mmmm .^ 'a- %> ^ ^^ife''- "^^ v-^^ '^^r ^0• .^ <^. ^^0^ ,'^ ;^ V 1 » o ^ ^>. c ° " ° -» o A 4y^ .^^ ^^^^ .'i^' A A^^^^ ^ ^ vv vP A^' .dhjem, so beantiful for situation, and at last within the breakwater, it was clear, beautiful and delightfully warm. And the words that greeted us, were, ''the iveather has THE PLAY WITH HAMLET OMITTED. 59 been beautiful ever since you left.'' The letter of a friend from afar, said, ^' I hope you saw the ' Midnight Snn.' If you did not, haply you will never know what you have missed ! " " Now sails are furled, for storms are o'er, And ships come into port." O'ER LAND AND SEA. FKOM TEOKDHJEM TO BERGEiq-. I. The modes of conveyance in Norway are so va- ried and the changes so frequent^ that travelling there can never become monotonous, tame or con- ducive to ennui. In fact it is ideal, for one bowls cheerily over smooth roads and beautiful country for an hour or two, then changes to a steamer and quietly passes through silent or lonely fjords, and then perchance takes to the road again. Upon many of the routes, one can have a comfortable car- riage {they call them landmis) ; and may always have a "^ Stolkjserre," a two-wheeled vehicle, not unlike an ordinary butcher^s cart with seat for two persons, which so elevates that you are monarch of all you survey as you trundle gayly over the country, (the coachman being seated behind) ; or a cariole, the national conveyance, the drollest seat for one, swung between two wheels, with the jolly post-boy perched up behind, in which you bowl over the smooth roads in the most exhilarating fashion imaginable. The demands of the increasing num- ber of tourists are being rapidly met. Some really fine hotels are already established, while many pretty and tidy smaller ones are springing up all 60 A Carriole O'ER LAND AND SEA. 61 along the regular and most frequented routes. The study of English being obligatory in the public schools, there is no country in Europe where it is more generally spoken. The people are kind, at- tentive and easy to deal with, for as yet they are unspoiled by the tourist business. Evolution, how- ever, is a ceaseless force, and probably in due time they will rival the shrewd and frugal Swiss, and every traveller knows what that involves. In fact there is no continental country where simple jaunt- ing about is more exhilarating, entertaining or enjoyable. Although it was late in the season and the wiseacres shook their heads and said " rain " (as if they could tell us anything on that subject) we could not or would not withstand the tempta- tion of the flitting ^^o'er land and sea" so unlike any other travelling experience. The good ship *' Neptune " which brought us into port at noon, was announced to sail at nine-thirty p. m. for Bergen and intermediate ports, but with a lack of prompt- ness worthy of the Orient, it was midnight ere the the moorings were unloosened. After a glorious afternoon at Trondhjem, the unwelcome but famil- iar " patter of the summer rain," together with the utter weariness of flesh resulting from the North Cape trip, made us very willing to seek oblivion below. The next morning the sun wrestled awhile with the clouds, but came off second best. Rain fell and the day began cold and cheerless. At half- past eight we entered a little bay where, most pict- uresquely situated upon four islands, is Christian- 63 NORWAY. sund, a very important trading-town witli dried cod-fisli for the Spanish market for its staple com- modity. Then followed two and one-half hours of exposure to the swell of the sea, which evidently was not in a placid mood. Molde, our objective point, being situated upon a fjord far from the sea, we had an hour of most delightful smooth sailing, with the neighboring islands and surround- ing mountains all bathed in sunlight, for by noon the skies began to clear. The approach to Molde was exquisitely beautiful, a royal progress by a stately gateway, peaceful lake-like waters and ranges of mountains and a multitude of cliffs and peaks in all shades of tender blue.* The steamer anchored off the picturesque and pretty little town, steam-launches from the two large hotels came out, and we were quickly transferred to the G-rand Hotel, superbly located upon a knoll some little way from the village. The view from our win- dows was magnificent, sweeping over a long, lake- like fjord, broken by a long line of low wooded islands, with beyond, rising in one lengthy pro- cession, a chain of fifty or more mountain peaks, dominated by the Romsdalshorn, with many a touch of snow, — yet it was as peaceful as Lake George, — as fine as any one of the Swiss lakes. The mount- ains, however, do not seem as breathlessly high as upon Lucerne. We were told no other place in Norway commands such an extensive panoramic view as this. The mountains are tossed along like waves and the changing effects of light, shadow and cloud, bewitch one all the daylong. Looking to i O'ER LAND AND SEA. 63 the right we could see a half mile away the ware- houses and cottages of the little town, above and beyond which was an open meadow and knoll with avenue of trees, and farther on against the sky an imposing range of mountains, Avhich, sloping to the water's edge, form one side of the regal and inspir- ing gateway to the sea beyond. Between the hotel and the village is a fine State church, Gothic in general character, with interior fittings entirely of wood, and over the altar a strikingly beautiful picture by Axel Endel of Christiania, of the three Marys at the sepulchre. The little town abounds in plain, comfortable, wooden houses, with almost every window (and their name in Norway is legion) prettily trimmed with white draperies and deco- rated with pots of blossoming floAvers. The growth of honeysuckle (at that time in full bloom) upon the houses is a marked feature of the place, while borders of stocks and asters blazed on every side. To the northwest of the town is the " Raeknae- shaug,'' a slight elevation with a charming minia- ture park or pleasure . ground for a crest, and a pretty pavilion upon the highest point, all kept in perfect order by the authorities. The outlook from it over the fjord, islands and mountains, near and distant, is one of rare loveliness and matchless beauty. Norway is not a howling wilder- ness by any means. Farther inland rises the Moldhei, a range some thirteen hundred feet in height, with a hut and, of course, a j^eerless view. Near the Avater on the Avest side of the toAvn is a fine and spacious hospital for lepers, surrounded 64 NORWAY. by attractive and ornamental grounds. The dis- ease we always associate with the Orient is very common in Nordland, where the living is so poor and hard. Nobly does the government care for and provide for the unfortunates. Altogether, Molde, our first stopping-place in this northern clime, proved charming and delightful, the quality of the air strong and bracing, and the influence of the beautiful mountains and peaceful waters, rest- ful and soothing. We could sit upon the hotel balcony, satisfied with the exquisite picture which Nature presented ; could stroll along the country highway, faced with extremely pretty summer cot- tages of wealthy Christiansund merchants, with surrounding grounds tastefully and profusely orna- mented with flower gardens and shrubbery, and look across the opposite fields which sloped to the water^s edge and off upon the tranquil blue waters ; or in the little town and by the shore, find enter- tainment in many a national characteristic and feature. It is a succession of charming sylvan and rural pictures. Look where you will, you are cer- tain to see much natural and refined loveliness. One day we lifted our eyes, and over a rim of tree foliage rose a heaven-pointing spire, man^s tribute, while in the distance against the sky towered the lofty mountains. Nature's uplifting to the Lord of all. A lover of nature never wearies wherever he may be, for the outlook from every point and in every direction is finished and beautiful. The sylvan beauty of the immediate neighbor- hood, the majestic sweep of the distant serrated O'ER LAND AND SEA. 65 peaks and boundiug mountains, and the holy calmness of the fjord, with its ever regal gateway to the sea, form a combination fascinating and satisfying, and a sojourn there seems a pleasant dream. After six delicious restful days, an absolute ne- cessity, we turned away from it very reluctantly, taking in the afternoon a small steamboat and crossing the river-like fjord which our windows faced, rounded the low barrier of wooded islands, and to our surprise came into an extended lake- like expanse of waters. The complete change was almost magical ! We seemed at once upon an in- land sea, the royal gateway having disappeared in the shifting of position. All around were the snow-touched mountains and the less bold but everlasting hills. It was not, however, grand or overpowering ! We had seen too much to be long- er easily overwhelmed. But it was beautiful and stately, and, in its rapid changes, marvellous. We stopped at Vestnaes, which is really opposite Molde, although hidden from it by any intervening belt of islands. The scenery of the narrowing fjords became more wild, bold and striking, a jian- orama of mountains of every shape, apparently thrown together without plan, rising betimes ab- ruptly from the still waters, often hemming us com- pletely in and affording shifting views and vistas of indescribable beauty. These little Norwegian fjords are often full of tiny inlets, so that which- ever way you may look some dainty or impressive picture opens before yoiu But when every bound- 66 NORWAY. ing mountain and every snow-flecked height against a blue sky are flushed with gladsome sun- light and the waters glisten like a mirror, it seems in the absolute stillness like the unfolding of a new heaven and a new earth. At the end of three and a half hours we came to ''Naes/' or more cor- rectly speaking, '' Aandalsnaes/^ most charmingly situated opposite the village of Veblungsnaes. (Naes, a very frequent term, signifies ''beyond the point.") Naes is scarcely more than a hamlet, quite near the wharf. Upon a slight elevation spreads out a broad plateau, a meadow of living green, facing which was the hotel, clean and tidy, but very plain and fairly comfortable. But with such a view as it commanded, what mattered it if the viands were mostly ancient and tough, the fish dry and salt and the dainties few ? Beyond the plateau and a level valley rose, in regal grandeur, three gigantic mountains, the Eomdalshorn with a trio of shattered peaks ; — the Troldtinder (witch pinnacles) with curiously sharp serrated ridge between two peaks, and one great mound-like giant. In every direction a picturesque quiet valley, a range of stately mountains or a stretch of shimmering waters, meets and delights the gaze. Our Sabbath day in this quiet haunt was suggestive and uplifting. Monday dawned clear and lovely and delightfully warm. In a two-horse easy car- riage which they persist in calling a ''landau," we started in exuberant spirits at a quarter-past eight o'clock, for a drive down the Romsdal, one of the finest bits of scenery the country affords. O'ER LAND AND SEA. 67 The air was as brilliant and transparent as in Colorado ; — the waters clear and placid, and the great mountains, bare of clouds, silent and grand. The road, which all the way was as smooth as a park drive, led across the plain or plateau our windows overlooked, and soon, by its curvings, all trace of Naes was hidden. On and on, through a valley which for awhile was very broad, past verdant meadows and wheat fields with golden sheaves stacked upon poles in single files, the air sweet with new-mown hay and everywhere the red- berried mountain ash, fluttering aspens and white- barked birches. All around stood the great silent mountains like stolid sentinels, and all the while by a road with many curves and turns we were slowly coming nearer and nearer to the base of the sublime and impressive peaks we had looked upon in the waiting Sabbath houi^. Ere long we were nestled in the very heart of the lofty heights, tossed in one smooth, wave-like movement, thousands of feet in air. All the way through the rock-bound valley the road is beside or near the Rauma, a rapid river whose exquisite chrysoprase waters are ever as clear as crystal. The way winds through thickets of alder and birch with many a vivid glimpse of green waters, or along the river's edge overlooking many a stretch of placid beauty or tumbled mass of foam and the bewitching tint of green, or close to the base of the mighty moun- tain barriers. A scanty growth makes green the base only of many a stupendous mass of stone, which, rising up and up into the crystalline air. 68 NORWAY. forms tlie celebrated peaks. The bending road, often visible in its curvings a long way ahead, passes from the arena-like valley at the beginning, through a mighty gateway, guarded upon one side by the lofty Eomdalshorn which pierces the clouds at 4,965 feet, and upon the other, by the Trold- tinder or Witches' Pinnacles, 5,055 feet in height. The scene here is weirc^., strange and impressive The face of the Troldtinder is almost perpendicular and is bare and gray. From one point these colossal projections seemed like the huge bastions of some majestic fortress. Again, they look like the apsidal choir and the transepts of some exalted stately cathedral. The valleys but repeat the fjords, in that, by their turnings, very often one is shut in within an amphitheatre of lofty mountains with no visible way out. Often the bare, gray glittering mountains, closing in on every side, have an odd photographic or shadowy look, and when sunless, must be desolation itself. Over the ridge of one of the highest ranges plunges a volume of water which, breaking over the rocks, resolves into a mass of white foam to the val- ley depths. The ^"^ fosses, ^^ or falls, are a unique feature of Norwegian scenery and are numberless. All along this drive they were a perfect delight, and we counted twenty-five. One waves to and fro in the wind like a huge piece of white lawn. Fed by the glaciers and snows upon the mount- ain's crest, they make a beautiful feature in the landscape, and also keep the little river flush. Farther on the valley becomes less wild, the fields O'ER LAND AND SEA. ^69 spread out again and tliuu the whole expanse seems filled with huge boulders, '^a chaos of enormous blocks/' The little river breaks into cascades over them ; the road winds curiously be- tween them ; and a touch and finish of beauty is given by the low alders and conical evergreens. It was interesting to note the entire change in the expression of different sections of this continuous Talley. "We stopped at Horgheim, a single inn, honored a few weeks before by a visit from Kaiser William and the Empress. Some seventeen miles from Naes we came to Flatmark, also a little tidy inn, overlooking a peaceful bit of the valley with meadows and the river, a perfect picture with its alder-lined banks. Then the ascent became per- ceptible. We left the valley-bed and crept gradu- ;ally along the mountain-side through evergreen and birch, with constantly changing views below. iSome seven miles or more beyond we came to Ormheim, a pretty inn perched upon the hillside overlooking the finest w^aterfall of all, which from the summit of the opposite range pours in a great volume of water and, in its plnngings andflowings over the rocks, becomes finally a glittering torrent of dazzling white. Diverted by a flume some way up the mountain-side, it finally pours into the yalley in two broad white belts which, in the sun- light, are beautiful beyond description. This was the limit of our drive. Beyond, the vista of the valley was a closing in of green sloping hillsides, one after another, with apparently all the wildness eliminated. After an excellent dinner and rest- 70 NORWAY. ing-spell for man and beast we started to return. The drive up consumed five hours, the return but three. It seemed finer than in the morning. The light was different and more subdued, and as we were descending, more was swept with a single glance. The joy of this drive is inexpressible. The great mountains in their variety of form and color are so impressive and suggestive that thought, emotion and heart are kept constantly upon the alert. It was seven-fifteen o'clock when we reached Naes ; the western sky was angry, watery and cloudy, but we cared not, for had we not a lasting memory and picture in our hearts of the peerless Romsdal, in all the glory of blue sky, white float- ing clouds and glorious sunshine ? O^ER LAND AND SEA. TRON"DHJEM TO BERGEJ^". IL In" glowing sunshine we left Naes at eight o'clock A. M., and as we stopped at a multitude of unpretentious hamlets, which carried us into many of the tiny inlets and so diversified the route we had passed over a few days previously, it seemed a new itinerary, a fresh picture, consuming twice the length of time. We left the steamer at Vestriaes at twelve o'clock and were escorted to the Hotel Stanley, a very modern cottage with a charming view, for dinner, preparatory to taking to the road. The proprietor frankly told us that, owing to a crowded house the night before (one guest being a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court), he had nothing in the larder and would be obliged to forage in the neighborhood for supplies ! The meal would have suggested the household situa- tion even if he had not confessed it. Some two or three hours later the vehicle, looking much like a hearse, with black curtains buttoned closely down, came to the door. The mountain range we were to cross was enveloped and well-nigh hidden by storm-clouds. We concluded to wait an hour, and in less than that time the rain fell 71 73 NORWAY. heavily. We were no longer upon a steamer and could control our movements and so settled down for the night, humbly hoping the hens of the neighborhood had that day done their duty, and feeling very sure that the supply of salt fish in Norway could never quite give out. A wild, windy and tempestuous night was followed by a glorious day, with crystalline air and brilliant sun- shine, most favorable to our sixteen-mile drive over the range to Soholt. For awhile the perfectly smooth road led along a hillside in switchback fashion, overlooking a long inlet with placid waters and mountains beyond, Backward, the view was across the fjord in the direction of Molde and on and on to a bewildering cluster of deep blue hills and mountains. After awhile our way turned into the valley, or passed between the two lofty ranges to which we had gradually ascended, very beautiful and unlike any other, for they bounded up on either side, in a perfectly regular and unbroken slope, the valley looking like the trough of the sea be- tween its great billow-enclosing walls. It was graceful, finished and beautiful. The valley was green with birch and alder, and bright with hearths- ease, dandelions and purple flowers, and in some places fairly pink with '' bonnie blooming heath- er." Through this great, cradle-like valley the road gradually ascended to a height of one thousand feet. In the most elevated part were herds of cat- tle, — it being the custom to take them to these elevated pastures upon St. John^s day (twenty- fourth of June), and to bring them down the fif- O'ER LAND AND SEA. 73 teentli of September. Every here and tliere were little huts to shelter hay, and along the roadside numerous long, upright poles to mark the way when obliterated by the winter snows. Two or three dairies with waterwheels were passed. The butter looked very palatable, but the life appeared hard all along the way. There were plenty of unsung '' Maud Mullers, " and every oiie of them looked as if she had '' married a man, unlettered and poor." Up and up, until the valley became almost a pla- teau. The suggestion was of Scotland and Wales rather than Switzerland. One most peculiar effect was produced by the sunlight slanting through hundreds, yes, thousands, of birches, upon one of the billow-like mountain slopes. It seemed as if every leaf stood plainly out and the mass became a peculiar luminous ashen green, quite like the pensive olives. In that lonely, uplifted place, so still, and devoid of any sign of life, it was solemn and impressive, like unto a great company which no man could number, going up to the Mount of God. The descent was very lovely, for constantly before us were snow-crested, sunny and deep blue mountains. The road was prettily shaded, but we passed along at a speed which made us devoutly hope the carriage was in order and the breeching unbreakable ! Down and down we passed, with the road ahead fluttering through the green of tree foliage, or marking that of fields, as with a white or light gray ribbon. As we neared the village we looked down upon the arm or bay of the fjord, along the shore of which the eighteen or twenty 74 NORWAY. habitations wliicli make Solicit are strung like a row of beads. A more delicate or refined picture than it presented cannot be imagined. The wa- ters were like glittering glass, repeating each mountain height in their placid, transparent depths. The view is down a long, river-like fjord, with mountains rising from two to three thousand feet. The little cottages were embowered in trees, flowers and fruit-ladened pear trees trained like vines against the side walls, while honeysuckles ran riot, and such old-fashioned flowers as campanulas, sweet-williams and monVs-hood fairly crowded the little terrace gardens. The hotel was character- istic, with funny little beds not wider than steamer berths, everything as " clean as silver, " and with most palatable and excellent cuisine. The evening was one of ineffable peace and transcendent loveli- ness ; the little hamlet and gentle valley being en- veloped in the cool shadows of the surrounding and eternal hills ; the mountain crests and the nearer hilltops tender and glowing with the soft glory of the later sunlight beyond our day; the waters of the bay, placid and of mirror-like smooth- ness, with here and there a rude fishing-boat moored a little way from the shore ; the mountain walls of the fjord in the haze, cloud-like in outline and delicate in color, while the little spire, in all this serenity and repose, pointed heavenward with a new significance and meaning. It seemed as if all Nature and our responsive souls were lowly breathing. O'ER LAND AND SEA. 75 *' At peace with all the world, dear Lord, and Thee, No fears my soul's unwavering faith can shake : All's well, whichever side the grave for me The morning light may break." The following morning we were rowed to a wait- ing steamer, took our places in the bow and in a tremor of delight watched it moving directly towards forbidding mountain walls only to see it turn at most unexpected moments and reveal a new vista more beautiful than the last. It is quite imjDossible to satisfactorily describe these Norwegian fjords. One sees so much of the same character, of stupendous heights springing abruptly or curving, sloping gracefully from the water^s edge ; — looks so often upon range beyond range and peak above peak that that which would be grand and sublime if suddenly come upon or seen but once, becomes almost a matter of course. What matters it if the heights are not more than three to five thousand feet ! Seen from the water level, the awe-inspiring, overpowering effect is the same. The snow in patches is not as dazzling or fine as the solid white and covered i3eaks of the Alps. Yet like the spots of a tiger's skin these pockets frequently give to the mountain sides a curiously and picturesquely mottled appearance which is often exquisite. The apparent endless- ness of these bold turbulent and bounding heights fairly takes away one's breath. The steamer made a landing, the view from which was grand and sublime while soft and delicate, across an open 76 NORWAY. bay, from which rolled gracefully and towered gently, colossal mountains, blue and tender in tint and color. A few moments later we were in a narrow way hemmed in by a succession of tall peaks, a stately and impressive procession. Serpentine does not begin to express the steamer's meandering course. The sunlight touching the summits and the mountain walls made the way luminous and glorious as a pageant. How difficult this sailing, sailing, with the blue above and the blue below, the gigantic mountains on either side with numerous white cascades or falls tumbling down their faces, and in the clear atmosphere solitary water-fowls flying, is to por- tray ! Verily, we were being led by still waters, for the surface was like molten glass or silver, and in its clear, mirror-like face was reflected the form and color of the rock-bound shores with weird, unearthly effect. That which began in early morn- ing in clouds and with threatening of storm, be- came, under the influence and power of the warm sunlight, a glorified vision, a revelation of soft tranquil impress upon a scene stern and grand in its boldness and grandeur. One little upland valley sloping towards but ending high above the water, showed in the midst of all this wildness, fertile farms, well stacked grain-fields and some rude but picturesque huts or dwellings. The mountain cottages are very rude and possess none of the ornamental and picturesque appearance of the Swiss chalets. Often the long white water- falls alone break the profound and absolute still- O'ER LAND AND SEA. 77 ness. A ripple a few feet long appears upon the glassy surface. Down swoops a water-fowl and the festive little herring that once knew these pretty waters knows them no more ! Such is life ! Something is devouring something else the whole livelong time ! At the end of the fjord a landing was made at Hellesylt, a hamlet of a dozen houses, two or three hotels and a church, at the base of frowning mountains ; the steamer turned and sailed back a ways, passed along an- other and narrower fjord, the peaks and heights grew bolder and bolder, taller and taller, when at last it turned abruptly and, Avonder of wonders ! we entered the famous Geiranger Fjord ! To at- tempt to tell of it reminds of fools rushing in where angels dare not tread ! It was the " be quiet and behold what I can do^' of the rocks and mountains. A narrow water-way walled with heights from 4,200 to 5,000 feet, is the plain En- glish of it, but its effect can never be expressed in Avords. One suddenly finds his vocabulary ex- hausted ! ''^ Grand, sublime, stupendous and gigantic " have come to the \ips so often in the weird North Cape pilgrimage, that now in com- parison, they are inadequate to tell of this won- drous journey. This fjord is considered by many the finest bit of scenery in Norway. The mount- ains soar away skyward as if in possession of in- herent power of motion and fiight. The water- falls are exquisite, for pendant from some topmost ledge hangs a long veil of white ; over preci- pices and along rolling rocky mountain-aides 78 NORWAY. ai:)pear great masses of foam which contrast finely with the sombre faces of the rocks. In some places the mountains present a sheer precipitous front and water in long waving plumes drops along their surface. The narrow^ rock-walled fjord is not seen at a glance, for its course is sinuous, occasioning rapid and perpetual surprises, and each vista, each little amphitheatre or bowl, seems fairer and finer than the last. One moves too fast upon a steamer and would fain drift in a row-boat between these sky-scrapers and along their solitary depths. A sudden turn and to the left four white streams, close together, plunge over the summits thousands of feet above, and break in long trails of spray-like lace or snowy plumes. These were the celebrated Seven Sisters, but three seemed to have retired from the firm — evidently time and circumstances make ravages in the waterfall family as well as in others ! Opposite a heavy fall breaks apparently from the rock as if it had been smitten as of old and falls a white and glittering torrent into the fjord. Within this one little arena-like enclosure seems grouped all that is grand and up- lifting in mountain height, and all that is dazzling and beautiful in rushing foam-like torrents and still and placid waters. It was the most glorious day we had enjoyed in Norway, not excepting the never- to-be-forgotten Sabbath when upon the steamer we passed through the marvellous Eaf tsund and under the shadows of the wonderful Lofoden Islands. Switzerland may show something higher or loftier but surely nothing finer or more satisfying than O'ER LAND AND SEA. 79 this. But still higher and higher reared and plunged the gigantic forms, yet the waters were so peaceful and placid it seemed as if at last the lion and the lamb had lain down together. And then, ah ! too soon ! we saw the end, like unto a great amphitheatre with a solemn company of on-look- ing mountains and depths of flashing crystalline waters, and the little hamlet of Merok. Perched upon the hillside, ten minutes^ walk from the shore, is the pretty Hotel Union with balconies, gables, dormers and terrace galore, from which the amphitheatre disappears and the fjord encircled by the huge cyclopean mountains becomes a tiny basin or bowl. A superb road, guarded with great blocks of granite, zigzags leisurely to the water, passing a queer octagonal church and overlooking a tumultuous mountain stream roaring, plunging and dashing past great boulders and over a rough rocky bed in its haste to reach the fjord. A lovely place this for a prolonged sojourn ! Back of the hotel, the scene, if arranged and artificial, could scarcely be more dramatic or spectacular, for the mountain, with one sloping movement, bounds up some fifty-seven hundred feet, spreading like a great wall or barrier scooped out or bent like a bow, or the end of an elliptical amphitheatre, with at either end a solitary peak like a bastion tower. In the centre of this curving barrier from the very summit, plunges in a dozen falls and as many cas- cades a stream of dazzling white foam which forms the mad torrent passing down to the fjord. A magnificent carriage-road for a long way climbs in 80 NORWAY. numerous and quickly repeated zigzags the face of the barrier, and by its parapets, which appear like the battlements of some extensive fortifications and by its arched stone bridges over the stream, add much to the spectacular and studied appearance. It was surpassingly beautiful when, away beyond the the heights, was seen the warm blue of the heavens with great dazzling white clouds floating along, like the numberless throng who ''have washed their robes." By this wonderful road a charming excursion is made to a glacier and lake some seven or eight miles distant. We drove along its course for two hours or more, losing sight of Merok and passing through two elevated fertile valleys and ascending for some distance the steep mountain- sides, by the repeated zigzags ; always with a fine view of environing country and imposing heights. All the way the outer edge was guarded by huge blocks of stone like a parapet. There were miles of smooth stone walls and an amount of filling in that was appalling. Good roads obtain in Norway. This road is now complete and constitutes one of the finest routes and drives ''across country," which^ in our case was necessarily relegated to a hoped for "next time." O'ER LAND AND SEA. TEONDHJEM TO BERGEl^T. III. The charm of pleasure travel is the going and coming at your own sweet will, resting and tarry- ing without plan, if a place proves unexpectedly attractive or the weather becomes unpropitious. But in Norway one is not master of the situation, for, owing to the steamers not sailing upon the same days or at the same hours in every Aveek, one must often be at a certain point at a specified time or wait two or three days perhaps in uninteresting surroundings. When time is unlimited it makes little difference, but as many are upon a brief holi- day it necessitates or tempts to an amount of Sun- day travel which is appalling and deplorable. The Norwegians are a simple folk and Sabbath-keepers. Even where there is no service they cease from labor and attired in their best garments may be seen talking quietly in groups. At many of the hamlets a State church may be seen, where every few weeks a service is observed. If near a fjord, it is a beautiful sight to see the people in quaint costumes and odd head-dresses coming from far and near, in the little boats. But the increasing tide of travel bids fair to demoralize the people 8X 82 NORWAY. and desecrate the day ; and Christian England and America must answer for much of it some day. A rainy morning made departure from pretty Merok seem uncertain and undesirable, but with the usual fickleness the weather changed in the afternoon an hour or two before the time for the steamer to leave, patches of blue appeared, and when we left the clouds were rolling away. Around the crests of many of the heights along the fjord which, fortunately, we had seen in all the glory of blue sky and golden sunlight, the clouds still hung, making the altitude seem greater. The four waterfalls were really finer in the sombre tones. From sequestered Merok and the lake- like amphitheatre of the Geiranger Fjord we passed in an hour and a half to Helleslyt where a '' carriage and pair/^ pretty well soaked with the day's showers, awaited us, for a drive to Grrodias, some twenty-two miles away. The scene was fine as we began to wind up the steep hillside, for the clouds had rolled away and the fjord, shut in by mountains, was a lovely chrysoprase green. The way led through an elevated valley, beside a rush- ing torrent. At first, the great slopes on either side of the narrow valley were quite covered with balsam and evergreen, then the valley widened, un- til at last it became open country with horizon hemmed in with towering, breathless mountains covered with extensive areas of snow with fre- quently some mighty glacier. It was so still and holy, the air was so fresh, the blue sky and light suffuged clouds so exquisite, that it was an idyl of A Stolkjaerre O'ER LAND AND SEA. 83 quieting and restful influence. Again the road, of government construction, was fine and smooth, with much supporting wall and outside protection of stone. In the fields, although half-past eight o'clock, men were mowing and women were rak- ing the hay. We passed the first flock of sheep we had seen and later a multitude of goats perched upon the rocks in most picturesque fashion. In the midst of this lonely and solitary country we stopped at a log hut and — teleplioned to the next station to have horses ready ! It seemed as incon- gruous and out of harmony with this idyllic scene as the electric light in the oriental cafe at Tangier. The mountains, with but one exception, and that a miniature Matterhorn on the road to Oie, were great rolling heights with white spots here and there upon their dun faces. The pink heather showed like a blush upon the surface of the coun- try. It was a lovely mountain drive, the kind which makes one content to be in their embrace. The road ascends some eight hundred feet and the descent over an open country was made in rapid time, in fact, we fairly flew. About nine o'clock we saw a little spire and several houses, and pass- ing the large inn were soon quartered, as we had been advised, at Raftvold's little hotel at Grodias, — a very tiny and unpretentious house, — but ad- mirably served and kept. Close to the water it reminded us much of the white cottages at Bolton, Lake George. After supper, about ten o'clock, we went out for a stroll ! The little hamlet lies at the end of Lake Horningdal and looks along a 84 NORWAY. lovely vista of cool waters and dark mountains. The landlady for our entertainment donned the complete attire of a Norwegian bride, of scarlet cloth, white and black lace, ornaments of beads, silver and gold, with profusion of imitation stones quite Russian in its gorgeousness. Worn upon the head was a tall crown of silver, of gracefully bend- ing leaves to which were attached drops of silver and discs of gold and from the back and sides, pendant, was a row of gold and embroidered gal- loon and ribbon. It had been loaned and worn repeatedly, few being able to possess the outfit. Prices are not exorbitant anywhere in Norway, as yet, but this tidy comfortable little house sur- passed all others in the modesty of its terms. In fact, the bill was so infinitesimal we instinctively asked if it were for one or two ? Beyond this lay a lovely three hours' drive along borders of lake and fjord, through thickets of birch and evergreen, a steep climb with lovely views over the water, with air redolent with bal- samic odors, pink heather most profuse and the wild cranberry covering the rocks as in Maine. The descent to Faleide, our terminus, was by a superb road with beautiful stone parapet, which so wound and doubled and curved that we could see it constantly below us through the pines. Fa- liede proved to be a hotel and a half dozen low build- ings upon the Nordf jord, so lifted up as to com- mand a fine view to right and left of stately moun- tains closing in, producing the