There were other sounds which broke the stillness of the night at -Arcachon. In England cocks crow, according to well-authenticated -tradition, handed down from cock to cock from primitive times, at -daybreak; in Arcachon they crow all through the night and, indeed, -keep time with the hours. They have, too, a more elaborate and ornate -crow. They do not accentuate, as ours do, the final "doo," but -introduce instead semi-quavers in the "dle;" so that it sounds thus: -"Cock-a-doo-a-doo-dle-doo." I noticed that they had a tendency to leave -off awhile at daybreak, while it was yet dark. - -Then, sounding mysteriously and from afar on one's ear, came the quick -tones of the bell calling to early Mass from the little church in the -village street below. - -Of ancient history Arcachon has its share. It was, in the thirteenth -century, the port of the Boiens, and in old records one finds it -mentioned under the name "Aecaixon" or "Arcasson," "Arcanson" being a -word used to designate one of the resin manufactures. In the beginning -of things, Arcachon was nothing but a desert, its forest surrounding -the little chapel founded by Thomas Illyricus for the seamen. During -the whole of the middle ages the country had the entire monopoly of the -pine oil industry, which was turned to account in so many ways. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -At Arcachon there is an old _Chapelle miraculeuse de Notre Dame_, -adjoining the newer church, founded about 1520 by Thomas Illyricus. It -contains many of the fishermen's votive offerings, such as life-belts, -stilts, pieces of rope, and boats and wreaths. I noticed, too, a -barrel, on which were the words "_Echappe dans le golfe du Mexique, -1842_." These offerings are hung up near the chancel, and give a -distinct character to it. - -As we came into the little church, a child's funeral was just leaving -it, the coffin borne by children. We waited by the door till the sad -little procession had gone by, and before me, as I write, there rises -in my memory the expression on the father's face. It had something in -it that was absolutely unforgettable. - - Illustration: ARCACHON, MIRACULOUS CHAPEL, 1722. - [_Page 40._ - -As we passed down the village street, we passed another little -procession; two acolytes in blue cassocks and caps, bearing in their -hands the vessels of sacred oil, a priest following them in biretta, -surplice and cassock, and by his side a server. I noticed that each -man's cap was instantly lifted reverently, as it passed him. As they -turned in at a cottage, the whole street down which they had passed -seemed full of the lingering fragrance of the incense carried by the -acolytes. - -Arcachon, at one time, must have been exceedingly quaint and -picturesque, but since then an alien influence has been introduced -which has--for all artistic purposes--spoilt it. Facing the chief -street--dominating it, as it were--is the Casino; an ugly, flashy, -vulgar building, out of keeping structurally with everything near it. -It resembles an Indian pagoda, and when we were there in November its -huge, bleary eyes were shut as it took its yearly slumber, deserted -by Fashion. It was like an enormous pimple on the quiet, picturesque, -unpretending countenance of this village of the Landes which had been -subjected to its obsession, and that of the two hotels in immediate -attendance. - -The people, however, appear unspoilt and unsophisticated. At each -cottage door sit the women knitting; and, as one passes, they pass the -time of day, or make some remark or other, with a pleasant smile. - -When we were at Arcachon telegraph poles were being put up. The method -of setting up these eminences was distinctly curious, to the English -eye. There was an immense amount of propping up, and many anxious -glances bestowed on the poles before anything could be accomplished. -The men on whom this tremendous labour devolves have to wear curious -iron clasps strapped on to their boots, so that they should be able to -dig into the bark as they swarm up the poles for the poles are just -trunks of pine trees stripped of their branches, and many of them look -very crooked. - - * * * * * - -In many of the gardens poinsettias were flowering, and hanging -clusters of a vivid red flower which our hotel proprietress called -"Songe de Cardinal." It was the same tint of scarlet as the berries -called "Archutus" or "Arbousses," which grow here in abundance by the -side of the road on bushes, and are like a large variety of raspberry, -a cross between that and a strawberry. It has a very pleasant flavour -when eaten with cream: this our waiter confided to me, and, after -tasting the mixture, I quite agreed with him, although the proprietress -had treated the idea with scorn. - -In November the roads, in places, are red with the fallen fruit of this -plant. There are also curious long brown seed cases which had dropped -from trees something like acacias, but which have a smaller leaf than -our English variety. The tint of the pods is a warm reddish brown; they -are about the length of one's forearm, the inner edges all sticky with -resin. - -In the village street the inevitable little stream, which is encouraged -in most French towns, runs beside the roadside, and is fed by all -the pailfuls of dirty water that are flung from time to time into its -midst. The _plage_ at Arcachon is not attractive in autumn, and it is -difficult to understand how it can be a magnet at a warmer time of the -year to the hundreds that frequent it. An arm of land stretches all -round the little inland pool--for it is not much more than a pool--in -which in summer time the bathers disport themselves. In November, of -course, it requires an enormous effort of imagination to picture it -full of sailing ships and pleasure boats. - -Murray mentions a particular kind of boat, long, pointed, narrow and -shallow, which was much to the fore in 1867, and which he imagined to -be indigenous to the soil, so to speak. But, apparently, they have -changed all that. I only saw one that was built as he describes, and -this was green and black in colour. He also mentions stilts being worn -by the peasants at Arcachon and the neighbourhood near the village, -but of these we saw few traces. There were pictures of them in an old -print of the _chapelle_ built in 1722, and in a photo of the shepherds -of the plains. The photos, indeed, are numerous in the whole country of -the Gironde of _anciens costumes_, but when one sets oneself to try and -find their counterparts in real life, evidences are practically nil. -All that remains of them in these matter-of-fact, levelling days, in -which so much that is quaint, characteristic and peculiar is whittled -down to one ordinary dead level of alikeness, are the stiff white -caps, varied in shape and size, according to the district, and the -sabots. Some of the peasants here often go about the streets in woollen -bed-slippers, but most of them use wooden sabots--pointed, and with -leathern straps over the foot. - -One gets quite used to the sight of two sabots standing lonely without -their inmates in the entrance to some shop, their toes pointing -inwards, just as they have been left (as if they were some conveyance -or other--in a sense, of course, they are--which is left outside to -await the owner's return). Continually the women leave them like this, -and proceed to the interior of the shop in their stockinged feet. - -Sometimes the countrywomen go about without any covering at all to -their heads, and it is quite usual to see them thus in church as well -as in the streets. The men wear a little round cap, fitting tightly -over the head like a bathing cap, and very full, baggy trousers, -close at the ankles, dark brown or dark blue as to colour, and very -frequently velveteen as to material. - -At La Teste, a village close to Arcachon, the women much affect the -high-crowned black straw hat, blue aprons and blue knickerbockers. -At most of the cottage doors were groups of them, knitting and -chatting; and, as we passed, the old grandmother of the party would -be irresistibly impelled to step out into the road to catch a further -glimpse of the strangers within their borders--clad in quite as unusual -garments as their own appeared to ours. - -There are no lack of variety of occupations open to the feminine -persuasion: the women light the street lamps; they arrange and pack -oysters; fish, and sell the fish when caught. They work in the fields; -they tend the homely cow, as well as the three occupations which some -folk will persist in regarding as the only ones to which women--never -mind what their talents or capabilities--can expect to be admitted, -viz: the care of children and needlework and cooking! I saw one quite -old woman white-washing the front of her cottage with a low-handled, -mop-like broom, very energetically, while her husband sat by and -watched the process, at his ease. - -La Teste stands out in my memory as a village of musical streets, -though of course in the Gironde it is the exception when one does not -hear little melodious sentences set to some street call or other. As we -passed up the village street, a woman was coming down carrying a basket -of rogans, a little silvery fish with dazzling, gleaming sides, and -crying, "_Derrr ... verai!_" "_Derrr ... verai!_" with long sustained -accent on the final high note. "_Marchandise!_" was another call which -sounded continually, and its variation, "_Marchan-dis ... e!_" - -Passing through Bordeaux, I remember a very curiously sounding -street-hawk note: it did not end at all as one expected it to end. I -could not distinguish the words, and was not near enough to see the -ware. - - * * * * * - -But the human voice was not the only street music, for as we sat on -one of the benches that are so thoughtfully placed under the lee of -many of the cottages at La Teste, there fell on our ears a sound from a -distance which somehow suggested the approach of a Chinese procession: -"Pom-pom-pom-pom-pom-pom!" mixed with the sharp "ting-ting" of brass, -and the duller, flatter tone of wood, sweet because of the suggestion -of the trickling of water which it conveys. - -A procession of cows turned the corner of the long street and moved -sedately towards us, their bells keeping time with their footsteps, -their conductor, as seems the custom in these parts, leading the -detachment. It was followed by a little cart drawn by two dogs, in -which sat a countrywoman, much too heavy a weight for the poor animals -to drag. - -La Teste itself is a picturesque little village, and larger than it -looks at first sight. Each cottage has its own well, arched over. Up -each frontage, lined with outside shutters, is trained the home vine, -while little plantations of vines abound everywhere. The women travel -by train with their heads loosely covered with shawls, when not wearing -the stiff caps or hats, and it is very usual for them to carry, as -a hold-all, a sort of little waistcoat buttoning over a parcel; a -waistcoat embroidered with some device or other. - - Illustration: THE GIRONDE SHEPHERDS. - [_Page 51._ - -Coming back to Arcachon, we met a typical old peasant woman, with -two huge straw baskets--one white and one black, a big stick, and -a black handkerchief tied over her head, and a most characteristic -face, crumpled, seamed and lined with all the different hand-writings -over it that the pencil of Fate had drawn during a long lifetime. -When young, the peasant women of the Landes are not striking. The -peculiar characteristics of the face are unvarying; you meet with them -everywhere all about the Gironde and Bordeaux. The faces are sallow, -low-browed, with dark hair and eyes. They are brisk-looking, but just -escape being either pretty or noticeable. Most of the women, too, that -we saw, were of small stature and insignificant looking. It is when -they are old that the beauty to which they are heir, is developed. -The women of the Landes are evening primroses: the striking quality -of their faces comes out after the heyday of life is over. It seems -that the face of the Gironde woman needs many seasons of sun and heat -to bring out the sap of the character. The autumn tints are beautiful -in faces, as in trees. Theirs is the beauty that Experience--that -Teacher of the Thing-as-it-is--brings; and it is in the clash of -the meeting of the peculiar personality with the experience from -outside, that character springs to the birth. You see--if you can read -it--their life, in the eyes of the dweller by the countryside. In a -more civilised class one can but read too often, what has been put -on with intention, as a mask. Civilisation and convention eliminate -individuality, as far as possible, and they recommend dissimulation, -and we, oftener than not, take their recommendation. - -So in all countries, and in all ages, Jean Francois Millet's idea is -the right one--that to find life at its plainest, at its fullest, one -should study it, _au fond_, in the lives of the sons and daughters -of the soil. Their open-air life prints deep on their faces the -divine impress of Nature, obtainable, in quite the same measure, in -no other way; they have become intimate with Nature, and have lived -their everyday life close to her heart-beats. What she gives is -incommunicable to others: it can only be given by direct contact, and -can never be passed on, for only by direct contact can the creases of -the mind, caused by the life of towns and great cities, be smoothed -out, and a calm, strong, new breadth of outlook given. - -I remember a typical face of this kind. We had been out for a day's -excursion from Arcachon, and, coming home, at the station where we -took train, there got into our carriage, a mother and daughter. After -getting into conversation with them--a thing they were quite willing to -do, with ready natural courtesy of manner,--we learned that the mother -was eighty-one years old and had worked as a _parcheuse_ in her young -days. She had a fine old face, wrinkled and lined with a thousand life -stories. Kindly, pathetic, had been their influence upon her, for her -eyes and expression were just like a sunset over a beautiful country: -it was the beauty that is only reached when one has well drunk at the -goblets of life--some of us to the bitter dregs--and set them down, -thankful that at last it is growing near the time when one need lift -them to one's lips no more. - -The mother told me that the women _parcheuses_ could not earn so much -as the men, three francs a day--perhaps only thirty centimes--being -their ordinary wage. She turned to me once, so tragically, with such a -sudden world of sorrow rising in her eyes. "I have worked all my life -in the fields, and at fishing, and now, one by one, all whom I love -have left me, and I am so lonely left behind." - -"Ah, _c'est malheureux_!" exclaimed the daughter, turning -sympathetically to her. - -We parted at Arcachon station, but how often since, have I not seen the -face of the old mother looking sadly out of our carriage window, the -tears gathering slowly in her eyes as she remembered those with whom -she had started life, and whom death had distanced from her now, so -far. - -There are two distinguishing characteristics of the villages of the -Landes as we saw them, and these are the absence of beggars and of -drunkenness--I didn't see a single drunken man. As one knows, it is -somewhat rare to meet with them in other parts of France, and one -remembers the story of the English barrister who was taken up by the -police and thought to be drunk (so seldom had they been enabled to -diagnose drunkenness), and taken off to the lock-up! It turned out that -he was only suffering from an over-emphasised Anglicised pronunciation -of the French language, studied (without exterior aid) at home, before -travelling abroad. - -Thrift and sobriety are two virtues which generally go in company--they -are very much in evidence in the country of the Gironde to-day. Happy -the land where this is the case! Unfortunately it is not the case in -England now, nor has been indeed for many a long year. Think of the -difference too there is in manner between the countrymen of our own -England and that of France. One cannot travel in this part of France -without meeting everywhere that simple, native courtesy which is so -spontaneously ready on all occasions. It is a perfect picture of what -the intercourse of strangers should be. - -As a nation, we are apt to be stiff and awkward in our initial -conversation with a stranger. We require so long a time before we thaw -and are our natural selves; our introductory chapters are so long and -tiresome. - -But to the Frenchman, _you are there!