oft-repeated lake- like effect. Here we made the one mistake of our O'ER LAND AND SEA. 85 tour, in that we did not go to Loen and its won- derful lake and glacier. An hour's sail brought us to Utvick, from which we began at once in a stolkJEerre the ascent of a steep mountain. The retrospect was simply magnificent, for as we climbed higher and higher we looked down upon the fjord with great heights rising abruptly, and way off upon the summits of distant ranges all flecked and mottled with sunshine and cloud shadows. In an hour we came to a place so steep that every one is obliged to walk to the summit, a full half mile. We looked at the small Nor- wegian pony dragging the little cart, with amazement. The mountain-top, an expanse of a mile, was sublime in its desolate sweep and its sol- emn solitariness. In two or three places we came upon snow that August day. The descent was disagreeable, for the road was steep and poor and stretched along a wearisome slope. But ah ! the view beyond ! Way down below lay a fertile valley with many wretched houses, and beyond, abruptly rising mountains. To the left opened the vista of a narrow valley closed by one great peak. Reach- ing at last the valley we bowled along a fine road to Egge, where we supped, and then for a half hour drove through the narrow valley which the hotel guards. It was fine, for on either side the great mountains rose sternly thousands of feet, and all the way beside the road was a mad rushing stream breaking over boulders and rocky bed, while from the heights plunged several of the always en- chanting waterfalls. It was a gigantic gullij with 86 NORWAY. great wave-tossed walls, and in the twilight was possibly more awe-inspiring with its sombre lines and solemn air, than in the broad sunlight. In some places a perfect avalanche or torrent of boulders tumbled to the very edge of the road. Then we turned into a more open country, and looked down a lateral valley with grand old mon- archs to the right and left of us. At ten-thirty p. M. we were sheltered at Skei, with the prospect of a quiet Sabbath and the English Church service on the morrow. It is a charmingly restful situa- tion, a great amphitheatre, a wide, undulating valley surrounded by the mighty heights, and close to the hotel, and apparently to the end of valley, a narrow river-like lake, the Jolstervand, which stretches away, after disappearing at a point three- quarters of a mile from the hotel, some fourteen miles. Along the base of the ranges are many pretty farms, far above which, near the summits, glitter huge glaciers and eternal shows. A two- hours' boat-ride and a drive of one and a half hours beside the Jolster river, and through a delightful pine forest which filled the warm and sunny air with balsamic fragrance, through a broadening valley into open country covered with fertile farms with fine views of towering mount- ains and one superb waterfall, carried us some twenty-eight miles farther upon our joyous way and left us at pretty Forde. There we found a delightful hotel, and as we sat un- der the trees it seemed as if we were in our own land. A short distance down the pretty country O^ER LAND AND SEA. 87 road, was a long narrow bridge spanning a wide, rapid, but shallow river, with waters clear and pure as crystal. Only the limner's brush and canvas could portray the scene at twilight, so like England in its tender and meditative suggestion, — so like Scotland in the rugged and sturdy presence of surrounding mountains with their expression of Divine strength and remembrance. The pretty river with its banks bordered and fringed with low dipping alders, or spreading out in level pasture land dotted with shapely trees, farther on in the thickening verdure, the red roofs of cottages, and beyond against the dull background of the silent, eternal hills, a single white spire, and over and upon all, like a benediction, a brooding sense of perfect peace and refreshing peace, made of things material a spiritual hymn of loving praise and a song of restful confidence. Unlike any other place we have visited, there was the finish of farming land and life as well as the wild glorious freedom of o'ershadowing mountains. Xorway is a country where it is impossible not to ''look mournfully into the past," for there are so many places a lover of Nature leaves reluctantly and remembers with earnest longing. So when we left the next day, we cared less for the future and more to indelibly fix this exquisite idyl, the lovely picture of the fertile valley and pretty Forde, forever in our memory. Immediately upon leaving we began the ascent of a steep mountain-side. At a turning of the road we met a large number of women coming down from the mountain pastures with milk. Witli 88 NORWAY. tlieir pails in hand and small flat cans strapped to their shoulders, their scarlet bodices and white sleeves, they made a most picturesque scene in the closely wooded road, the more so when they gath- ered around our cart, and a veritable Witch of Endor in queer costume, interviewed our blue-eyed boy- driver. For awhile it was only a pretty road creep- ing upward, — an environment of pine trees, — great abrupt mountain spurs and a roaring stream. Then a hill country, jolting us up and down, — a road following for two or three miles a little lake with superb view of an abrupt pointed Matterhorn peak, four thousand five hundred feet in height, and then over the mountain again. We had lunch at a charming wayside inn, and then passed more mountains, and woods, and a little lake in the trough of a valley formed by two ranges. This dwindled to a rapid flowing stream through the depths of a most impressive and magnificent glen, with mountains rising precipitately upon either side two thousand eight hundred and three thousand feet, while constantly before us was the end in the distance, like a gigantic gateway. At two o^clock we reached Yadheim, which is a three-story hotel and a half dozen houses, with a lovely outlook upon the Sogne, the most imposing, because of its length of one hundred and twelve, and its width in some places of four miles, of all the Norwegian fjords. It is utterly impossible to picture this expanse of waters, with its majestic and imposing environment of mountains and glaciers, its little indentations and its deep lateral bays, its superb O'ER LAND AND SEA. 89 view or glimpse of the great Jostelsbrae, the larg- est glacier in Europe, weird and unearthly with the cold blue gleam of distant ice. We were rapidly falling into a condition of utter despair with the thought of remembering or giving any idea of Nor- way's versatile charms and wonders ! For three hours we simply looked in speechless wonder and then were conscious of approaching Balholm, won- derfully picturesque from the water with its jaunty and pretty hotels and numerous summer villas, and lovely from the land. It is quite an English water- ing-place, and more like one of our summer resorts than any place we have seen. The situation is certainly unusually fine, the view from it holding its own even with Lucerne. The outlook is appar- ently upon a wide lake with deep bays at either end, all environed and closed in by great blue bounding, snow-flecked mountains, grand and im- pressive beyond expression. There is danger in Norway of being surfeited with superb mountain and lake views, for they are apparently inexhaust- ible. This is but one of a hundred. Norway seems like a great tumbled mass of rocks over which water has been poured freely, some of which is frozen upon the heights in glaciers, or lies in the mountain gaps in snow, or running down the sides in numberless waterfalls has deluged and made lakes of the otherwise fertile valleys. We left charming Balholm and its lovely walks and ex- quisite views and in a very few moments lost sight of it as we turned into Fjaerland Fjord. For two hours we sailed between towering heights with 90 NORWAY. repeated closings giving a lake-like effect. The water was like a mirror;, the stillness so profound and at times oppressively solitary and solemn. The reflection of the colors of the bare and tree- covered slopes was something wonderful. Way off at the end we could see sections of the great glaciers we were to visit. At times the wake of the vessel and the flying of a solitary water-fowl alone broke the stillness. The hotel at Fjaerland commands a fine view, a gateway of mountains with glimpses of the glaciers, offshoots of the famous Jostelsbrae. Like a huge waterfall, over the very summits of a group of cone-like peaks, tumbles the Suphellebrae, or glacier, which, dis- appearing behind a mountain, shows again in a long, stream-like mass in the valley. An uninter- esting and rather rough drive of an hour carried us to the end of the little valley, a semicircular terminus where, before us from mountain top to valley depth, flowed like a suddenly chilled or con- gested stream, the great Bojumsbrae. A walk of a half hour over marshy meadow and stony stream beds placed us face to face with a grand and im- pressive spectacle. From four thousand feet above came, like a victorious, triumphant but demoralized host, a sea or turbulent cascade of ice, tossed in peaks and turrets and seamed and rifted into countless blue crevasses. When it reached the valley, instead of stretching out in a long trail, it seemed suddenly arrested or dammed up and lifting its kingly head in air, seemed abruptly cut off. As we stood before this mighty O'ER LAND AND SEA. 91 fa9ade, it seemed like some architectural freak, with its pinnacles and towers, and within the broad flat face at base, a most symmetrical low arch, from which issued a rajiid stream. The color was enchanting, being in every shattering and rifting an indescribable and exquisite blue, while in the stream lay great blocks of ice of the same peerless tint. All the way up scintillated and flashed the glowiug white and unearthly blue, while the smooth, glittering face seemed like some priceless quartz or precious stone. So weird and unearthly it appeared that as we watched the water pouring beneath the wondrous arch, we could think of nothing but ^*^and he showed me a pure river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God." A drive of three-quarters of an hour (as if this were not enough) brought us to a valley across which stretched a ^^ thus far and no farther " wall, the end of the Suphellebrae, which tumbles as it were like a torrent, over the heights above, breaks and ceases in two prominent ridges. A half-dozen water-falls come roaring down the mountain-side, while at the base stretches out a huge frozen stream thirty to fifty feet in height. As we gazed several huge masses were detached as by an explosive and plunged down with a deafening roar. The sun came out, and high in air the glacier stood glori- fied. Flashing white and glittering blue, — battle- ments, pinnacles, towers and turrets stood out against the azure sky, carrying our thoughts to the Court of Honor and Cliicago's wonderful and 93 NORWAY. magical group^ which made the white city by the Lake shore a dream of beauty^ and ere long to a better country — even a heavenly, a city not made with hands. O'ER LAND AND SEA. TRONDHJEM TO BERGEiq^. IV. Although the weather was often wet and for- bidding, Norway in all its phases was such a con- tinual surprise and delight that it is difficult to sjDcak of any of its characteristic and peculiar features, even if repeatedly seen, without enthusi- astic emphasis. Any one who could look unmoved upon the august, inspiring scenery of the Fjaer- land, Sogne, Aurland and Naero fjords, as he passes from one into another in unbroken progress, is simply to be commiserated. Leaving Fjaerland, we 23assed back to the Sogne Fjord and for an hour were moving, moving upon this great sheet of brilliant water, looking upon the lofty silent mountains, with in some places, pretty farms and villages at their base. Ere we reached Aurlands Fjord one of the sudden changes so common oc- curred, and in discomfort we stood with umbrellas watching the grand panorama, but thrilled with the stately and lofty mountains which closed us in on every side. Some were so gray that, when the sun broke through, they flashed and glit- tered with unearthly radiance. This and the Naero fjord into which we turned are really great 93 94 NORWAY. nigged breathless ravines filled with water. Rocky and barren, save a low growth of evergreen in patches, the great monarchs lift their gray glitter- tering heads two and three thousand feet, and over the summit of the heights, and frequent waterfalls hang in trembling and shivering whiteness and break over the rocky way into the fjord below. Leaving the rain and the clouds the steamer turned into the Nsero fjord ! It is a sensation, to say the least ! It differs from the Greiranger in that it is more open, yet in some places it narrows to a de- file and everywhere is strikingly grand and over- whelmingly severe and sombre, and has one magni- ficent waterfall some three thousand feet in height. It was sunshine and showers all the way, so we stopped at Grudvangen for the night ; for beyond it lies in peerless beauty the IST^rodal or valley, one of the choicest bits of Norwegian scenery. There is no hurrying a Norwegian ! Yon may fret and fume and hloiv, but they will look yon quietly in the face and move only when they are ready. We wanted to leave at an early hour for this drive, but it was ten o^clock ere the stolkjserre was at the door. A lovely drive it proved. Much fairer than the Romsdal. A narrow ravine with frequent turnings, a rapid river meandering through farms and green pastures, with scenery wild, grand and imposing, revealing a succession of superb and striking views and a little ribbon-like road, ex- presses faintly the characteristics of the Neerodal (or valley). In three quarters of an hour we came in sight of " Jordalsnut^^ a huge round-headed In the Naerofiordl O'ER LAND AND SEA. 95 cone-like mountain rising gray, smooth and bare, alone, from the valley. Across the valley, making it like the fjords a '^ cul-de-sac," was a great ab- rupt, lofty barrier a thousand feet above. To one side, over this poured a very large waterfall, one of the finest we have seen. To the other, a sjiur of the mountain, like the back of some crouching or sleeping leviathan, comes steeply and rapidly down. Upon this, zigzag walks and parapets and white lines reveal the way out, which is upward ; for the road climbs uphill all the way to the sum- mit where stands Stallheim, the most charming hotel in ^^orway. One had a fine opportunity of seeing the magnificent valley, for at the beginning of the zigzags, sixteen in all, we were requested to alight and icalk up. We were an hour covering the ground, for at every angle we stood entranced with the view of narrow valley, interlacing mount- ains, frowning heights, fertile depths and be- witching play of sunshine and shadow. The hotel is ornate and j)leasing and its situation unique. Upon one side it looks down and down into the blue valley depths. Along its waving course the great mountains stand as picturesquely as if arranged and ordered, to be seen from this point alone, all clothed in brown, green, gray and purple. Near by, the valley shows as upon a green map, a very- meandering river and a waving serpentine road and oh I such an expression of absolute quiet and delicious stillness. It is profound in its solemn grandeur, satisfactory in its exquisite grace of out- line and bewitching in its harmonious colorings. 96 NORWAY. It is a miniature Switzerland and as fine, except in altitude. A stone wall guards the edge of the hotel plateau and one can sit there by the hour and care for no more, scarcely thinking or formu- lating, but dreaming, feeling and enjoying. Directly at right angles opens another wide cradle- like valley with billowy heights of gray above a base of green forests which quite recalls the Alle- ghanies, as it curves out of sight. Encircling the hotel at a healthful distance, the mountains spring up and up so that we were in the heart of them as never before. Lifted up to this Pisgah height, we saw as in a vision the great solemn mountains around about with their abiding strength and comforting inspiration. So far, the Geiranger fjord is the finest bit of water scenery we have seen, the Romsdal the loveliest valley drive and this eyrie of Stallheim the most delight- ful situation. We saw it by moonlight too, and it was as unearthly and suggestive as a sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni. A week there was all too brief. The drive down upon the opposite side is very steep and ere long curves out of sight of the Hotel. Like all the mountain drives and fjord sails we were repeatedly shut into charming little scenes. The road lay along Lake Orpheim, pure as crystal and smooth as a mirror, with one end the great felspath mountains, gray glistening and desolate ; at the other, through a gap in hill range towered and flashed a snow-crested mountain some four thousand six hundred feet in height. This lake has a sad interest, as upon its baaka O'ER LAND AND SEA. 97 perished, in 1896, Mr. and Mrs. Youmans, of New York, to whose memory the King has erected a cross. In all these journeyings, picture follows picture so rapidly and change succeeds change so constantly that, when the day is done, it is a wonder if the mind retains more than a confused memory of lovely effects, grand and inspiring groupings, and a wilderness of exquisite colorings and grace- ful outlines. The road turned into a mountain pass, which, although nothing remarkable in its extent, was, with its wooded slopes, rapid foaming stream and its beautiful road in the depths, lovely enough for a day's sojourn. Later, the country became wilder and bolder and more unkempt. Great avalanches of huge boulders ; abrupt and precij)itous cliffs and mountains ; — the valley nar- rowed to a gorge or ravine ; the road was filched from the steep sides ; the river widened and filled the narrow cleft and the brawling waters plunged madly over enormous tumbled boulders. Like magic the scene changed ; the mountains stood farther away ; the valley widened to broadness ; in place of boulders and mad stream, a great, soft verdant, meadow-like expanse, with river flowing in two distinct streams, and beyond, a placid lake with upon its glassy surface, two or three boats curiously loaded with hay, rowed by men and women. Nothing could have been more pastoral or poetic or more picturesque in effect. Passing along a hillside with pine forests, overlooking a rushing stream and mill, we came, at the end of four hours, to Vossevangen, a pretty and irregular 7 96 NORWAY. village, with an unusually quaint ancient church with steep pitched roof and square tower and spire and a surrounding yard in which many a rude forefather of the hamlet sleeps. In a record of travel, one does not care to waste time upon hotels, hut there is such a general impression that journey- ing in Xorway is ohjectionable because of poor hostelries, that particular care has been taken to dissipate this idea. At Vossevangen is a fine and attractive one, much frequented by the wealthy Bercrenese. After dinner, our wav led bv a prettv a^scending woodland road, until suddenly the bot- tom seemed to have gone out of everything. We were at the end of an amphitheatre or *' cul-de- sac,'' and looked immediately down hundreds and hundreds of feet to a much broader valley. Over the summit poured a powerful stream in a mag- nificent waterfall which lower down broke into a cataract none the less fine. The superb road curved in sweeping and contracted loops all the way down, affording in its rapid descent and repeated turnings, views and effects most ex- citing and dehghtful. The little pony dashed down the steep, smooth road at a delightfully ex- hilarating pace, now swinging to the extreme side of the valley almost against the precipitous cliffs, then bending inwards, — now lost in a rock-hewn way, then in plain sight of waterfall and crossing the stream by bridge of stone amid showers of spray, and finally along the valleys course. The scenery for awhile was superb, for we were at the base of a most abrupt and precij)itous range which O'ER LAND AND SEA. 99 frequently rose sheer for full a thousand feet or more. At one point four slight waterfalls broke over the ridge a thousand feet above. They did not, as such, touch bottom, for they swayed to and fro in the breeze and broke into vaporous spray. The sunlight striking them changed them to trembling masses of exquisite iris, like pendant swaying rainbows. A little lake spread out in perfect placidity, and the road which followed its border was in some places hewn from the base of the gigantic cliffs. It was all very, very fine, with its changing effects of light and shade. At six- thirty, we reached Eide. Oh ! lovely Eide ! as Longfellow said of Interlaken, ''the sun was set- ting when first I beheld thee ; the sun of life will set ere I forget thee."' The delightful little hotel, with a lovely garden, with paths, shrubbery and rapid stream, stands near the water of an arm of the Hardanger Fjord and commands a view which that evening was perfect in its quiet peacefulness and finished beauty. The little fjord looks like a lovely, peaceful, rock-shored river. The cool mountain slopes, long and graceful, the grouping of the distant rocky barriers, the placid waters with vivid reflections and the long, low light dying over the sea, were a melody of heavenly purity and peace, a harmony of sweet angelic voice and sug- gestion. One who loves the serene, peaceful and meditative in Xature will find in little Norway many a nook and corner where the very atmos- phere seems mysteriously surcharged with the peace that passeth understanding. We turned away 100 NORWAY. from it upon a glorious morning, taking a steamer for one of the '^ Koyal Progresses'' of Norway, a trip on the Hardanger Fjord. Some consider it the grandest of all, and surely in length and extent, and in lofty mountains and mighty glaciers, it is indeed very grand. We passed through two or three consecutive fjords and were charmed with the grace and beauty of the rocky shores. When we turned into the Hardanger proper, at whose end lies Odde, all in the full glory of sunshine and with background of blue sky and dazzling white fleecy clouds, and looked at the precipitous mount- ains upon one side, crested with glorious glitter- ing glaciers and dazzling white snow field ; upon the other, the great towering mountains sloping with such easy flow to the water's edge, giving generous lodgment for farms and houses and villages ; upon the severe and haughty grandeur of the mountains softened and subdued by the verdant stretches, we felt that nothing more beauti- ful had passed before us ! The glaciers in the sunlight displayed exquisite tints of blue, while the white snow-fields fairly shone. The scene was not desolate or solitary as in many of the fjords, because of the many houses, farms and orchards. Sundry landings are made, every one of which with fanciful hotel, or church spire, or picturesque Hardanger costumes, is a picture one wants to treasure. The fjord is so broad that it is quite unlike any other. Odde, at the end of it, is a rendezvous, an entrepot and a headquarters, with the hubbub, noise and confusion at hotels and in O'ER LAND AND SEA. 101 its streets, of parting and coming guests, — a charm- ing place completely spoiled. It is the terminus of the Telemarken route to Christiania, said to be very wild and fine. How little we dreamed of what was before us that blessed, perfect sunny day ! We drove for fifteen miles along this route and re- turned, seeing the great Buarbrae or glacier and the breathless Folgefond or snow-field, which is fifty miles in length and seven in width, with views of lake, waterfalls and wild passes that were bewildering. Slowly ascending the hilly road back of Odde, we came in fifteen minutes to a long, narrow lake, close to the shore of which the road runs, often upon walls and masonry and under hanging cliffs, while opposite are the lofty moun- tains. In an opposite lateral valley was seen the great Buarbrae, which flows in a mighty torrent from the great Folgefond snow-fields, all brilliant in the full sunlight with blue and dazzling white. Beyond the lake the valley contracts ; — the stream pours and plunges through a narrow, rocky ravine ; — the road steadily ascends, and in one place bends several times upon itself in loops or zigzags, and the higher we climbed the finer be- came the view of the great Folgefond ice-fields in the distance, which showed a solid and unbroken drift of pure and spotless snow. The day was so glorious that blue sky and those dazzling drifts made a picture of ineffable glory and unearthly brilliancy. We came upon the celebrated Lote- foss quite abruptly, and looked from the road in a cloud of spray up and up the precipitous wall. 102 NORWAY. and saw pouring in two great streams a tremendous volume of water which broke into repeated falls and cascades. The shy line of these white, bounding, ex- ultant waters, way up to the summit against the blue, was marvellously lovely. As if this was not enough, away farther appeared the Espelands-fos or fall, one of the most picturesque in the country. The water spread out over the flattened surface like a mass of white lace or gossamer. The road entered a ravine, and by loops and rapid zigzags reached a level stretch where, two thousand and seventy feet above the sea, was Seljestad, the terminus of our jaunt. The return was much finer, for we were constantly descending. Like a panorama continu- ally before us was the rapturous view of the Folge- fond snow-fields, nplifted in sublime solitariness against the distant sky ; the wild but exquisite ravine, the mad, angry stream dashing into foam upon the huge boulders, the fields of huge bould- ers in numbers like unto a pebbly beach, the zig- zags with the loops below showing through the trees like white ribbons flying in the breeze, the dazzling, gorgeous waterfalls, and at last the peace- ful valley with verdant meadows and calm and placid lake. We had but few days in Norway in which so much that was overwhelmingly enjoyable was crowded, and sensible souls I — we opened every pore and absorbed it all ! From Odde to Bergen is an all-day journey by steamer, too good and too much for an unbroken trip. We regretted later that we did not break it at lovely Viking-naes, but in the early morning, an ominous sign in the west O'ER LAND AND SEA. 103 (^^ not as deep as a well nor as wide as a church door/' but it served) aroused fears at that late sea- son of coming days of storm. All the livelong day we passed through fjords, often three miles in width, past mountains great and mountains small, mountains bare and mountains green, and snow- crested and flecked, and in sight of varied outline and beautiful form. It was a repetition in minia- ture of the panorama of the Xorth Cape cruise, with often the same glorious effect and wealth of of color. But few landings were made, only one, in fact, where there was a wharf. That was an ideal and charming village upon a large and se- cluded bay. A pretty hotel Avith a gay garden was near the water and the opposite sloping shore was dotted by numerous cottages. The outlook from Viking-naes was over a great inland sea hemmed in with mountains. Four hours before reaching Bergen we came into narrow straits and between great rocky gateways. It was gloriously beautiful, for the course lay henceforth through an immense archipelago. Islets and islands, some of bare rocks, some with little farms and pretty cottages, seemed like flotsam and jetsam floating u2:)on a broad expanse of waters. Some were a peculiar steel gray with, along the wMer-line, a dash of tawny yellow and brown ; some were green with pasture- land, and some brown with undergrowth. The sky became leaden and the wind keen and bitterly cold, and we lost much by the enforced staying within. The immediate approach to Bergen, with its widely scattered motley collection of store- 104 NORWAY. houses, churclies, etc., in the twilight of a warm summer^s day, must be, in its way, as dreamy and weird as far-away Venice, by the warm southern sea. Even in the gray and the chill it was surpass- ingly beautiful and picturesque. '•' PASTURE NEAR THE MOUNTAINS/' BERGEX. It is a common jest, that " it rains in Bergen all the time " and the official records show that the annual rainfall exceeds that of Scotland or England. Knowing this, we were duly grateful for the great patches of blue and the floods of sun- shine which alternated with copious showers during our entire stay. The climate even in winter is very mild and the perj^etual humidity keeps a look of eternal freshness in foliage and verdure. Bergen in one sense is commonplace ; — in another so quaint and characteristic as to be one if not the most interesting large place in the country. Like all Norwegian towns, wood enters so largely in all buildings that it has been repeatedly devastated by fire. One portion has been handsomely rebuilt, and as large open spaces are left to check the spread of conflagrations, one frequently has a most picturesque view of the harbor and adjacent structures. At times it is as quaint, character- istic and national as Holland, with its queer low houses, gables and high-pitched red-tiled roofs. The city is built upon a hilly peninsula with plenty of water on every side as well as from above. The day after our arrival was tlie Sabbatli and we were glad to witness a Norwegian service at the 105 106 NORWAY. Cathedral, originally a monastery church with a \mae tower in front and one side-aisle formed by a "lean-to/" It was bare and rude, — a ceiling of wood and three stained windows at octagonal end, being the only ornamental features. A simple altar before a low reredos of arched niches with statuettes, had two huge candlesticks of silver, a pitcher, chalice and plate. The minister ap- peared in a straight woolen gown with tight sleeves and around his neck a very full white ruff, like a boa. He sang or intoned the service so sweetly, that at times it was as good as an ora- torio. Upon the end of the altar lay a maroon velvet cape or kind of chasuble with border and large cross of gold, and upon it laid a very full white surplice. At a certain time in the service, an official stepped up and in the presence of all the people put upon the minister the white surplice and later on, arrayed him in the velvet robe. The people all had |)rayer-books and were very devout in demeanor and hearty in their singing, in which much of the service consisted. The beginning was lovely for it was with a wild sweet melody, but when for ten minutes they chanted or sang in a minor key, the wail and monotony made nervous people want to fly ! The surplice and the velvet cape were laid aside some time before the service at the altar was ended. Then the minister went into a high pulpit at one side and in black gown and ruff (very suggestive of some old Eembrandt) held forth to the remarkably attentive audience. It was however, very odd, every once in awhile, to Borgund Church ''PASTURE NEAR THE MOUNTAINS." 107 see one and another stand up, as if tired with the long, hard sitting. On our way home we passed such an ancient and quaint aj^pearing church we stojoped to ex- amine it. Service was over, but preparations were making for a wholesale baptism and we gladly re- mained. Along the wall upon one side of the very large chancel, stood in a spelling-class row, the fathers and godfathers of the seven babies who were to be baptized. Another stiff row across the front of the chancel consisted of the mothers and the godmothers, holding the chil- dren. The silver bowl in the hands of a marble figure was opposite the men and a black-robed, white-ruffed figure administered the rite. In view of the uproarious bawl and direct refusal to be comforted, there could be no question as to the natural depravity of some of the little tots. It was ve^ ' droll when all was over, to see the men cross tuc chancel and disappear in a side room and the women cross to the men^s side and go into another room. A stroll in any direction reveals many a queer nook, characteristic warehouses and |)retty views of the surrounding heights and harbor, while the shops are most fascinating and with their Nor- wegian antiquities and stuffs, exquisite carved wood-work, quaint antique silver tankards a7id cups, lovely modern silver, gilt and enamel table adornments, beautiful furs and pretty national cos- tumes, are poor places for the tourist with de- pleted exchequer. Perhaps the most interesting 108 NORWAY. part of the town is the old Hanseatic quartet. That ancient German league at one time domi- nated and controlled the entire trade of Norway in codfish and oils and possessed this quarter of its own with gates and guards to shut the rascals in, as well as out ! A public-spirited citizen, has fortunately, by preserving a suite of rooms in their original state and by filling them with all sorts of relics of that time, made a museum of in- tense interest. The Emperor William II. of Germany, recently wished to purchase the entire display, but the owner proudly declared it be- longed to Bergen. Evidently William was not ^^Ketat c^est moi/^ for once! The front fa9ade has a gable and a row of small -paned windows and is painted in olive and dull red. The side had an open corridor or gallery facing a passageway, with cranes for hoisting barrels and goods. Master and men all lived in small low-ceiled rooms in the front of the warehouses. The first room was the employes" dining-hall with long low massive table and seats. A brass wash-basin was supported upon a frame and suspended from a bracket above was the pitcher or pot of brass. Every ware- house was obliged to have its own fire pumj)S, and one standing in this room looked as if it would scarcely extinguish a hearth-fire. Pewter tankards, weights and measures of odd descrip- tion, curious hanging lamps like little pans in which the oil was held, and from the ceiling pendant some dried fish two hundred years old, decorated the room. Every window, though, had *' PASTURE NEAR THE MOUNTAINS." 109 pretty little valances of white silk. Opening from this was the office or counting-room, the largest of all and really quite pretty with its cor- ner cupboards of panelled wood ; its little enclosed office in one corner for master's desk with small, quaint panes of glass in front, over which was spindle work, similar to that now so much in vogue. All was painted in terra cotta and olive- green. Some handsome, but awkward, carved, high-back and embossed leather chairs furnished it. There were always a master, foreman and thirty clerks, and they all lived in common ; and lest some Norwegian should acquire an interest none were allowed to marry ! The business was almost exclusively in codfish and oil and with Spain and Italy, and the roo7ns smell yet ! Off the counting-room was the master's dining-room, and, as he ate alone, it did not need to be larger than a butler's pantry, wdiich it much resembled, for the side-walls were covered with racks for dishes. Opening from this was another small, unfurnished room the whole end of which was occuj^ied by two doors like a cupboard. The attendant opened them, displaying the master's winter bed or bunk. In the back was a door through which a maid could make the bed without entering the celibate's apartment ! Then we climbed upstairs by a little narrow, winding way and came into the master's private room or salon, where was a very quaint sofa with back like two antique chairs, several high-back chairs, some old carvings from their church two old crowns from entrance gates, a no NORWAY. small hanging wine cabinet ; a rawhide for flog- ging employes^ and upon the walls portraits and swords and in the wall, — a summer bed ! These shrewd old fellows had different weights and measures for buying and selling, which are here shown. A curious object was a pretty oval mahogany table with a large salver fastened on top, which was used in testing brandy. The fore- man's room came next, in which was a huge wooden bird used for a target, an immense ham- mered brass platter on a wooden support, used to receive the offertory in church, a long pole with embroidered velvet bag and a bell for taking up collections, and the queerest lanterns formerly used at funerals. The next was the employes' room, upon which little trap-doors from the master's and foreman's beds opened ! The clerks evidently had few comforts or luxuries, for the bunks for them were in two rows one above the other and two slept in a space which looked scarcely wide enough for one. A number of other curious relics were shown. It was an intensely interesting picture " of a day that is dead," which it is to bo hoped will ^'^ never come back" to Ber- gen again. A short walk along the quays brought us to an old fortress, in which stands the '^ Haakonshallen," or ancient palace of the kings. It is some six hun- dred years old and consists of one long large build- ing with steep G-othic roof, recently restored. The one hall, which is all there is, is a fine lofty apartment with open timbered roof and beautiful " PASTURE NEAR THE MOUNTAINS." Ill carved settles along the side walls ; massive fire- places and windows of stained glass. From the outer cornice we had a superb viev/ over Bergen and its environs. Near it stands *^ Walkendorf s Taarn/' or tower, of thirteenth century construc- tion, '' formerly a fortified tower built for the pur- pose of holding the Hanseatic League in check/^ The old German Hansa Church has most elaborately and curiously carved pulpit and ancient reredos of great interest. A drive of no particular interest, of three- quarters of an hour, brought us to the country- place of Mr. Gade, the American Consul, which would '^ hold its own " with any gentleman's estate in our own land. It was a cluster of beautifully diversified hills, all tumbled in a close mass, in fact, with numerous old forest trees and a perfect arbore- tum of all kinds of choice trees and shrubs, most judiciously grouped and placed, with paths in every direction, and upon a high j^oint a little tea-house, commanding a most lovely view of mountains, hills and smooth waters and little islands, all as cool and green as England. One came continually upon the loveliest prospects imaginable. The grounds were kept in the highest order and an air of re- fined elegance pervaded the whole demesne. Upon a small plateau, with steep hillside below, stands the little Fantoft church, removed from the interior, which with its surrounding balustrade and side mound with rude cross forms a most effective and dainty picture. The church is pagoda-like in general appearance, with gargoyles and ornaments 112 NORWAY. at ends of peaks that are decidedly grotesque. It seems a mass of roofs, having three separate slopes and a cupola of boards cut like fancy shingles. All around it is a low open corridor. Owing to the almost entire absence of windows the interior is so dark that the rude arabesques and ancient, religious pictures that adorn the walls, can scarcely be seen. It is small, for thirty-five people would fill it, but considering the age in which it was built, the architectural design and structural feel- ing and sentiment seem wonderful and interesting. The drive back to Bergen by a different road was delightful, being for a long way through a hill country with steep banks and gorgeous mountain- ash trees along the way. We stopped for awhile at the beginning of a long descent, enraptured with the view of the valley, grand surrounding mountains and the city of Bergen and beyond, the waters, islands and bare mountains heights of the fjord. The suburbs of Bergen are extremely picturesque, varied and charming. The road gradually descended, passing numerous pretty villas and flower-crowded grounds, and a large leper hospital. We stopped at the gates of a cemetery which sloped towards the waters. Per- haps a hundred yards from them in the centre of a straight path or road leading to them, was a mass of ivy and flowers, a slender bronze or metal vase with a wreath of fresh flowers hanging over it, which marked the resting-place of '^ Ole Bull,'^ who seems to belong to our own land. We were told of the home-coming of the remains, and how *' PASTURE NEAR THE MOUNTAINS." 113 the people in a multitude of small boats went out to give them welcome to Fatherland. We expected nothing from Bergen — " jiasture near the mountain/^ — but our cup was full to overflowing. The effect of the lofty bare moun- tains around about it, is very grand and impressive, and at night the twinkling of lights from the houses upon them is weird and uncanny. There is one superb drive, which climbs the side of the Floif jeldet, a mountain nine hundred and eighty- four feet in height, built in most extravagant style with excise moneys, which commands a mag- nificent view, — but the almost steady rain of our last day prevented our taking it, and it was rele- gated to that ^' next time,^^ that in the glowing present seems so possible to the tourist, but which, alas ! of tener proves a bourne to which no traveller returns. 8 ACKOSS COUNTEY BY VALDEES. BEKGEN" TO CHEISTIAI^IA. I. Betweei^ Bergen and Christiania one lias the choice of three routes — all the way by steamer ; — by Telemarken from Odde, the most picturesque portion of Norway, with mountain passes, snow fields, lakes and waterfalls, and scenery of wild grandeur and rugged magnificence, — and '^ across country by the Valders/^ We chose the latter, because of the lateness of the season and unsettled weather, beginning with a superb railway journey from Bergen, of sixty-six miles to Yossevangen, the road being an unusually fine piece of engineer- ing and costly construction. It took us four hours and twenty minutes to cover the distance. We had seen so much scenery that was fine and noble, and scenery that was gentle and subdued, we had no large expectations. How little we know the joy or tribulation that awaits us ! We had driven in carriage and stolkjaerre through the depths of dark, cool valleys and looked in wonder at the lofty enclosing walls ; had upon steamers passed through the fjords, which are only the valleys flooded, and had watched with awe and admiration the effects of towering, sombre, snow-flecked and sunny heights, 114 ACROSS COUNTRY BY V ALDERS. 115 but now we were to go with rapid, changing pictur- ings ever before us, upon a prosaic, railway train, a rare experience in Norway. Soon after leaving Bergen we came into the spectacular and panoramic portion. Now swinging low, the road lies close to the water^s edge ; — anon, upon walled embank- ment, hugs the base of preci2:)itous cliifs and hangs as it were over the waters ; — again, dashes aj)par- ently against a hopeless front of mountains only to find a little aperture ; — a moment of darkness and again it is near and overlooking placid waters and opposing heights and lateral fjords, which, like ar- ranged or studied pictures stretch out in beauty inimitable for a too short moment. One is kept on the '^'^ qui vive'^ constantly, for effects are as rapidly changing as in a revolving kaleidoscope. Miniature fjords or bays, graceful heights, verdant slopes, bold precipitous mountains, fifty-five long, and short tunnels, along rock-bound shores, through projections and also the heart of the mountains ; enchanting surprises in view of waters and mountains ; sudden pictures seen through and framed in by ventilating shafts and the heights so slowly ascended, leave upon the mind a confused and delightful impression. At one point we looked away down upon a great rounded bay in which a large fleet of fishing-boats lay ^'as idle as a painted ship, upon a painted ocean." Past fjords and into canons of great beauty, by inland lakes with exquisite reflections of spires and over- hanging hills, and past two large factories most picturesquely situated, and past and through more 116 NORWAY. loveliness and beauty than onr minds could grasp or hold, we were borne upward, until, notwith- standing our regret, we came to pretty Yossevangen. Surely we cannot soon forget those huge opposing walls, the grim gray pyramids, or the ravishing combinations of peaceful waters and sombre moun- tains. The night was passed at the delightful hotel at Vossevangen. Our route was then over the hills and far away to Stallheim, the ISTaerodal and Grudvangen, the same journey we had made in opposite direction a week or so before. But it is a way one would not regret passing a dozen times, for it possesses great variety. It is amusing to hear tourists who have just come into Norway say ^' the charm of this drive (whatever it may be) is its great variety/' whereas that is the marked peculiarity of the wliole land. Variety surely is the spice of Norwegian travel. Past the little lakes, and with the views of grand bare and snow- patched mountains we so enjoyed before, we drove with the new pleasure of familiarity and knowing what to expect ! We tarried for several hours at Stallheim where we met a most agreeable Calif ornian who remarked of the drive from Chris- tiania that "it was more enjoyable, than the Yosemite, because there were only eight miles of that, while this continued day after day." The beautiful Naerodal was overhung with clouds, and as we walked down the sixteen zigzags became sombre and impressive, but our drive to Gudvan- gen was exhilarating and delightful. A little steamer bore us away at six-thirty. The grandeur ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 117 and sublimity of the Naerof jord and the entrance to it, especially when sombre with overhanging storm-clouds, is inexpressible. The darkness gathered early because of the heavy black clouds, and in an hour and a half we were shut in to out- lines only. But we were told the scenery grew less bold, as we passed through the fjord towards Laerdalsoren, a little village of eight hundred inhabitants, of which we saw only a multitude of low-lying lights, at ten o^clock. As the hotel was a half mile or more from the shore, we took a stolkjaerre and plunged at once into the worse than Egyptian darkness. The blackness was so intense nothing was distinguishable, yet the little pony dashed along at a break-neck pace as if '^ possessed.'" It was not quieting to the nerves nor was it exactly comfortable, but it is never prudent to interfere with either man or beast in this country. The drivers do not seem to control the horse by the lines, but by a low con- fidential talking with him. Every accident or mis- hap of which we have heard has been the result of the tourist taking the reins. We knew both horse and driver were familiar with the road, but the frequent jolts and the fearful speed suggested constantly the possibility of an upset. The drivers have a droll way at the end of a journey of taking off the hat, bowing very soberly and then shaking hands ! The heavy rain broke upon us, soon after the hotel was reached. Eight o'clock the next morning saw us upon our winding way across country. It proved a fitful day of cloud. 118 NORWAY. snnsliine and occasional mist. Our way was througli the Laerdal, close to a little river all the day long. For two hours we were in the bed of a wide fertile valley, but constantly ascending, with the great lofty mountain ranges on either side like bounding, swelling billows. Occasionally a little poor hamlet and all along the way, well tilled farms. The details of the scene were simple, the effect grand and impressive. The valley narrowed suddenly and for awhile we threaded a tortuous canon which in turn became a deep ravine and then a narrow gorge with great abrupt frowning heights close to and above us, with scarcely room even for the tumultuous river. In fact, the road was cut out from the rock face and filched from the river bed. Sometimes close to the water's edge, then twenty to forty feet above, looking down into a chasm in which the waters held high carnival and often under great masses of project- ing rock. The river was such a succession of cataracts, cascades, waterfalls and rapids it almost wearied with the ceaseless motion and the unbroken beauty of green waters, dazzling foam and moss- covered boulders and rocks. The course was so circuitous that every moment gave some novel and startling effect. The narrow ravine or canon was often overwhelming with its dark and solemn still- ness. The present road is a magnificent one. The old one can be traced as it mounts fearful heights and as suddenly dips into low places or hollows. As we neared Borgund at midday the ravine became ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 119^ iiftpressively grand, exquisitely romantic and sur- passingly beautiful, for it was not only bold but narrow, picturesque but sombre, and the road was carried along the bank some two hundred feet above the stream as it passed through the crevice and broke into cascades and waterfalls over enor- mous boulders and against the face of lofty preci- pices. Just beyond an abrupt turning of canon, stream and road, stood the very picturesque, an- cient " Stave ^' church, built in 1138, very similar to the one at Fantoft, near Bergen, but not in as good preservation. It is black and battered, sur- rounded by a yard with humble graves and a rude stone wall. To one side without the walled enclos- ure stands a heavy massive belfry with an antique bell inscribed " Sanctus Laurencius.^^ The people built a new one near by, which suffers in pictur- esqueness beside this remnant of other days, and sold the old one to a Historical Society in Chris- tiania. We rested some two hours at a wayside Inn. Like every square yard of Norway there was much to fascinate and please, but we contented ourselves in watching the river in its mad and tumultuous plunging through the deep ravine. A family were coming down from a '^^saeter^^ (a mountain summer farm) with loads of churns, cans and household wares, and driving a herd of beau- tiful light-colored and mottled cows. As they wound down the elevated roadway, the scene was charming and would have made a lovely sketch. Not infrequently through the country are seen, high in air, coming from some " saeter " beyond a 120 NORWAY. hill-top, wires upon which fagots of brush or farm or dairy produce, are sent to the valley below. Some one has facetiously declared, '^^the potato is the national herry of Norway ! '' and surely one is often reminded of it. Were it not so pathetic, it would be as amusing as it is interesting, to note the universal cultivation of the beneficent tuber iu very small ways and in the most unlikely spots. Scarce a hut is passed that has not in its immediate environment a tiny stretch of it. The high water mark was reached however one day when close to the roadway, upon the top of a huge boulder, ap- peared a flourishing miniature patch, only a few feet square. The people labor hard in every way, receiving at best apparently small returns, yet they seem loth to leave their rugged country. For three hours in the afternoon the road constantly as- cended and the scene grew more and more wild and bleak. We were in the very midst of the great mountains with waterfalls and rushing stream and for the last two or three miles upon a regular switch-back road. At five o^clock we reached " Maristuen," a large hotel all alone, way up in the mountain billows, without a sign of life in any direction, with a grand view, sedate and subdued, over a wide expanse of hills with outlines soft and billowy as a sea. The location is a favorite one and is considered very healthful, and the hotel, a fine and imposing one, is very popular. To one side it looks down into a basin of a valley with long slop- ing lines of mountains beyond, while on the other, p. ravine opens with the ever-fascinating and beau- ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 131 tiful mountain stream. The elevation is but twenty-five hundred and seventy-five feet, but one is as alone as regards the world and its busy life as if ten thousand. It was bitter cold, the great black clouds seemed full of snow and the sky, although glowing, was chilly and cheerless, and we were glad to get by a fire that thirtieth day of August. The next day was blustery, with occasional rain, but not enough to obstruct our view. The way was fine, leading higher and higher, betwixt and in sight of bare, desolate mountains and across the Fillef jeld, all of it grand in its loneliness and lovely in its easy, graceful outline. At half-past ten we reached Nystuen, which is only a good- sized hotel, facing one of the numerous little lakes which are so curiously tucked away upon these mountain passes. All along the post-roads of Norway are stations where horses and vehicles have to be changed unless you have engaged a conveyance through, and even then certain rests are obligatory. We would have been obliged to have made fifteen changes between Laerdalsoren and Odnaes, had we not engaged our man and stolkjaerre at the start. Some three miles beyond, just as we came in sight of one of the lengtliy magnificent valleys (to which we descended later in the day), we turned abruptly away and by a superb road constructed by the Government and the Norwegian Tourist Club, began a climb to Lake Tyen, thirty-six hundred and twenty feet above the sea. The road was charming, smooth as a park-drive, with the outside boulder battle- 123 NORWAY. ments so common here, and hugged and clung to the very face of the huge steep mountain-sides and gradually crept up and around every outline of rock, by a way often excavated from its face^ Often, as you drive along the country, the only evidence of a road ahead and above are the long rows of blocks, like parapets, breaking with their order and continuous line the utter wildness of the scene. In many a view it is the only touch of man visible. This road was peculiarly fine, for it over- looked at first, for miles and miles, the long pictur- esque valley with the white road waving through its dark depths of verdure, and then it turned into, or, rather, followed a depression in the mountain- face and looked down into a deep ravine and across upon timberless and moss-covered heights, and then up and up, bending, turning, and climb- ing slowly, and then turned into the narrow Jotum- parten Pass, which in a brief time ends at Lake Tyen, a beautiful sheet of water some seven miles long. Even in this out-of-the-way place, a little hotel, a very cheap affair, received us most hospita- bly and ministered most acceptably to our wants. At the oppo_site end of the lake is the panorama of the snow-clad Jotumheim, called the finest in Norway. Alas ! in that hour clouds lay heavily upon the mountain-tops and storms repeatedly broke over them. We could see the snow-flecked base, but at no time was the horizon-line visible. A picture of it hung in the waiting-room to tanta- lize and distress, for really, those who lost the view would be better oS not to know what they ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 123 had missed. But we sat by the windows and saw that which the fine-weather guests do not see, several successive rainbows against the clouds and snow-flecked heights, which were exquisite. We hoped to have a row upon the lake and a climb to a knoll which commands the whole superb view, but it was useless to attempt either. So, after dinner, we took the advice of the hotel people and pushed on. The drive down was jolly, for the road was so fine, the view so magnificent and the cool, clear air so bracing. They drive down tlie inclines and zigzags at a fearful speed which is exciting and exhilarating, but- one can- not help feeling that if the wheel should fly off or the breeching break, it would hardly be worth while to attempt to pick up the pieces, either of man, brute, or vehicle. All the afternoon the road descended in a prolonged valley with everything in the way of view we could desire, lakes, waterfalls, mountains, and combinations of them all. It was a continuous procession of all that is beautiful in nature. We came into the luxuriant growth of evergreens again, so tliat the mountain-sides were no longer cold, desolate, and gray, nor bare or bleak, but dark and verdant with the tint of fir trees. Fifteen hundred feet below, we came to the station, where we would have passed the night, had not Lake Tyen been shrouded with clouds. At five o'clock we reached Grinda- heim on the border of a little lake with a fine out- look upon the abrupt ending of two or three mountain ranges. We decided to push on an 134 ^ NORWAY. hour farther, for the finest bit of the route was just beyond and the clouding, kirid west suggested a rainy morrow. It was superb ! All the way the scenery was wonderful and grand. For a long way the road was excavated from the faces of rugged and almost sheer cliffs and by zigzags followed every variation of the shore line of the lake, so that it was a continuous dipping into little coves or rounding of sharp points, often beneath semi-arches, and in one place beneath a shed roof, to shelter passers-by from falling stones or debris, loosened by trickling streams from the heights above. The road is called the ^''Kvamskleven^' or " ravine cliff." Perhaps there was a half- liour of this, but the whole drive along the lake and the view of opposite mountain ranges was fine, and in the gathering twilight it grew oppres- sively grand and sublime. Our day^s journeying ended at Oylo, a solitary hotel upon the side hill, a few hundred yards above the highway command- ing a finished outlook upon mountains, woods, and waters which, in the fading twilight and the solemn shadows, was inexpressibly quieting and restful to our tired bodies, excited nerves and wearied souls, for one learns in Norway that pleasure wearies, as well as ceaseless toil and un- ending activity. ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. BERGEN- TO CHEISTIAi^^IA. II. Oylo is a favorite resort of Norwegian artists. We did not wonder at this when we saw how crowded the immediate neighborhood was with ravishing and enchanting pictures. Upon the wooden walls of one of our rooms were painted, much as etchings are marked, sundry mementos of various artists, which were amusing and inter- esting. One was a large key hanging upon a nail ; another a watch and chain, still another a leaf of paper with dog-eared corners, and a miniature, all so perfect as to deceive even at close range. The apartment itself was a sight, for, although occupied by an immense sofa, huge centre tables, three candle-stands, and bedsteads and several chairs, there was room and to spare ! In the hall stood a most quaint and gorgeous linen trousseau chest, with showy arabesque of gay colored flowers and ornaments, a woman's name and a date. A party of Germans came in after us, so that the evening was quite merry, as the landlady lighted a fire in the queer fireplace, which they call, as if spelled, " pi-es." The chimney was square and in the corner, with fireplace open on two sides and the 125 126 NORWAY. wood piled in the corner without fire-dogs of any kind. As we all sat there, in the light only of the flaming logs and glowing embers, it seemed strange that the ^' Tales of a Wayside Inn^"* were not writ- ten long before Longfellow^s day. What would our stories have been, had we from over the sea and fatherland, in that weird and flickering light, each told one ? But Oylo soon faded out of sight when we began our journey anew. We passed a magnificent waterfall or cataract and followed the river, and some two and a half hours away, when nearing Lohen, a station beautifully situated upon a knoll overlooking the most picturesque Slidre- f jord, or lake, had another fine bit of road along the mountain-face. We also passed a most pict- uresque, ancient church. The almost entire ab- sence of windows is a marked feature of these old churches. One we passed that day had none in front or upon one side. From the heights above Lohen was gained a superb view of the fjord or lake and the mountains we were rapidly leaving behind, all spotted with snow. Indeed, there was hardly a rod but deserved notice ! One is simjDly overwhelmed with natural beauty in Nor- way, for there is such an inexhaustible store upon every side. About three o'clock we rested the faithful little pony and enjoyed some recreation ourselves, at Fosheim, where was a fine and large hotel down in a hollow, but with a lovely outlook. How many little heavens we did come into ! At many a place we sang " My willing soul would ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 127 stay/' with much gusto and longing. Then down the hill and along the valley, having a grand view of the distant Jotumheim which was so obscured when we watched for it at midday at Lake Tyen, until at five o'clock we came to lovely Faegerness. The near approach to it was extremely pictur- esque, for, from the descending road, as it made a sweeping curve, we looked down upon a lovely sheet of placid water with an island and bold pro- jecting points thickly wooded, and nestling in the trees of pretty grounds, two white hotels with brilliant national flags waving, and a little way farther on the road, from a bridge, upon a group of dark and blackened saw and flour mills, stone flumes and a boisterous cataract of water tumbling over a very rocky bed. Faegerness is a settlement of only two hotels, a shop and a few houses for working people, but its location is ideal, close to the water's edge. Our windows looked upon pretty, lawn-covered grounds which sloped to the water, and upon a summer-house and dainty flower borders. Beyond, a stone causeway and foot- bridge led to a densely- wooded island with charm- ing walks, with numerous seats and resting-places. The season being about closed, there were but few guests and scarcely any tourists, so the pretty little place which, at other times, must be in the per- petual hubbub of speeding the parting and welcom- ing the coming guests, was, in every line and out- look, the embodiment of charming restfulness and delicious repose. Our Sabbath there was perfect, warm and sunny and the placid glistening waters 138 NORWAY. and the dainty points and islands seemed like some sheltered cove at Lake G-eorge. The distant view along the length of a sheltered valley closing with a portal of bold and abrupt mountains was exquisitely beautiful^ with grace in every line and beauty in the multitude of soft colorings. After the rain and the cold of the last few days, the warm sunny Sabbath was a real benediction and we enjoyed every moment. But at five o^clock the next morning the rain was falling in torrents ! At eight-thirty, there was plenty of blue sky, sun- shine and clouds, but it was so charming we were glad to be " on the go.^^ For a few hours our way lay along the valley with nothing particularly striking, although all was beautiful in every direc- tion, and then the road began a gradual ascent of the mountain-side by a course cut from it. "We walked for an hour for the sheer pleasure of it, the ascent was so gentle, stopping frequently to enjoy the views. The beautiful smooth road rises and bends with every projecting spur, affording many a charming view of the valley, the scene ending clear beyond Faegerness with the white- tipped Jotumheim Mountains. Up and up we plodded gradually for an hour or more, then rounding a spur of the hills left the charming Valders valley, with its evergreen thickets and little river behind. Soon we reached the summit, a long plateau or level country, with two or three little lakes or pools, scanty verdure and dwarfed tree growth. Across this wild and desolate up- land stretch the white road wriggled like a serpent. ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 139 and then, into evergreen forests that were charm- ing. Down and down we whirled by curves and long winding stretches, that were park-like in effect and beauty. The whole descent for an hour and a half was by a superb roadway, through the thickest of dark and fragrant evergreens, with snatches and views of the valley below, lovely in its billowy lines and verdant tints. At an eleva- tion of two thousand feet, stands Tonsaasen Sani- tarium, a popular resort of the Christiania people^ a group of fine large buildings beautifully located, with here and there in the adjacent woods, paths leading to summer houses and outlooks, not unlike Lake Mohonk. The air, which is resinous with odor of firs and balsams, is considered extremely healthful. Two miles farther on is Sveen, a post- ing station, the descent to which was by curves, zigzags and loops through the lovely woods, which earlier in our experience would have seemed won- derfully beautiful. The remainder of the after- noon until we reached Odnaes at six-thirty, was a gradual ^' come down " in every way. While it was charming all the way, it grew lower and more cultivated and sublunary and we realized that the end was near, and that these few remaining hours, were our " Good-bye ! Summer." It was, however, less difficult to accept than it would have been earlier in the season. The whole drive from Laer- dalsoren of one hundred and forty-six miles was delightful and in its variety wonderful, and in spite of clouds, rain, and cold, we were sorry to have it end. Odnaes is a hamlet with a fairly com- 9 130 NORWAY. fortable hotels, at the head of Randsfjord Lake, and was the closing scene of our drive across country. We tarried there for a night, and at seven-thirty on the morrow took the steamer which in five hours, after making some ten landings, traverses the length of Randsfjord Lake. The scenery seemed very mild and subdued, with long sloping heavily wooded or farm-covered hills on every side. Snow and the great mountains were a thing of the past ! All was peaceful and smil- ing as if storms were o^er. At the Randsfjord end of the lake, the lumber interest loomed up, thou- sands of logs and a sort of raft being collected there through which a channel was kept open for the steamer. A wait of three-quarters of an hour and then we boarded the railway train for Chris- tiania, some eighty-eight miles away, a journey of five and a half hours. Oh ! what a beautiful rail- way journey it was ! We passed through enough beautiful country to satisfy one for a summer^s tour. All so verdant, highly cultivated and pros- perous in appearance, while hills, mountains, waterfalls, rivers and pretty villages were every- where visible. At Hone-foss, we had a pretty view of the falls and in several places saw the great logs shoot the cataracts and rapids. Drammen was the largest place on the route and was most picturesquely divided into two or three towns by the waters of a fjord. After leaving, the road mounts a hillside and looking back, we had a magnificent view of the town glittering and bask- ing in the sunlight, in the midst of sparkling ACROSS COUNTRY BY VALDERS. 131 waters. It was indeed a wonderful scene, and fitly closed our list of Norwegian pictures upon memory's walls, never to be quite forgotten. At seven-thirty p. M. we entered Christiania, which Ave had left a few short weeks before, so full of hopefulness, in a pouring rain, and our halcyon days in Norway were ended. 4: 4: 4: ^ 4: 4: A party sat one winter evening around an open fire in Eome, the Eternal City, talking in the desultory way that is the traveller's wont, of various masterj^ieces of the old artists in which Italy is so rich. From one to another the com- ments, critical but appreciative, flowed in easy course, until at last attention was centred upon the Beatrice Oenci of Guido Reni, by a young gentleman remarking he could never see anything in it, either in engravings or copies, and now, in the original. Said a lady, '^ But do you not think the expression, — the look in the eyes, — is wonder- ful ? '' No ! " he replied, '' I can see nothing in them ! " to which she gently responded, '^ Per- haps it is not for you ! " Perchance some one may peruse these pages who has made the tour of Norway and not pos- sessed of a keen love of Nature in her varied moods, nor an eye sensitive to delicacy of color and gracefulness of outline, nor a heart responsive to the numberless, spiritual and poetic suggestions of land and sea ; or perhaps some other one read- ing them may be led to make the journey and not being in the mood to be always pleased, may 133 NORWAY. think or pronounce this record of a trip, which even with the oft-repeated limitations of storm and disappointment, was a joyous and delightful one, overdrawn, or too enthusiastic or too highly ro- seate. To such, sadly and kindly, I would say, it is all there, nevertheless ; — and as the lady remarked of those wondrous, appealing, haunt- ingly beautiful eyes of the pathetic Beatrice Cenci, ^'perhaps it is not for you." HALCYON DAYS IN FRANCE. HALCYON DAYS IN FEANCE. PATIENT WAITmG, NO LOSS. ROUEi^". Because Ronen is only about three and a half hours from Paris, and on the direct line of north- ern travel, and comparatively easy to reach, it is the oftener relegated to that halcyon '' next time," with which every tourist comforts himself when too wearied or hard-pressed for time to do more. Yet scarcely any other city in France, so opulent in historical associations and architectural trophies, yields more rich returns in ecclesiastical and civic structures and picturesque streets, while none have a more pathetic feature than the spot where Jeanne d'Arc went up in a cloud of fire. We had so repeatedly left it undone, that our departure finally seemed very unreal. The day was warm and sunny. Although the country proved monot- onous, being much of the way very level, with sometimes a horizon of hills, yet with the little, silvery Seine with bushy banks, — pretty hay and harvest fields, forests with first touch of autumn like a burnishing of gold, quaint thatched and red- roo.fed hamlets, frequent chateaux almost buried 135 136 FRANCE. in the trees^ and towns and villages of considerable importance, — there was much to interest and to please. For a long way from Paris the neatly en- closed vineyards and opulent fruit and flower-gar- dens with stone walls covered with pear and other fruit-trees trained like vines, seemed almost con- tinuous. Occasionally a long, sweeping view over a slightly undulating country, with forests and chateaux, would stretch out in soft and dreamy beauty as far as eye could reach. At Mantes we had a most exquisite view over the river, upon the group of houses above which waved the huge, lofty openwork, square towers of its cathedral, and beyond, the isolated solitary tower of St, Maclou, the only remains of an ancient church (1344) built with " the toll dues exacted for leave to tow barges through the bridge on Sundays and holidays ! " Our faithful book com- panion told us that ^^ it was among the glowing embers of its houses and monasteries, which Wil- liam the Conqueror had caused to be burned, that he received the injury in his corpulent person caused by his horse starting, which proved mortal a few days later at Eouen ! " As we were to fol- low the course of his Majesty, even to the place of his final strange sepulture, it possessed more than a passing interest. We knew Eouen (as it is called the Manchester of France) was a busy manu- facturing town, full of bustling life in spite of its venerable and stately antiquities, but we were not prepared for the crowd and babel of sounds which filled and surrounded the station. There PATIENT WAITING, NO LOSS. 137 was a delay of some twenty minutes for a customs' examination, which, however, was not insisted upon with us, since our innocent-looking luggage sug- gested no violation of the game octroi. A civil porter assured us the Hotel de la Poste was near and that we did not need a fiacre, so we followed and fol- lowed him and our truck of luggage for full ten min- utes. But as our course was through the principal street and past numerous shops, bright, pretty and attractive, as the French know so well how to make them, we rather enjoyed it. It was too late to drive and the ^^ show places" were closed, so we strolled out for a general reconnoitre. It was not many minutes before we were fairly effervescing with delight, for almost immediately we came upon some quaint fa9ades and then in full sight of the Palais de Justice. One glance at the picturesque and ornate structure and Ave were back in Belgium, the Low Countries — the Netherlands. It is built around three sides of a square, a tall iron fence- lining or marking the fourth and front boundary, with a riot of ornament and an exuberance of ex- quisite detail, most effective, although condemned by professional critics. Tall dormer windows adorn the roof and furnish, as it were, an excuse or founda- tion for sculpturings and adornments in most prod- igal profusion. Statues of various sizes crown del- icate pinnacles ; borders of floral design garland the Tudor windows, and a regular open rose fret- work follows the line of cornice. It is but one story with a high basement, but the pitched roof with open cresting adds as much again to its height 138 FRANCE. and gives fine field for spectacular and ornamental effects. In the centre of the front fa9ade projects a beautiful tower-like bay window with most ornate effect^ forming within a lovely^ circular room with domed roof, designed for use of Francis I., but now a retiring room for the judges of the court. Steps of stone ascend to the side wings and various apart- ments, and some three spacious court rooms, with ricJily carved and gilded ceilings, one formerly the Parliament Hall, are shown. The City streets make many a picturesque and interesting vista. Sometimes they bend and curve, and quaint odd facades of open timber and plaster work, with each story projecting over the one below with carved brackets for support and queer ornaments, appear on either side. As we passed purposelessly along, at the end of a narrow street, weird and spectral in the late afternoon light, loomed up an ornate Gothic tower. A few moments later we stood in an open plaza opposite the great Cathedral of Rouen. Alas ! time and the elements have played sad havoc with the tiny, dainty statuettes, — the delicate embroidery-like sculpturings and the lavish abundance of superb ornamentation with which the two towers and west fa9ade are loaded. Because of the decay and deterioration of the stone, it is like some beautiful frost or icework which has already begun to melt and lose form and distinctness under the warmth and glow of the sun's rays. It is said that originally it was ''the best and purest type of early Gothic work " but that in the sixteenth century it was embossed and PATIENT WAITING, NO LOSS. 139 overloaded with ornamentation. One looks with wonder at the abundance and endlessness of the minute, exquisite and tiny sculpturings. The smoke of centuries lies upon the carven surface, with weird effect of strikingly high lights and sharp contrasting ebon shadows. One tower is massive, comparatively plain and finished with a wedge or peaked roof, while the other, called the '^ Butter Tower," '^ because built with the money paid for dispensations to eat butter in Lent," rises to a much greater height and is finished with octagonal story and open parapet or cresting, with exquisite window openings and ornaments. Over the intersection of nave and transepts, rises a very slender open work and incongruous tower of iron to a height of four hundred and eighty-two feet. The north and south portals are singu- larly elegant and tasteful in their rich designs and abundance of medallion heads and sculpturings. The view of sides and rear, with wretched build- ings huddling against the consecrated walls, great flying buttresses, numerous pinnacles, and several smaller beautiful towers, is peculiarly varied, jumbled and picturesque. But the front view is ex- quisite, — it is a joy to look upon these grand arch- itectural forms tossed high in air, for one knows and feels each detail, each ornament, each leaping outline, is some one's thought expressed in stone which mingles a strange reverence and awe with the delight experienced. Streit, the English writer and lecturer, says of this noble pile, for '^ perfect beauty of plan and poetical inspiration of design. 