_ that is all that matters. You do -not require to be labelled conventionally to be accepted; there is such -a thing, in his eyes, as an intimate strangership, and it is this very -immediateness of friendliness and smile, that makes the charm of those -unforgettable day-fellowships of intercourse which are so possible -in France and--so difficult in England. How many such little cordial -acts of _camaraderie_ come back to my mind, perhaps some of them only -ten minutes in duration, perhaps even less than that, and consisting -solely in some spontaneous sympathy during travelling incidents; in the -kindly, ready recognition of a difficulty, in the quick appreciation -maybe of the humour of some idyll of the road. Whatever it is, you are -at home and in touch at once for a happy moment, even if nothing more -is to come of the brief encounter. - -In a garden near the post-office at Arcachon we came upon this -startling notice: "Beware of the wild boar!" Then there followed an -injunction to the wild boar himself: "Beware of the snare," in the -same sort of way as "Mind the step" is sometimes written up! Making -inquiries later at the hotel, I found that there were plenty of wild -boars in the forest of Arcachon, and that in winter time they often -ventured into the town. Hunting parties, for the purpose of limiting -family developments, are organised from time to time throughout the -winter. - - Illustration: SHEPHERD AND WOODSMEN, ARCACHON. - [_Page 57._ - -As regards the forest of Arcachon, we were struck specially by the -fungi of all sorts and colours, that grow at the foot of the trees, -and on the vivid green branching, long-stalked moss that envelops -the surface of the ground: deep violet, orange, soft blue, brilliant -yellow, scarlet and black spotted, dingy ink-black were some of the -colours that I noted. Indeed, I did more than "note" them, for I picked -a fair-sized basket full, took them back to the hotel, did them up -carefully and despatched them to the post-office, where they refused to -send them to England, saying that, owing to recent stipulations, they -were not allowed to send such commodities by parcel post any longer. -Crestfallen and disappointed, I had to unpack that gorgeous paint-box -of colours again, and left them on my window ledge to enjoy them myself -before they deliquesced. - -In the forest here is no sound of birds. Too many have been shot for -that to be possible any longer, and consequently a strange, eerie -silence prevails over everything. Alas! I saw no birds at all, except -a few long-tailed tits. The sunlight lay roughly gleaming on the -red-brown needles below the dark pine trees, and grey and soft on the -white, silvery sand. No other colour broke the sombre, olive green of -the foliage overhead, but here and there flecks of vivid yellow, from -the heather growing sparsely in clumps, spattered like a flung egg upon -the banks. The stems of the pines are a rich red-brown, flaked and -covered in places with soft, green lichen. - -The hotel was not a place where one got much change in the matter of -guests, but people came in for lunch now and again _en route_ for -somewhere else; and I shall never forget one such party. It consisted -of a father, mother and two small infants of about one and a half and -two and a half years of age. The children fed as did the parents. -I watched with interest the courses which were packed into these -children's mouths. Radishes, roast rabbit, egg omelet, _vin ordinaire_ -and milk, mixed (or one after the other, I really forget which!) From -time to time they were attacked by spasms of whooping-cough, which -rendered the process of digestion even more difficult than it would -otherwise have been. One of the children had a cherubic face, and each -time a doubtful morsel was crammed into his mouth he turned up his -eyes seraphically to heaven as he admitted it, but--if he disliked its -taste--only for time enough to turn it over once in his mouth previous -to ejecting it! The parents never seemed to be in the least deterred -from pressing these morsels on him, however often they returned. - -The _concierge_ at our hotel, (he who knew four words of English), -was a distinct character. He would often come up to our room after -_table d'hote_ for a chat, on the pretence of making up our already -glowing log fire. But whenever a bell rang he would instantly stop -talking and cock his ears to hear if it were two peals or one, for -two peals were _his_ summons, and one only the chambermaid's. Before -we left we added to his stock of English, and it was a performance -during the hearing of which no one could have kept grave. "_Ah, c'est -difficile_," he exclaimed after trying ineffectually to achieve a -correct pronunciation: "_Pad-dool you-r-y-owe carnoo!_" - -He told us that, as a rule, a _concierge_ was paid only fifty francs, -but sometimes he got as much as 250 francs a month in _pourboires_ from -the guests in the hotel. A _femme de chambre_ would make twenty-five -francs a month at a hotel. Neither _concierge_ nor _femme de chambre_ -would be given more than eight days' notice if sent away. At this hotel -he had no room to himself, no seat even (we often found him sitting on -the stairs in the evening) and up most nights until half-past twelve, -and yet he had to rise up and be at work, each morning by half-past -five. - -In the summer months it seemed the custom to go further south to some -hotel or other, guests spending half the year at one place, and half at -another. - - Illustration: GUJAN-MESTRAS, - Huts of the Fishermen, and "Parcheurs" (Oyster Catchers). - [_Page 61._ - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -By far the most interesting village in the neighbourhood of Arcachon, -is Gujan-Mestras. - -Gujan-Mestras is the centre of the oyster fishery, and that of the -royan, which is a species of sardine. Nearly all royans indeed are -caught there. The _patois_ of the _parcheurs_ and _parcheuses_ (oyster -catchers) we were told, is partly Spanish. They can talk our informant -said, very good French, but when any strangers are present they talk -a sort of Spanish _patois_. "For instance, _une fille_ would be _la -hille_," he explained. "The Spaniards talk very slowly, as do the -Italians; it is only _les Anglais qui, je trouve, parlent tres vite_." -The oysters of Gujan-Mestras are of worldwide renown. Among others, it -will be remembered, Rabelais praised highly the oysters of the Bassin -d'Arcachon. And indeed, it cannot fail to be one of the most important -places for oyster-culture and the breeding ground of the young oyster, -considering what the annual production is--more than a million of -oysters, young, middle-aged, and infants under age. - -The day I first saw Gujan-Mestras there was a grey, lowering sky, and -everything was dun-coloured. But the port was alive with activity, -interest, and excitement. The huts, which face the bay, are built -all on the same pattern--of one story, dark brown in colour, -wooden-boarded, and roofed with rounded, light yellow tiles, which look -in the distance like oyster shells. Over the doors of some are little -inscriptions: over some a red cross is chalked, or a _fleur de lys_. -The _parcheurs_ do not sleep here; they live in the village above, but -these huts are simply for use while they are at work during the day. - -A road leads up from the station lined with these huts, and a long row -of them faces the bay and skirts one side of it. Beside the water are -many clumps of heather tied up at the stalks, which are for packing -purposes: and there are also many wooden troughs, sieves, and trestles. -The boats used for fishing are mostly long and narrow, black or green -as to colour, and with pointed prows. Most of them had the letters -"ARC," and a number painted on them: for instance, I noticed "ARC. 4S -47" upon one name-board. All the boats have regular, upright staves -placed all along the inner sides, and are planked with the roughest of -boarding. - -The first day I saw Gujan-Mestras, as I came up to the landing stage, -the boats were all rounding the corner of the headland, which is -crowned by the big crucifix, and crowding into the little harbour. -As they swung rapidly round, down came the sails with a flop, and in -a moment the gunwales bent low to the surface of the water. A moment -later still, they grounded on the little beach, and were instantly -surrounded by a great crowd of excited, jabbering _parcheurs_, -gesticulating and arguing energetically. They seemed to be expecting -some one who had failed to put in an appearance. - -The baskets were soon full of glistening, steely fish, their greenish, -speckled backs in strong contrast to the grey, oval baskets in which -they lay, heap upon heap. - -The women helped unlade the boats, and also in cleaning and sorting -the fish. One woman whom I noticed, in an enormous overhanging, -black sun-bonnet, slouched far over her face, her dress, made of -some material like soft silk, tucked up and pinned behind her, went -clattering along in her wooden sabots, wheeling the fish before her in -a rough wheelbarrow. They shone literally with a dazzling centre of -light. Then came slowly lumbering along the road, one of the typical -waggons of the neighbourhood, which are disproportionately long for -their breadth, with huge wheels; at either end two upright poles, and -on each side a sort of fence of staves, yellow for choice. - -Presently this was succeeded by a diminutive donkey cart, loaded -with _marchandise_, and covered over in front with a wide tarpaulin. -Inside, I caught sight of a large pumpkin (presumably), sliced open, -its yellow centre showing up vividly against its dark background, some -cauliflowers, watercress, etc., while its owner, a burly countryman in -a full blue blouse and cap, excitedly gesticulated and called out, "_En -avant! Allez!_" to the meek and diminutive one in front. - -Under a sort of open shelter were rows of barrels; some arranged -in blocks, some arranged all together in one position. The whole -effect against the glaring yellow of the vine leaves being a strongly -effective contrast, the barrels being the palest straw colour. - -We were told that the _parcheuses_ cannot make as much as the men: -perhaps three francs a day would be their outside wage. Indeed -sometimes they found it impossible to earn more than thirty centimes; -and, notwithstanding the low wage, the life of a _parcheuse_ is every -bit as hard as that of her countrywoman in the fields. - -At most of the street corners the groups of peasant women sit and knit -behind their wares, wearing flounced caps, (ye who belong to the sex -that needleworks these garments, forgive it, if I have appropriated -to the use of the headgear the adjective that of right belongs to the -petticoat!) and many coloured neckerchiefs. Sometimes they sit in -little sentry boxes, their wares by their side, but oftener they sit, -in open defiance of the weather, with no shelter above their heads. - -As for the boys, it is almost impossible to see them without the -inevitable short golf cape, with hood floating out behind, which is so -much affected in that Order! It is difficult to understand quite why -this particular costume has had such a "run," for one would imagine it -to be rather an impeding garment for a boy. - - Illustration: GUJAN-MESTRAS, OYSTER CATCHERS. - [_Page 67._ - -Before I came away that afternoon the fishing nets were being hung -up to dry, and, as we went along, we could see groups of men and -women cleaning, sorting, and chopping oysters, and placing them in -the characteristic shallow baskets that one sees all over the Landes, -and some, on other trestles, were packing them up for transport. One -woman near by was loading a cart with manure, while her companion--one -of that half of mankind which possesses the most rights, but does not -always (in France) do the most work--was calmly watching the process, -without attempting to help! It is true that, in their dress, there was -not much to distinguish the one sex from the other, as most of the -women wore brilliant blue, or red, knickerbockers, no skirt, and coats, -aprons, and big sabots. Some of the latter had very striking faces, -though weather-beaten. Anything like the vivid contrast afforded by the -arresting colours of their knickerbockers, backed by the cold, even -grey of the huts, against which the _parcheuses_ were standing, as -they worked, it would be difficult to imagine. - -I believe at La Hume, the adjoining village to Gujan-Mestras, which -appeared to be dedicated to the goddess of laundry work, even as this -place was dedicated to pisciculture, the women go about in the same -gaudy leg gear, but I only saw it from the train, as we had not time to -make an expedition to the spot. - -As we were coming back to the train we came upon a line of bare -tables and chairs, looking empty, forlorn, and forsaken (the rain -had apparently driven the oyster workers to the shelter of the huts) -beside the _plage_. Somehow they suggested to me an empty bandstand, -and indeed the _parcheurs_ and _parcheuses_ are the factors of the -entire local "music" of the place. Without them it were absolutely -characterless--devoid of life and meaning. - - Illustration: GUJAN-MESTRAS, NEAR ARCACHON. - [_Page 68._ - -At the station a number of _parcheuses_ were waiting. Suddenly, without -any note of warning, a sudden storm of discussion, heated and -menacing, swept the humble, bare little waiting-room. It arose with -simply a puff of conversation, but it spread in a moment to thunder -clouds of invective, gesticulations of threatening import, lightning -flashes of anger from eyes that, only an instant previously, had been -bathed in the depths of phlegm. It seemed to be concerned (as usual!) -with a matter affecting both sexes, for the _facteur_, and a young man -who accompanied him, kept suddenly turning round on the women, and -literally flinging impulsive shafts of fiery retort, beginning with, -"_Pourquoi? Vous etes vous-meme_," etc., etc. The dispute raged with -terrific force for a few minutes, then it was suddenly spent, and, as -unexpectedly as it had begun, it fell away into a complete silence. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -One of the most spontaneous, infectious laughs that I have ever heard, -was in the market place at Bordeaux, from a market woman keeping one of -the stalls. It was like the trill of a lark springing upwards for pure, -light-hearted impulse of gaiety. In it seemed impressed the whole soul -of humour. - -There is so much in a laugh. Some laughs make one instantly desire -to be grave: some are absolutely mirthless, but are part of one's -conventional equipment, and come in handy when some sort of a -conversational squib has been thrown into the midst of a drawing-room -full of people, and does not go off as it was expected to do. But the -laugh born of the very spirit of humour itself is rare indeed. - -The laugh of the woman in the market place at Bordeaux, was one of -these last. What provoked it I have forgotten, but I rather fancy it -was in some way connected with my camera, as a few moments later she -was exclaiming to her companions, her whole face beaming with pleasure, -"_Ah! je suis pris! je suis pris!_" Her voice was like a little, -dancing, sparkling Yorkshire beck that is continually and musically, -garrulous. It was full of those little sympathetic descents, when -pitying or condoling, which never fall on one's ear so delicately as -from a Frenchwoman's tongue. How heavily drag most of our own chariot -wheels of voice modulation compared with hers! For her sentences in -this respect are all coloured, and ours are often inexpressive, often -humourless. - -It may be--and perhaps this is a possible hypothesis--that our words -mean more than hers, but to be bald, if only in expression, is almost -as bad as to be bald on the top of one's head! - -In the market our first glimpse in the dull gloom of the tarpaulins, -was of huge pumpkins sliced open, their vivid yellow showing in sharp -outline against the sooty black of the flapping canvas: cool pineapples -wearing still their soft prickly leaves and stalks; the dull crimson of -the beetroot: the large open baskets filled with _ceps_, (the fungus -common in the neighbourhood, which is like a mushroom, only much -larger, and with tiny roots at its base), and with the curious looking -bits of warty earth, or dried, dingy sponges, which truffles resemble -more than anything else, when first gathered. There was a continuous -conversation from all quarters going on as we entered the market, which -fell on one's ears like the roar of surf on a distant shore. - -In one corner, a little party of four stall holders was sitting down to -dinner. The inevitable little bottle of red wine figured on the table, -and some hot stew had just been produced, accompanied by the familiar -twisted roll of bread which is always a welcome adjunct to any board, -whether of high degree or low--the medium betwixt the bread and lip of -course being the knife of peculiar shape which one sees everywhere. - -Everywhere one met with a ready smile, charming courtesy and kindly -interest. For some unknown reason we were taken for Americans in almost -every place to which we went! Occasionally, I must confess, I received -more "interest" than I care for. For instance, when sketching in the -Rue Quai-Bourgeois, I was sometimes aimed at from an upper window with -bits of stale bread and apple parings, which luckily failed of their -mark and fell harmlessly at my feet! And when trying to "take" some old -doorway, people, now and again governed by the idea that human nature -must always surpass in interest their dwellings, would strike a pose -in the doorway, or leaning against the doorpost itself, hinder one's -getting sight of it in its entirety. - -Not content even with this, it did on occasion happen that a man would -come so close to the lens of the camera that he literally blocked it -up! Once a whole family party came down and stood, or sat, in becoming -attitudes before the door, all having assumed the pleasing smile which -they consider to be a _sine qua non_ on such occasions. It really -went to my heart not to take them, but I was reserving my last plate -that afternoon for a particularly charming old doorway farther on. -As I turned away I saw with the tail of my eye the smiles smoothing -themselves out, the man's arm slipping down from the waist of the girl -beside him, the surprised disappointment sweeping across the group -of faces like a cloud across the sun, and I almost "weakened" on my -doorway! - -I remember once, some years ago, in Belgium, my modest camera attracted -so much attention that I speedily became the centre of an enormous -crowd, which increased every minute in bulk, so that at last the street -was blocked and all traffic suspended. - -Bordeaux is a city of barrels. They are the first thing you see as you -leave the station. They line the quay side: barrels yellow, barrels -green, barrels blue. They meet you daily as you pass along the streets, -whether they lie along the road, or whether they are being conveyed -in one of the large, fenced-in carts, whose horses are covered with a -faded "art-green" horse cloth, and who wear over the collar a curious -black wool top-knot. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -Bordeaux has a fine quay side. Bridges, shipping, old buildings, spread -of river, variety of local colour, all combine to give it this. - -Of course to-day it has gained many modern aids to commerce, notably -among these the steam tram with its toy trumpet; and what it has gained -in these aids it has lost in picturesqueness. But still it has kept -variety, that saving clause, in colour. About the streets you can see -the reign of colour still in office. Cocked-hat officials, brilliantly -red-coated; the labourers loading and unloading on the quay side in -blue knickers, with lighter blue coat surmounting them; the stone -masons in weather-beaten and weather-faded scarlet coats; costumes -of soft grey-green, with sparkling glisten of silver buttons down -the front; and everywhere in evidence the flat-topped, round cap, -gathered in at its base. - - Illustration: [_From Collection of Mr Gustavus A. Sieveking._ - THE QUAY, BORDEAUX, 1842. - [_Page 76._ - -The expression of the French boy is not as that of the English boy, in -the same way as the expression of the French dog differs widely from -that of his English relation. Somehow it always seems to me that the -French boy misses the jolly bluffness of demeanour of our boys, though -he has a quiet, collected, reflective look. But when you come to the -French dog, whether it be the poodle, or that peculiar spotted yellow, -squinting variety which is the street arab of Bordeaux, you understand -the difficulty an English dog finds in translating a French dog's bark. - -Along the quay side, is a sort of rough gutter market; chock full of -stalls, which are crowded with all sorts of colours, and a perfect -babel as regards noise. Some of the stalls were placed under big -tarpaulin umbrellas, some striped blue, some a dirty olive-green, -others under tents--dirty yellowish white for choice--one under a -carriage umbrella, or what had once been a carriage umbrella, but had -lost its handle and its claims to consideration by "carriage folk." - -All the stalls were in close proximity; and pots and pans of all sorts -and sizes, harness of all sorts--generally out of sorts--long broom -handles, chestnuts peeled and unpeeled, little yellow cakes on the -simmer over a brazier, fruits, vegetables, saucepans, kitchen utensils, -nails, knives, scissors and every variety of implement jostled each -other, with no respect of articles. Each booth possessed a curious, -arresting smell of its own. It met you immediately on your entrance, -accompanied you a foot or so as you moved on, and then suddenly let go -of you, as you were assailed by the smell that was indigenous to the -stall coming next in order. It was a kaleidoscope of colour, a German -band as to noise. - -One old woman, with a faded green pin-cushion on her head, tied with -black tape over her striped handkerchief, a broad red handkerchief -over her shoulders, and carrying coils of ropes, was ubiquitous. One -met her everywhere, and she carried her own perfume thick upon her -wherever she went, but she always left sufficient behind in her own -particular booth to keep up its character and special personal note. As -I left the excited, jabbering crowd, a countrywoman, seeing the prey -about to make its escape, darted out from her stall and seized me by -the shoulder, pressing on me at the same time two large fish arranged -on a cabbage leaf. - -I came along the quay side later in the evening and all the sails--I -mean the booths--were furled, carriage umbrella and all; and the low -row of furled umbrellas, standing asleep and casting long dark shadows -in the dim light, like so many owls, gave a quaint, extraordinary -effect to the whole scene. - -In the daytime it is difficult to imagine a finer, more striking -effect than the quay side, and the stone buildings, most of them -with crests over the doorway, fine ironwork balconies, and -jalousied windows. The two ancient gates: La Porte du Cailha, and -La Porte de l'hotel de Ville, standing solemn, grim and grey, aloof -(how could it be otherwise?) from the modern life of to-day, its -trams, its tin trumpets, its electric lights--but permitting in its -dignified isolation, the traffic which has revolutionised the entire -neighbourhood. Most of the old part of Bordeaux is near the quay side. -There are many delightful old houses in Rue Quai-Bourgeois, Rue de la -Halle, Rue Porte des Pontanets, Rue de la Fusterie, Rue St. Croix and -others. The poetry of past ages, past doings, past individualities, -is thick in the air as one passes down these narrow, dimly-lighted, -old-world streets. Stories of adventures, of dark deeds, of sudden -disappearances, are no longer so difficult to picture when one has -stood under these long, broad doorways, in the darkest and most sombre -of entrance halls, and seen dim, hardly distinguishable staircases away -in the shadow beyond. The only sounds that break on one's ear are -the dull, booming drone of the steamer away in the harbour, the loose, -uneven rattle of the cumbrous waggons over the cobbles; and, when that -has passed, the quick tap-tap perhaps of some stray foot-passenger's -sabots. - - Illustration: [_From Collection of Mr Gustavus A. Sieveking._ - BORDEAUX, 1842. - [_Page 80._ - -This district of Bordeaux is full of the narrow, winding alleys, which -further north we call "wynds:"--all narrow; the houses, abutting them -on either side, being mostly five stories high, with all the lower -windows barred, and "squints" on each side of the doorways. In front -of each house stretches a little strip of pathway about two feet in -breadth, tiled diagonally; token of the time when everyone was bound to -subscribe thus to the duties of public paving. - -In Rue de la Halle the houses are mostly six stories in height, some -having lovely floriated doorways, and over them wrought iron balconies -in all varieties of design; over some of the windows I noticed -dog-tooth mouldings in perfect repair, and sometimes statues. Now and -again one would come upon a specially fine old mansion, with carved -doorways and, inside the entrance hall, panelled walls and grand old -oak staircase. As often as not, one would find big baskets and sacks -of flour arranged all round the hall, showing plainly enough for what -purpose it was used now. - -Now and again one of the heavy corn waggons would come lumbering down -the narrow street, driving one perforce on the extremely cramped -allowance of inches, called a pathway here: the dark blue smocks, -(shading off into a lighter tint for the trousers), of the carters, -making the most perfect foil to the quiet, sombre grey houses which -were beside them on either side. - - Illustration: CHATEAU DE LA GUIGNARDIERE, LA VENDEE. - [_Page 83._ - -Now and again as one turned out of one narrow, corkscrew road into -another, one would catch sight, above the towering heights of the -overhanging stories, of the spires, reared far beyond the houses of -men, of the old churches, which vary the monotony of the roofs of -the city, and stand steadfastly through the ages all along, as -witnesses of the past: its faith and its aims. I am not _au fait_ in -the architectural points of churches, or I should like to enlarge on -the beauties of the churches of St. Andre, St. Seurin, and one or two -others of ancient fame, which help to make Bordeaux the splendid city -it is. Adverse faiths, and the violent way in which they expressed -themselves in the past, have terribly spoilt and desecrated much of -the old work--work so beautiful that it is difficult to imagine how -the hand of Vandalism could bear to destroy it as ruthlessly as it -has done. We went to see the cathedral church of St. Andre one Sunday -afternoon. The chancel was literally one blaze of light for Benediction -and Vespers. The whole service was magnificently rendered, a first rate -orchestra supplementing the grand organ, and the voices of priests and -choir beyond all praise. What was, however, infinitely to be condemned, -was the irreverent pushing and jostling which was indulged in _ad -nauseam_ by many of the congregation. That any one was kneeling in -prayer, seemed to be no deterrent whatever; for the rough, purposeful -shove of hand and arm, to enable its possessor to get a better view of -the proceedings, went forward just as energetically. - -The curious custom of collecting pennies for chairs, as in our parks at -home, was in vogue here, as elsewhere in this country's churches and a -smiling _bourgeoise_ came round to each of us in turn with suggestive -outstretched palm. At the church of St. Croix there