140 FRANCE. I think Rouen goes near to excelling all/' (meaning Chartres, Notre Dame, Amiens, and Rheims). We stepped within and for a while wandered according to our own sweet will in the dim religious light and the hallowing shadows, seeing the lovely vistas of clustered columns and graceful arches, — the soft rich coloring of the ancient win- dows and the exquisite groupings from various points and angles, with here and there along the aisles or in minor chapels, occasional flaring or flickering lights. One turns from such visitation with a hushed and subdued feeling as if for the nonce in presence of holy things and heavenly visitants. The next day we " did it,'^ making a dutiful examination of every nook and cranny with unfaltering interest. Shall I say there is one beautiful sweep of clustered columns and arches stretching away some four hundred and thirty- five feet with a rise of ninety ? It carries no idea of the combined effect of fretted stone, rich sculp- turings or mellow toned glass. These old struc- tures are not inanimate, — they pulse, they breathe, they speak to something within, not yet free, and one feels the vibration of the thrill long after- wards and perhaps in some form or other, forever ! The Choir has massive round instead of clustered columns, back of which is an aisle or corridor in which lie the tombs of Richard Ooeur de Lion and his brother. They are modern reproductions, for the Huguenots hopelessly defaced the originals. The '*^ Lion-hearted" bequeathed his heart to Rouen, and after several changes of base, the PATIENT WAITING, NO LOSS. 141 Verger assured us, it now lies beneath the recum- bent effigy. Directly in rear of Choir is the Lady Chapel with several enormous tombs which, be- cause of delicate and exquisite carving of lovely conventionalized ornaments, flowers, tiny statues and intricate traceries, are magnificent as well as marvellous. In our round of sightseeing we stopped at St. Maclou, a small but extremely beautiful church of the fifteenth century with a most jieculiar porch and a facade elaborately sculptured and ornamented. The interior has a beautiful lantern tower, much rococo ornamentation and, as in several of the Eouen churches, a wealth of painted glass. With its unique open-work staircase ascending to organ loft, richly carved doors and lovely cupola, it is most fascinating, and the front fa9ade is one of the most charming sights of the city. How many lovely groupings we saw against the warm blue sky and through the soft hazy atmosphere those ideal days ! Standing in the great oj^en Place de la Hotel de Ville, the scene was superb. Over the roofs of the houses trembled in the hazy air the towers and turrets of the cathedral, soft and tender as a vision. The massive pile of the Hotel de Ville y looks upon an equestrian statue in bronze of Napoleon I. Glimj^ses of quaint old buildings are had on every side. But alone in the Square, or Place, almost entirely surrounded by open space, stands, in peerless beauty, the wonderful pile of St. Ouen ! How strangely to us the record reads of the first stone being laid 1318 and the structure,^ 142 FRANCE. following a single plan, being completed at the end of the fifteenth century ! The Huguenots are said to have made three bonfires within its walls, the material of which was the organ, the choir- stalls and the pulpit, — and the Revolutionists turned it into an armorer's or blacksmith^s shop. Little suggestion, however, of all this sacrilege remains, for judicious restorations give it a look of eternal serenity and quiet. The west end, to- wards the Place, has elaborately carved portals, and at each corner a lofty tower and spire pierc- ing the azure two hundred and eighty-two feet from the earth. To about one half of one side, and to the rear, is a beautiful public garden laid out with serpentine walks, little avenues of trees, fountains and gorgeous flower borders. From this lovely enclosure one sees the entire structure in all its wondrous beauty. Against the blue sky appears a forest of stately pinnacles or turrets, open carved balustrades, huge flying buttresses, a long line of pointed Gothic windows ; — beyond, the graceful, open, modern, spires, while over the intersection of the transept and nave rises a grand central tower, stately in effect, exquisitely beauti- ful in detail, with four crowned turrets around an octagonal upper story, which terminates in a graceful gallery appropriately called " the Crown of ISTormandy.^' It is as graceful as frost-work, yet as massive as if designed to endure forever. We thought of the " Close'' so often seen surround- ing the English cathedrals, so peaceful, so still, so in accord with the solemn and sombre piles, as we PATIENT WAITING, NO LOSS. 143 looked at this garden so secular in tone and ap- pearance. Yet the old minster seemed joyous and triumphant in this lovely environment. This great open square of a busy city and this lovely pleasure-garden surrounding the stately and majes- tic temple are in perfect harmony. The Church surely is in the World (where it should be), lifting its healthful silent testimony of man's need of God and the wondrous love of the Divine for man, above all its care, turmoil and frivolity. The majestic pile from the garden at moonlight pre- sents a picture holy in its suggestion, entrancing in its beauty, and quieting in its enduring strength. The interior fairly paralyzes with admiration and delight. It is called a ^^iece of architectural daring, in that the columns and arches are so slender, and the side walls and clerestory a line of almost continuous windows, giving the appear- ance of apparently insufficient support for such an immense structure. Usually the walls and columns are ponderous and massive, and give an im- pression of tremendous strength. But this is as airy and graceful, as delicate and refined, as a tem- porary work. Usually, too, they appear like a dogma or doctrine, too heavy and too well estab- lished to be misplaced or shaken, but this has all the exuberance and lightness of a happy and triumphant song. As one enters the western portal what a vision of loveliness lies before him ! The nave, symmetrical and harmonious, stretches out a distance of four hundred and fifty-three feet ; the slender columns along its length, rise 144 FRANCE. upon either side like beautiful pines or palms ; above them the tall open trif orium gallery is faced by exquisite Gothic screen-work, while higher still, the clerestory windows and the arched roof, like meeting and interlacing palm branches, appear in bewildering succession. Through the arches gleam the rich stained-glass windows of the aisles. Exquisite wrought iron gates open into the choir. Around the choir is a row of small chapels hung with ancient tapestries and swing- ing golden-lamps. We sat for awhile upon the steps of the high altar looking at the picture made by the lantern tower and the exquisite vista of the nave. Oh ! that wonderful forest of slen- der columns with light from clerestory windows falling in bars of soft color or flecks of gold just as the sunlight often tingles through the woods, — with the great organ and wheel window at the end ! So still and tranquil was the place, so glorious and mystical the flecks of light upon the uplifted stone, that it seemed like beauty, grace, adoration and worship suddenly arrested and forever fixed in enduring adamant. One instinctively pictures it hung with velvet and regal trappings and crowded with the beauty and chivalry of France, as upon the coronations days it has witnessed. We asked ourselves, '^ Does one forget all he has seen when he feels in many respects, this is the most beauti- ful interior in the world ? " Surely we can never forget the joyous impression of grace and beauty it made upon our minds. It was worth all the rest of Rouen. Other sights there were, interest- PATIENT WAITING, NO LOSS. 145 ing and beautiful. St. Laurents we found to be a most picturesque, badly decayed fifteenth century pile (now a powder magazine) with a superb florid openwork tower, — a row of little side chapels with droll extinguisher roofs and a balustrade along the cornice formed of letters, like Burgos Cathedral. St. Patricia's, St. Godard's and St. Vincent's were profuse with rich painted glass, which gave the interiors a crazy quilt appearance. The tower of St. Andre, all that remains of an old church, stands most effectively in an open garden, upon which fronts a very fine antique-carved-front wooden house with projecting stories, said to be the house of Diane de Poitiers. The exact spot where Jeanne d'Arc was burned is now covered by a theatre, but near by in the " Place de la Pucelle " is a fountain and statue to her memory. Satu- rated as Eouen is with the story of the Domremy Maid, it seems strange there is nothing more appro- priate within the limits of the town, although at '^Bon Secours," in the suburbs, is a most elaborate temple and statue. Facing the Place Pucelle is a most interesting structure of the fifteenth century, the Hotel du Bourgtheroulde, built around an open court with walls ornamented with a wainscoting of marble reliefs representing the meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. upon the field of the Cloth of Gold. In one corner is an exquisite hexagonal tower, covered with carvings. Finished in 1537, it has sheltered, so says a tablet, Francis I., Medici Cardinal Legate, Earl Shrewsbury, Ambassador of the Queen and the Duchess — on the occasion lO 146 FRANCE. of the visit of Louis XIV. to Eouen. An amusing note is attached, which reads as follows : '^•^Nota Bene. Visitors are informed that Jeanne d^Arc never sojourned in the Hotel Bourgtheroulde ! " Go where we would, we found sometliing interest- ing, although the marvels and imprints of modern life are fast obliterating the quaint and pictur- esque. In 1860 extensive demolition was made in one of the most picturesque streets of the city, but haply the great Clock Gate House which spanned it was undisturbed. It is a very odd structure, with immense dials on either side and carved re- liefs within the arch. Beside it is an old belfry tower from which curfew is tolled nightly. An excursion to " Bon Secours " upon a high cliff, gave a characteristic view of the narrow Seine with pretty bush-bordered islands, — a great stretch of green meadow and the city with its towers and turrets scarcely distinguishable in the hazy atmosphere. Long as our story seems, it does not note one half of the fascination and charm of majestic and venerable old Rouen, ALONG THE SHOEE. DIEPPE, ETC. Dieppe was very dull ! We were not surprised ! We knew it would be, for it was " out of season." But Dieppe itself was there and Dieppe, and not the senseless madding crowd which makes holiday, was what we desired to see. The guide-book about covers it in saying, — ^^ Dieppe in a deep de- pression between two ranges of chalk cliffs, as white and nearly as tall as those of England," for there the town lies upon a " tongue of flat land" with a river flowing in a great bend through it, making a well walled and protected harbor. We were somewhat disappointed in its general appear- ance, for, knowing it was a place of fashionable resort and misled by numerous pictures, we were really expecting a second Ostend ! From the pictures, we had fancied a long stretch of pretty gardens along the sea, faced by many a tasteful villa. The long pictured green was there, but it was a sort of ^' commons " with paths in every direction, with an unkempt careless look, hardly pardonable in these days of landscape gardening and flower picturing in high places. Facing this, a ways back from the beach, was an almost solid row of city fronted apartment houses and hotels 147 148 FRANCE. four and five stories high;, with little gardens and very tall railings in front. After all^ there was nothing the matter with Dieppe ! It was our senseless ideal which was at fault ! The great blue sea shimmering in the sunlight and the distant white cliffs were always beautiful. It was months since we had seen it breaking in reputable, tempt- ing surf upon a smooth beach, and that was at pretty Biarritz. Here, however, the beach is gravelly and coarse. It had used us very shabbily upon the northern waters since those sunny days. At the extreme end of the commons or downs, sur- rounded by lovely parterres with brilliant flowers, is a large brick casino, while upon the cliffs beyond appears the ancient castle of the fifteenth century, now a barrack, with numerous towers, steep roofs, angles, etc., which once had the honor of sheltering " King Henry of Navarre. ''^ A huge gateway, flanked by two massive towers, leads to the busy town which lies back of the line of hotels, which has little to interest save the harbor, which is like an artificial basin or dock, with a fleet of steamers and other craft, and the Church of St. Jacques, which is a picturesque mass or cluster of flying buttresses with screen-work traceries. The little Eiver Arques, flowing into the sea, really makes the sheltered harbor possible. Of course we must have a drive, and the ancient Castle of Arques, some four or five miles away, made as good an objective point as any. For a full hour the country traversed was of little interest and we felt a trifle '^ sold," for it was along a white, dusty ALONG THE SHORE. 149 road, overlooking on one side the level valley and on the other frequently overlooked by chateaux, with fine surroundings and grounds, all so care- fully walled in that but little can be seen by the passing vulgar crowd. The ruins which occuj^y the crest of a very bold ridge between two valleys, are extensive and imposing, showing round and square towers and plain walls, well mantled with clematis and ivy. It is a place of much historic interest, for '^it is celebrated for the momentous victory gained beneath the walls by Henry IV. and his devoted band of four thousand Protestants, over the army of the League, thirty thousand strong. '^ We walked around them and from an opposite ridge, gained a characteristic and pretty Normandy view of a long fertile valley with smooth meadows, great rows of poplars, thatched and red- roofed cottages, and in a little village near by, a most irregular and picturesque Gothic Church with antique tower, and over the choir a pitched tent-like roof much taller than the rest, and upon the hills beyond, a dense forest. We stopped at the old church upon our return and found the ex- terior most picturesque, because of numerous gro- tesque gargoyles, ornamental flying buttresses, quaint tower and roofs. Having been added to at different periods, with no attempt at harmony or uniformity, it is a most picturesque jumble and we were not surprised to find several .artists sketch- ing it. Then for an hour we drove through a grand old forest, with wide, beautiful roads wind- ing and bending through it. It was park-like in 150 FRANCE. its beauty ; delicious in its verdant and quiet seclusion. Tlie long vistas made by the straight roadsj were ways of delightful greenness and cool- ness. These forests are unique ; we have nothing in our land to liken them to. We passed over much historic ground associated with King Henry IV. of France and Henry II. of England. To the usual charm of the seashore^, the grand boundless sweep over the waters in varying mood, is added at Dieppe, the most peculiar appearance of the chalk cliffs, especially if the atmosphere is hazy, or when at sunset hour they seem like phantoms or banks of white clouds lying upon or rising from the sea. ^* T* %» ^» ^» ^ We would fain go to Fecamp. How should we go ? Madame, of the hotel at Dieppe when asked about it, shrugged her thin, wiry shoulders and lifted Frenchily her eyebrows in horror, as she ex- claimed, " Fecamp ! Fecamp ! is a fish hole.'' Nevertheless to Fecamp, with its abbey and its drive to St. Jouin and Etretat, we would go, and having luggage, the longest way around, — that is, a return to Rouen, — was the shortest way there. It was very warm and the atmosphere hazy, just what the monotonous country needed to make it '' artistic ! " It was pretty and that was all ; highly cultivated and with the usual picturesque thatched cottages, heavy village churches and occasionally a large chateau. The chateaux of Normandy have a droll expression of having been set down at once and complete in their places. ALONG THE SHORE. 151 much as a child would stand a block or toy-house upon the floor, with seldom the look as if in- tended to remain. Perhaps it is because of the straight up and down of the walls and roofs and the round cone-tipped towers at corners and the entire absence of porch or piazza, but they have a stiff angular appearance, neither harmonizing nor contrasting pleasantly with their rural surround- ings, at least from a distance. A most agreeable Frenchman in our compartment advised us to stop at Fecamp, saying it was most interesting and we could take a carriage and see it all before dinner and drive to Etretat on the morrow, adding with a twinkle, " Lose no time in getting otit of Xor- mandy and into Brittany as it is much more picturesque. ''' Like Dieppe, Fecamp occujDied a narrow tongue of land or level valley between the chalk cliffs, but it is much narrower and the town proportionately smaller. Yet it is a place of considerable manufac- ing importance. Perched upon the side hill fairly overhanging the little town, are numerous fanci- ful villas. The heach, as they term it, like that of Dieppe, is a stretch of coarse gravel. The sea was restless, rather inclined to be combative and the surf broke white and spray-like against the walls that protected the promenade. All the better since we only came to see. In the centre of the town is a gorgeous garden, crowded and running over with brilliant flowers. In the nec- tre, of it beneath a wrought iron canopy is a gilded statute. Facing the garden is a huge, extensive 153 FRANCE. and most imposing group of buildings of fine architectural character and style, with Gothic windows, pointed roofs and dormers and much elaborate carving. From a central building rises a tall stately tower or spire and at either end a wing projects, forming a tasteful court with a front guard of tall gilt-tipped railings. It is very handsome and has such a scholastic or ecclesiasti- cal appearance that one instinctively assumes it is a college or library, whereas it is the manufactory of the celebrated liquor or cordial originally made by the monks, known all over the world under the name of "^ Benedictine.^' A recent fire made a visit impossible. The abbey church in the town is a structure of so little external merit, we were quite unprepared for the unusual beauty of the interior. Way back in A. D. 1200, this wonderful pile was erected, and even now it ranks in the estimation of critics and connoisseurs with the finest and best in France. The vista of the nave with its tall columns and arches, open triforium gallery and the very lofty lantern tower is as fine as anything we have seen, — always excepting peerless St. Ouen at Eouen. Back of the High Altar was a deep Chapel with a marble tabernacle containing some of the ''Precious Blood''' placed by Joseph of Arimathea in the hollow of a fig-tree, which being washed ashore near by, the spot was called ''Ficus Campus," and hence ''Fecamp/' ALONG THE SHORE. 153 Leaving the town and the sea level, we climbed slowly and gradually a very long ascent until we came to the level of the summit of the cliffs. The almost entire absence of fences, hedges or dividing line of any kind, gave to the gently undulating coun- try an easy, breathless sweep literally irom horizon to horizon, which was peculiar and withal, very fascinating. While highly cultivated and having an air of prosperity, the detached open-timbered cottages and hamlets, looked so unsteady, and forlorn, that life looked poor and hard. Even the chateaux, with but few excei3tions, looked shabby and their surrounding grounds unkempt and neglected. The people too, were far from pleasing or attractive and beggary ram23ant. The heavy rains probably accentuated the forlorn ap- pearance of many of the cottages, which did not look any more ambitious than many of the Norwegian log huts. All through the country we have noticed how universally pear trees are trained flat like a vine aa^ainst the walls. Sometimes everv house will be so adorned and the effect is beauti- ful, especially when laden with ripening fruit. In the course of an hour and a half we overlooked a verdant valley running towards the coast, w^th slopes an endless stretch of green and brown. Upon opposite hillside could be seen a grand park and forest, with buried in the trees an extensive chateau with almost grotesquely tall conical towers. Suddenly the road curved and before us was a line of showy and ornamental villas and walls hugging the side hills, while down in the 154 FRANCE. valley lay the dull slate-covered roofs of Etretat. As a friend had bidden us to go to St. Jouin, an hour farther on, to luncheon at ^^ Ernestine's," we commenced at once the ascent of the op- posing hill. The country from there on was very beautiful, being a long majestic sweep of sunny green, of yellow and harvested fields and rich russet of freshly ploughed earth, with the occasional ^"^ petite '" forest or thicket of trees, all seen through a delicious golden haze which fairly trembled as though it would melt away. Leaving the high-road we struck across country, — it was like being in one of Millet's or Oorot's pictures, it was so soft, delicious, and dreamy. Finally we came to a little hamlet, with cottages covered with pear trees and half hidden by hedges and shrub- bery, turned into an ivy clad gateway and canie into a garden, facing a chateau, the Hotel de Paris of Ernestine ! It was ideal, — ^' just like a story." Ivy and roses, and creeping plants, and great pear trees loaded with fruit, well-nigh ob- scured the stone-walls. In front was a huge arched trellis covered with Virginia creeper, fairly ablaze with autumnal crimson and gold. Beyond lay a garden with a multitude of upright pear trees, and along the walls another trained on a rod a foot or two from the ground. The front portal was wide open, revealing an entrance hall with walls covered with beautiful plaques, — bracketed shelves with odd pieces of china, bits of brasses, queer mirrors, antique clocks and one scarcely knows at a glance what all ! Upon either side ALONG THE SHORE. 155 were laro^e rooms loaded and covered with paint- ings, engravings, brasses, bronze, china, gilt, wrought iron and steel ornaments of every descrip- tion. The rooms were fairly crowded with choice and richly carved antique furniture, clocks and very choice bric-a-brac. In the garden was the ''atelier'* or studio, for madame^s son is an artist, and artists are very fond of St. Jouin and tarry there all summer. It was a most unique and pretty affair, being furnished with several large and richly carved cabinets, tables, chairs and suites of white furniture, antique hangings, embroideries, vases, cups, exquisite china pieces, numerous plaques, bronze, brass, copper and iron orna- ments and a great profusion of antique French chintz. In the hotel were many souvenir sketches and letters, presented to "la belle Ernestine," who, to tell the truth, is now a stout Frencli woman with iron-gray hair, portly frame and ruddy visage, at pitiful variance with many of the poetical and effusive tributes. One framed letter was from the Spanish statesman " Castelar " and another was a commendation from Queen Isabella. Our luncheon was laid in one of the prettily decorated rooms and was good, nothing more nor less. But the charge for it was so exorbitant we inclined to leave the bill upon the walls as an ad- dition to the curiosities ! Our friend had told us of sojourning there several weeks some two years before at the rate of five francs a day, with fre- quent rides to market in a Normandy cart with Er- nestine and huire sunbonnet thrown in. Had I]r- 156 FRANCE. nestine known of our acquaintance^ we would have suspected her of a desire or intent to " even up" at our expense. However^ we paid it without use- less exception, and as we drove away felt much like exclaiming : "Oh;, Ernestine ! Ernestine ! if you have a shred of conscientiousness anywhere in your Gallic make up, your life will be a burden until the memory of this unjust charge is obliter- ated by an opportunity to repeat it perhaps on a larger and a broader scale ! Nevertheless, we say : — " Goto Ernestine's." Etretat, an hour distant, like Dieppe and Fe- camp, lies in a lateral valley between the chalk cliffs, and for many years has been a most pictur- esque and fashionable resort. As the hillsides are dotted with numerous fanciful villas, it makes a much prettier appearance than either of the other two. The shore is covered with what they call " a pebble beach," with stones from almost the size of a cobble to that of a large marble. It was low tide and we found it extremely difficult to walk to the water^s edge over this crunching mass. Along the shore are the " galoches," old superannuated boats or hulks of large size, roofed with thatched peak covers, and used as store- houses for ropes, nets and fishermen^s traps. They are most droll and odd and make fine subjects for the artist's brush. There is the usual casino and several hotels. The view is most unique and strangely beautiful, for the great chalk cliffs on ALONG THE SHORE. 157 either side have been torn and worn by the action of the sea into most fantastic shapes, arches, tur- rets and detached columns. Looking toward the right on that soft, dreamy afternoon, we saw the termination of the cliffs lying upon the water against the blue sky, like a bank of white clouds, pierced at extremity by a pretty archway. To the left, the cliffs were nearer and were white and glittering and curiously pierced. We walked to the summit and looked down upon weird and fan- tastic pinnacles, into deep well-holes and upon arched passageways, through projecting masses, which were wonderful. The sea, softened by the haze, was shimmering in the sunlight, and the weird white cliffs glistened like the walls of an eternal and celestial city. The view toward and over the slate-covered roofs of Etretat, the beach with a large corps of washerwomen laying the clothes out and securing them with stones, the quaint, picturesque house-boats and beyond, over the prettily wooded hill dotted with villas, was most charming ; but it was the perforated white cliffs, so weird and spectral, and the broad, blue shimmering sea, that held us like a spell. The little steamer from Havre, in landing at Trouville, stopped at the extreme end of a very long pier from which a sweeping view is obtained of the entire coast and the best part of the place. The season of course, was over ; the majority of the private villas and the larger hotels were closed ; 158 FRANCE. but the place, the pretty panorama of villas, the beach, the promenade and the sea, go on forever. Our windows and balconies commanded a delight- ful outlook upon the yellow sands and the sound- ing sea. The beach is of yellow sand instead of the dreadful pebble and cobble-stone of Dieppe and Etretat. Facing the sea is a continuous line of detached villas and hotels, all fanciful, festive and ornamental, surrounded with pretty gardens and shrubbery. From the pier one lovely morn- ing we looked upon the picturesque row of villas, soft and yellow in the sunlight, and upon the sea, calm and serene. Beyond the villas a forest crowned hill showed here and there among the trees, the gables, turrets, towers or roofs of numer- ous villas. Across the waters, at the foot of, and high up on the side of hill and ridge, which at extremity terminates in an abrupt cliff line, gleam- ed the roofs and towers of prosaic Havre, trans- figured by the sunlight into a suggestion of a shining city or abode of the blest. In an opposite direction lay Danville, — another stretch of pre- tentious villas following the coast. The French are nothing unless amused, and the customary Casino, divides the honors. Historically Trouville is interesting as being the port from which Louis Philippe in 1848 and Eugenie in 1870, escaped to England. But the sea, the sea sweeps all before it, with its changing moods and varying expression, and when upon its sunlit waters appears some rude hulk with green or blue or terra cotta sails, or as ALONG THE SHORE. 159 several lie idly in as many positions and the colors grow bright and glowing or die away in indistinct- ness, it is like some delicate fairy-like mirage or poetic vision. The perusal of " Three Normandy Inns " along the way, made a drive to Honfleur and Villerville essential to peace of mind all through our future earthly career, whenever Trouville should chance to be mentioned. It is only the matter of a few hours but the memory is for a life time. Up the hill from the town, looking down upon extensive mussel beds and low black rocks, and back upon Trouville and the whole beautiful coast beyond, and then for an hour and a half along a charming country road for a while, quite shut in by hedge rows which obscured but did not completely hide the fanciful villas and fine surrounding grounds, often brilliant with great solid masses of color or odd ribbon beds. Up and down with many a lovely and dreamy view over the bay of sunny Havre, with Villerville lying far below upon the shore, to be visited later we supposed, but passed upon our return because of gathering fog. A few moments pause at Crique-boeuf, to visit a tiny ancient wayside church with huge wedge-shaped Norman tower, with walls and roof almost com- pletely obscured by a massive and heavy growth of bushy ivy, and then on to Honfleur by a per- fectly beautiful road, closely lined with tall beeches and elms which often formed a continuous arch over head, while the banks were frequently a solid mass of matted ivy, surmounted by hawthorn and 160 FRANCE. other shrubs. The road wound and turned in most charming variety, costly villas peeped through the trees, and from opposite side were revealed frequent outlooks over the golden waters. Just before Honfleur was reached we noticed numerous signs, advising a visit to the '' Oote du Grace ' (a votive church of the sailors) and a lunch at Hotel Eenaissance where was a "large exhibit of antique furniture, ancient carvings, rare china and "bric-a-brac,^'' both upon the hill above. We could not, of course withstand that ! A path by repeated zigzags, led through woods, up the steep face of the ridge, which, owing to the recent rains, was slippery and tiresome. It emerged finally upon a level plateau with a grove of fine and handsome trees, a sort of pleasure ground, commanding the loveliest view of all, over the broad shining waters, the yellow sands and the white cliffs of distant shores. The hotel proved a very modern struc- ture witli a kitchen resplendent with rich an- cient carved panels and lintels set in the walls and sundry pieces of carved furniture, chests and cabinets and copper and china utensils upon the walls. Ordering some refreshments, we mildly intimated we would like to see the Museum. ^' Im- possible ! the proprietor absent, etc."'' " Very well,"" we said, " then we do not care for the refresh- ments"" and turned to leave, when presto ! we were asked to follow ! We passed through a pretty room, with the most delightful carved chests and buffets and bric-a-brac, all of centuries ago, — and were then ushered into an oblong room (perhaps. § ALONG THE SHORE. 161 thirty feet) with sumptuously carved wainscoting full eight or ten feet in height, from an old chateau, which black with age and brilliant with varnish, was an exhibit of itself. Above, the wall was lined with tapestry, evidently quite as old, while chairs and tables, cases of silver, jewels and minia- tures, lovely plaques of china and gorgeous faience and articles of brass, iron and bronze filled the en- tire room. In the subdued light of rich tinted glass this interior was an exquisite and refined 2)icture. Beyond the charming grove stood the little '^ Cote du Grace ^' very tiny in size with a nave and transept and low roof, and with walls covered with votive offerings. Even from the ceiling were suspended miniature vessels and gilded candelabra which, with the flower-decked altars, gave a very cheerful and festive air to the interior. Looked at without prejudice it becomes pathetic, — the air being redolent with praise and thanksgiving. A wide smooth road led down into the very heart of Honfleur, which, with its steep, narrow, circuitous streets ; its rows of irregular houses ; its evil-smelling wharves ; its picturesque fleets of shipping with multi-colored sails ; its frequent elaborately carved and ornamented facades of faded and decayed splendor ; its odd tower of St. Catha- rine and its curious timber church, is most in- teresting and delightful to artist or dreamer. The interior of St. Catharine is remarkable and curious. I said in the beginning it was a matter of a few hours, but we were sorry we could not give it a day. II 163 FRANCE. Upon our return the fog came slowly across the sea, and little Villerville was passed unvisited. The next morning our faces turned inland. Our. last look from the dainty Trouville balcony over the sunny sea, profusely dotted with tiny blue, green, pink and dull red sails, a veritable Vanity Fair, was enchanting and not unlike, in the hazy air, a myriad of soft-tinted butterflies fluttering over a daisy-starred or flowery meadow, in some fairy or fabled land. ONE WAY OF DOING IT. L^HOSTELLEKIE GUILLAUME LE CON^QUERANT. If there is any more charming or picturesque bit in all Normandy, than the wayside hostelry at Dives, of " Guillaume le Conquerant," one of the trio idealized, but most fascinatingly portrayed in " Three Normandy Inns/' it was not given us to see it. A French lady at the hotel at Trouville, quite disconcerted us by contemptuously remarking that the " Hotel William the Conqueror '^ was only a restaurant where visitors went for lunch or dinner and that we should go to Cabourg, a half hour away, and drive over there. An employe quietly assured us that they had, as they say, '^ about thirty beds for guests." So we decided we had come too far to see this unique resting-place for man and beast and its accumulation of articles of *' bijouterie and virtu " to pass the brief time of our sojourn at a giddy summer hotel, three quarters of a mile away, with only the impressions of an hour within its precincts. We were ^^ caught napping," for gazing listlessly at the mountainous country as we passed along in the train we did not notice our arrival until startled by " Dives !" A lively and general scramble for our multitudinous traps or ^impedimenta" followed, and almost 163 164 FRANCE. 1 before we knew it the train was on its winding way and we and said belongings were packed in a rickety old omnibus driven by quite as rickety and ancient a driver, bearing rapidly across the coun- try, to a great delight or equally great disappoint- ment. In a very brief time we came to a long building close upon the street with commonplace fa9ade suggesting an ordinary apartment or dwell- ing house and with no intimation of the pictur- esquoness it enfolded, with hollyhocks, clematis and glorious Gloire de Dijon roses trained against the walls, quaint dormers upon roof, a queer half gable at corner, a swinging sign of wrought iron, and over the low arch of entrance, carved in stone, '^ L^Hostellerie Guillaume Le Oonquerant " sur- mounted by a crest. Passing through the arched Norman porte-cochere which pierces the building, one is ushered into the court, — the commonplace and later day fade away ; — life seems suffused with the picturesque and synonymous with an old-time legend or story book. A pretty picture it is, of a long sunny court with pitched, moss-covered, weather-stained tiled roofs ; droll crazy-looking dormers with tall finials of glazed pottery ; open timbered black and white walls and a gallery on second story, following one half the way around, garlanded and hung with clematis, jasmine, grape and rose vines, which hang and sway with cease- less grace and bewitching and fascinating effect. Across the court projects a wing which, in fact, divides it quite into two square courts and sounds the most picturesque note in the whole fanciful ONE WAY OF DOING IT. 165 harmony. An ontside staircase npon it, leads to an open gable porch in second story with small statue of the Madonna in its pediment and sculptured wood figure against one of the quaint carven posts. Upon either side, beneath tiny- paned, red-curtained windows, artful bas-reliefs with terra-cotta grounds, are sunken in the walls. In two curious dormers on the roof above, two great white parrots or cockatoos arrange their plumage or indulge in droll gymnastics or amus- ing antics in the sunshine. Huge jars or boxes with myrtles, scarlet geraniums and brilliant be- gonias, stand along the basement and relieve the dull gray of the walls, and as effectively as if ar- ranged and grouped, stem by stem, for temporary decoration. An enormous trumpet-creeper, with a wealth of scarlet blossoms, wanders along the roof ridge, falls riotously over the roof and en- velops a dormer. The other angle of the court re- peats the gables and galleries, all festooned and half obscured by the prodigal clematis and other vines. Along opposite side is a low line of sheds and '^ lean-to's," for man and beast, and from building to building are great swinging ropes and festoons of feathery clematis. We sat down beneath a little porch " to take the picture in." At that moment a young American lass, with flowing hair and white " Tam O'Shanter " cap, — a regular " Golden- haired Gertrude," appeared in the quaint, elevated porch, holding upon her hand, falcon-like, one of the noisy white cockatoos. It was dramatic and artistic. White-capped maids and servitors, in 166 FRANCE. i ruder gear, flitted to and fro across the court with trays glittering with glass and plate and bottles well covered with dust and cobwebs and disap- peared in a most uncanny way in hitherto unno- ticed low doorways, and continually through the porte-cochere would come pretty victorias, open landaus or Normandy carts with gayly-dressed visitors from the hotels of Cabourg. All was life and motion. At times the little court was most brilliant because of numerous groups around the tiny tables or in the droll booths at the sides. In one corner of front court a queer coquettish little peaked-roof porch with a metal crown for a finial, sheltered a low, carved, black door. Pass- ing through it from the sunlight of the court, one is dazed and confused by the semi-darkness and indistinctness of the apartment to which it leads. But sit and wait, for slowly and gently the indis- tinctness is dissipated and from the darkness is evolved soft luminous recesses of color from a deep carven bay window with glowing liquid glass of centuries ago, and as the eye becomes accustomed to the light, gradually is seen, encircling the side walls below, great stretches of priceless and gor- geous golden and colored Spanish leather, a tall and continuous wainscoting of almost black, ele- gantly carved wood, finished at top with narrow cornice or ledge, crowded with odd and quaint ves- sels and articles of china, glass, silver and brass. Plaques of china and faience and great brass sconces hang against the walls and woodwork. Pendant from an odd cluster of twisted brass in ONE WAY OF DOING IT. 167 centre of beamed ceiling, is a lovely and graceful chandelier with arable inscriptions, the contribu- tion of the Orient to this strange, poetic apartment, peering out of and buried within the commonplace walls of the street exterior. Great carved chests, made for trousseaux of brides of long ago, serve as buffets, fairly covered with quaint glass and china of odd shapes and exquisite colors. A deep fireplace, with hood of Gothic traceries and rich curtains of embroidered silk, has armorial shields for a background and tall fire-dogs surmounted by holders for small pewter porringers. Odd chairs, low settles, damask cushions and all sort of odd and interesting articles, from a stiff, carved Ma- donna of gilded wood to a queer little spoon, fill the room which is the ^^ salon of the Marmousets." To sit quietly in this room in the deeply shadowed corners was to feel lost in a poem, enveloped in a lovely harmony. And is this all ? No ! for ad- joining it, entered from the other court, is a smaller but equally beautiful one, called the " Salon de la Pucelle,^' encircled by a tall Gothic or ecclesiastical panelling in the rich dark wood ; a tall old clock with spiral columns, all sorts of odd copper ves- sels in chimney-place, linen and trousseau chests, sconces, china and furniture. With the candles in tall silver candelabra lighted and the tables arranged for special dinners as we saw them, the two rooms were very beautiful and picturesque. Still another called " Salon Bleu " was furnished with white and blue and several exquisite pieces of old mahogany with ormolu mountings. Upon 168 FRANCE. the galleries or balconies overlooking the courts the doors were labelled ^' Ohambre Gatina/' — '' Ohambre de la Officier/^ ^' Chambre de la Cure," and the guests and the white-capped maids seen through a tangle of vines passing to and fro were irresistibly pretty. In the oldest portion, that which forms the half gable on the corner, are the rooms occupied frequently by " Madame de Sevigne," but unfortunately they were in use, and we left without seeing their handsome wain- scoting and the furniture used by her. The trend of the search for the beautiful and the picturesque does not often turn kitchen ward, but in this curious hostelry that humble apart- ment is as unique and dainty as the more ambitious salons. Upon either side of the rafters which sup- port the low ceiling, little racks with continuous rows of odd and beautiful placques ; an old carved dresser loaded with exquisite and tasteful bits of faience and china ; an open closet filled with the same and in one corner a lovely stand with an odd vessel of plate. Against the walls hang number- less copper and metal vessels which shine like mir- rors and across one side of room is a huge open chimney-place with great glowing fire of logs be- fore which upon revolving spit were chickens and joints, while two cooks entirely in white completed a very fascinating picture. It was a perfect delight to sit quietly in the va- rious quaint nooks of the courts and watch it all, even to the cockatoos, the crane, the peacocks, the jet-black ducks and the great top-knot fowls feed- ONE WAY OF DOING IT. 169 ing, whenever anything was thrown to them. As the day grew long and sober and the transient visitors disappeared, a lovely tender light suffused, softened and quite obscured all the lines of rough- ness and decay. At one side a gate opened into the enclosed garden, but it was unkempt and over- run, with here and there a rose, the last of summer, — great masses of deep red phlox, mari- golds and jaunty little Michaelmas daisies. A long wet summer and a recent week of con- tinuous rain were probably responsible for an air of dampness, mustiness and general lack of tidi- ness in the courts. It seems impossible to be ** artistic" and ^'^ picturesque" and be clea7i, siud ordinary French hotels are rarely deem. Paradoxical as it may seem, the Frenchwoman at Trouville was iight : — again, she was wrong I It depends upon how you look at it ! It is a place to lunch, to dine ; a charming objective point for a drive and not a place to sleep. While our rooms were commodious and picturesque, the artistic hangings and ancient upholstery made them too " stuffy," too suggestive of a eleeiel past, for living refreshing sleep. On the other hand it is a place to sleep, for one who passes only an hour or two within the pleas- ing and varied enclosure of its courts knows little of the poetry and sentiment inseparable from changing lights and coquettish shadows and loses much of the enchantment of its picturesque group- ings, fantastic conceits, and beautiful realities. HOUSES LEFT DESOLATE. CAEiq". Doubtless the most picturesque figure in legen- dary and historic Normandy, is that of William the Conqueror. His name is everywhere ; — the air is fairly redolent with his exploits. Because of his marriage with a near relative, which was a flagrant violation of the rules of Holy Church, and his desire to expiate his errors with pious offering and to find peace with the Pope, the busy town of Caen " second only to Eouen in impor- tance" is the possessor of two noble churches, which architecturally are so fine and impressive that the tourist of to-day instinctively and ir- reverently wishes he had espoused the whole re- maining family if results could have been propor- tionate. The town is indebted to him also for a most picturesque castle. As the two churches are at opposite ends of the town, a drive from one to the other through wide streets, past innumerable ^'^ Caen-stone " houses, monuments, etc., gives a most satisfactory general view of the place. While ostensibly expiating his sin by erecting the Ab- baye Aux Hommes and its attendant church of St. Etienne, the wily William artfully combined with his repentance a regal provision for his own burial. 170 HOUSES LEFT DESOLATE. 171 Notwithstanding a great central octagonal tower, several turrets and two elegant spires upon western end, the huge pile of St. Etienne is so bold and simple as to seem severely plain, although its size makes it fine and im- pressive. The interior is grand rather than ornate and beautiful, because of its breathless extent and the rugged massiveness of the Nor- man style. The attention is not distracted nor the eye charmed by lavish and elaborate orna- mentation and detail, but the mind is overwhelmed and solemnized by the simple grandeur and august greatness of the strong unadorned round arches which, high in air, stretch away in impressive procession, some three hundred and forty-nine feet. At the extreme apsidal end, beyond the choir, the style changes to early Gothic with pointed arches and lancet windows. Before the High Altar sunken in the pavement is a vivid confirmation of the stirring '^Vanity of vanities, all is vanity^' of the Preacher, — a long gray or discolored marble slab which marks the place of burial of '^ Guillaume le Conquerant,^' in- scribed : — Hie sepultus est In victissimis GUILLELMUS Conquestor Normanniae Dux et Angliae Rex Hujusce Domus Conditor Qui obiit anno MLXXXVII But it covers an empty grave, — it is a house 17^ FRANCE. without a tenant, for in 1562 the Huguenots ruth- lessly destroyed the costly monument which origi- nally surmounted it and scattered the poor remains so effectually that only a thigh bone was ever re- covered, and the remorseless Revolutionists in 1793, made short work of even this scanty remnant of a King ! " None so poor to do him reverence." The story of the injury to his person by the start- ing of his horse after the firing and -laying waste of Mantes ; of his lonely death a few days later at St. Gervais at Rouen, deserted by his sons and followers, and of his corpse, robbed and stripped by ungrateful servants, lying neglected until some unknown but faithful knight provided funds for its burial at Caen ; — the interruptions of the final service by the demand of a man for reparation for wrong done his father in the original taking of the land upon which the church stands, — the payment of the same and the breaking of the coffin while lowering and the abrupt closing of the service and the stampede of attendants because of offensive odors, — is a strange and gruesome ending of a picturesque and erratic career. But to day as one stands by the desecrated and outraged grave and looks along the impressive and solemn vista of this structure which he so proudly raised for this definite purpose, with no note of war or conflict breaking the calm repose and holy stillness of the scene, this story of history seems a myth, — a wild play of the dramatist's imagination. This couple deemed by the Church in life too near, certainly were sufficiently separated in death i HOUSES LEFT DESOLATE. 173 and burial ; for quite to the opposite side of the town is the ^' Abbaye aux Dames ^^ in the church of which, '' St. Trinite/^ Queen Matilda was buried, although her remains did not escape dis- persion by the Calvinists. Later they were re- covered and re-interred. The church is a stately aud massive pile, with two noble towers, without spires ornamenting the west front and a central or lantern tower rising over intersection of tran- sept and nave. While sombre and heavy it is mystic and imposing. The interior is fine and quite ornate, showing Norman arches and profuse ornamentation. The '' tout-ensemble," however, is much marred by the fencing or partitioning off of the choir for the use of the nuns. We were conducted through a corridor into the choir. Against the partition was an altar, opposite it a row of square grated doors. The guide lifted one of the inside curtains and revealed a beautiful and most effective scene. Some twenty-five or thirty white robed, black veiled figures occupied the great carved stalls, so intent upon their devotions that not an eye was lifted. The placid faces and white-robed forms, as a spectacle, were lovely. Within the choir is the tomb of Queen Matilda, a restoration of the present century. Beneath the choir is a fine crypt with groined roof and thirty- four columns which formerly was the burial-place of abbesses. The adjoining '^ Abbaye" was founded by the Queen as a nunnery for ladies of the nobility. It is now a hospital in care of an order of nuns. By a corridor the whole length of 174 FRANCE. a large court, we passed out into a lovely park, with superb avenue of trees with branches inter- mingling above, which was continued around three .sides of the level park. From thence queer spiral paths lined with hedges led to a belvedere upon the crest of a little hill, which commanded an in- teresting and pretty view over the city. We were driven to the old castle of the Conqueror, but as it is now used as a barrack, there was no admis- sion. '^ Ooachee^' probably knew it all the time, but it evidently was not '^ his to reason why ^' but only his to increase his fare as much as was possible. However, we had a near view of the fortifications, outlying walls, bastions, moat and drawbridge, and there was a charming jungle of shrubbery and tangle of vines near the moat and bridge. There is always something pretty and picturesque about these places, if one is only in the mood to discover and enjoy it, and the traveller's life is too brief to be fretted by such trifles. A few moments from our hotel, was the fascinat- ing and beautiful church of St. Pierre, with at one side, a pretty garden making such an open space that its dainty outline and form are seen to unusual advantage. Its most beautiful feature is its tower, " one of the most graceful in Normandy." It is peculiar in that slender, narrow, tall lancet windows pierce it for the space of two or three stories, giving an expression of extreme delicacy and grace without any sacrifice of massiveness or strength. It is a fair and beautiful object to look upon, — that light springing tower, surmounted by HOUSES LEFT DESOLATE. 175 a semi-open spire standing some two hundred and forty-two feet in the still blue air. The pinnacles and flying buttresses along the whole length are Gothic, but the apsidal eastern end with little chapels projecting like bay windows are enriched with finials and balustrades of ^irof use Renaissance ornamentation, the effect of which is most dainty and picturesque. It is a queer mixture, — the Gothic, all dignity and impressiveness ; the Renais- sance, like a daintily ormamented and richly em- broidered hanging. The vista of the interior, ow- ing to the plain glass windows and open surrounding space, is unusally light and cheerful, while at the same time exquisitely harmonious, solemn and meditative. For about one half of the length the groining of the ceiling is profuse, ending with long pendants or tapering bosses, and the view of the distant stained windows of the chapels through the arches back of the high altar, is unusually beautiful. A brief visit to St. Saveur, with a curious in- terior of two parallel naves with central row of arches and columns and apsidal ends ablaze with gorgeous glass, finished our sightseeing in common- place but interesting Caen. A general drive showed us the quays and well-shaded streets and boulevards and some quaint Renaissance fa9ades, and our faithful guide-book quietly informed us that it was once a hot-bed of Girondists when driven from Paris ; — was the town from which Charlotte Corday, picturesque and murderous, set out upon her mission which culminated in the 176 FRANCE. dramatic assassination of Marat ; — that it was the birth-place of Auber and a lot of celebrities and the scene of the death in a madhouse and burial in the Protestant Cemetery of Beau Brummell ! But it seemed the step from the sublime to the ridiculous to begin with the sounding name^ career and tragic end of William the Conqueror, and to close with the meaningless echoes of fop- pery and frippery, as exemplified in the life of that exquisite nonentity, Beau Brummell. '^m PERICULO MARIS/' MON'T ST. MICHEL. The numerous very effective and picturesque etchings and engravings of Mont St. Michel, make one shrink at the last lest the reality disappoint the fascinating ideal, — dispel the beautiful dream. But familiarity in this instance breeds no con- tempt. The unique and curious pile of fortress, city, monastical structures and cathedral, delights the eye, and fully meets every requirement of the artistic and picturesque. It is so thoroughly un- like any other place, save perhaps St. Michael's Mount upon the Cornwall coast, that even the satiated tourist or ^'^ blase" globe-trotter, is con- scious of a new thrill, a novel sensation, as across the mainland, springing from the waters, is seen the beautiful pile with its coronal of cathedral turrets and buttresses. It seems strange that this mighty rock, boulder-like, should lie beyond the level sands a good mile from the mainland, solitary and detached. Like Gibraltar it seems like a bit of another world unintentionally dropped upon the low-lying shore. Something perhaps of the picturesque and unique effect has been destroyed of late years by the construction of a causeway across '^La Greve'^ or the sands, for previously, 12 1:7 178 FRANCE. with every incoming tide it was completely iso- lated when it must have been a beautiful sight to see the rapid, swirling waters encompass it. But it makes access possible at any hour, although it robs the approach to it of any novelty or excitement. When one wishes to get there he is glad for the causeway, — but when upon its serene heights he watches the strange, weird transformation or pro- cessional of the incoming tide, he heartily wishes it a league away. We were some five hours travel- ling by rail from Caen to Pontarsen, where we took the stage. Two changes were made on the way and at the last junction a trunk was missing, hav- ing been, as it afterwards proved, carried on to Granville, en route to the Channel Islands. Hav- ing covered in repeated trips, literally the whole continent of Europe, without the least trouble or inconvenience from luggage, it was a trifle droll that this brief trip in Normandy and Brittany should twice witness the vexatious and annoying disappearance for days of important baggage, once it being actually returned to Paris and again stranded at G-ranville through no fault of ours. The day we left Caen was beautiful and the aspect of the country quite unlike any we had passed. It was so full of trees. It seemed as if every hedge- row and dividing line was picked out or dotted with aline of tall trees. These lines and dark green spots on the vivid green of the meadows, were curious and beautiful in eifect. Avranches, situated upon a lofty hill, was to us by far the most attractive place passed. Because of its ele- *'IN PERICULO MARIS." 179 vated situation we could understand how its view of Mont St. Michel and its twin islet, rising from the waters of the bay, must be, as it is said, sur- passingly beautiful. There once stood one of the finest cathedrals in Normandy, of which to-day only a single broken column remains, interesting as marking the spot where Henry II. knelt before the Papal Legates and received absolution for the murder of Thomas a Becket. At Pontarsen, we mounted an ark of a coach drawn by four horses. Along the roadway were great hedges or compact rows of feathery shrub with dull pink flowers, common enough in single plants upon our lawns. The wind blew cold and chill from the north. Ere long, across the level stretch of meadows, with strange weird beauty, a tumul- tuous mound of fortification walls, a confusion of houses lifted high in air, a mass of Gothic pin- nacles, came in sight. This, our first glimpse of distant, enchanting and fascinating Mont St. Michel was most satisfying and delightful. Oh ! the beauty of that crossing of '' La Greve'^ or the sands, even if it were upon an artificial causeway, for the tide was madly rushing in, a mysterious and mighty force, and everywhere the environing yellow sands were gradually being covered and lost in the swirling heaving waters. The western sky was glorious with golden clouds and the bril- liant sunlight touched the waters and made brighter the tawny yellowish walls of the ancient uplifted Abbey and Cathedral. Surely tlie " Archangel Michael, — the saint of high places," 180 FRANCE. was never more fitly enshrined or enthroned. The glamour of a strange history, both secular and ecclesiastical, covering centuries of war and conquest, regimes and dynasties, hangs over and clings to and fairly envelops the wonder- ful pyramidal pile, and approaching it one is fairly dazed by its spectacular effect and its sug- gestions of a confused and dead past. The coach stopped at the very base, close up against the wall, and dismounting we walked upon a rude modern foot-bridge carried along the fortifications and in a moment entered an outer gate, — came in sight of the old cannons, — passed through the second arched portal and a moment later were ^' vis-a-vis '' with Madame Poulard, so vividly and truthfully portrayed in ^^ Three Normandy Inns.^^ We seemed to have come into a familiar place, all be- cause of that charming book. What was more strange, we found the poetical and idealized de- scription both of Madame and the weird Mount upon the golden sands, perfectly truthful and a Meissonier in delicacy and fidelity of detail. The authoress saw more, however, than the ordinary tourist is likely to do, for she looked at everything through an atmosphere of poetry and sentiment, caring less for what was actually before her and more for what, in imagination and fancy, it sug- gested. '' But what is Mont St. Michel ? " some one innocently asks ! And no wonder, for even with the etchings and engravings frequently seen, comparatively little is known of it. Well ! It is a pyramidal, isolated rock, rising from the Bay of ?1 'IN PERICULO MARIS." 181 Michel upon the Brittany coast, one hundred and sixty feet above the surrounding " Greve," or sands, about a mile or half a mile from the main- land, which twice a day is so surrounded by the sea, through the action of the tide, as to form an island. But let no one imagine that any of the rock ap- pears when seen from the mainland, for it is so covered from base to summit as to form a most unique and picturesque architectural pile. En- circled at the base by lofty, massive fortifications with towers and bastions of the fifteenth century which rise from the waters, it shows a succession of houses perched upon narrow terraces, until at the topmost crest, loom up the walls, turrets and flying buttresses of an ancient monastery and cathedral. This is the plain English of it, but it gives no idea of the startling, sensational beauty, — the picturesque jumble and confusion of outline and form or the peculiar massive airiness of the pile. Following pretty Madame Poulard up one story and another and then up an outside open staircase, we emerged upon a platform or terrace directly above the hotel, upon which is the '' Maison Rouge " an ugly " dependance " of red brick, a discordant note in a symphony of brown and yel- lows, where we were shown two droll little rooms with balconies commanding a superb view. It was late and the darkness gathered rapidly, as is its wont in Autumn time. Ere long ^' table d^hote'Mvas announced, and we wondered, unfamiliar as we were, if we could grope our way down in safety. 182 FRANCE. Bat as we passed out in the cool dark evening air, little Chinese lanterns were handed us to light our way down the long narrow outer staircase. The front of the Maison Rouge and the terrace were also dotted with them. Up and down the stair- case like angels climbing a mystical ladder or like colored fire-flies or sprites flitting to and fro, moved the little procession of tiny lanterns in the darkness, magically transforming the picture of the stern fortress, dull tower and ornate cathedral we had so admired, to a fairy-like revel or festival of most poetic and startling beauty. We wondered if an ordinary passing to a hotel dinner was ever made more daintily spectacular or exquisitely pic- turesque ? Before the Maison and looking upon the Greve and the mainland, is a pretty little terrace with a row of trimmed lime trees with room for a number of chairs and small tables where one may sit in perfect quiet, lifted high in air, and sip his ''. cafe noir " and gaze listlessly and dreamily upon the waters of the canal, the yellow sands or the dis- tant verdant shore. A little balcony from each room upon every floor gives the same lookout without the shade. It being late in the season and the early sunny mornings deliciously cool, we en- joyed much our coffee and rolls there, while we watched the beautiful surrounding scene. One afternoon as we sat there in supreme content sud- denly was heard a great roaring noise of artillery. Looking down we saw the water that a moment before had seemed so glittering and still, strangely *' IN PERICULO MARIS." 183 agitated, for the tide was coming in like a torrent suddenly released by mighty barriers. Never had we beheld so weird and strange a sight, so entirely unlike the ordinary rise and fall of a tide. — It is said that it comes in faster than a horse can gal- lop ! A little river has been deepened and ex- cavated like a canal to the mainland, across the level sands. In this the waters rapidly came in a straight line, soon rising above and obliterating the banks and in an incredibly brief time so covering the wide expanse of sands that we were isolated and lone, apparently float- ing upon the face of the great deep. It was a singular and impressive sight, this mighty on- slaught, this magic talcing j^ossession of space by a mysterious, resistless and overwhelming force and power. One is awed and silenced by this ex- hibition of resistless and commanding power, — this fiat of the unseen, — which makes men, by contrast, seem so puny and feeble. Instinctively one thinks of those wonderful commands, " Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place ; " and later in the workVs history, of the waters none the less uncontrollable than this rushing flood, answering immediately to the Divine, ''Peace be still." One may sit for hours upon this terrace, simply entranced and fascinated by the surrounding scene. It is so lifted up in air that it is like floating quietly along in a balloon. The battlements afford a most charming prom- enade, overlooking the sands and the sea upon one side, while upon the other, built against the 184 FRANCE. steep rock, is a pyramidal pile of houses above houses with tiny terraced gardens and balconies. A single street at foot of the pile, within the forti- fications, suffices for the traffic of the town. The ascent from the base to the cathedral roof involves some six hundred and sixty-two steps,— a wearisome climb. A strange history enhances the interest Originally a pagan sanctuary, then a Benedictine Abbey, founded in 709 by command of the Arch- angel Michael ; a prison during the RevolutioE and now a museum belonging to the State, which is now restoring, at enormous outlay, the cathedral pile. IJp and up one passes, until, quite out of breath, is reached a lofty donjon, and two great towers with arched entrance to a wide staircase of stone called the Abbot's, by which ascent is made to the church. The nave and transepts are of massive and heavy Norman character, but were so blocked up with scaffoldings and building material in use for the extensive and costly restorations that there was little to be seen. But the choir of pointed Gothic was lovely, with its lofty clerestory win- dows, its surrounding aisle or passage, and its dainty little chapel. A spiral staircase of fifty-five steps leads to the roof where, surrounded by flying buttresses and dainty pinnacles, one looks way off upon the shimmering waters and the surrounding shores. Far above appears the ^^lace staircase,'' with delicately carved and dainty open-work balus- trade of marble. As usual the cicerone gave us too brief a time, yet a day there would not have fully satisfied us. This roof and the platform and **IN PERIOULO MARIS." 185 terrace in front of the cathedral, are the on|y points of satisfactory lookout, at present. Be- neath the choir is a magnificent crypt with nine- teen massive columns, each twelve feet in diameter, where stood the black Virgin in 1793. The great adjoining convent called " La Marveille,'' is an enormous pile (246 X 108), one part being three stories and another two, in height One had a large apartment for the distribution of alms to the poor, — above it was the refectory, ^^one of the finest Gothic halls in France," while above this was the dormitory of the monks, an exquisite apartment, the sides of which were lined with narrow lancet windows. The other portion has a spacious cellar, over it the ^' Salle de Chevaliers," a noble hall some ninety-two feet in length, with three rows of columns and vaulted ceiling and a gallery upon one side ! Above this are the cloisters, which, with the roof of the choir, form the most beautiful and richly decorated portion of the whole build- ing. The gay tiled roof of the pretty cloisters is supported by a double row of delicate, pointed arches, placed in such a way that the inner and outer rows alternate, each arch supported by slight slender columns of granite with dainty capitals. In the spandrils are the loveliest studies of flowers and foliage, also delicately and exquisitely sculpt- ured in stone, above which is a cornice of flowers. It may be of interest to note that it is eighty-one by forty-five feet in size, and has two hundred and twenty polished columns, for it gives some idea of its extent and beauty. The effect of this quiet 186 FRANCE. sunny quadrangle, lifted high in air, is wonder- fully beautiful and unique, — the vistas of the two rows of outer columns delicate and exquisite, while the outlook from a balcony or window at one end over the blue, blue sea, is a dream of loveliness. There was much climbing up and going down and proportionate fatigue. In the cellars are the pris- ons and frightful dungeons with prisoners' chains still attached to the walls, and a dark horrible vaulted place where any one obnoxious to the au- thorities was confined and left to die, or, as they say, ^' oubliette," — forgotten. It is said that during the Eevolution it was made a prison, and, among others, some three hundred aged priests were confined until their deaths. In one cellar was a curious immense wide wheel, in which twelve men, walking inces- santly, drew up by rope, etc. , supplies of all kinds, from the base of the rock. Since 1874 it has been a " Monument Histo- rique,'' like Carcasonne, belonging to and cared for by the State. Alas ! we did not have time enough ! for there was such a succession of pictures, quaint and beautiful, and always the golden Greve or the blue waters of the sea. It was a never-failing amusement to watch the peasants, like flocks of veritable sand-pipers, hurrying over or picking upon the sands. In the famous kitchen, on the level of the street, where above, a bed of burning logs and glowing coals, a spit with chickens, joints, etc., slowly revolves, simmers and sputters until " done to a turn,'' we bade pretty Madame Pou- lard ^' good-bye," passed down the narrow street. " IN PERICULO MARIS. 187 through the stone-portals and along the broad walk to the coach waiting upon the causeway. The sunlight flooded the tawny walls and gilded the cathedral heights, — the wind blew strong and fresh across the yellow sands, as sorrowfully and reluctantly we were borne rapidly away from the unique grouping, the quaint beauty and the roman- tic charm embodied in '^'^Mont St. Michel," which, like an aged sentinel, stands solitary and alone, far out from the coast, always ^' in periculo maris," — '^ in danger of the sea." STJBSTANOE AND SHADOW. DES KOCHEES — LAGAEAYE — MAIi^^TEKOK. Immediately after onr arrival at Vitre^ we took a carriage, and leaving the ancient town with its quaint irregular streets and picturesque overhang- ing houses until the morrow, passed at once into the blessed country. Brittany is very beautiful, being very undulating, densely wooded and highly cultivated, with here and there a stately chateau, a gray tower or village, and a great multitude of slate and thatched-roofed stone cottages. Nor- mandy is more level and monotonous, but there is a peculiar and irresistible charm in long straight lines, whether of verdant fields or stiff rows of quaint poplars. Along the route of the day, we noticed numerous balls or bosses of mistletoe in the oak and apple trees, a reminder that once the Druids occupied this land. But now we were on a pilgrimage bent, no less than a visit to the house of Madame Sevigne. Our course lay along the highway, across the beautiful country for some four miles, and then turning, came by a gradual ascent, lined by gray terrace walls, to a park en- trance ushering at once upon a level plateau, and we were close to that we had so desired to see, an ancient French chateau, with surrounding grounds 188 SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. 189 in perfect order. Along one side of a great level stretch of greensward stood a fine stone farm- building. At the farther end, in shape of an L, was the Chateau de Eochers, an aged, gray, pictur- esque pile, with steep-pitched roofs and dormers, and the conical-roofed towers inseparable from these old structures. At one end, but detached, was the cha]3el, an octagonal structure like a great dome, built by Christopher de Coulanges, Abbot of Livry, maternal uncle of Madame de Sevigne, he who was termed in her letters " the very kind one.'' A maid opened the door and we stepped at once into an imposing octagonal apart- ment with a lofty domed roof, ornamented with fleur-de-lys. The furnishings were simple, the covers being of red velvet. Opposite the entrance door was the altar with pictures, etc., of which she wrote '' I have on my altar, a painting represent- ing the Holy Virgin, a crucifix and my inscription ' Soli Deo.'' The first mass was said in it Sunday, December 15th, 1675. A tall wrought-iron gateway, between the chapel and the chateau, opens upon the gardens with tlie park beyond, laid out by Le Notre, who planned the city of Washington. Although stiff and formal in arrangement and perfectly level in surface, it is a beautiful sight with its immense flower borders and solid plots of color, its lime tree walks and four huge symmetrical and mag- nificent Cedars of Lebanon planted in 180G. Through the centre is a wide, straight, gravelled avenue, lined upon either side with boxes holding 190 FRANCE. large and venerable orange trees. Half way down this path is the sundial, with inscription by Madame de Sevigne, — '' Ultimam time." (Fear the last one). The end of this walk, made semi- circular in shape by the terrace wall, is called the Place Coulanges. Two paving stones set in the ground indicate where one stands to interrogate " the echo of Madame deSevigne," which she des- ignated as a ^^ little repeater of words mounting up to the ears." The walks and drives in the park beyond were named by her, and beautiful walks between and beneath perfectly straight rows of lime trees, quaintly trimmed (square) on outside, are of her time. It seems almost as if the dainty creature might step at any moment from the chateau and walk in the almost unchanged scene. By a wide gravelled pathway to the right of gate- way, we passed the entire length of the chateau to a huge corner tower with pointed conical roof. A couple of steps led to an open French window through which we passed into the apartment of Madame de Sevigne, filled with furniture and bric- a-brac belonging to or used by her, — a sort of memorial shrine. Had we known, our impulse would have been to have taken off our shoes. It is a large square apartment, with lofty ceiling with heavy beams, profusely ornamented in colors and with her initials interwined with a knotted cord or rope, — symbolical of widowhood. An elaborate fifteenth century chimney-piece or mantel is also richly decorated in gold and colors. A bed, with canopy and coverlet of yellow satin and chairs of SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. 