was, I remember, -a notice hung on the walls which put one in mind, somewhat, of the -familiar little tablet that faces one when driving in the favourite -little conveyance _a deux_ of our own London streets--"_Tarif des -chaises_," was printed in clear letters: "_10 pour grand messe, Vepres -ordinaires 5, Vepres avec sermon 10_." - -On thinking over the pros and cons of both systems; that of some of -our English pew-rented churches, giving rise to the evil passions -frequently excited in the mind of some seat-holder when, arriving late -in his parish church, he finds someone else in temporary possession -of his own hired pew, and that of the payment for only temporary -privileges and luxuries "while you wait," I must frankly own that the -latter infinitely more commends itself to my personal judgment! - -Not once, or twice only, but many times have I been witness to selfish, -jealous outbursts in civilised communities, all on account of some bone -of contention, in the way of a private pew (what an expression it is, -too, when you come to think of it!) which has been seized by some man -first in the field--I mean the church--when its legal owner happened to -be absent, and unexpectedly returns. - -Sometimes the incident is so entirely upsetting to the moral -equilibrium of the possessor of the private pew, who finds himself -suddenly in the position of not being able to enter his own property, -that his a Sunday expression, which has unconsciously to himself been -put on (_a thing peculiarly English_) is absolutely in ruins, and -nothing visible of it any more! Moreover, his chagrin is such that he -is often unable to control the outward expression of his feelings! - - * * * * * - -St. Emilion is within easy reach, by rail, of Bordeaux, and the bit of -country through which one passes to reach it is very characteristic of -that part of France. - -The vineyards between Bordeaux and St. Emilion stretch in almost one -continuous line. They are like serried ranks; the ground literally -bristles with them. The sticks to which the vines are attached are not -more than two feet in height, (sometimes not that). In one district -they were all under water--a broad, grey sheet. Here and there in among -the vines were trees--vivid yellow in leafage, with one obtrusively -flaring blood-red in colour in their midst. The cows that browsed near -the vines were tied by the leg to some big plank of wood, which they -had to drag along after them as they walked. Most awkward appendage, -too, it must have been. Though everywhere accompanied by this "drag -upon the wheel," yet they were also governed and directed by the -invariable peasant woman, at a little distance in the rear. Cocks and -hens are also allowed to disport themselves up and down the vine rows, -and seem to be given _carte blanche_ in the way of pickings. - -Possibly, now one comes to think of it, this may account for the odd -taste some of the eggs have: it may be that some of the weaker vessels -among the hens are tempted to help themselves to the wine in embryo, -(in the same sort of way as do some butlers in cellars), and that this -spicy flavour gets into the eggs without the hens being aware of it! It -may not be the fault of the cocks. What can one cock do, in the way of -restraint, among so many flighty hens? - -I shall never forget one of the oddest scenes, in connection with -cocks and hens, that I ever witnessed. I had, in the course of a -walk, got over a high gate which led into a field. No sooner was I on -_terra firma_ again than I perceived, by the scuttling and flounce -of feathers, and general fussy cackling, that I had stepped into the -midst of a conclave which the lord and master of that particular harem -was holding: his better halves (?) were around him. I am sorry to have -to admit that he did not hesitate an instant, but, having no hands -ready in which to take his courage, he left it behind him, in a most -ignominious fashion and was the first to hurry to a place of shelter -at some distance from me. When the shelter--in the shape of an old -outhouse--was secured, he leant out of it and, anxiety for the safety -of his household eloquently expressed on his red face, he chortled -in his eager injunctions and exhortations to his hens to come and be -protected. They obeyed, and I could hear an animated story or recital -of some sort being given them by him. - -Was he reading them a sermon on the imperative necessity of suppressing -the feminine (?) vice of curiosity, which might lead them to venture -out imprudently again into the danger just escaped and averted by his -watchful vigilance? or was he explaining away his own apparent failure -in courage lately shown them? Whichever it was, they lent him their -ears--all but one hen, and she perhaps had formed the habit of making -up her judgments independently on current events, without the aid of -the masculine mind, for she peeped round the corner repeatedly at me, -and finally, seeing I appeared to be a harmless individual enough, -she, without consulting the cock, ventured to come and inspect, and -remained, by my side with a modicum of caution, for some time. - -But to return. Underneath some of the elms, which back-grounded the -vineyards, the bronze coinage of dead leaves lay thick in handfuls. -Past them came slowly and musically, from time to time, a roomy cart; -its big bell--note of warning of its approach--hanging in a sort of -little belfry of its own behind the horse. Here, there would be a belt -of tawny trees against one of dark myrtle; there, a wood, soft pink and -russet, and in the midst of it, piled bundles of faggots. - -We had provided ourselves with our _second dejeuner_, but only the -butter and bread and Medoc were beyond reproach; the Camembert had -reached an uncertain age, and the ham had gone up higher! _Mais que -voulez-vous?_ You can hardly expect a feast out of doors as well as -indoors, a feast to the mouth as well as to the eye. And outside was -the most royally satisfying banquet of colours that any eye could -desire. Colours at their richest, contrasts at their completest period. - -Before reaching Coutras, you come again into the region dominated by -poplars. And that they do dominate the district in which they appear, -no one can doubt. Poplars give a peculiar character to the land; a -special personal note to the scenery. They are atmosphere-making. -Presently we came upon Angouleme, upon the slope of a hill; all white -and red in vivid contrast. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -Then, a little later still, we arrived at the end of our journey--St. -Emilion. - -At St. Emilion, the past insists upon being recognised, and, more than -that, on being a potent factor in the present. The modern buildings are -in evidence, right enough, but somehow they have an air of not being -so much in authority as the ancient ones. Beside its splendid remains, -which have lasted through many a long age, the present day town looks -but a pigmy. - - Illustration: ANCIENT CONVENT DES CORDELIERS, S. EMILION. - [_Page 93._ - -The day on which we saw the place was one of those quiet, -sleepily-sunshiny days; and the very spirit of a gone-by age seemed to -be brooding over it. The very pathway leading up to one of its ancient -gates has a sacred bit of past history connected with it, for was it -not a convent of the Cordeliers, founded by that saint of old, -Francis of Assisi, in 1215? - -The cloisters and a staircase and some of the walls still remain, -trees and shrubs growing wild within its precincts. Beside it are many -other ruins of ancient churches, convents and cloisters, amongst which -one might name the convent of the Jacobins, the grand, lonely, gaunt -fragment of the first convent of the _Freres Precheurs_ or _Grandes -Murailles_, which stands in solitary majesty at the entrance to the -town, and which can date back before 1287, and the first church of -St. Emilion, which was the underground, rock-hewn collegiate church -of the 12th century. Besides these, there is the ruined castle, built -by Louis VIII, whose great square keep-tower is the first striking -piece of old masonry (among many striking examples) which towers over -one on entering the town from the station road; and the crenellated -ramparts, watch-doors and gates, built in the days when it was one of -the _bastides_ founded by Edward I. - -As regards the gates, Murray declares the original six are still in -existence, but though I tried my best to discover any remains of them, -I could only find two, the one at the edge of the town leading to the -open land outside St. Emilion, commanding a fine view of the "fair -meadows of France," some lying faintly red-brown in the rays of a -rather sulky-looking sunset, and others, further away, a dark mauve. -In the immediate foreground was a splash of vivid yellow, making a -gorgeous focus of light. - -An old woman sitting beside the road (who informed us her age was -ninety-two) told us that she still worked in the vineyards, (think of -it, at ninety-two!) and that champagne was made in this district, as -well as the claret named after the place. St. Emilion is a place whose -houses--some three hundred years old--are built at all levels; up and -down hill, and in most unexpected crooked corners; some, too, of the -dwellings are caves simply. In the _Arceau de la Cadene_ there is the -splendid old house of the _perruquier_ Troquart, and beyond it an old -timbered house built of dark oak with crest and sculptures. - -Over many of the doors I had noticed little bunches of dead flowers, -or bundles of wheat or corn, some in the form of a cross,--hung up. On -asking the _femme de chambre_, who brought in our _second dejeuner_ at -the little old inn near this gate, she told me that on every festival -of St. Jean, the people go to church in large numbers, pass up the -aisle carrying these little bunches, and the priest blesses them as -they go by, and then on the return home they are hung up over the door -of each household, to remain there for the whole of the year until the -festival comes round again. To the French, the Idea is everything. To -us, it is too often only reverenced according to its money value. - -Some of the vines at St. Emilion are on banks, on rising ground, -flanked by two stone pillars at one end, with an iron gate and a -flight of steps, generally deeply mossed, leading up to the vines. -Here and there a vivid touch of colour from some fallen leaf, mauve or -yellow, lay in strong contrast on the sandy path. There was the flaring -yellow of the marigolds, too, which grew plentifully in the banks -between the espaliers. A hollowed piece of limestone, for the water to -drain off from the vineyards, marked the bank at regular intervals the -whole way along. Red and white valerian hung in clustering branches -over the edges of the rocks. - -We spent a long time in the _place du marche_, under the lee of the -high earthwork, with holes like burrows set in it at regular intervals -on which the superstructure of the newer church is built over the -ancient subterranean one. This latter is only opened, we were informed, -once a year. - -The market place, which the modern church overshadows, is a quiet, -dreamy, tranquil little square. An acacia was meditatively shedding -its garments, in the shape of leaves, on to the little green strip of -turf in the middle. Underneath its branches lay already a soft heap of -yellow, from its previous exertions. - -Two travelling pedlars--a man and a woman--were plying on this little -lawn a cheerful trade. He was mending the flotsams and jetsams of St. -Emilion household crockery and unwarily drinking water from the flowing -stream that descends from the tap's mouth. As he mended, he sang -snatches of some of those little jaunty, gay, _roulade-y_ songs which -the French peasant loves: "_Je marche a soir_," "_Ah! tirez de votre -poche un sous!_" were bits that caught my ear most often; perhaps they -were meant to be, in a sense, topical songs, with an eye (or a voice) -to the main chance. - -An old woman hobbled across the square bringing an old brown jug to be -riveted, and he besought her, as she was going away, to "_cassez une -autre_." - -We did not leave St. Emilion until twilight had fallen, and there was -no light to see anything else. Then there was a little loitering about -to be done, while we waited for the local omnibus which plied between -Libourne and St. Emilion. There was very little room inside when we at -last boarded it, but we presently overtook, a belated and garrulous -_voyageur_, a weather-beaten countryman who talked to me without -cessation during the whole journey. I was not sitting next to him, but -that did not seem to deter him in the least; he talked insistently, -loudly and urgently, leaning across the lap of the man who sat between -us. He insisted on taking for granted that all the other passengers -were near relations of mine, and asked questions as to ages, names, -place of residence, etc., in strident tones, till the man beside me -was convulsed with laughter. I have never known a conversation all on -one side (for, after the first, none of us attempted to put in a word) -kept up, intermittently, for forty minutes on end, as this was! Once -before, I own, I succeeded in conversing for ten whole minutes entirely -off my own bat, with no assistance from the opposite side, with a young -Hawaiian friend of my uncle's who was dining at the house in which I -was staying, but that was really in self-defence, because I dared not -venture with him across the borders of the English language, having -heard specimens of his conversation before, and never having been -able to distinguish his nouns from his verbs, or his adverbs from his -interjections! But though mutual understanding was difficult, there was -yet between us that curious tacit sympathy which is independent of any -words. - -At last we reached Libourne, with a minute to spare for catching our -train, and happily succeeded in boarding it. Just outside Libourne -we could see great bunches of yellow bananas hanging up outside the -cottage walls. The trees here were the softest carmine, mixed with -others of burnt sienna, while some resembled nothing so much as a -new door-mat. After Luxe begin the little low walls of loose stones -separating meadow from meadow and then, later, a flat, dull-coloured -stretch of country. On Ruffec platform the garment which the men here -seemed most to affect was a sort of dark puce loose coat, with little -pleats down the front. The women wore a sort of close lace cap, with -streamers floating over their shoulders. - -Out in the open again we came upon alternate dark green of broom and -cloth of gold of foliage everywhere. The curtain of heavy cloud had -lifted a little, and beneath shone a gorgeous flame sunset low over -meadows of red-brown soil, the darker brick-red of dying bracken over -the cold grey of the cottages, and the white gleam of the twisting -stream winding in and out between the meadows. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -One cannot but regret that in most parts of France to-day, the -picturesque costumes of the peasants are almost a thing of the past. In -out-of-the-way districts, it is true, they still linger here and there, -but they have to be searched for, as a rule, to be seen. - -"_Ah! ces jolies costumes sont perdues_," said the manageress of our -hotel at Poitiers, and she assured us they were only now to be found -far away in the country. However, we discovered a few examples at -market time in the city. Some of the caps fit close to the head, and -have a frill round the face. The opportunity for a little individuality -in pattern occurs at the back, where is the fullness and body of the -cap. Some again consist only of a plain fold of linen, and boast two -long streamers at the back; while others have the added dignity of a -high peak (as given in picture,) which always confers a certain air -upon its wearer, "an air of distinguishment" which impresses itself -always upon the beholder. - -The long, striped, navy-blue blouses which the men affect here, reach -to below the knees, and are loose and open at the neck. Over them they -wear, in bad weather, the invariable loose black cape with pointed -hood drawn over the head. I saw one or two blouses of soft lilac silk, -fastened at the neck with quaintly shaped little silver buckles. - -A French market is the purgatory of the innocent. - -This was ruthlessly shewn forth on market day at Poitiers. The -squealing, the clucking, the squawking are unceasing and insistent -everywhere. No one can fail to hear them. But it requires the quiet, -observant, sympathetic eye to see the other, less evident, forms of -distress. By means of this last, however, one sees the mute suffering -in the eyes of the turkeys, for instance. Sometimes a turkey would be -blinking hard with one eye, while the lid of the other rose miserably -every now and again. While I was standing by, some passing boy, with -fiendish cruelty, set his dog at a pair of turkeys lying close at his -feet, helpless and terrified, their feet tied tightly together. At a -little distance off I could see one of these unhappy creatures hanging -head downwards, its poor limp wing being brushed roughly and jerked -carelessly by all who passed that way. - -Then there were the rabbits. What words could describe the excruciating -panic to which they are subjected, when one remembers their timidity -and nervousness in a wild state. No worse misery could be devised for -them than the prodding and punching and tossing up and down which they -receive on all hands as they await, amidst the babel of noise around -them, their last fate. The only members of the dumb creation who seemed -fairly indifferent to their surroundings, and indeed to regard them -with a certain grim humour, were the ducks. Everyone is aware that -there exists in France the equivalent of our Society for Prevention -of Cruelty to Animals, but my experience convinced me that it is not -_nearly_ so energetic as is our own society. - -Many of the men were shouting their loudest at the stalls over which -they presided. One, I noticed, who offered for sale a curious little -collection of odds and ends was proclaiming their value thus:-- - -"_Voila! toute la service--Toute la Seminee! Tous les articles! Tous -les articles!_" - -Another was crying out, "_Toute la soir!_" as he lifted on high a -bundle of coloured measures. - -The "coloured end" of the market was undeniably the fruit and vegetable -stalls. There, side by side, everywhere one's eye roamed, lay long -sticks of celery, cooked brown pears, little flat straw baskets -full of neat little, bright green broccoli; the soft olive green of -the heart shaped leaves of the fig throwing into vivid contrast the -delicate peach and tawny brown of the _deneufles_ (medlars). Here, -the deep flaring orange of the sliced _citronne_ would jostle the cool -white, veined, and unobtrusive green of a neighbouring leek, its long, -trailing roots lying on the counter like unravelled string. There, -would be the _celeri rave_ with its round, bulgy, cream-coloured stumps -exchanging contrasts with the deep myrtle tint of the crinkled leaves, -puckered and rugged, of a certain species of broccoli. - -All around reigned a pandemonium of sound. Upon a cart close to the -grey old church of Notre Dame, stood a woman singing "_Des Chants -Republicans_," to the accompaniment of a concertina. Her audience was -mixed, and somewhat inattentive. It consisted of soldiers, market -women, children, all jabbering, jostling, laughing, and singing little -catchy bits of the song. Overhead was a gigantic, brilliant red -umbrella. The whole scene was fenced by market carts of all sizes and -shapes whose coverings presented to the eye every variety of green -linen. - -The Church of Notre Dame has three magnificent doorways, full of the -most exquisite design and moulding, in perfect preservation. Indeed -the whole outward presentment of the church is exceedingly fine, so -that one is sensible of keen disappointment, when, on going inside, -one is confronted with painted pillars and tawdry, artificial flowers -flaunting everywhere. The singing here is very inferior to that which -we heard in the churches of Bordeaux; and in neither Notre Dame, nor -the cathedral, was the great organ used at High Mass, nor at Vespers. - -During the service of Vespers at which I was present, one of the -priests played the harmonium, surrounded by a number of choir boys. -Whenever it seemed to him that some boy was not attending, he would -strike a note, reiteratingly, until he managed to catch that boy's eye, -when he frowned in reproof. It was a case of the many suffering because -of the misdoings of the one! One of the oldest of the smaller churches -at Poitiers is that of St. Parchaise. This church, I found, is kept -open all night, and a stove kept burning during the winter months, for -the sake of the aged and infirm poor, who have no other refuge. - -When I went in at five in the afternoon, it was already growing dark, -and a priest was just lighting the lamps; the stove had already -comfortably warmed the building, and I could see sitting about in -obscure corners, old peasant women. Others were standing quietly before -some pictures, or kneeling before a side altar. - -By far the most interesting building to the antiquary in Poitiers, -is the curious old Baptistery de St. Jean, dating back to the fourth -century. It is filled with old stone tombs of the seventh or eighth -century, and some as early as the sixth. Upon one of the latter is -the inscription: "_Ferro cinetus filius launone_." On another was: -"_Aeternalis et servilla vivatisiendo_." I noticed a curious double -tomb for a man and a woman: in length about five feet. Pere Camille de -la Croix discovered this baptistery, and was instrumental in having it -preserved, and the tombs carefully examined. - -Pere Camille himself is one of those striking personalities at whose -presence the great dead past lights its torch, and once more stands, -a living power, before the eyes of the present. Such a personality -breathes upon the dry bones beside our path to-day, and they rise from -silent oblivion and lay their arresting hands upon our sleeves. - -He is a splendid-looking old man, with long white beard and eyes that -are living fires of energy and enthusiasm. When I first met him, he -was sitting cataloguing MSS at a side table, in the _musee_, in a -very minute, neat handwriting, sombrero on head. I stayed talking to -him for some little time, and amongst other things, he said rather -bitterly, "The monuments and baptistery belonged to France; if they -had belonged to Poitiers they'd have been destroyed long ago." I had -made a few little rough sketches of the tombs, and as he turned over -the leaves of my sketch-book to tell me the probable dates of each, -he gave vent to a resounding "_Hurr--!_" and pursed his lips together. -When I mentioned that I had been told by someone that he spoke three -languages, he said decisively and emphatically, "_Il dit faux_." - -He lives in a curious, high, narrow house by the river, with small -windows and iron gates; and the greater part of his time is given up -to the deciphering of old manuscripts, and writing records of them; -records which will be an invaluable gift to posterity. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -Poitiers abounds in antiquities of one kind or another; and there -is a great variety and originality in its old buildings. Old stone -doorways and steep conical roofs are to be seen, specially in Pilory -Square. Hemming them in were purple-tinted trees, which made a fringe -of delicate embroidery against the cold slate of the houses. Under one -of the houses in Rue Cloche Perse were magnificent cellars, or caves, -with massive round arches, and the ceiling of rough masonry blackened -with age. The men who showed me the place declared the "_caillouc_" was -known to be Roman work, and the door above to be thirteenth century, or -earlier. Some of the old houses are tiled all down their frontage, and -the effect on the eye is a soft violet of diagonal pattern. Some are -square, some pointed. The house to which St. Jeanne d'Arc came in 1428 -is one of the latter. Over the door is the inscription: "Ne hope, ne -fear, Safe in mid-stream;" and these words placed there by _La Societe -des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, Mars, 1892_. - - _Ici etait - l'hotellerie de la Rose, - Jeanne d'Arc y logea - en Mars, 1429 (sic) - Elle en partit, pour alier delivrer - Orleans - Assiege par les Anglais._ - -It is evident that formerly there was some crest affixed to the -frontage. Inside the old black fireplace in one of the front rooms had -been a statue in days gone by. The house of Diane de Poitiers is roofed -in greyish lilac slates, alternating with red tiles. - -One cannot come to Poitiers without being insistently aware of the -_charbonnier_--the minstrel of the street. The shrill characteristic -"Root-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-TOO--!" of his little brass -trumpet every three minutes during most parts of the day, sometimes -_crescendo_, sometimes _diminuendo_ according to its distance are -special features of the streets of Poitiers. He is accompanied by his -little covered cart, with its flapping green curtains, in which sit -Madame, and his stock of charcoal. - -Most of the street cries here are in the minor key--are in fact exactly -like the first part of a Gregorian chant, and sound very melodiously -on one's ear when heard at a little distance. I met a woman pushing a -barrow once, containing a little of everything: fish, endive, apples, -sweets, and little odds and ends, so to speak, waifs and strays of -food. She was singing to a little melody of her own, "_Des pe ... tites -choses! des pe ... tites choses!_" - -Round about Poitiers are many charming old _chateaux_, each one so -distinctly French in character and individuality, that they could, by -no possibility, have their nationality mistaken. At Neuville-de-Poitou -are some curious old monumental stones: "_Dolmen de la Pierre-Levee_." - - Illustration: CASTLE AVANTON, VIENNE. - [_Page 112._ - -In our hotel, every evening, regularly at _table d'hote_, appeared -a genuine old specimen of the _haute-noblesse_. He was all one had -ever dreamed of as an old marquis of an extinct _regime_! A sour, -disappointed expression, (which he fed by drinking quantities of -lemon-juice,) dominated his face, though through this could be seen an -air of faded dignity which set him apart from the common herd who sat -to right and left of him. Somehow or other, he conveyed to that noisy -_salle-a-manger_ the subtle atmosphere of some old castle in other -days. One saw the splendid old panelled room in which he might have sat -among the family portraits of many generations around him. Surrounding -him many signs and tokens of ancient nobility, and that great army of -unseen retainers that fenced him about wherever he went-his traditions. -It was true he had to sit cheek by jowl with the _commis voyageur_, the -_bourgeois_, the Cook's tourist, and _seemed_ to be of them, but in -reality he lived in another atmosphere. And as all the world knows, -nothing separates one man from another so completely, so finally, as a -certain essence of spiritual atmosphere. - -Along the line from Poitiers to Rouen were trees of flaming tawny and -russet tints. The effect of the snow which had fallen over the fields -the previous night, was that of beaten white of egg having settled -itself flat, and having been forked over in a regular pattern. The -cabbages looked pinched and shrunken with the curl all out of their -plumage. The whole landscape was backed by a deep lilac flush over the -rising woodlands on the horizon. There is something in the straight, -unswerving upward growth of the poplar which relieves the plains from -their otherwise dead level monotony. This is the secret of all life. It -must have contrast. It is not like to like which saves in the crucial -moment of crisis, it is rather the power of the sudden, startling -contrast. - -After passing Orleans we came upon trees only partly despoiled of their -leaves, which looked gorgeous in their new livery of white and gold, -for the snow had fallen only upon the bare boughs. As the afternoon -grew darker, the cold white glare of the fields shone more and more -vividly, broken only by the whirl of the succeeding furrows, and the -little copses of violet brown brushwood as the train raced along. -Then, later, came a long sombre belt of pines, the light shewing dimly -between the trunks. Anon, a chalk cutting, now a winking flare from the -lights of some passing wayside station. - -As we neared Rouen, we could see the Seine flowing close below the line -of rail. It was moonlight, and the trees which lined its banks shone -reflected clear and delicately outlined in the swirling water below. -Every now and then a ripple caught the dazzling, steely glitter, and -blazed up, as if the facets of a diamond had flashed them back, as the -waves rose and fell. To the right, in the middle distance, long lines -of undulating hills lay gloomy and sombre. Then--the train slowed into -the vast city of innumerable traditions, and mediaeval romance--Rouen. - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -To me Rouen is like no other city. The effect it makes on one is -immediate, indescribable, bewildering. It speaks to one out of its -vast antiquity. It has a thousand mediaeval voices sounding solemnly in -the ears of those who can recognise them; it has stories of adventure -and daring; of bloodshed and tragedy; of calm stoicism and undeterred -resolve; of