191 same, embroidered by her daughter, the Countess of Grignan ; a bureau ; a long glass-case with her account books ; (Nov. 1, 1871), a washstand and in the corner, a little dressing-table with brushes and articles of toilet in scarlet enamel with painted flow- ers, all once used by her, with upon the wall a fine full-length portrait of her, complete the furnish- ings, save before the deep embrasure of a window, wherein she sat and penned the incomparable letters, stands a writing-table. It was a strange sensation to sit down in the same place and make our feeble notes, just two hundred and fifty years afterwards. Her family became extinct with her childless son. The present owners and occupants are in no wise connected with her, the property having been acquired by purchase, but this " Green Cabinet," with all these relics of that gentle, gifted woman, are as religiously preserved as if the heirlooms of their own family. We sat there and thought of callow days, when in course of study we talked with girl friends of '^ the Letters," and wondered if a perusal of them in these later years would shatter the old-time vase. Methinks, though, the '' scent of the roses would hang round it still." We strolled out in the gar- dens and lingered by the rose-bordered terrace wall. The western sky was a glow of yellow and gold, flecked with tiny, fleecy clouds of gray, tinged with gold. The outlook was a sweeping one, over a great billow of a country, thickly wooded, with occasional peeps of chateau or vil- lage. There was little variety or diversity, yet it 193 FRANCE. was superb, for tlie long lines were graceful and quieting, the hour still and holy, and our mood pensive and tender. This lovely woman, '^ chaste and true in an age of unchastity and treachery, frank and natural in an age of duplicity and precocity,'^ — the granddaughter of a canonized saint, the daughter of a soldier, and the wife of a marquis, divided the seven brief years of her ill-mated married life principally between this fine old estate and Paris and passed a goodly portion of the forty-five long and hap- pier years of her widowhood, in its quiet, peaceful precincts. To a devoted and ideal attachment to her only daughter, separated from her by marriage, is owing much of the world-famed correspondence, so rich in historical items, so full of pure maternal affection, all so beautifully and charmingly ex- pressed. An interesting writer says : — '' possessed of a cheerful temper, a keen insight, a ready wit and a hearty affection for all her friends, her society was courted in her time by the best and greatest men and women, among whom she moved on terms of perfect though unassuming equality. '^ Her pure and unsullied life closed at the Chateau of Grignon in Southern France, where she was visiting her daughter. In the choir of the col- legiate church of St. Saveur, adjoining the cha- teau terrace may be seen a black slab,, in the floor marking the entrance to the family vault {'' saved from destruction in the Revolution by removal) '% and to one side a white marble monument with the words i — SUBSTANCE AMD SHADOW. 193 Here lies, MARIE DE RABUTIN CHANTAL Marchioness de Sevigne Deceased April 18, 1696. A bronze statue has been erected in the Place, but the best record of her, who unsullied " stood before kings/' lives in graceful and incomparable Letters. 4: 4: 4c 4c 4: The remembrance of Mrs. Norton's lovely poem, — " The Lady of La Garaye," was freshened as we approached Dinan in Brittany, for in its im- mediate vicinity are the pitiful ruins of the chateau around which her graceful pen has thrown a deli- cate glamour of poetry, sentiment and romance. The afternoon of our arrival was lovely and we started out with glowing anticipations, explicitly impressing upon the good-natured, thick-headed coachman, our strong desire to visit " LaGaraye." A half dozen times as we paused at some entrance, we thought we were approaching it. Alas ! the fellow was so bent on showing us the sights of suburban Dinan in regular order, and so evidently regarded this as inferior to other attractions, that our visit to the ruins of La Garaye came perilously near being an utter failure, for, as the afternoon wore on, the soft dreamy atmosphere changed and the day closed in cloud and mist. When expostu- lated with, he replied with utmost suavity, — " If I did not show you all these places, I could not ex- pect a fee at the end ! ^^ A few moments took us 13 194 FRANCE. out of the little town into the open country. After driving two or three miles upon a highway, overlooking long stretches of green fields and woodlands^, we turned and passing through a rickety tumbled down gateway ;, entered upon a rough, neglected private road (with deep ruts quite equalling our country byways in spring time) bordered by double rows of trees upon either side. At the end of ten minutes of this we came upon two huge stone barns, a vile filthy barnyard and farm buildings. Passing between the barns the carriage stopped in an open green place. A hundred feet or more to the right,, like towers of living green, stood two square gate posts, heavily mantled with the omnipresent ivy, evi- dently once the lordly entrance to a princely demesne. At our left was a small antiquated farm gate with, ^^ It is forbidden to enter without leave, ^* which being translated into literal English signi- fied, that '^ Who enters here leaves several francs behind." There was no time to seek a concierge or ask permission, for the leaden sky was already distilling moisture and the prospect was that in fifteen minutes, all would be enveloped in mist. So without ceremony we entered, and what lay before us ? Neglected, ill-shapen pear and apple trees, ladened with fruit, with foliage brown with touch of autumn ; to one side a square phalanx of cabbage and cauliflower plants, while a mob of onions, potatoes, and various garden truck, and a wild riot of weeds filled the little garden or open space. But along its limit, some fifty feet away SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. 195 and overlooking it with pronounced sadness and melancholy reality, were tall tliick castle walls, so completely (with small exception) covered with massive bushy ivy as to reveal little trace of stone or support. In one place, encircled by the living green, was a rude, deeply cut bas-relief. From the impenetrable wall of glossy, sombre green, projected a portion of a tower, three stories in height, in effect similar to an oriel window, with sculptured bands separating or outlining each floor, and rich ornamentation surrounding the window opening. Beside it, a portion of the rich fa9ade, with elaborately worked window frames and twisting around the corner of one, as if laugh- ing in derision at all this ruin, of this later day and life of ours, a grinning and grotesque gargoyle. Beyond were other massive walls and round towers, all hidden completely by the beneficent ivy which covers many a wound of time in this fair land. Weeds, brambles, and stumj^y shrub- bery and tangled grass and vines made a forlorn and desolate jungle. The style is a ^' mixture of Renaissance of sixteenth century intermixed with Gothic ornaments.^' The last owner, " Claude Toiiissant, Count de la Garaye" quitted the gay world and converted this stately mansion into a hospital and both he and his Countess studied medicine and prepared themselves, and the Coun- tess became an excellent oculist. The hospital was destroyed during the Revolution. Both Count and Countess, however, died before this dis- astrous regime. Even their graves at Taden, a 196 FRANCE. few miles distant^ were desecrated at that time, so our " Murray " told us ; but Mrs. Norton's lovely poem threw about the old ivy-clad ruins the only real charm and fascination they possessed for us. The soft gray mist intensified the pathos and melancholy of the hour, so like a shadow of the past. With carriage closed we crept back into town again, the mist increasing to a gentle rain ere we reached our destination. Normandy and Brittany were already '^ of the past.'"* There was nothing between Chartres and Paris but Versailles, save the Chateau de Mainte- non, a half hour distant from distant Chartres by rail. We alighted at an unpretentious station and taking an omnibus, were in a few moments literal- ly dumped in an open Place in the centre of the town. A general market, always a picturesque and characteristic scene, was in full blast. Pass- ing through Brittany we had been much interested in the caps worn by the peasant women, being in- formed that almost every town has a distinctive shape or make. Although we left fair Brittany soon after leaving Yitre, the regime and variety of caps continued. This made a walk around and among the stalls, looking at the buxom peasants and their wares (and also their tvears), very amus- ing and interesting. Facing the Place, giving no suggestion of what it concealed, was a high stone Chateau of Maintenon SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. -197 wall with huge gateway with massive solid doors of wood, — the entrance to the magnificent domain of Maintenon. An old servitor in livery opened the gate and courteously said that the family being "^^in resi- dence" the private apartments of Madame de Maintenon could not be shown, but that we could see the long salon in wing erected by her which the present family has richly decorated and ornamented. While waiting for a servant to con- duct us, we were asked to sit down under some noble trees close to the entrance. The transition was magical. One moment the confusion and hub- bub of the market-place, — the next, in the midst of a scene of such rural beauty and architectural grandeur, as to seem miles away from the busy town. Before us was an open level place in ex- quisite lawn, its opposite boundary a long impos- ing chateau with tall steep roof and dormers, with at each end a round tower with conical extin- guisher roof, A wide portal or porte-cochere, above which rose a wedge-roofed tower, opened through the building into a stately three-sided court beyond. To one side, a long tw^o-story wing (which we were to visit) came at right angles to the front line where it joined a church, whicli seemed well-nigh a ruin. The estate was pur- chased by the '^ Widow Scarron " in 1G74. Four years later the King made it a Marquisate, and seven years later his marriage with Madame the Marchioness of Maintenon was privately solemnized it is said in the chapel of the chdteau. It is at 198 FRANCE. present the estate of the Duke Noailles, whose grandfather married the niece of Madame. Presently a red-vested, hlue- liveried dapper young hutler or valet appeared and escorting us to the side wing ushered us, by a winding or spiral staircase to the second floor into a long, low, arched- ceiled room, more suggestive of a passage or hall than a '^ salon."" The walls and ceiling were richly colored and gilded and upon them hung, or set in, were portraits of ^^ Madame " and the whole line of ^oailles from the crusaders to the present day. At one end an iron grille or gate led in to a square cabinet, where Madame was wont to kneel and look into the adjoining church during Mass, without being seen. At the opposite end of the salon, a door opened into the chateau where are rooms in which are many pieces of the original furniture, besides hangings and tapestries all associated with Madame. As we came downstairs the attendant remarked that he thought if we sent in our cards, permission would be given to visit the environ- ing park. In a few moments he returned saying, — " Madame the Countess would be very pleased to have us walk in the park." It was prettily and gracefully done, as only, in fact, the French can do. We passed through the deep porte-cochere into a court built up upon three sides and out upon a level parterre brilliant with ribbon and mosaic beds and solid masses of color. A moat, with flowing water sweet and pure, surrounds the cha- teau and the reflection of walls and towers in the mirror-like surface is most fascinating. Crossing SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. 199 a bridge over it we entered the park which, with but slight undulation stretched out as far as eye could reach, with avenues, shaded roadways, great woods and thickets and beyond, apparently exten- sive forests. The unbroken stretch of richly culti- vated meadows in every direction, was a fair and beautiful sight to the country-loving eye. But making it totally unlike any other estate, was a quarter or a half of a mile from the chateau, a line of immense and stately arches, half ruined, and green here and there with ivy, — the remains of the unfinished aqueduct, commenced by Louis XIV. to furnish the fountains at Versailles with water. It was, however, abandoned before comple- tion and preference given to ^^ the hydraulic works at Marly, ^' and also because of its fearful cost and the frightful mortality among the forty thousand soldiers engaged in its construction, — a scandal of a scandalous age. After some sixty-five years a portion was demolished and the materials used to build a chateau at Crecy for Madame de Pom- padour. The total length would have been thirty- three miles. Forty semi-arches were finished, but only fourteen now remain. The beauty and im- pressiveness of these majestic imposing and silent arches in the midst of all this sunny and verdant scene, can scarcely be expressed. It all seems as of a far-away age, like those sombre, mysterious arches which stalk so solemnly and weird-like across the Roman Campagna. Just beyond the arches we caught the most effective view of all, of the distant chdteau, which is much more varied 200 FRANCE. in outline on this than the other side, having pro- jecting wings, dormers and towers, while before ns in the water the beautiful pile was reflected, clear and distinct as in a mirror. It was one of the most beautiful and spectacular scenes of sunny- France, which will dwell long in our memory. Born in a prison ; the honored spouse for nine years of a kind-hearted wit and poet ; the widowed governess of the royal children of Madame de Pompadour ; the favorite, and, at last at the age of fifty, the wife of Louis XIV, and dying twenty- four years later at St. Cyr. in the home she had made years before for others ; — so runs the roman- tic story of suhstance andshadotv which is wreathed about and is recalled by the stately pile and lovely park of Maintenon. i ^'THAT NOTHING BE LOST" ST. MALO — DINAN AND VITRE. Walled towns are not so numerous, even in Europe, that the conscientious sight-seer can afford to pass one, especially one altogether so fine and interesting as St. Malo off the coast of Brittany. Originally an island, with the handsome gray machicolated walls rising directly from the water, it has of late years been shorn of much of its dis- tinctive and isolated character by the construction of a causeway some five hundred feet in width which connects it with the mainland, and at same time forms one boundary of a commodious artificial harbor. The railway station is one half or three quarters of a mile from the gates of the walls, and the drive from them joasses a gay casino and close to the fortifications an ancient castle, now a barrack, with four huge towers with a lovely garden, brilliant with flowers, and pleasant with walks and resting- places. Our approach to St. Malo for some time was charming, for it was at a glorious sunset hour, and the trees, sjiires and picturesque piles of roofs of the country traversed, stood out like purple silhouettes against the golden, cloud-flecked sky. We were driven in the early dusk along the Sillon 201 202 FRANCE. or connecting link, and entering the gates were taken to the Hotel de France, interesting as in- corporating the old mansion of the Chateaubriand family, in which Chateaubriand was brought up, although born in a home facing another street. Our windows overlooked the front court, upon an old portal surmounted by the heraldic arms of the family with antique statues upon either side. But for the contiguous city walls, the rear windows would have commanded a peerless view over the broad blue waters and wonderful archipelago of rocky islands, great and small. The beautiful en- circling ramparts or walls of the sixteenth century afford a charming walk, almost entirely around the city. The remarkable rise and fall of the tides of water, ordinarily from twenty-three to twenty-six feet, and in the spring-time often as much as forty-eight feet, give great variety and contrast to the outlook from the walk which follows the sum- mit of the walls; for when the water is low, broad smooth stretches of sand, innumerable rocks and islets appear, but when the tide is full, only a broad beautiful expanse of waters, with here and there the larger islands or mounds bristling with fortifi- cations or great white, angular, bare rocks, are seen. As one writer says : '^ St. Malo floating upon the water is an island, entirely unlike St. Malo stand- ing upon the land.^^ It is difficult to decide which is the finer. Perhaps the full expanse of water is the more beautiful, but the vast expanse of sands, with the dull heavy rocks and the multitude of people crossing to and fro is the more interesting. " THAT NOTHING BE LOST." 203 Certainly, there is no fortified seaport town that will comi:)are with it in picturesqueness of detail or environment. Within the town the streets are necessarily narrow and irregular, with tall four and five story houses. One vista along the line of a narrow shadowy street, ending with the fine tall spire of the cathedral, is very beautiful. Some streets are bright with shops full of Breton em- broideries, jewels and metal work. But the charm of the town is the walls, the view from which is so enchanting and varied, one rarely wearies. One morning the beauty of the scene, with the broad waters in some directions a sapphire blue, wonderful to behold : in others a lovely chryso- prase green most fascinating and enchanting, and along the horizon a broad line of most peculiar and beautiful purjjle, was something marvellous and unusual. When the tide is out, the yellow sands at Mont St. Michel are peculiarly fascinat- ing and beautiful. Upon the opposite side of the partly artificial and partly natural harbor is St. Servan, a town of twelve thousand inhabitant with no feature one half as interesting and amus- ing as the way of getting there! It is difficult to give a correct idea of it, or the droll comical ex- pression of it, for there is scarcely anything to compare it with. If you can imagine one of the tall iron skeleton frames or towers, surrounded by a windmill often seen upon country places, en- larged and resting at the base upon small wheels fitted into grooved rails upon the river bed, and surmounted not by a windmill, but by a small room 204 FRANCE. or cabin at a height of some forty feet, being drawn by machinery npon the shore from one bank to the other, you about have it. At low tide the w^hole structure and rails can be seen, and '^skedaddle^Ms the only word that expresses the droll and funny thing. But when the tide is in, it is entirely different, for it looks like a house, lifted above the water's edge by slender iron sup- ports, slowly crossing a stream, — a regular House- Boat on the STICKS ! It is called the ^' Pont Roulant^' and quite suggests the tall stilts of one corner of France and border of Spain, Upon the opposite cliffs of the Ranee is Dinard, a most fashionable resort with rocky shores which quite recall the Maine coast, and villas and hotels in great number and variety. A little steamboat took us there at high tide in about fifteen min- utes and a carriage drive of some two hours re- vealed many a charming view of coast and waters and glimpses of villas great and villas small. The water was so low upon our return that we landed at a distance and walked a long way over the de- lightful sands. The Island of Grand Bey, then, was only a great rocky mound rising from the level stretch. Upon the highest part is an old fortification or sometlimg, and upon one of the boldest heights, enclosed by an iron railing, is a small obelisk which marks the resting-place of the traveller writer, and politician, Chateaubriand (1848), chosen, we were told, by himself, but given by the city. It is a wild and dreary spot, and it is a most romantic and beautiful one, — just *'THAT NOTHING BE LOST." 205 as the weather may be. With the waters calm and the skies serene, it is ideal ; but when the clouds are dark and heavy and the wind keen and chill and the broad waters purple almost to blackness, it has a solitary, a lost soullook, which is pathetic and pitiful. As we stood there the numerous islands and islets beyond were peculiarly fascinating, for along the water they showed a dark brown, higher up a soft terra-cotta, while their crowns were a mellow and creamy buff (all because of sunshine) ; very vividly they recalled the rocks at Marblehead Neck and Manchester upon the Massachusetts shore. They seemed to lie uj^on the surface like soft dap- pled, tumbled clouds, and as a bit or a combina- tion of color the scene equalled in that hour even the Bay of Naples. Dinan, a most quaint, picturesque and withal attractive little town, a favorite jilace of residence with the large English contingent who find com- fortable living cheaper upon the Continent than at home, can be reached from St. Malo by small steamboat upon the River Ranee, a delightful journey, it is said, between well-wooded and pic- turesque banks. The time of sailing being regu. lated by the tide, and neither time nor tide hav ing ever been known to wait for man or tourist, and neither in this instance accommodating us, we fell back upon the railway which in two hours brought us to Dinan. The country tra- versed was beautifully diversified in surface and 306 FRANCE. thickly wooded, and had the air of great prosper- ity. Gray towers and here and there a chateau with extinguisher roofs and towers, alone break the continuous verdure of tree and field. At some stations railway cars were loading with ap- ples, cider being one of tlie staple productions of the country. All through Normandy and Brit- tany it was upon the tables '' ad libitum " (and " ad nauseam ") in place of the common wine usually provided. An English writer says, *^^ Ow- ing to a glut of apples the ' discovery was made that brandy could be made from cider, which has led to much drunkenness in Normandy. " Even to our passing glance it seemed as if the Normandy peasants were more coarse and gross, and less cleanly, than the same class in Brittany. The location of Dinan, upon the crest of a hill over- looking the river and valley of the Eance, is pic- turesque and romantic, — the old walls and towers interesting and an avenue which descends upon one side to the valley upon which face the high- terraced rear gardens of the homes of the better class, very fine. The shady boulevards upon the old ramparts are lovely and many of the streets in the crowded portion of the town extremely pic- turesque because many of the ancient homes are open timbered and built with each story project- ing over the one below. The vista of these narrow streets, especially where two or three met or crossed, with some of the houses forming an arcade and many with a tremendous topsy-turvy appear- ance, was an unending entertainment and delight. ** THAT NOTHING BE LOST." 207 The ancient Castle, once occupied by Anne of Brit- tany, now a prison, standing green and forbidding upon the edge of a ravine in the heart of the town, was most interesting in its construction, its high vaulted chapel and its superb view from battle- ments and old Donjon tower. A lovely drive of two hours or more, showed us the little hamlet of Lehon, with an ancient Priory, a curious old church and upon the heights above the remains of an old Castle, with a superb view of the surround- ing beautiful country from the ruined towers and walls. Truth compels us to say, however, that surfeited with ruins, castles and churches, we spent more time gathering and eating the luscious blackberries which grew in greatest profusion at their base, than upon the time-honored walls themselves. Farther on, in fine grounds, stands the Hospice des Alienes, with some six-hundred inmates and an ornate chapel. AVith lovely views at times of the roofs and towers of Dinan, and here and there passing through well-wooded country we turned citywards and drove to the ruins of the chateau of La Garaye, described in another article. We were five hours by rail in reaching Vitre, but almost two of these were passed in waits at different points. Although our chief object in stopj^ing was to visit the Chateau des Rochers, the home of Madame Sevigne (described elsewhere) we found much in the ancient town we would have been sorry to have lost. France is a treasure-house of the picturesque, while the glamour of the romau- 208 FRANCE. tic and the charm of the historic, crowd its every nook and corner. The more the pity is it, that so few American tourists give any time to the hun- dred and one inland and characteristic towns. This quaint old town was a stronghold of the Prot- estants and was stoutly held and defended by the Huguenots in 1589. The ancient castle with machicolated walls and towers, a portion of which had been finely restored, while another part is used as a prison, is very fine and imposing. From the wall facing the open court is built or hung like an oriel window, half Italian, half Gothic in style, a pulpit entered by a door in rear, which is a gem. The castle was the home of the Lords of Tremouille, adherents of Protestantism, and over the gateway may still be seen inscribed in stone, '' Post tenehras spero lucem/^ an illusion, probably, to the perse- cutions they suffered. The ancient cathedral had a fine Gothic interior, with a multitude of chandeliers, a superbly carved wood pulpit and much rich stained glass and a rare art treasure, a Triptych, dating from the fifteenth century, a square panel or cabinet with hinged doors and some thirty-two small Limoges enamels, depicting scenes in the life of Christ, which is wonderful but not pretty. Upon the outside of the cathedral walls, hangs one of the curious, oriel window-like pulpits, overlooking the open place, which would indicate that street-preaching or open- air service is not an innovation of modern times. A stroll through the droll, crooked and narrow streets^ with many odd, irregular and projecting 'THAT NOTHING BE LOST.'^ 209 house fronts, timbered and sculptured fagades, queer little balconies, outside staircases, arcades, and a general appearance of having been tumbled together promiscuously, is most amusing and en- tertaining. It was evident we were out of the beaten track of summer travel, for not a word of English fell upon our ears from the rising of the sun until the setting thereof, H TWO CATHEDEAL TOWNS. CHAETEES — EHEIMS. Two more Cathedrals^ Chartres and Kheims, in all their glorious beauty, stately grandeur and solemn significance, were to open like a sumptu- ously illustrated volume before us, ere our wander- ings in France were ended. Fain would we have included Amiens, with its elaborately sculptured faQade and its magnificent and well-nigh peerless interior, but for the inexorable limit there is to all things, especially sight-seeing. The numberless charming photographs of these later years are educational, and one unconsciously grows so fa- miliar with various edifices that the sight of them, loses in novelty but gains in appreciation and un- derstanding. We made, of course, no pretence of studying them. Time was too brief and crowded for that. We simply gave up entirely to the enjoy- ment of the exquisite details, the wonderful daring and patience of construction — the esthetic beaut}'" of form and color, and the romantic, poetical and spiritual suggestion of these marvellous houses of heavenly inspiration although made with hands. Our approach to Chartres, a dull foggy afternoon although through a country teeming with reminis- cences of the last war, and our arrival, travel worn 210 TWO CATHEDRAL TOWNS. 211 and tired at early dusk, with the wind keen and chill, and the air cold and penetrating, was not enliven- ing, to say the least. But upon the morrow the sun was bright, the sky clear and the air delightfully warm, and as we looked above the roofs of the opposite buildings of the town, the two dissimilar towers of the cathedral bade us a cheery good- morning. Chartres is a fine old town, with boulevards or promenades superseding the ancient ramparts, with one picturesque old gateway with huge towers. Soon we were '^ confronted with the minster's vast repose,^' face to face with the mag- nificent structure which had drawn us thither. An open space upon three sides gives a very satisfac- tory view of the remarkably fine edifice, with very plain western fa9ade, with most elaborately orna- mented portals and at each corner the wonderful towers of unequal height, one rising crocketed, massive and comparatively simple to a height of three hundred and forty feet, while the other, stately, ornate, elegant and grand, soars away with lacelike delicacy to a height of three hundred and seventy-one feet. The latter is unusually delicate and graceful, and the manner in which it changes from square to octagonal, with exquisite traceried windows and slender flying buttresses, and springs into a tapering spire, is marvellous. Ferguson says it is ^' the most beautifully designed spire on the Continent," surpassing those of Strasbourg, Vienna and Antwerp, in elegance " of outline and appropriateness of design. '' Against outside walls of nave rises a line of massive turrets, while from 212 FRANCE. tliem round arched flying buttresses, with spokes like those of a wheel, spread over the roof of the aisles. The most unusual feature, is a side portal, consisting of three Gothic porches, the central one projecting, with clustered pillars and beauti- ful openings all lined with statues, which appear originally to have been gilded. The thought and sentiment of worship are so floridly and gracefully expressed in stone, that they seem like little tem- ples of themselves. It was of this that Lowell wrote : — " I stood before the triple northern port, Where dedicated shapes of saints and kings, Stern faces bleared with immemorial watch, Look down benignly grave and seemed to say, • Ye come and go incessant ; we remain Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past ; Be reverent, ye who flit and are forgot, Of faith so nobly realized as this.' " It was a joy to simply stroll around the great stately pile all glowing with sunshine, — to look breathlessly up at the exquisitely carven and open towers against the bluest of skies, and to linger at our own sweet will, wherever any combination seemed peculiarly striking or beautiful. It was not study y it was simple enjoyment, yet something lasting came into mind and heart, to go not out again. It seemed to us, the ^^tout ensemble, ^^ of the interior, as we entered by transept door and looked diagonally towards the nave, taking in the lofty roof intersection, a great rose window, a forest of columns and arches, with glimpses of glowing tints from windows in the aisles, surpassed Interior Chartres Cathedral TWO CATHEDRAL TOWNS. 213 any one effect we had ever seen. The French ca- thedrals are profusely ornate and florid and con- sequently devoid of the sombre, impressive gran- deur of the English Minsters. An unusual and exquisite feature of this interior, which quite re- calls in a certain way. the Spanish cathedrals, is a superbly and elaborately sculptured screen, separ- ating the choir from the aisles. This tall partition, where it faces the aisles, is a Gothic structure with some forty pictures or scenes sculptured in stone, framed in by such delicate traceries as to justify the commonplace comment of another, — ^*^ point lace in stone." Some of the details are so fine, slender and frail, one wonders how they could have been chiselled in stone. The secret probably is, that the material like '^ Caen-stone," is very soft when first quarried and easy to w^ork upon, while it hardens rapidly by exposure, for marble could scarcely be so sculptured. The groups represent scenes in the life of Christ and the never- failing Virgin. The interior is breathless in its vastness and harmonious proportions, while the whole building is singularly sumptuous and rich. A writer says ; — '^ The origin and splendor of this cathedral are owing to the circumstance that it was the earliest and chief church in France dedi- cated to the Virgin, and thus the object of vast pilgrimages." It is said the Druids worshipped the statue of a black woman, — ''A maiden who should bear a child," which stood in the crypt when this Christian temple superseded their worship, which was burned in 1793 when the structure was sacked. 314 FRANCE. In the aisle is a gorgeous chapel of the Black Vir- gin and child, called the '' Vierge du Pilier/' of the fifteenth century. Yet in the crypt another is shown. One or the other, though, wore the " bonnet rouge " in the Eevolution. In the centre of the nave in the pavement is a most curi- ous labyrinth or maze of colored marble lines, following which one would walk nine hundred and sixty-seven feet, — a " penitential path for worship- pers,^^ with large blocks or stations at intervals ^' corresponding to the beads of a rosary." Beneath the choir is the crypt, a succession of small shrines in decorated chapels, within the centre, lighted by numerous hanging lamps, the chapel and image of ^' Notre Dame de Sous Terre." After we had thoroughly inspected the wide and lofty nave and transepts, the great cler- estory windows surmounted by large wheel or circular windows filled with glorious and wonder- ful painted glass of the thirteenth century and the multitude of charming details of chapels and ornamentation, it was peculiarly restful to sit quietly during Vespers and hear the intoning of the service with occasional burst of organ music, and watch the shadows gather in the lofty arches and the late sunlight making the windows gleam and glow like a multitude of precious gems. Ere we left the city we stepped in for a moment- ary and farewell glance. The choir was draped' with black velvet and silver ; a temporary altar and catafalque covered to correspond ; richly robed choristers and priests filed slowly in, followed by TWO CATHEDRAL TOWNS. 215 uplifted casket burdened with flowers ; and a mo- ment later choristers were chanting in sad minor chords a '^ last of earth " service most mournfully and effectively. And the light streaming through the mellow glass lay in bars and slants of glorious hues upon it all^ as though there was no sorrow or death from whence it came. Rheims is of such historic interest and architec- tural splendor that one cannot willingly leave it unvisited. To reach it involved our return to Paris and a railway journey beyond, of three hours. To our inexpressible delight, our windows looked directly upon the superb and ornate western fa- cade and the two massive towers of the wonderful Cathedral and we could sit and just look and looh by the hour with the usual wonderment that man ever thought of the design or dared to attempt its execution : — with the usual dreamy indescribable influence of all these wondrous architectural forms asserting itself and with, alas ! the usual inability to grasp or fix the emotions and impressions of the hour. One may hear prolonged music, which may move the very soul and uplift the spirit above the fogs and mists of earth, and be unable to ex- press the thought and emotion inspired, — yet be the better for the influence. So Avith these magni- ficent and overwhelming thoughts in stone. The only disappointment was in the very dilapidated and disintegrated condition of much of the ex- quisite sculpturings and statuettes, of whicli the 216 FRANCE. pliotograplis give little idea. Like a great fantas- tic frost-work (not tuliite however) or heavy lace- like embroidery, the West facade rises, with the grime of centuries lying like heavy shadows upon it. It is called, — " One of the noblest and most magnificent examples of the early Gothic " and is also declared by Ferguson (and he hnoius) to be '' perhaps the most beautiful structure produced in the Middle Ages.^^ How glorious it is ! As one sits and gazes dreamily at it, he feels it as one would a triumphal " Te Deum,^^ elevating the thought and uplifting the soul. It ceases to be stone, it becomes a chorus of exultant voices chanting the praise of the Divine. The west fa- 9ade is indescribable. The plain facts and details may be noted, but that will not portray it. Three deeply recessed portals are thickly covered with exquisitely sculptured statues, there being in fact some five hundred and thirty in all upon this matchless fa9ade. Above looms a superb rose- window forty feet in diameter, — higher up an open gallery with statues and groups and at each cor- ner a stately majestic open tower with turrets rises to a height of two hundred and sixty-seven feet from the base. Originally they were surmounted by spires, but these were burned in 1480, — twelve years before Columbus discovered our blessed land. From every side the picture is striking, majestic, and sublime. Along the sides, resting upon but- tresses are turrets like little temples protecting statues, while flying buttresses and an open gal- lery along the roof edge, add to the imposing TWO CATHEDRAL TOWNS. 217 effect. The apsiclal eastern end with grotesque gargoyles and statues, is most picturesque. The interior is awe-inspiring and solemn with arches and columns and wide nave, stretching away in the soft-tinted atmosphere, a distance of four hundred and fifty-three feet. It is, however, very simple, — rich thirteenth century stained windows and valu- able ancient tapestries upon the side walls giving the only notes of color. The vista of the interior looking from the eastern end, is most unusual, the whole wall presenting a succession of niches with small statues, etc., ending with the superb rose- window, a blaze of richest colors. In the ad- joining Sacristy or Treasury a collection of jewel- led ornaments for the altar, an exquisite cabinet of gold, enamel and crystal containing the little bottle of the inexhaustible " holy 011,^"* the sac- red '^ Ampoule ^^ were shown. Baedeker says : — ''It was the possession of the Sainte Ampoule which probably led to the choice of the cathedral as the coronation place for the Kings of France : and within its walls the Archbishops of Rheims as Primates of the Kingdom have crowned almost without exception, the successive occujoants of the throne from 1173 downwards. Henry IV., who was crowned at Chartres, — Napoleon I., who was crowned at Paris, and Louis XVIII. and Louis Philippe, who were not crowned at all, are the only French " monarchs who, since that date, have not been anointed with the miraculous oil." Ad- joining the cathedral is the Archbishop's palace with the hall in which the Coronation banquets 218 FRANCE. were given. Nothing however, gave the pleasure the outlook from our windows afforded, especially when the atmosphere was mellow and hazy, when the great structure rose with a mystical and un- earthly effect, quite overwhelming to mind and sense. Rarely is seen in this opulent land, anything more beautiful than the Tomb of St. Remi, in the choir and behind the high altar of the Abbey Church of the same name, said to be the most an- cient ecclesiastical building in Rheims. As it has been restored three times it is in perfect condition and is in form of an exquisite temple of colored marbles with columns, sculptured ornaments, and a dozen or more marble statues. The church has graceful arcades, columns, beautiful marble screens around the choir, and tapestries upon the walls, and is of extreme interest. From '' cathedral's vast repose" and abbey's peaceful shades to champagne cellars, undoubtedly is a long step downward, but they constitute one of the most important sights of Rheims, it being in the centre of the best champagne country. Its vine-clad environing hills yield in the end, a de- plorable harvest. We drove out of town to one of the largest establishments, that of the Widow Pommery (the "Veuve Pommery" of commerce) where extensive and handsome structures form quite a village. The most peculiar and interesting feature is the underground caves or cellars of im- TWO CATHEDRAL TOWNS. 319 mense extent, cut out of the solid but soft rock. Originally extensive caves were excavated in these hillsides for some unknown purpose by the Romans. For many years much building material was quar- ried from them, thereby enlarging greatly the area. Some thirty years ago they were taken for the storage and ripening of champagne, and now a sub- terranean city, commodious and extensive has been laid out far beneath the surface. Some one hun- dred and twenty-five steps lead to depths where wide streets or lofty passages named for various European and American cities, illuminated by electric lights, stretch out bewilderingly in every direction, intersecting frequently spacious rotun- das with domed roofs and skylights. The rock- lined walls of some of these rotundas are frequent- ly carved in huge colossal bas-reliefs, representing various classic and bacchanalian revels and legends, quite in keeping with the industry they house. Otherwise the walls and high arched roofs are plain, and without artificial light would be dark as mid- night. Along either side are thousands of bottles of champagne in various stages of preparation. In one long: street nine hundred thousand bottles were standing upside down, quite suggesting their ultimate effects. The appalling number of thirty millions of bottles were thus stored. The fresh juice is brought in casks direct from the vineyards, drawn off in immense tuns, then bottled and stands perfectly still for three years, then every bottle is reversed daily for a year, so that no sediment can adhere to the bottom or sides of bottle ; then each S20 FRANCE. bottle is opened, allowing tlie foreign matter (whicli is then next to cork) to escape and then a small quantity of syrup or ^^ liquor" is put in and the final cork driven in place when again they are stood aside for three years, before ready for sale. In one of the buildings is seen the final process of preparation for market, of the wrapping of necks in tinfoil, the labelling, putting in straw cases and at last in baskets. Each bottle in this last preparation, passed like clockwork through six hands. When two layers have been put in baskets, the men actually jump with full weight upon them, and a fresh relay sew the baskets up with twigs. It is all curious and interesting, but appalling ! One wonders almost, what use there is to try to stem the current to which it contributes. Stand- ing there in the glamour of the sunset hour, what wonder was it, in view of this ceaseless, tireless activity, that the distant stately cathedral seemed dormant or wellnigh comatose, its influence, pur- pose and work wellnigh neutralized by the world- wide sway and result of this destructive manu- facture. i TEN DAYS IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. BIARKITZ — PAU, ETC. '' The King is dead ! " Spain with its fascinat- ing old cities, its Moorish legacies and its won- derful Murillos, was already out of sight — a memory, — a thing of the past ; " Long live the King \" "La belle France," in new and unfa- miliar guise surrounded us. One always so thinks of a]3proaching it by one of the Channel routes, or direct from Germany or Switzerland or by the Mediterranean port of Marseilles, that entering it at the extreme, obscure southwest corner and set- tling as it were, at once in lovely Biarritz, is quite like coming into some fine old mansion, not by the stately front colonnade or portico, but by a back or side doorway ! We might have glided from one to the other quite unconsciously, but for the per- emptory change and customs examination at Hen- daye. The railway journey of an hour to Ne- gresse, the junction or "point of embarkation" for Biarritz some two miles distant, was unevent- ful, the only place of importance upon the route be- ing " St. Jean de Luz," a little seaport, whose baths and old royal chateaux of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries we fain would have visited. The country already looked differently ; — the train. 223 224 FRANCE. sped along more rapidly and it was another peo- ple, more quick and alert, upon whicli we looked. Twenty minutes in a ^'^bus'''' over a white dusty road, but through a pretty country and past many embowered villas, brought us to charming Biar- ritz, a most picturesque and ideal watering-place. " Can any place be more charming ? " we ex- claimed again and again as we sat by our windows aud looked over the tumbled grotesque rocks, the rolling dazzling surf, towards the broad expanse of the sea or along the rocky Spanish coast, with, in the extreme distance the white cloud-like Sier- ras, — or loitered in the streets with brilliant little shops more than half Spanish and but little French. It is the Bay of Biscay, but to all intent and ap- pearance, the boundless sea, with its horizon- limited blue waters, and the ceaseless roar and play of surf. Our hotel was lifted high upon a point and it was curious to note the perfect con- trast in the outlook from either side. One looked down upon a semicircular cove and the great rollers breaking over it. Beyond upon the rising shore, was the old Villa of the Empress Eugenie, who, when she ascended the throne, forgot not the humble seaside resort of her earlier days, but by her presence and patronage elevated it to a popu- lar watering-place. The handsome villa, never in harmony with the surroundings, has been trans- formed and enlarged into a palatial hotel, with lovely and extensive grounds, — while in seclusion the beautiful Empress livm out her littl©, (object- less life in rural Englgtnd.. By a strange coinci- IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 225 dence, however, she holds to-day a lovely villa at Cape St. Martin on the French Riviera. Beyond, the rocky forbidding coast, bounds on and on to Cape St. Martin where stands a single slender white lighthouse. In the opposite direction, the scene is as different as if fifty miles away. Huge rocks, seamed and torn by ceaseless waves and terrific storms, lie scattered about as profusely and carelessly as pebbles. Little bridges continue the pretty walks of the mainland, out to and over them. Strong walls of masonry formed enclosures and breakwaters and also propped up the great rocks and boulders, which otherwise from the mad beat- ing and ceaseless pommelling of the waves and breakers, would topple over. One tall mound with a tunnel worn through its base, is surmounted by a statue of Mary and the Divine Child. The waters lap against the rocks and when the tide comes in or the stiff wind blows, break in great, exquisite, feathery masses of whitened spray over them. The town is compactly built, many of the villas which overlook the beach being crowded together like a city street. But a few are de- tached, all, however, very unlike any seaside resort in our own land. Here and there beyond the town is seen a roof of cottage or villa, and glittering in the sun, the dome and ornaments of a distant Greek church. A telegraph and signal station occupies the highest point along the shore, be- yond which is a cove or inlet where the more timid people seek to disport in tlie beautiful waters. An exquisite picture is formed here, by the road pierc- 15 326 FRANCE. ing the bank on one side and a picturesque villa with balustrades and cunningly devised grounds, perched upon the other, while through the gap are seen the waters of the great bay beyond, placid and serene, undisturbed by rocks and surrounded only by the great high banks or cliffs of gray clay which form the coast line. Towards the former Imperial villa is the smooth, shining bathing beach a never- wearying picture with the sands, the white surf, and the merry bathers. Turn away from the water and stroll through the principal street, and you will find a multitude of bright little shops with a better variety of Spanish conceits and bric- a-brac and dainty manufactures, than can be found in any one city in Spain. Our enjoyment of the strolls and the idlings among the strange weird rocks, beneath a sky of serenest blue and overlooking the vast warm expanse of Biscay^s bay, made the fashionable watering-place, evolved ori- ginally from a secluded fishing village, a most de- lightful experience and sunny memory. We were indebted to that most fascinating book of local travel, '' In the Shadow of the Pyrenees, for any knowledge of the celebrated '^^Eefuge for Magdalens,^' and the settlement of the " Silent Nuns,'^ both at Anglet, about midway between Biarritz and Bayonne, some ten minutes ride by the train, for neither Baedeker nor Murray make any mention of these interesting and strange phases of life. If the gifted author left a pebble unturned or a blade of grass unnoticed, we failed to detect them. The truthful detail which means so much IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 337 when read on the spot, like the "genre " pictures of the old Dutch ^^ainters, is marvellous as well as charming. It was a more than warm afternoon when Ave alighted at the station, only to find there was not a sign of a conveyance of any kind in sight. With grim humor, but with that perfect courtesy which marks the officers of these conti- nental railways, we were pleasantly told, " turn to the right and walk on eight or ten minutes and tahe it easy ! " Along a white, dusty, almost shadeless highway we walked (because we could do nothing else) till on our right, away from the road, we saw a goodly j)ile of buildings ; innocently turning away from the road and across a meadow, we were met, when we had almost reached the group, by an aged sister, tidily attired in dull blue with white apron and head-gear, who demurely took us round to the front, by the road, to an open place, faced by a church, and several large and small buildings. At the porter's lodge we were committed to the care of another sister, of uncer- tain age, but attractive face and agreeable man- ners, who to our amusement^/'s/^ conducted us to the salesroom — which was perfectly character- istic, where was quite a display of embroidered linen and wearing ap^iarel ; then to the church, which had a fine interior with high altar daintily adorned with pots of floweriiig plants. In the subdued light, the penitential figures kneeling here and there, were pathetic and appealing. From there, to the gardens and conservatories, which were in perfect order, and full of fruit-trees, 228 FRANCE. blossoming plants and growing vegetables. Some of the penitents were digging and preparing the earth ; some sat in the little groves sewing, while in the laundry several of the blue and white robed fraternity were ironing the various articles of a superb ^' trousseau/' ordered from them. Set in the garden wall was a stone faQade with three statues, and projecting from it an iron porch or framework supporting a glass roof and sides. Be- neath this protecting structure,, covered by a white marble slab, was the grave of the good " Abbe Cestoe," the founder in 1839, of this beneficent work for the unfortunate. Through his patience, skill and knowledge, a large tract of land, barren when he purchased it, is now a smiling and fertile farm. All around were fertile fields in fine con- dition with many women at work and several men ploughing in them. We did not see any of the rooms, nor the piggery nor barn-yards of the book. The work seems comprehensive, for not only peni- tents, but old people are cared for and children taught in the schools. It was a hot and dusty walk to the Bernardines, House of Silence, a good quarter of a mile distant. It led to a private road of deep sand, and plodding through it as best we could, we came to a short avenue of plane trees (commonly called with us ^^ sycamore " or '^^ button-ball '') which ushered us into a densely shaded garden-enclosure with num- berless flowers in profuse bloom and numerous magnolia, evergreen and monkey trees. Along a wall at the limit was a row of hot-houses. A great IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 329 black gate opened into their ^^ God's Acre ^' or as the sister said, *^ beyond the black doors/^ A small chapel has a life-sized effigy of the Virgin in black flowing-robes trimmed with gold. An L, cnrtained off, forms the chapel for the Silent Nuns, where they can kneel and not be seen. In the garden the hideous spectres glided away or bowed low over their work at our approach. The element of the romantic and poetical and even of the pic- turesque, was sadly lacking in their appearance, for the woolen robes in which they were enveloped and over which was a large cape, once perhaps white, with a black cross showing between the shoulders and a hood projectiiig some inches over the face, and so shirred at the edge as to quite hide the features, were a dingy, dusky white. We were shown the original chapel and one of the wretched huts thatched with straw and with sanded floor, which were used up to a few years since, and the present refectory, a long, low, perfectly bare apartment with rude tables and seats, and in little drawers the equipment for each person, consist- ing of a rude brown glazed pipkin, a wooden knife and fork, and a napkin. An austere ''^ God only,^' appears over the desolation and barrenness of every room. One longed, out of sheer compassion, to change it to a '' God is Love." The sister said they first took vows for three years, then if they wished, for seven, and then for life when they donned the white habit. They are not allowed to speak to one another, but in case of emergency may appeal to the Mother Superior and can repeat 230 FRANCE. passages and prayers as much as tliey like. Pro- bably there are many repetitions, for they are human. — In the garden among the lovely flowers, is the grave of " Madeleine/^ sister of the good Abbe, and of two others who assisted her in found- ing and establishing the order. With all, it was intensely sad, this utter blotting out of human life, this vain attempt to make amends, and one thought of the Master^s dear words, " Go and sin no more,^' and felt like sounding out the promise, which cannot fail because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, '^ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,^^ as the better, happier, and God-given way. Ten minutes^ ride by rail placed us in quaint, interesting, half Spanish '^ Bay onne,^^ divided by the Adour and Nive, into Petite and' Grand Bayonne. The numerous bridges, shipping, large buildings and the '' Alices Marines/" which with several rows of trees stretch along for a mile beside the waters, make it most picturesque. It was hot, and we were tired, so contented ourselves with the view of the city, the citadel, fortress and cathedral, gained in a general drive of an hour or more. The ancient cathedral has been well re- stored and two stately and imposing spires added of late years by the generosity of a private citizen. The view of these lovely, graceful towers and spires, through the vista of a narrow irregular street, is exquisitely beautiful. Our return to pretty Biarritz was by a ''^ steam tram "which was delightful, as IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 231 it carried us along a beautiful suburban road, past many fine villas and grounds and across the cool green fields. For four hours the railway train bore us through a beautiful country. Much of the time we seemed in the centre of a valley or plain with on either side hills bounding away to horizon, a stretch of living green and of the highest cultivation. But for the women " on a summer's day" raking '^ the meadow sweet with hay," and the uniformly steep pitched roofs of chateaux and village cottages and the French cognomens upon the stations and signs, we could have imagined ourselves in central Kew York. At the end of sixty miles of this, the train stopped and we were at '^ Pau," the birth- place of '' King Henry of Navarre" It was not, of course, the proper time of the year to see it in its life and glory, for it is a winter resort, but we did think to see its natural beauty in perfection, under the warm skies of June. But we were dis- appointed. We drove up to the elevated plateau upon which the town stands and hurried to the balconies from our rooms to catch the oft-extolled view. Beneath us lay a valley threaded by a rapid river ; quite a little settlement, and on opposite side, a line of lofty rolling hills covered with green meadows, vineyards, orchards and trees, with here and there peeping from cool depths, the tower, gable or fagade of tasteful villas. All very pretty, but where oh ! where ! were the famous snow- 23^ FRANCE. capped Pyrenees ? A lovely haze beyond the green hills, finished the sky line of the picture as completely as if there was nothing more, and not once during our two or three days, sojourn was an unobstructed view of them given us. Once in the very early morning were visible the summits only, of the entire range, gleaming, dim, phantom- like and opalescent above the haze, a weird and most unearthly spectacle. The town looked thin and deserted. The front of the elevated plateau upon which it rests, where it faces the deep valley and the " Gave du Pau," is laid out in an orna- mental terrace for a quarter of a mile and is lined with palatial hotels and apartment houses, making a beautiful promenade. At one end of the terrace is the chateau or castle of '^ King Henry of Navarre," which dates from the fourteenth cen- tury and gives to the town its name, and which, save the view from the terrace of the valley and the majestic range of snow-crested Pyrenees some fifty miles away, is the only '' sight" it possesses. This old historic chdteau has been much '^restored" both by King Louis Philippe and the Emperor Napoleon III., and while it has perhaps suffered some loss in the appearance and nameless charm of old lang-syne it has doubtless gained much in beauty, symmetry and finish. The ground plan is curious, being irregular in shape. The facade to- wards the terrace, with richly ornamented dormers, cornices and balconies and a huge, rough, square donjon tower and tiny chapel, is very fine. The corresponding, or parallel wing or structure, grad- ChSteati of La Garaye IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 233 ually nears the other so that the end towards the gardens, beyond the town, is very narrow and mostly composed of two massive towers. These two buildings enclose a wedge-shaped court, the fa9ades of which are superb, with beautiful carv- ings around windows and along cornice, exqui- sitely ornamented dormers and, at the narrow end, a mass of sculpturing from door upon ground floor, all the way up and ending in a dormer of lavish richness. The opposite and wide end of the court is enclosed by a richly ornamented colon- nade of one story, which opens toward a bridge spanning the ancient moat. Upon one side is the old donjon, upon the other the mysterious, window- less tower of Monte Oiseau, so called, says Baede- ker, '^ because there was formerly no staircase and in case of siege the defenders ascended into it by ladders which they drew up after them." Enter- ing the chateau at the small end of the court, we passed through a square hall with low groined ceiling, rich furniture and pictures ; then to an officer's large waiting-room with elegant, carved and leather-covered furniture, exquisite small chandeliers and statues. The windows, deep al- most as an ordinary hall bedroom, in this and many of the apartments, framed in lovely views of the surrounding landscape. Then followed a magnificent, long banqueting hall, hung with im- mense tapestries and golden chandeliers with carved chairs, handsome clocks, etc. All the rooms had richly polished floors and ceilings and furnish- ings of dark varnished and gilded wood, and 234 FRANCE. looked as if ready for occupancy. A heavily carved and ornamented staircase of stone led to a story above where were several rich apartments with superb carved and upholstered furniture^ mantels, enormous vases and tapestries. One, the salon of Margaret de Valois, was furnished with red embossed velvet and lovely Beauvais tapestries, which were as soft and delicate as water- colors. Up a circular staircase and we passed into the most interesting of all, — that in which King Henry was born, where it is said his grand- father Henri d^Albret, took the new-born babe in his arms " after his lips had been rubbed with garlic, according to the custom of Beam, poured down his throat some drops of Jurancon wine, the best the country affords, to give him a strong con- stitution.^^ The wonder is the new-born babe ever lived to finish the tale of Henry of JSTavarre and Ivry ! Adjoining is a large room, elegantly fur- nished called the bedroom of Henry IV., with a huge ancient bedstead found by Louis Philippe, of dark wood covered with panels with heads of the kings of France, and at one side a low platform covered with blue velvet and fleur-de-lis, upon which six golden staves with white silk flags with crest embroidered by the Duchess d^'Angoul^me, support as a pendant, an immense tortoise shell, the cradle of Henry of Navarre. Surmounting the gathering together of the staves above is a golden helmet, with great white ostrich plumes, such as he wore at Ivry. Then followed several handsome rooms, with tapestries, quaint and IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 235 richly carved linen chests and the bedstead of Louis XIV. with spread and canopy of ex- quisite cross-stitch silk embroidery, said to have been executed by the young ladies of St. Cyr, under the direction of Mme. de Maintenon. The colors were fresh and the work very beautiful. It was a charming walk through these beautifully restored rooms, although everything was alarm- ingly fresh and clean. But after passing through with a promiscuous party of twelve or fifteen, with the faithful guide, perfunctorily " speaking his piece " in every one, we felt very much as though we would like to go over it again quietly by our- selves. Bernadotte, created King of Sweden, was a native of Pan, and richly has he remembered and emphasized the fact, by the gift of costly por- phyry tables, vases and mantels deposited here. Abd-el-Kader, that most picturesque of all pris- oners, was confined here, at one time, and its his- torical interest is brought to these later days by its being the residence of Queen Isabella, now de- posed. Within and without, from the terrace or tower, or from the surrounding gardens, it is beau- tiful, interesting and imposing. We had a most enjoyable drive of three hours to the hill-crest op- posite the terrace and the town, passing villas and chdteaux, and having many a lovely prospect. Uad the atmosphere been transparent we would have had a view of the Pyrenees from base to sum- mit, but we carried away only a memory of ])han- tom-like, white irlitterinG^ crests and beautiful 236 FRANCE. outline of snow-capped heights, here and there, above or through a haze — which, had it not de- feated our purpose, we would have revelled in and pronounced exquisite. A MODERN BETHESDA. LOURDES. A NEW sensation awaited ns, in a visit to Loiircles, which may well be termed '^ a modern Bethesda," since it is an indisputable fact that it has been for some reason or other, a place of heal- ing to a great multitude of impotent folk. Wish- ing to have abundance of time, we made it an excursion from Pau, which was unnecessary, for we could have stopped several hours, sufficient to have seen it all, and gone on in the afternoon to Toulouse. It was indeed a new sensation, for hitherto our thought and attention had been centered upon palaces, cathedrals and galleries, dilapidated cities, interesting countries and char- acteristic peoples, but now we were to stand face to face with one of the strangest manifestations of the present century. It was but an hour's journey from Pau, through a beautiful, highly cultivated hill-country, with often beyond the green-clad mountains, in the clouds or haze, the always weird, spectral, opalescent tips of the snow-crested Pyre- nees. All along were seen the quaint, tiled-roofed villages, fine arched stone bridges and many a hay- field made picturesque by women harvesting. The immediate approach to Lourdes was impres- ^3T 238 FRANCE. sive and beautiful, for we saw the peaceful scene of the handsome church, the lovely Grotto, the suggestive Calvary, the castle-crowned rock and the mountain panorama, ere we came upon the dull monotonous roofs of the town where the station is located. A dusty drive of ten or fifteen minutes through the town, which but for the numerous bazaar-like shops, brilliant with bric-a- brac, religious articli^s, statues and rosaries, would have been dull and prosaic, and we came at once into a scene of strikingly peaceful and finished beauty. It was like a huge bowl surrounded by a gentle ridge upon one side, abrupt elevations upon others and the great rock (which hides the town) crowned most picturesquely with the various tow- ers and irregular walls of the ancient historic cas- tle. The hillsides are dotted with imposing build- ings of various kinds ; — through a break is seen a lateral valley or gorge, while beyond, appear moun- tain heights. Hotels and villas crowd to one side ; — the " G-ave du Pau," flows rapidly and bends abruptly around the Grotto rock, and in the bot- tom of the bowl stretches a beautifully kept and long open green or park, while beyond, perched high in air upon the Grotto rock is the costly Gothic basilica with a single, but elegant and graceful, spire. Directly in front of it, but some- what lower, is the Church of the Eosary, of which only a low glass portal and a zinc-covered dome, are visible. Enclosing it, like great welcoming arms stretched out to gather the multitude to its hospitable bosom, are upon either side^, circular, A MODERN BETHESDA. 239 gradually rising pathways of handsome stonework like a horseshoe, to the basilica, a most ingenious utilization of space. AVe first visited the lower church, that of the Rosary, passing through por- tals of elaborately sculptured stone with glass doors and ornamentation of mosaics. The inte- rior is very odd and peculiar, being in form of a cross Tvith a fringe of chapels on every side and a low dome with colored windows over the intersec- tion of nave and transept. Cheap chandeliers, and numerous banners, some of which are very rich, hang from the ceiling, while the side walls are dotted with numberless frames containing first communion and bridal wreaths of orange flowers ; — ej)aulets, military honors, crosses, medals and swords. Against the piers are set large slabs of marble inscribed with various thanksgivings and remembrances. The high altar had a frontal of embroidered cloth of gold, a statue of ^'^ Our Lady " and a quantity of tawdry paper flowers. We passed out a side entrance, descended a spiral staircase and came into the blessed open air, by the side of the church, but on the level below. It was cool and verdant to look upon, huge trees made grateful shade that sultry day, and beyond a low wall, the rapid river ran closely by. We walked along the mountain base, trying to collect our thoughts and to relegate scepticism and unbelief to the background, that we might look at it all, with the proper reverence and respect of a guest, although necessarily tinged with compassion and pity. I have a great aversion to regarding or treating any 240 FRANCE. place or object honestly held sacred by either indi- vidual or multitude, with contempt or ridicule, be- ing willing to accord to others that which I desire for myself. Otherwise, I would never visit shrine, church or holy place, at all. Along the base were several low granite bath-houses, one of which we entered. It was small, finished with blue stone, with steps descending to an oblong bath with places upon either side for attendants. When the afflicted one is helpless or too ill to walk, he is laid upon a ^^ grille "of cotton bands and gently low- ered into the waters, claimed to have miraculous powers of healing. Beyond these baths, is a long row of faucets and stone basins, from which the water from the grotto spring flows continually, and then the inevitable shop where candles and canteens to carry away the water are for sale. It was a dis- cordant note, but inseparable from the system. Beyond was the grotto not at all impressive, a small rough cavern, not more then twenty feet in height, with the rock roof blackened by the smoke and grime of continually burning candles. Pen- dant from the roof hung a large number of crutches and mechanical apparatus for maimed or broken limbs, black with the smoke of the unctuous can- dles. In the centre was an altar and a long pro- cession of superb bouquets of fresh flowers stretched tastefully and beautifully away to one side. In a niche in the rock above is a statue of '^ Our Lady of Lourdes '' in long robes and flowing veil of white and a blue girdle or sash, as she is said to have appeared to the little maiden in this very place. A MODERN BETHESDA, 241 The fame of this humble place rests upon the very slight foundation^ that the Virgin here appeared several times in 1858 to a delicate child, ^^Berna- dette Subirous " while playing in the vicinity, and directed that a shrine in her honor should be built in this locality. Perhaps the j^oor child was al- ready ill, but soon after she was taken, while sick, to the Ursuline convent at Nevers, where she died in 1880. It is claimed that the spring or water broke miraculously from the rock about the time of those appearances of the Virgin. The place sprang at once into popularity, for within the first year it was visited by three hundred thousand people, and it has increased so in favor that spe- cial cars are now arranged to carry comfortably the most helpless invalids from all parts of Europe. The beneficent ivy covers the face of the great rock and falls like a drapery over the grotto open- ing. Two huge stands hold the burning candles placed there by the faithful, and an iron fence pro- tects the front, although the gate was freely open to everyone. Within, devotees were kneeling in prayer or earnestly kissing the great black rock. In front of the railing was a smooth open place with long seats. Perhaps some twenty persons were sitting quietly or kneeling there, too intent upon their devotions apptirently, to notice any of the surroundings. It was very quiet, and in one sense, solemn and impressive. There were no helpless or sick ones there save only one old lady in a wheel chair. But it was not a day of pilgrim- ages and scarcely any one was there. Even in the i6 243 FRANCE. great church above, we saw but one person— an old, hard -working peasant, and she was asleep with her beads in her hands ! It was a place for meditation, for it was cool and shady, the river ran close by with soothing sound, while beyond, a shadowed path followed it and wound out of sight, and in range of vision were the silent hills. The stories of the miraculous cures are marvellous, and like many other things, quite impossible to analyze or com- prehend. We could not, of course, accept the be- lief that the waters were gifted with any miracu- lous powers of healing, but we could understand how many a mind lifted out of itself by faith in them, could be largely benefited. We could, for the time being, put ourselves in the place of these people, remembering that to which they had been educated, a system of penance and good works, understand that perhaps for the first time in their lives, faith in the Unseen was experienced and the result appeared to them miraculous. One cannot make light of it, no matter how little stock he may take in it, for it is all too serious a matter to those concerned. Yet, to us it was painfuly sad. Like so many of the church rituals and rites, it seemed to us it might be said of this, " Ye have taken away my Lord, and I know not where ye have laid Him.^' For it is not Jesus the great Healer, the Divine Kedeemer, who is made prominent, but Mary, '' Our Lady of Lourdes," and the common waters of a wayside grotto. Eeturning to the circular staircase within an octagonal tower, thereby avoiding the long walk A MODERN BETHESDA. 