plagues and burnings; that would fill many and many a thick -volume. And it has its modern side, which flares blatantly and noisily -across the other. The effect, for instance, of the modern electric tram -in the midst of a city like Rouen is nothing less than extraordinary. - - Illustration: LA GROSSE HORLOGE, 1902 - [_Page 117._ - -We took "our ease at" an "inn," which faced one of the chief streets -appropriated by this blustering modern mode of progression, and I -shall never forget the effect it had on me. The persistent, reiterated -strumming, as it were, with one finger on its one high note, as it came -tearing along up the street every three minutes, hurriedly, fussily, -with loose disjointed jolt, humming always with a deep whirr in its -voice, (often the octave of its much-used high note), or anon singing -up the scale, with a burr on every note, was the most absolute contrast -to the Other Side of Rouen; the "other side" of the deep, quiet, -wonderful past. The tram was like some enormous bee flying restlessly, -tiresomely, out of one's reach with incessant buzz: a buzz which -seemed, after a time, to have got literally inside one's head. - -I defy anyone to find a more complete contrast in noise anywhere -than could be found between the great, deep, ponderous boom of the -many-a-decade-year-old bell of the Cathedral de Notre Dame and the -fussy, flurried, treble ping-ping of the electric tram. It was a -perfect representation of "Dignity and Impudence," as illustrated in -sound. - -The next evening I was reminded of this again while standing in the -square facing the cathedral of Our Lady. A group of students strode -cheerfully and briskly up the street under its shadow, which lay like -a great, dark mass lined off by the moonlight, shining white on the -cobbles. As they walked along, one of them struck into a song, which -had, at the end of each stanza, a peculiarly inspiriting refrain, which -was taken up in turns by students across the street, crossing it, and -far ahead. When all this had died away, a passing _fiacre_, rolling -over the stones, broke the silence again, and then the clocks began to -strike the hour. - - Illustration: [_From Collection of Mr Gustavus A. Sieveking._ - CATHEDRAL NOTRE DAME. - ROUEN, 1842. - [_Page 118._ - -As the sweet, mellow, solemn bell of the cathedral sounded, and before -it had struck three notes, a blatant tin kettle of a clock, from a -hotel near by, raspingly announced its own rendering of the time. Then -here, then there, from all quarters, came shrill, discordant editions -of the same fact, and the great thrilling, arresting reminder of -the dignified past was silenced. So have I sometimes seen a modern, -fashionable woman, decked out in all the tinsel fripperies of Paris, -outshine some quiet, delicate, other-world beauty in a crowded room, so -that the latter was, to all intents and purposes, completely shelved, -so to speak. She needed her own environment, her own quiet background -before her personal note could be heard; before she could shine in -people's eyes, as she should have shone. - -What is it that makes foreign churches a living centre of daily -concern? That they are so, can hardly be disputed. Why they should be -so is another matter, and reasons are bandied about. But whether they -have a reasonable basis, is questionable. The reason chiefly given, -of course, is the influence of the priest, and the background he can -produce at will to the home life picture, if his suggestion in daily -life are not carried out. But it remains to be proved if this reason -can carry the weight that is laid upon its back by its supporters. - -One afternoon about two o'clock I waited in the square opposite -the cathedral for forty minutes, in order to see what manner of -men and women were constrained to go through the little swinging -door underneath one of those splendid archways. Every other moment, -for the whole of that forty minutes, some one passed in and out: -well-dressed women; countrywomen in white frilled cap, apron and -sabots; hatless peasants; beggars; "sisters;" infirm people, healthy -people; old people, young people, children. Some would come out slowly, -stiffly; some with mackintosh flying behind; some accompanied, some -unaccompanied. - -There was no service; (for I went inside myself, to see, and found a -quiet church--no one about but those who had come for a quiet "think," -or a quiet prayer); it was evidently done simply to satisfy a need--a -need that affected equally all sorts and conditions of men and women. -Just as someone, during a sudden pause in the middle of the day's -business, takes a quiet quarter of an hour aside for a chat with some -chosen comrade; just as a mother, perhaps, during the "noisy years" of -her children's lives, steals a quiet ten minutes of solitude to restore -the balance of her thoughts, which have been unsettled by the quarrels -and disputes of baby tongues. It is the time when the soul puts off the -official robe of pressing business for a few short minutes and takes -a deep drink at "the things that endure;" the time when the soul can -stretch its tired, cramped spiritual limbs, and take a long breath; the -hour when the burden that each of us carries is slipped for a time, -and shrinks in stature. To bring the spiritual and the material to -speaking terms has always been a crucial point of difficulty. England, -to-day, belongs pre-eminently to a materialistic age, and it is full of -people who are trying--some of them fairly successfully--to persuade -themselves--knowing how difficult a matter it is to combine the -spiritual element and the material,--that it is safest and happiest to -divorce them as completely as possible. Where in this country does one -see the compelling necessity at work with all classes on a week day, to -go aside into some quiet, empty church, and draw from spiritual stores? -One may safely affirm that this occurs somewhat rarely, out of London. - -There was a good deal of garden drapery at our hotel, (a good deal of -drapery too, as to prices, but this we did not find out until the last -day of our stay!) Every night white tablecloths were spread over the -beds of heather and chrysanthemums in the front garden. Every morning -a very curious effect was caused by the snow, which had fallen during -the night, having made deep folds in their sides and middles, so that -at first sight it looked as if some enormous hats had been deposited -there in the night. One evening, between eight and nine o'clock, while -sitting quietly at the _table d'hote_, which was presided over by a -youthful master of ceremonies, who walked up and down in goloshes, -(his invariable, though unexplainable, custom) there came the distant -but rousing sound of bugles. Instantly chairs were pushed back, diners -rose hastily, and presently the whole room emptied, and a shifting -population tumultuously made its way across the hall, and through -into the garden where the table-clothed flowers slept in their night -wrappers,--and away to the gates. As we reached them the dark street -was raggedly lit up by the flickering jerk of the red glare from moving -torches: there was a sudden stir of music in the air: the bugles came -nearer, accompanied by the quick tramp past of many feet: the rattle -of the drums worked up the tune to its climax: then the call of the -bugle again, exciting, questioning, hurrying: a moment later, the -music dancing and edging off by rapid paces, till all the awakened -emotion and excitement, stirred to vivid life of the passing, trenchant -movement, sank--as it seemed, finally--quite suddenly, to a flicker in -the socket, and ceased. The street in front of us grew emptier; and, -the requirement of the inner man and inner woman again beginning to -re-assert themselves, the garden witnessed the return to the deserted -_table d'hote_, of most of the crowd, who had, some minutes earlier, -started up to follow the drum. - -But I still waited on at the gate. The whole scene, but just enacted, -had put me back many, many years, to a night long ago in very early -childhood; when the torches and tar-barrels of a certain fifth of -November celebration at St. Leonards, had flashed as startlingly, as -brilliantly, an arrestingly on the panes of our sitting-room; and I, a -little child playing quietly by myself on the floor, had been roused -suddenly to instant attention by the glare and fantastic dancing -reflections on the wall as the procession of shouting torch bearers -came striding up the street to the stirring sound of the bugle. The -whole incident had made an ineffaceable impression on my mind, and I -had often recalled to myself the dark window, the sudden flickering -glare, the roar of the flaming tar-barrels, the whole scene swaying -ruddily up the street outside, the excited sense of something strange -and new happening; but never till this evening, had I been taken right -back, and my feet, as it were, planted once again on the same spot of -the old sensation, from which the push of so many passing years had -displaced the "me" of those days when the spring of life's year was but -just beginning. - -In the Rue des Ours there is a little humble restaurant to which I went -again and again. It stands in a narrow, cobbled street, with old black -timbered houses opposite it and beside it. It is itself of no mean age. -Most of the more well-to-do restaurants in Rouen have indeed _cartes_ -fixed up in prominent places outside, but they are _cartes_ without the -horse of "_Prix fixe_" harnessed to them. - -But if you once know your restaurant, then the thing to do is, in this -case not to "find out men's wants and meet them there," but to "find -out" what particular dish it is really good at cooking and "meet it -there" by coming regularly for that very dish, not venturing out into -the unknown, and often greasy, waters of a stew, a _hors d'oeuvre_, or -_entremet_. This is knowledge acquired by experience, for I have, in -the craving that sometimes beseiges one for variety, gone much farther -and--fared much worse, so now I am content to stay where I fare fairly -well, if plainly, at moderate expenditure. One can pass a very happy -hour at the little restaurant in the Rue des Ours; they can fry kippers -to a turn, and one or two other simple things. Some people I know -wouldn't care to come in and have kippers for _second dejeuner_: all I -can say is, then they can stay out--go somewhere else and make greater -demands on their trouser pockets. - -But for those who can appreciate plain fare, the little restaurant in -the Rue des Ours will answer well their midday needs. There are few -things more difficult to get than plain things done to perfection at a -restaurant which thinks great guns--I mean great _entrees_--of itself. -The most appetising breakfast dish I have ever had in my life--even -now my lips long to make a certain appreciative sound in memory of -it!--consisted of certain slices of bacon cooked at a little fire on an -island, during a camping-out excursion on the river near Marlow some -years ago. I may as well add that I had no share in the cooking of it, -only in the eating of it. - -Everybody sits at the little, narrow, long tables which are set at -intervals over the little room with its sanded floor, at my restaurant, -with the exception of those who sit at marble ones, which are there -also, only in less numbers. I remember one special day when a paper had -provided great food for excitement for two men who sat smoking in a -corner and discussing matters of state over two cups of black coffee, -which had been aided and abetted by two liqueurs. The woman, who was -the middle-woman between the cook--or manufacturer--and the consumer, -went to and fro rapidly, shouting from time to time, "_Plats!_" with -the names of those required, with an added and imperative "_Vite! -Vite!_" - -From time to time a burning match from the pipes of the two -conspirators fell as softly on the sanded floor as, on a November -night, a shooting star sinks, and is extinguished on the dark sky. -Presently, a bustling little man in a wide-awake entered with a -huge pile of pink and yellow advertisement leaflets, it recommended -some _horloges_, which had but recently swum "into the ken" of the -inhabitants who live on the outskirts of Rue des Ours. - -Immediately on entering, he saluted with confident and easy grace, and -handed round with characteristic aplomb and dignity, the leaflets with -which he identified himself for the time, though having no connection -with the business with which they were concerned, save that of a purely -temporary one. No Englishman could deliver leaflets like that. He would -never take the trouble to attempt unfamiliar "airs and graces" to push -someone else's concern. He would deliver simply and baldly, and would -consider that good measure for his pay. - -But the Frenchman's is "good measure running over," and his manner in -doing it is half the battle, though the Englishman cannot understand -how this can be so. I remember in this connection, an Englishwoman, who -had lived much in France, saying to me the other day, _a propos_ of -Frenchwomen: - -"They make charming speeches and compliments which one likes -exceedingly to hear, until you find suddenly in some practical matter, -some emergency, that they really mean nothing at all by them,--well -then, when I recognised that, I just felt as if I'd no ground to go on -at all, and I didn't care any longer for any of their professions. - -"There is no real courtesy in the streets of Paris. Men jostle women -right and left, it being at the passenger's own risk that the crossing -of the street is performed. - -"I never felt that I was a woman till I came to Paris: and there it is -forced on one daily. The Parisian's view of a woman is not an ideal -one." - -To the diner, whose purse is light and whose needs are heavy and not -satisfied by the fare of the restaurant in Rue des Ours, I would -suggest the restaurant which is cheek by jowl with "Grosse Horloge." -There, simplicity is more fully mated to variety, for you can depend -upon three _plats_, and, unless one is a slave to luxury, these -_plats_, well cooked even if plain, are amply sufficient to satisfy the -cravings which begin below the belt, and end--in a good square meal. By -the way, many waiters in these restaurants go upon some co-operative -system, and all the "tips" that they receive at restaurants are -put into a common box, which is placed on the desk of the _charge -d'affaires_. As each table empties, the waiter, in passing, drops his -_douceur_ through the narrow slit. My conviction is, that the workmen -who are given _pourboires_ do the same thing in the way of co-operation. - -Over the little restaurant of which I have been speaking is the -old gateway and tower of La Grosse Horloge. The bell here, called -"Rouvel," dating back more than six centuries, has not been rung -now for eight months, owing to its having become cracked. It -weighs 1,500 kilogrammes. We went once into the belfry where the -poor old bell, in its dotage, still hangs. Here in the draughty -shuttered twilight, which is its constant environment, sounds -unceasingly through each day and night, its mechanical heart-beats of -"Teck-took"--"Teck-took"--"Teck--took," solemnly, slowly, unmelodiously. - -Here in the half-lights, with stray gusts of wind blowing in through -the interstices of the shutters which shut in the belfry, it has rung -for ages on end, the warning _couvre feu_, the solemn message of the -passing hours. The only sounds which came filtering in to one's ears -from the world far below are the distant shriek of the engine, and the -rattle of the carriages. Below is a chamber where the weight of the -clock rising and falling is the only object between a wilderness of -dark timbers and the planks of the stairs. - -Here, at the first news of fire in the city, is sounded the fire-alarm. -If the fire is at a great distance the alarm is prolonged. - -Right at the top of the tower is a grand view of the hills standing -round about the city;--(when I was there)--brown, befogged, misty,--the -broad river lying clear cut and silvery in the middle distance; while -nearer in, one could see old decrepit, black-timbered houses which -abutted on to the flagged courts below them, on whose surface the hail -dripped whitely, and leapt merrily. Two hundred steps lead up to the -top of the tower through a winding, twisting stone stairway. - -The gateway below, in the street, is the same age as the tower: but the -age of the outer gilt clock, which faces the street, is not more than -the sixteenth century. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -In a straight line from the Rue Grosse-Horloge, it is not five minutes -to the _vieux marche_ where St. Jeanne d'Arc was martyred. - -There is nothing to mark the spot but a tablet let in on the path, and -the words: - Jeanne d'Arc - 30 Mai - 1431. -Nothing else. - -Beside it on one of the huge market halls hang many dirty, artificial -wreaths, and under them a marble tablet, with these words inscribed on -it:-- - -"_Sur cette place s'eleva le bucher de Jeanne d'Arc._ - -"_Les cendres de la glorieuse victoire furent jetees a la Seine._" - -And below it is a map of old Rouen (1431) shewing that the _piloi_ was -close to the spot where Joan of Arc was burnt, as was also the Church -of St. Saviour (which has completely disappeared). The square now is -surrounded almost entirely by modern buildings and hotels, and the two -large iron market halls take up nearly all the space. - -I cannot imagine a greater demand on one's powers of imagination than -is required of one who stands, under these modern conditions, and tries -to conceive the scene that took place there six centuries ago. - -The woman who dared much, ventured much, and suffered much, for the -sake of that which is "not seen, only believed," standing there in the -midst of the fire, her eyes on that Other Figure which, under the form -of the uplifted crucifix, was present with her, unseen by the rabble; -the English bishops who only wanted to get to their dinner; the coarse -crowd who came to gloat over her sufferings; the whole brutal scene -which was to be the last which should meet her eyes before the door -into the spirit-world should open. - -Conditions of life, points of view, are so completely, so absolutely -changed, that one cannot realise the tragedy which was acted out to its -grim finish on that spot. And one looks again at the dirty, begrimed -tablet at one's feet: - Jeanne d'Arc, - 30 Mai - 1431, -and yet one _cannot_ realise it all, cannot mentally see it happening. - -Nevertheless it did take place, and it remains for ever a stained page -in the volume of the deeds of England: a stained page of blackest -ingratitude in the annals of France. - -I stood by that stone a long time. For there, on that very spot, is -sacred ground. There, six hundred years ago, a human soul dared death -in its most terrible aspect, for--the sake of an Idea. There are very -few to-day, men or women, who would dare so much for the sake of an -idea: even when that idea is backed by faith, as hers was. And yet -there is nothing greater, nothing more powerful, if one could see it in -its true light, than an idea of the kind that was hers. - -A little side street leading out of the Place de Vieux Marche brings -one into the quiet little Place de la Pucelle. Here, there is a statue -(not in the least inspiring, however) to St. Jeanne d'Arc, hung round -with the inevitable artificial wreaths, so dear to the French, in -honour of her memory. The statue itself is blackened and covered with -a soft mantle of green from much wreath-bearing. There is also a -Latin inscription. The square itself is diamond-shaped, and only one -black-timbered house remains to it of all that graced it in Joan's -days. There is, it is true, standing back in its own courtyard, that -wonderful Hotel Bourgtheroulde, (which was begun in the sixteenth -century,) but this is not easily seen if you enter the square from the -further end. - - Illustration: FONTAINE DE ST. CROIX, ROUEN. - [_Page 137._ - -I saw it at dusk. The quiet figure rising dark against the twilight -sky; some white-capped peasants crossing the street quietly; the -distant cries and laughter of children playing about the fountain in -the midst; the windows of the houses gleaming redly against the cobbled -pavement; steep roofs rising all round, standing out in the half light -distinct and sharp, made an impression on one's memory not easily to be -wiped out. - -Rouen is the happy hunting-ground of the antiquary: the old houses are -almost inexhaustible. Streets upon streets of them, untouched in all -their splendid picturesqueness. One strikes up some narrow, cobbled -passage between timbered houses, rising high on either side, a narrow -strip of blue sky shewing far above, and one comes suddenly upon lovely -old corbels, exquisite bits of old sculpture, by some corner across -which strikes the soft shine from the blue lilac slate of some steep -roof immediately above it. At one's foot is the inevitable little -border to almost every old street--the trickling stream gleaming where -the sun slants down on it. - -The only sound that breaks on one's ear in these old streets is the -clatter of sabots, and the sedate, slow-paced _carillon_ from the -cathedral bells close by. Sometimes in one's wanderings one comes upon -one or other of the numerous old carved stone fountains which stand -here and there at street corners in Rouen--sculptured, but generally -much discoloured and defaced. - -Quite unexpectedly, again, one chances on flagged courtyards, the -houses round having magnificent, old black oak staircases giving on -to them. One street was especially full of characteristic corners. -I remember once passing down it when the whole place seemed asleep: -and the only sounds that struck on one's ear were the plaintive, soft -lament of an unseen dove, and the distant wail of a violin from some -projecting upper story of a gabled house. - -Beside a panelled door, hanging loosely on its hinges, hopped a tame -rook, rather out at elbows as touching its wing plumage, pecking at -the rain-water which had dripped into an old silver plate of quaint -design which lay tilted against the kerb stone. Further up was a house -with a bulging front, as of someone who has lived too well and attained -thereby his corporation. In some streets the houses are slated down -the entire frontage, and only the ground floor timbered. Many of the -houses are labelled "_Ancienne Maison_," and the name beneath, and -some--but only some, alas!--have the date over the door. There are -some exceedingly quaint dedications over one or two of the shops in -Rouen. One, which specially arrested our attention, was over a shop -in the Rue Grosse-Horloge, and ran thus:--"_Au pauvre diable et a St. -Herbland reunis!_" Another was to "Father Adam"; another to "_Petit -St. Herbland_,"; another to "_St. Antoine de Padue_:" this last was -a very favourite dedication, and one came across it in all parts of -the city. Though, when one saw how often he was the patron saint of -"Robes and Modes," I must say one wondered what the connection was -between the saint and a milliner's shop. Was it a reminder of that one -of his temptations in which three beautiful maidens, scantily attired, -appeared and danced before him? Only, if so, surely the _double -entendre_ suggested by the dedication would act as a deterrent, if it -acted at all, on those who were tempted by the chiffons, _draperies et -soieries_, displayed in the shop window, to go within. One could see -that there was a singular fitness in "Father Adam" being the patron of -an eating shop, as was the case in one street. - -At midday the street leading into the cathedral square is a scene of -multitudinous interests. A little boys' school, marshalled solemnly -by a master--spectacled and sticked--the boys all stiff-capped and -starched looking; a square, closed-in cart, with neatly packed rows of -those appetising long loaves lying cosily side by side; a huge cart, -_messageries Parisiennes_, drawn by splendid cart-horses, five bells on -each side of their splendid collars--collars edged with brass nails, -and brass facings with pink background--the peasant conducting it, -wearing the high-crowned black hat and loose, navy-blue blouse reaching -to knee, and opening wide at collar; a barrow of some sweet-smelling -stuff pushed over the cobbles by a costermonger who, as he passed, -stretched out a disengaged hand to re-arrange his truck of oranges to -make the vacant places of those gone before seem less deserted and -more enticing to a possible customer. The stream beside the way was -swinging merrily along in a succession of weirs, forming itself into -different patterns as it went along, owing to its course being over -rough, uneven cobbles. Here, as it turned a corner, the sun shone full -on it, and from being a stream of doubtful reputation--being in most -instances the receptacle of the castaway Flotsam and Jetsam of many a -household--it straightway became a river of pure molten steel. - -Then, down another street as I accompanied it, its tide turned--the -tide which is swelled by many pailfuls from the doors that lie beside -its route--and like the bottle imp, it dwindled into a tiny thing, and -flowed along weakly--creased and lined. - -The Guide-book urges one on from Rouen, to Caudebec-en-Caux. But I -found so much to see in the way of old streets and old buildings in -Rouen itself, that I postponed our day's journey to Caudebec till just -before we were leaving. Then our choice fell on a day when the powers -of the weather fought against us in our courses, and it rained almost -continuously for the whole day long. But there are special beauties -which are abroad in these times, which those who have seen them once, -recognise at their true value, and would not forego. - -In this case there was a driving white scud of rain slanting across -the meadows. It swept over steep slopes redly orange with fallen -leaves lying thick in layers everywhere. The tree trunks stood, yellow -in contrast, over streams in which the rain made spear pricks, which -swiftly became pin-point centres of ever widening circles. Cows moving -lazily on, in their grazing, stepped in the squelching gravel of the -deeply-rutted roads, shining up dully, in dark slate colour. Here and -there, but not often, black-timbered barns came into sight, sparsely -covered with vivid green moss. - -Then would come a field with mangy patches of colourless grass, the -trees standing sharply outlined in all shades of vivid emerald green: -an orchard of gnarled branches of the very palest green imaginable--a -sort of etherealized mildew, backed by a fine old slated farm-house. -Close beside it a farmyard, the ground literally dotted all over with -black hens, busy over remunerative pickings. A little further on was -another orchard, this time filled with whitened skeletons of trees, -their bark all being stripped from off the trunks. The hedgerows were -crowned with quick successions of briary--the grey hair of the dying -year--and at the end of one of them was an avenue of gnarled dwarf -willows bordered by a winding stream; their rounded heads shewing soft -purple against the green meadow. - -At Duclair it was evidently market-day. The train was ushered in by a -clatter and jabber of voices, shrill and hoarse mixed: all shouting -at the top of their voices. The platform was littered with various -coloured sacks, well filled out; market baskets in all positions, and -little wooden barred cages for the poor cramped domestic fowl. Beyond -Duclair the trees look like brooms the wrong way up: as if grown on the -principle of the received tradition in London markets as to the correct -complexion of asparagus--long bare trunks and only at the latter end a -little bit of spread green to shew that it was the business end. - -These trees were presently merged in a dark belt of forest, standing -clear against a soft grey lilac horizon of distant land shouldering -the sky. Deep-roofed cottages, velveted with moss and lichen; an old -_chateau_ with steep slate gables; alternate green and red brown -meadow, picked out in places with sombrely dark brushwood, with -delicate, incisive, clear cut edge against the softer foliaged trees. -Then a broad band of glittering steel encircling the hills which rose -abruptly behind it. - -Most of the cottages here have a sort of hem of arabesque ornamentation -from the flowers which grow freely all along the tops of the roofs. The -Seine, like the Jordan of old, overflowed its banks pretty considerably -this autumn, to judge by the look of the land in this district. Just -before the train slowed into the little primitive terminus of Caudebec, -the rain, which had held up for half an hour or so, came on again, -whipping the river's surface into long weals. - -Caudebec itself is on the banks of the river, with rising ground almost -surrounding it. Were it not for the modern element which has, as usual, -played ducks and drakes with the picturesque element, Caudebec would be -unique. - -Indeed, not so very long ago it evidently did possess an individuality -in ancient buildings, which set it quite apart by itself. But _nous -avons change tout cela_; and now, though it has three charming old -streets with black-timbered houses and a mill stream racing beneath -them, and a little bridge, its features are considerably altered. -Here again, as everywhere else where I went, with the exception of -Gujan-Mestras, the same absence of costumes was a keen disappointment. -They are not forgotten, it is true; the numerous photographs of them -prevent that, but they themselves are an unknown quantity. - -Coming away from Caudebec, there was a temporary cessation from -showers, and a brilliant, narrow strip of sunshine fell across -the hillocky, spattered surface of the river, which a freshening -wind was driving before it. It shone fitfully through the straight, -close-clipped line of poplars which lined the river bank on the farther -side. A few moments later and the sun was setting in a flare of yellow -light, and a flood of misty radiance lay full on the dancing ripples. - -At Rouen the pavement was all a medley of colour: red, soft green, -yellow, and dull grey, so that the flags beneath one's feet shone like -a tesselated flow of many colours. Overhead the blue, lurid flashes of -lightning from the electric wires shot up and died away every now and -then. The light from the arc lights made the wet asphalt shine like a -crinkled sea under the moonlight. We went to bed that night with the -soft pattering of the rain upon our window panes: now hesitating, now -hurried, now in triplets, that suggested to one's mind gentle strumming -on an old spinet. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -As I said, I think, before, the country between Rouen and Dieppe is -not striking. But yet it is, in its way, full of picturesqueness; of -beautiful little miniatures; of delicate etchings, exquisite as to -colour and form; and all this is visible even to the traveller passing -rapidly through by train. - -There broods over the quiet meadows, over the stiff lines of poplars, -over the cool soft-toned colours in blouse, skirt, or apron, the true -spiritual atmosphere of the heart of the land, if one may so call -it,--its deep simplicity, its own interpretation of life. The peasants -seem to belong to the land upon which their hard-working days are -spent, and, in working, to drink in, in effect, the divine secret of -the earth, which only men possessed of true inner perceptions, like -Jean Francois Millet, R. L. Stevenson and others like them in mental -calibre, can apprehend. - -Nearer Dieppe we came upon numerous farm-houses, many of which are -built upon trestles, and all of which are covered with the usual soft -green embroidery of moss and nestling cosily in the midst of beautiful -orchards, or clustering vineyards. - -In Normandy the street cries seem to be all in the major key. I -noticed this especially at Rouen, and here again at Dieppe; the minor -key is absent in them. They are, too, a distinctly musical sentence -in themselves. A sweet little melody was being sung up one street in -Dieppe along which I was passing, by two fish-women carrying a basket -of fish between them. One man who came along playing bagpipes, from -time to time, to notify the approach of his wares, paused to cry out in -a loud tone what sounded like: "I have not got it to-day, but I shall -have it to-morrow!" - -Dieppe has the same sort of blank-Casino-stare-of-sightless eyes, -as had Arcachon; only the former place, being a town on its own -foundation, as it were, and not brought into prominence by the -parasitical growth in its midst, of the Casino, is not so dominated -by it. The two venerable round towers, with their conical, red-tiled -peaks stand alone, unaffected by the modern hotels and buildings -on the front, which surround them. Somehow, though, I could never -understand exactly why they should so insistently suggest Tweedledum -and Tweedledee, yet they did again and again bring those worthies into -my mind whenever I looked at them. They stand at some little distance -from the grand old castle which has seen the things that they have also -seen in those far-away bygone ages. The castle, stands greyly aloof and -apart, high on its hill, banked up by serrated chalk cliffs and grey -expanse of wall. - -The hotel at which we put up in the town was a charming old panelled -house, dating two or three hundred years back; perhaps longer even than -that. The ceilings slanted, and the walls contained those delightful -deep cupboards which are such a joy to those who possess them. Also -there were the little steps up and down leading from one room into -another; steps which project the unwary into the future, sometimes too -soon for their comfort. - -Opening out of the first floor was an outside promenade, with balcony -which led one out among a perfect wilderness of roofs; steep roofs -of ancient, well-worn red tiles, whereon the soft velvet feet of the -moss climb down step by step to the edge of sudden precipitous gables, -crowned with white pinnacles, all backed by a venerable-looking red -brick wall which had lost a tooth here and there of its first row, and -never had others to fill the holes. Then, further along, through a gap -in the wall, one caught sight of the splendid, deep, wavy red brick -roof of the house opposite, with three little holes pierced above, two -tiny dormer windows, and, below these, two larger ones. Below them, -again, the soft yellow-cream cob wall. - -It was quite an ideal spot in which to dream on a hot summer's day; but -though to admire, yet not to linger in during a November one. - -The town crier here is a wonderful personage. He is dressed in official -black cape and square cap, and he beats an imperative tattoo, as a -summons to the citizens, on a big drum which is slung round his neck. -But when that was performed and when, presumably, he had gained their -attention, he only mumbled a few indistinct words and then hurried on, -or rather more correctly, shambled on into the next street. - -The market at Dieppe is one of the most picturesque affairs I have ever -seen in France, barring that at Poitiers, which was quite unsurpassable -in its varied pageantry of colour. The peasants at the Dieppe market -all stand on the pathway of the principal street, their baskets in -front of them on the curb. The unfortunate animals for sale, as usual, -I saw over and over again taken up, with no regard to their feelings, -or as to which side up they were in the habit of living, and dangled, -or swung, head downwards _ad lib_. Then bounced--literally bounced--up -and down by intending purchasers (who dumped them down to test their -weight), and by doubtful purchasers also. One woman held a number of -fowls in one hand--their legs all tied together--as unconcernedly as if -they were some parcel out of a milliner's shop. It is not an inspiring -sight. People's stomachs pitted against their hearts, and winning by an -easy length in each case. In one instance it was not a case of the lion -lying down with the lamb, but of the hen being forced to lie down with -the duck, who, profiting by her propinquity to the other, curled her -long neck and pillowed it on the hen's shoulder. - -In the afternoons the merry-go-round was in full swing just in front -of the church, but instead of our predominant and wearisome fog-horn -effect, it was soft, and with a hint of brass instruments in the -distance, and the tinkling "rat-tat-tat," of the drum was distinctly -realistic. - -One of the prettiest little incidents that I have seen for a long while -occurred when I was passing through one part of the market here. An old -shrivelled, but apple-cheeked, market woman came by, and as she turned -the corner of a stall she found herself face to face with a Sister. The -latter, instantly recognising her, gave her the most courteous bow and -smile I have ever seen, and I shall never forget the pleased, elated -expression on the old woman's face as she passed on, after receiving -the salutation. Once before, I saw courtesy and respect shewn as -unmistakeably, and that was in England. - -I was on the top of a city omnibus, and as another omnibus was just -passing us, our driver--an old, red-faced, weather-beaten man--lifted -his hat and swept it low, with such a profound air of reverence--such -an unusual thing to see now-a-days--that I turned hastily to see -who was the recipient of this obeisance. It was a hospital nurse; -and I caught sight of the pleasant smile with which she greeted, as -I supposed, one of her former patients. A minute or two later my -conjecture was confirmed, and I heard our driver relating to his -left-hand neighbour the story of how splendidly she had nursed him -through a serious illness. - -On Sunday afternoon we went to the catechising in church, and were -treated to a long dissertation, of quite an hour's duration, on the -early divisions and heresies of the church. Through all this recital, -the "world" outside was infinitely distracting. Bursts of "Carmen," or -some popular waltz, came in alluringly from the windows in gusts of -melody, enough to interfere very seriously with the thread of so dry -and stiff an argument as was M. le Cure's, even had his congregation -been composed of grown-up people; much more so in the case of children. - -But these children, one and all, were irreproachable in their -behaviour. Not a movement, not a fidget, not a sound broke the -perfect quietude with which they faced him. There were but three or -four Sisters in charge of them and these sat facing their respective -classes. Perhaps one of the secrets of their absorbed attention and -utter alienation from the distracting sounds from without, may have -been that each child--even the little tinies--had a notebook and -pencil and was busily engaged, from the beginning of the disquisition -to the very end of it, in taking down word for word the preacher's -lecture (for after meditation?) Yes, even to the jaw-breaking names of -some of the heretics, which were spelt over carefully and slowly once -or twice, as they occurred, by M. le Cure. - -And when at last the long discourse was ended, there was no music, no -singing of hymns to assist in lifting up their hearts after the past -depressing hour! Each class filed out of church, sedately, quietly, -composedly; first the girls, and then the boys. These last had a mind -to start a little before their time for filing out had arrived, but -their idea was promptly sat upon, and squashed, by one short severe -word from the figure in the pulpit, which stood solemn and upright -until the last boy had left the church. - -It struck me, in connection with this service, that we English might -possibly find one of the plans in this catechising at the church in -Dieppe, useful in our own children's services. Everyone who knows -anything at all of children knows well how keenly most of them enjoy -the simple fact of writing down notes in a notebook. Why should not -we use that aid to attention in our services? Something to do with -their fingers is a wonderful preservative of attention for children, -and even if the notes are not of very much use afterwards, (as might -very possibly be the case with the younger children!), still it would -be an interest to all. For the very handling of pencil and book, would -certainly take away a very remunerative employment from someone who is -reputed to be always ready with graduated mischief suitable for small -hands that are folded aimlessly on the lap. - -Later on in the day we met a Sister escorting out a battalion of boys -who, tired of going tramp-tramp regularly and in order along the road, -had broken step and were careering all over the place after their hats, -which a gust of wind had just whisked off. I saw, a minute later, that -the joy of each boy was to lay the hat when rescued from the gutter, -or wherever it had chanced to light, very lightly and gingerly on -his head, to court the gusts in the hope--not altogether vain--that -the gusts would catch--the hats, and thus inaugurate of course, a -fresh chase along the road. This went on until the poor Sister was -almost distracted, and at her wits' end; for the facts were equally -undeniable, that the hats must be recovered, and that the gusts of wind -could not be prevented. After vainly endeavouring to collect the forces -at her command--which consisted, I am sorry to say, of only three or -four of the steadier boys--she changed her tactics, and instead of -pursuing her way up the street, she sounded a recall and retraced her -steps down a less gusty street, followed, after some delay, by the rest -of the boys. - -On the beach, after some rough gales, we found crowds of men and women -picking up huge black stones, and putting them all together in the -large chip baskets which the peasants carry. These baskets are pointed -at the bottom and, when filled, are slung over their shoulders, being -strapped under the arm. Before they filled them we could see the men -placing them about at intervals on the beach, each on a sort of easel. -I found out that the town authorities give about twenty-five centimes -for each basket of these stones--_galees_ as Madame at our hotel -informed me they were called. - -Talking about Madame reminds me that I have never mentioned how small -was the size of the very diminutive water jug which we were given -in our bedroom here. When I first saw it, it brought vividly back -the story of an old friend's experience in an out-of-the-way town in -Germany of many years ago, when, finding in the bedrooms water jugs -the size of a fair sized tea-cup, inquired if a bath was procurable -and was met with amazed and blank countenances. They had never even -heard of such a thing. Tea cups had always amply satisfied their -own requirements. Dirt did not settle so readily upon them as it -apparently did on the skin of Englishmen. But they could perhaps have -it made at the expense of the Englishman, and so a drawing was given -of the sized bath required, and eventually, after many searchings of -heart, this implement of water warfare was constructed. - -Our water jug, it is true, was larger than a tea cup, but it stood not -so very much higher than my sponge. - - * * * * * - -The last glimpse of France that one carries away with one, when the -land grows ever dimmer and dimmer from one's standpoint on board ship, -as one leans over the taffrail, are three landmarks--the domed spire -of St. Jacques, the castellated tower of St. Remy, and, further to -the north, the old castle, standing apart and grey, towering above -its ramparts. Finally, even these fade away into a soft mystery of -grey-blue haze, and one regretfully realises that one is severed from -the land of sunshine and fair vineyards. - - THE END - - _The Anchor Press, Ltd., Tiptree, Essex._ - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Note: -Obvious typographical and punctuation errors were repaired. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Autumn Impressions of the Gironde, by -Isabel Giberne Sieveking - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTUMN IMPRESSIONS OF THE GIRONDE *** - -***** This file should be named 44076.txt or 44076.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/0/7/44076/ - -Produced by Marc-AndrA(C) Seekamp, Ann Jury and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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