243 around in the sun, we came out ujoon a porch and entered the crypt or basement of the Basilica, where there was little save a long corridor lined with confessionals and walls covered with votive offerings and inscribed marble slabs, and at the end several small chapels. AVe found the great church above, consisting of a single nave with apsidal eastern end, and in place of side aisles, a row of some thirteen chapels, very small as cathedrals go in this country. The ''tout-ensemble'' is very festive and gala-like, for pendant from the arched groined ceiling, are some thirty or forty sump- tuously embroidered banners glittering with gold and radiant with colors, and around the clerestory are richly tinted windows. Everywhere are pen- dent also, chandeliers of crystal and of gold. The cream white walls between clerestory and chapel arches are fairly hidden by multitudinous banners, framed '' votos" and golden hearts, the latter so arranged that they formed certain texts and quo- tations. A semi-military air, such as one notices in England in the chapels of certain orders, is im- parted by twelve or fourteen national flags, one of which is the Stars and Stripes ! A delicate screen of iron heavily gilded, encloses the high altar of simple white, with a statue of ''Our Lady of Lourdes " beneath a canopy of gold with a half dozen hanging lamps with crimson bowls, contin- ually burning before it. The general effect was very subdued and solemn, harmonious and impres- sive, although suggestive of some festive occasion. The number of " votos " or offerings is bewildering. 344 FRANCE. for upon all sides, tlie walls are covered with them, tastefully arranged and carefully placed so that at first glance, they seem a part of a scheme of dec- oration. As in the Church of the Eosary below, but in far greater numbers and of more costly character are seen family jewels, military trap- pings and swords, medals and crosses of honor, and bridal wreaths, all telling silently of the hearths recognition of blessings conferred and thanksgiving for them. Some of the multitudi- nous inscriptions are extremely touching and pathetic, such as ^^ thanks for reconciliation in a family circle,'^ — '^ thanks for recovery of a child or mother, ^^ — and ^' thanks for the grace of con- version.^' They make it seem like holy ground, — a great presence chamber inscribed and filled with the prayers of His saints. Surely He who looketh at the heart, must accept sincere and honest as- criptions to His praise and name wherever given ! Regard it as you may, you cannot escape the touching and pathetic aspect of this great com- pany or volume of thanksgivings and acknowledg- ments. Something of the great sorrow and suf- fering of the world, towards which, in loving ten- derness, the pitying eye of our Lord (and not the Virgin), we love to think, is ever turned, op- presses mind and heart while standing there, while thought and faith pass on, even to the presence chamber of the Most High, which must ever be filled with the cries, the praises and the thanks- giving of His children here on earth. A con- sciousness also comes to one, of the helplessness of 11 A MODERN BETHESDA. 245 man, — his need of help spiritual and divine. The secret of the place lies in this yearning of body and soul for something personal and divine. The prominence given everywhere to Mary the Mother of our Lord is painful, in view of the words " there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby ye must be saved." — But no ac- knowledgment of Christ dominates this or any other structure, save the dead Christ upon the Cross, — instead of the ever-loving, ever-interceding One before the throne. — "We turned away unsatis- fied and sad, and could but feel that if all this vo- lume of pleading ; this reaching out, — and action of misguided faith, — this avalanche of thanks- giving, could but be directed and fixed upon Him who bore our sorrows and carried our griefs, what glorious results would be manifest and this little valley and these beautiful hills would leap for joy. The refrain kept sounding in our hearts while we sat reverently and quietly in this beautiful pres- ence chamber so eloquent with praise and thanks- giving,— " And when before the Throne We stand in Him complete : We'll lay our trophies down, All down at Jesus' feet." HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE. TOULOUSE — KIMES, ETC. The dense haze neither lifted nor disappeared, but with almost vicious persistency obscured the view to the last. When we turned finally away from Pau there was not even a suggestion of moun- tain range in sight. The day was heavy, cloudy, and hot ! For four hours and a half we sped along a beautifully cultivated country, with no novel characteristics save the multitude of Lombardy poplars, and the steep roofs. Once we had a fine mountain view, but the greater part of the way the landscape was simply peaceful and pretty. We arranged to stop at Toulouse for the Sabbath. A few hours there, would ordinarily suffice. The Hotel du Midi had been commended to us, because it faced a public square — that of " The Place de Capitole." Wondering what awaited us, we drove a long way through crooked streets with much that was novel and characteristic upon every side ; and entered at last a deep porte-cochere and were landed in a typical French court, with stiif shrubs in boxes, and caf6 and ^' salle-a-manger" windows opening to the floor. Four or five servants in shirt-sleeves and aprons surrounded us and the impression was not cheering to say the least. But when ^' Madame," 246 HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE. 247 with her ribbons and flowing skirts and pretty French ways, and ^' Monsieur," with his effusive bows, a2:)peared, and we were escorted upstairs, improvement was visible with every foot of pro- gress. Fortunately our rooms overlooked the Place, a great paved open square, for it was nfete day and in the evening processions with lanterns and instrumental music and societies singing the ^^ Marseillaise " and a great multitude of people, continually passed to and fro. AVhen we closed our windows for the night, the great ugly Place was deserted and still. But wheii we threw them open (not very early) the next morning, such a strange sight greeted us, that we fairly wondered if ive had ^'gang agley."" It looked as if gigantic mush- rooms had sprung up in the night, for the whole space was covered by immense white umbrella and other shaped tents and awnings, for a general market was in full swing. It was very droll and exceedingly pretty. We walked through many of the little passages or aisles upon which vegetables, fruits, flowers, hats, clothing, shoes, and about everything required to keep life going, were ex- posed for sale. At twelve o'clock the work of the day was done and we watched with much curiosity and interest the gradual folding of the "tents like the Arabs " and the silent creeping away. Like magic they came,— like magic they disaj^peared. One umbrella tent after another came down ; va- rious booths Avere quickly transformed into plat- form-wagons, with the tent-cloths neatly folded over the wares, and one after another crept away, 348 FRANCE. leaving the great square littered with cabbage- leaves and refuse. But unlike our way of doing, almost immediately carts and men appeared on the scene, much as the lackeys do upon a stage and at one o'clock not a trace of tents, market or rubbish was visible, and the bare, hot sunny square was deserted save by a few drowsy cabmen in an atten- uated row. It was a transformation scene of singular fascination and interest. In the evening we visited one of the stations of the McAll Mission to France, which looked like a little shop entirely without decoration, unless along strip of '' Turkey Red'' with ''Dieu est Amour" in silver paper letters, — two or three chromos and two large texts upon blue pasteboard, could be dignified with such a name. There were some twenty-five present, which, considering the fete was still in progress, and the streets unusually attractive, was remark- able. A young lady sat at a melodion, a young man assisted with a violin, and a choir of five voices sang the familiar hymns which carried us in spirit and association beyond the sea, and made us all kin. Our return was by a boulevard and past the '' Rond," a little park where a children's fete was in progress, made very brilliant by innumerable lanterns in the trees and little globules of light, forming pretty designs and patterns upon the lawns. A general drive upon the morrow showed us the leading features of the town of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, built upon either shore of the rapid Garonne, which is spanned by several iron and stone bridges. In the principal HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE. 249 streets were handsome buildings and shops, — and a museum, but the greater portion was very com- monplace. Although roughly finished the old church of St. Sernin, dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries, and conscientiously restored by Viollet-le-Duc, proved a very large and fine and really picturesque Romanesque structure, standing quite alone with street or open place surrounding it. Its interior beauty and impressiveness is a surprise. The long, narrow and very lofty nave with Norman roof and triforium marches is very solemn, reminding somewhat of Durham. A tri- forium gallery, double Norman arches, columns with sculptured capitals, four aisles and a stately nave ending with an apse and tiny semicircular chapels, make an interior of great beauty. The vista of the nave is closed most effectively by the dark wood of the choir, the showy high altar and beyond, lifted high in air, the golden sarcoph- agus of St. Sernin, and still further on the gold and colors of the tiny chapels of the apse. Beneath the high altar is a most peculiar and unusual crypt, partly Roman and partly Gothic, in which small dark chapels, gorgeously deco- rated in gold and colors, open from a central hall, each with a twelfth century chest or sarcoph- agus of gilded metal containing bones of saints. In the upper chapel reliquaries of richest work stand in a row, quite suggesting a shop. Across many a level stretch of the intervening space between Pau and Carcasonne, the ripening grain, or as they say, " corn" made glints of yellow 250 FRANCE. and gleams of gold ; — tlie character of houses and villages perceptibly changed ; — the steep, pointed roofs gave place to flat Italian ones and the Lom- bardy poplar and plane and button-ball trees were omnipresent. Just after leaving Carcasonne we had a perfect view of its castle-crowned hill, its dull walls and numerous towers. Twice after- wards we saw the towers and the crests of the walls and then Carcasonne passed out of our sight, probably forever. For four heated hours, the country traversed seemed to grow less and less interesting. At Cette, we saw the extensive salt works and had a whiff of refreshing Mediterranean air. Beyond Cette, the vineyards multiplied, so that it sometimes seemed as if there must be miles of them. The tint of the earth was a bright terra-cotta almost a brick color, contrasting beauti- fully with the tender green of the young vines. From the station of Montpellier, we looked long- ingly to the ancient city upon the crests of the lofty hills above, which time would not allow us to visit. This whole country with its Roman tra- ditions and remains and its historic roll of peoples and events, is of such surpassing interest and fasci- nating suggestion, that it seemed almost wicked to pass through it, with only a superficial glance. Toulouse has its memories, but Mmes, Aries and Avignon are especially rich in Eoman ruins and tangible reminiscences. In early evening, fairly wilted with the heat, we alighted at Nimes, — passed rapidly through a long, imposing boule- vard, came into a spacious open place and were Maison Carree. Niraes HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE. 251 soon comfortably settled at the Hotel du Luxem- bourg overlooking a pretty park and fountain with enormous swans. Nimes proved a treasure-house, without a single disappointment. It dates from before the Christian era and possesses more rem- nants and remains of the Roman regime than any other town in France. The old Roman amphi- theatre, dating from the first and second centuries was but a few minutes away. As it stands alone, of whitish gray stone much smoked and discolored, showing two stories of Ionic columns and arches all seriously marred and injured, surrounded by wide streets or open spaces, it is not only most ad- vantageously seen, but is most imposing and impres- sive. Oval in form, it encloses an area of 437 x 332 feet. While smaller than the Colosseum at Rome and the Amphitheatre at Aries, it is in a much better state of preservation. Neither Aries, Nimes, nor Verona, however, surpass the grand old pile in the Eternal City, in color, impressiveness or environment. The corridors and the vistas with the arched openings or windows toward the street, are very beautiful and picturesque. The Arena and open spaces, from which were caught many a fascinating view, were intensely hot in the glare of the sun, but the upper corridors were breezy and delightful, and it was most satisfactory to sit there quietly and read the story of it, all so strange and unreal, in the glamour of the lapse of years. One looks at the enormous blocks of stone (G x 10 ft.) neatly fitted and joined without mortar ; pictures it in its glory with its company of twenty-four 353 FRANCE. thousand spectators on pleasure bent, and the thought that even this and the life which it repre- sents has utterly disappeared from the face of the earth, is appalling and bewildering. We could never become quite accustomed to this feature of European travel nor analyze the emotion it in- spired, perhaps because in our own land, even a re- curring hundred years is something to celebrate. The amphitheatre is imposing, grand ; but in quite another part of the town is the Maison Carree, a trophy of the second century than which neither Eome nor Athens can show anything fairer, a small Corinthian temple (76 x 40) with front portico of ten faultless columns and set in side walls some twenty engaged or half columns, all with richly sculptured Corinthian capitals. Owing to details of decoration, symmetry of form, beauty of design and almost perfect condition it is probably the most beautiful remain of the Roman age extant. It stands alone, above and in the centre of an open square and has such a checkered history that one wonders that anything is left to tell the tale or per- petuate the beautiful thought of which its form is the embodiment Built originally in time of Au- gustus, for a temple, it became later a place of Christian worship ; then a place of meeting of the municipal officers ; still later a stable ; anon, con- nected with a convent as a dead-house or place of sepulture ; a revolutionary tribunal ; a corn ware- house ; and now, carefully repaired and restored, a museum. The ornament upon pediment and cor- nice, the design and execution of the arabesque HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE. 253 frieze are exquisite, while the detail and finish of columns and capitals are faultless and probably not surpassed the world over. Excavations have revealed that originally it was a central building flanked by wings upon either side and glorious must have been the effect. When one thinks of a fin- ished structure like this, springing into beautiful existence from some mighty brain in that far-dis- tant age and remembers it has never been sur- passed or equalled, the feeling obtrudes that the high-water-mark of original architecture has been reached, and that henceforth there is nothing but suggestion, adaptation or repetition. Henry "Ward Beecher once exclaimed in his exuberant love of natural beauty : — " What a glorious thought it was when God thought of a tree!" Recalling this, the thought even comes in presence of these triumphs of ancient art, " What a glorious thought it was, possessing mind and heart of man, that found such perfect expression that even in these later days it serves as a standard of faultless grace, opulent imagination and unapproachable beauty !" The Maison Carree alone repays for all the trouble and fatigue of the entire trip. A pleasant drive is to the public gardens, which are prettily laid out and made most picturesque and interesting by the old Roman baths. Great canals or basins are full of clear sparkling water, while the baths, back of pretty columns, are seen beneath the pathways. Directly above, a steep hillside, beautifully covered with shrubbery, has a zigzag balustraded walk to the summit, where 354 FRANCE. ^1 stands a ragged and mined octagonal tower, the " Tour Magne/^ some ninety feet in height, sup- posed originally to have been a family mausoleum, which commands a most extensive view. Near by the baths was the Temple of Diana, a much shat- tered but beautiful ruin, with halls, arches and niches for statuary, now in process of strengthen- ing and restoration. Was it not enough ? Steeped with the inex- pressible charm of these ancient, picturesque and thrilling remains, was it any wonder that we were content to give to the modern city, with its picture gallery and museum, its manufactories of silk, and its attractive boulevards, not even the modicum of a passing glance ? THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM. CARCASONNE. FiCTiox and poetry, lamentable as it may seem, will often inspire interest and fix permanently in the memory that which more-to-be-valned his- tory with its details and undisputed facts will fail to do. We questioned, but for several versions of the exquisite poem of Gustave Xadaud which ran the round of the secular press some years ago, Avhether, unfamiliar with Southern France, we would even have known of '^ Carcasonne/' But that which points the moral and adorns the tale of the poem, appeals so to every one's experience, that once read, it is not easily or soon forgotten. Some busy lives are crowded with day-dreams, with mental picturings of places or experiences the ful- filment and realization of which sometimes punc- tuates the passing years with delightful incident and interesting epoch. As Carcasonne had been with us for many a long year a sunny day-dream, it was quite impossible to think of it as only two hours away as we sat in Pau, without quickening of pulse and throbbing of heart. Upon our arrival the heat was intense, quite equal to our best July records, so that when fairly settled in the unpre- tentious little Hotel St. Jean Baptiste at Car- 255 256 FRANCE. casonne we were quite content to ignore the at- tractions and claims of this portion of the world for two or three restful hours. Then we thought to take a drive around the modern town called the " Ville Basse" leaving the walled mediaeval '' Cite " until the morrow. We were too subdued to have any preferences and hade the coachman take us where he would. To our surprise we found it a very pretty town with a number of boulevards, '^ allees" and an attractive garden or park, and a busy mart as well, having several woollen factories and apparently a large population. It is watered by the Eiver Aude and the Canal du Midi, that wonderful work commenced in 1666, which con- nects, by an artificial course of one hundred and fifty-five miles, the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. — " What ! another church " we exclaimed as we stopped at St. Vincent^s, a fine old restored structure of the fourteenth and six- teenth centuries, with a heavy unfinished tower, and an interior peculiarly imposing because con- sisting only of a nave sixty-six feet wide, the widest, in fact, in France, and a row of beautiful stained-glass rose windows below the roof. The Cathedral of St. Michael is narrower, but very similar, and with the side chapels and the colored decorations, both of these spacious" interiors were handsome and imposing. "Did you not weary with the churches and cathedrals ? " we are asked. No ! never tired of tliem but tired ourselves very often, but even then we could not forget that perhaps we might never pass that way agaiu;, THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM. 257 and ^' did'' them faithfully always. Faithful '^Coachee" properly mindful of coming '^•pour- boire," stopped at a little gateway in a high wall ; we wondered what it could be if not a private garden. It proved to be, upon a large and costly scale, a Calvary ! The walled enclosure (not level but much diversified) was covered with a lawn, thickly planted with trees and hedges. Set into the walls, some fifteen feet above the street, were at intervals, the twelve Stations of the Cross, bas- reliefs in little porticos. In a retired nook, was the Agony in the Garden, the three Disciples lying asleep beneath some shrubbery, the Saviour, almost hidden, kneeling in prayer a short distance away, while upon a knoll above, among the thick verdure, was an angel with the cup. Gradually the paths led up to a hilltop where were three crosses, with life-sized figures, the thieves being secured by ropes. In addition to this, within the enclosure was a chapel and several grottos with groups of figures. It was painfully realistic, a strange sight to us, but the garden was beautiful and the view from the height towards the horizon hills, lovely. Beyond the town, we drove for a couple of miles beside the Canal du Midi and then ascended a hill. From several points, we had caught glimpses of the mediaeval '' Cite," the Carcasonneof the poem, and sat spellbound with the beautiful vision. But the picture from this hill crest, was simply inde- scribable ! The atmosphere was hazy and dreamy, the light subdued and tender. Against the horizon rose a line of soft blue and violet hills, and against 17 258 FRANCE. the bronze green nearer hills piled in turn against them, rose phantom-like, weird, and spectral, a long irregular line of fortification walls, round and square towers. There was no gleam, or flash, or glitter ; all was dun and dull ! It was so the color of the soil, it seemed like a growth from the very earth ; or a mirage, an apparition, which at any moment might disappear or dissolve. The west- ern sky was watery ; the sun, dim or veiled by the soft haze, threw a soft, mellow light upon the whole varied and picturesque pile. It seemed un- natural and unearthly, yet it was not heavenly I There was no suggestion of an eternal city as there might have been in flashing sunlight. It was too earthly, for that. It was so rich and varied in form and outline, so spectacular in effect, that it seemed a scene put upon a stage ! there was no life in it ; no expression of defiant or impregnable strength, for in the soft, golden, hazy atmosphere, it seemed to waver as a mirage, to tremble with indistinctness as in a vision. We looked at it long and well, fearing that on the morrow, in glare of sunshine, it would be matter of fact and prosaic. We have watched cloud banks and seen them ap- parently by some mysterious force, form into bat- tlements and towers and mighty walls, as of some heavenly fortification ; have seen the beautiful and thrilling apparitions tumble apart or dissolve and been awed by the mystical scene. With much the same emotion and feeling we gazed, that early, quiet evening hour, upon this far-away, weird, and picturesque pile of venerable towers and prolonged I THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM. 259 battlements, which now fully restored, presents better than any other in France, a picture of a stronghold or a fortress of the Middle Ages. In approaching it the next morning, we drove almost entirely around the base of the hill upon which the fortifications and city stand, and had a most fine and satisfactory view of the entire cir- cuit. In the glare of the morning sun it lost, of course, much of the dreamy and mystical appear- ance which was the charm of yesterday, but those rough walls and varied towers could never be other- wise than picturesque and delightful to behold. It all seems cut from the whole cloth of another age, and as one walks through it and has attention drawn in crypt or cathedral to work of the fourth century, and at one point and another to that of each succeeding cycle, in bewilderment he scarcely knows whether he is contemporary with the nine- teenth or not. The immediate approach to the Narbonne gate (there are but two) with at one side the sculptured head of Carcas, a " Saracen woman who, according to the legend, alone re- mained in the city, after a siege of five years, by Charlemagne," was fine and impressive. Let it be understood, Carcasonne is a town of the Middle Ages, enclosed with a double line of fortifications, with some fifty round towers and walls rising fifty and sixty feet above steep cliffs, built and rebuilt upon old Roman foundations previous to the fifth century, with work of the fifth to the thirteenth centuries, all dominated by a citadel. In shape, it is nearly square and about a mile in circumfer- 260 FRANCE. ence. It has been the scene of fierce conflict, and has withstood the assaults of the Crusaders, and its history, like every European stronghold, is written in blood. For many years it was left to neglect and decay, and the narrow, steep streets, and rickety houses, the towers and fortifications were the abode of the poorest class of people, ^^ squatters," in fact. But in later years (1844), at Government expense, under the magic touch of f I M. Viollet-le-Duc, it has been restored and the castle is now a barrack. Up beneath archways and through narrow, curving, and crooked streets, with many an abrupt turning, we passed with a clatter of horses' hoofs and cries of coachmen suffi- cient to have taken a city, until we came to an open place by the cathedral. We were entirely unprepared for the vista of grace and beauty that stretched before us when we entered the sacred edifice. You may go far and wide, even in this land of churches and cathedrals, and not see anything more chaste, graceful or beautiful. The nave is Eoman or Norman with alternate square and round arched openings, and a roof just turning from the round arch of the Roman into the point of the Gothic. The apsidal end is a cluster of tall slender windows, a bouquet of softest and richest colorings. The transepts form three chapels on either side, all a solid line of these attenuated, glorious windows, while columns, arches and ceiling soar away in lines of slender, pointed Gothic. At the end of each tran- sept is a superb wheel window of richest glass. THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM. 261 most of which, we were told, was of the fourteenth century. In the pavement before the high altar is a slab of reddish marble said to mark the origi- nal burial-place of Simon of Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who fresh from the Crusades, at the bidding of the Pope, waged a war of extermination upon the Christian Albigenses. The remains have been removed and the original slab, with incised effigy of a knight in armor, is fastened against the transept wall. The old sacristan, who lay asleep upon one of the settles close to the high altar when we entered, after showing us the tomb of a good bishop in the sacristy, said he had much more to show us and lighting a candle led us through a long, narrow subterranean stone passage until we came to a low crypt beneath the high altar. It was bare, but with many columns and two of the rude original altars which, with carv- ing upon one or two capitals was all work of the fourteenth century. Verily, in such a place one feels a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. In the nave is a queer quaint carving of the Siege of Toulouse which, with a bishop's tomb, a picturesque baptistry, and a fine organ, quite completes the interesting category. Then we walked to the ramparts and visited a fine tower of several stories, seeing the apparatus for lowering iron gates, the narrow well-holes down which were hurled missiles and boiling-oil was poured in time of siege, and the narrow loop-holes for the archers, and from the roof looked down upon the outer and lower walls, with their long promenades and 262 FRANCE. battlements, and off upon the pretty but not strik- ing environing country, slumberous and quiet in tlie sultry, hazy air. A smooth walk follows the line of the summit of the walls, but at almost f I every tower steps must be ascended or descended ; we saw the Bishop's Tower, the Old Mill Tower and looked down into its depths ; — the Inquisition Tower, with its dungeons and chains, and the Moorish Tower with pretty Alhambraic windows, and several others. The majority are more or less restored, but one is left in shattered condition. The original towers with conical and pointed roofs were covered with slate, so the restored ones are treated in the same way, but it is easy to distin- guish them, for the old ones have a glitter that the nineteenth century dull ones do not possess. It is all, however, dull in color. The roofs in the hot sunlight have the cold heartless gleam of steel or metal. It was so intensely hot, the air so oppressive, the reflection of the stone walks and walls so scorching that we gave up the round of remaining towers and walls and turned reluc- tantly away. It is all so quaint and old ! A little terraced garden outside of the Narbonne Gate is the only touch of the nineteenth century, for even the tidy old women, knitting demurely outside of their apartment doors in the " Cite " seem con- temporaneous with a time long dead. The view from the towers and battlements upon a clear day take in, we were told, the distant, snow-crested Pyrenees, — but that sultry day the warm, glowing haze seriously limited the view, As we drove THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM. 263 away, I fear our thoughts were more with the mythical old man of the poem who " never saw fair Carcasonne/^ than with the multitude who impart to it a rich and varied historic interest. Had not the heat been so intense, — had not dis- tant Norway beckoned us to her cape and fjords, — or had we not felt with the poet, " Perhaps in autumn I can find Two sunny days with gentle wind, I then could go to Carcasonne," — we would gladly have tarried and seen the pictu- resque historic pile in still different moods and changing lights ; but we were content, for our dream was realized and we, at least, had looked upon ^^fair Carcasonne." ****** While I have penned these lines and lived over again in thought and memory this unique experi- ence with the hauntingly beautiful pathos of the poem trembling in every reminiscence, tenderly has it been borne in upon me that in the interval '' the church-belFs low and solemn toll " has sounded "for passing soul" of one who was the winsome and gentle central figure of the happy group of those halcyon days, — and while we still wander up and down this beautiful earth, her blessed feet, never wearied in unselfish ministry, have passed triumphantly 'through the Gate, — into the City." UNTO THE END. AELES — AVIGNON. Antique Aries and poetic Avignon, — common- place Lyons and, as a home base, ever brilliant Paris ! So ran the charming itinerary now fast drawing to a close. Between Mmes and Aries lay a journey of an hour, with a wait at Tarascon of a half-hour additional. Just before Tarascon was reached a fine view was obtained of an old Gothic palace of King Kene, with high massive walls, round towers and keys, but now a prison. (With the wont of tourists we speak familiarly of that of which we know literally nothing !) The country all the way from Nimes steadily grew poorer and poorer ; the vineyards looked as if life was a struggle, the stunted olives loaded as everything else with white dust, as if it was hardly worth living. Even the rocks had the grayish white look of lime or chalk, and scarce a tree of any size was visible. The day was done when we stopped at the station of Aries. (And we were almost so !) Our drive to a hotel upon the Place du Forum, which name at once suggested the antique atmosphere of the town, seemed inter- minable, the streets being narrow and crooked and the turns abrupt. There were two hotels 264 I UNTO THE END. 265 quite close together, each possessing that exasper- ating peculiarity which made the final selection of one provoke the regret that the other had not been chosen ! The traces or evidences of Koman life and rule at Aries are very marked, and are of surpassing interest. The great arena or amphi- theatre (459 X 341) is larger and in many respects unlike that at Nimes, but is of the same grayish stone, much discolored and defaced and badly shattered. The view of the interior is extremely picturesque and impressive, the upper tier of arches being perfect and at four different points the remains of square towers added in the eighth cen- tury by the Saracens when used as a fortress. The view from the tallest of these was most interest- ing, for in every direction the country lay as '^ level as a barn floor," while immediately around were the dull roofs of the duller town. Upon the level, well covered with small trees and green fields, the Eiver Rhone bends and twists in the form of a small boy's very badly shaped capital '' S." At a distance, upon a slight elevation, were visible the towers and walls of an ancient monas- tery surrounded by a small village. The air being hazy, mountains were distinguishable in only one direction. Perhaj^s there were no more, for it did not look like a country where they could be plentiful. The look down upon the arena, with tier after tier of seats, huge arches and ruined, shat- tered, but picturesque corridors, obliterated the nineteenth century and carried thought and imagi- nation to a far distant life and age. One naturally 266 FRANCE. settles into reverv, — into dreaming or reminis- cence. The ruling characteristics were similar to those at Nimes, but at no point did we secure such a superb view of the exterior. The box for the emperor, as well as the parapet before it, is here unusually perfect. One cannot but notice and admire the wonderful construction whereby immense blocks lie matched and connected as beautifully as if held by cement or mortar, and so well done that, notwithstanding fire and sword, and the decay and changes of centuries, as to present an object lesson to these degenerate days. '' Cui bono ? " one instinctively asks, and from the far- away past comes the trite ^' to make a Eoman holiday.''^ It is said Christianity was introduced in G-aul by Trophimus, that Disciple whom Paul '' left at Miletum sick.^' The Cathedral bears his honored name with the usual prefix, " Saint. ^^ The inter- ior being very bare, with nine or ten immense tapes- tries hung upon side walls, almost too high to be seen, — was of little interest ; but the dirt-covered, stained and time-injured front portal, elaborately carved, showing in droll prison lock-step, two pro- cessions of cherubim, statues of Apostles and in spandril, a Last Judgment, with beautiful columns, was most interesting, being, in fact, a wonderful work. But attached to the church, approached by a staircase and also entered on opposite sides by a door opening upon a street, are the beautiful cloisters so often quoted, which remind by their beauty and expression, of those of St. PauFs at UNTO THE END. 267 Rome. A curious feature is, that two sides are fin- ished with the round arches of the twelfth and two in the pointed or Gothic of the thirteenth. Many of the capitals deftly formed of figures grouped in scriptural scenes or characters, and some entirely of foliage, constitute another. A most unusual one, are full length statues against the piers and exquisite classic pilasters towards the court. The scene presented from the corners is most poetical and picturesque, for at right angles one corridor stretches away with rich, simple, barrel-vaulted roof and lovely round arches supported by clustered columns, while the other presents a groined and pointed roof and the narrow pointed arches of the Gothic order. Another pecularity of this is, the well, usually in the enclosed court, stands inside of the cloister against a pier at the angle. While carefully conserved, it lacks the neatly kept turf in court which is such a charming feature of Clois- ters in Old England. Another intensely interesting reminiscence of the Roman Age is that of the Theatre with a semicircle of seats for sixteen tjiousand sjiecta- tors, with two beautiful Corinthian columns sup- porting a bit of entablature, the remains of an old colonnade. An ancient church is fitted up as a Museum and is filled with sarcophagi, columns, sculptured marbles and statues. We drove beyond the gar- dens and boulevards to the ancient cemetery of Aliscamps, the immediate approach to whicli, through a long avenue of tall Lombardy poplars 268 FRANCE. with, on either side a row of old Roman sarcoph- agi or tombs, was most weird and curious. At the end was the ruined and deserted church of St. Honorat with an elegant octagonal tower rising like a dome over the centre. The interior was damp and bare, with two beautiful side chapels, one with lovely frieze and capitals carved in stone. A general drive showing the Rhone and the old Pal- ace of Constantine, finished our explorations that broiling hot day. Aries was the only place where we saw anything approaching a provincial or local costume. The women very properly are noted for their beauty. The costume consists in a most quaint and peculiar dressing of the hair with Swiss or white lace and binding of embossed velvet or silk ribbons and the wearing of the neck of dress open with embroidered white kerchief folded voluminously over the bosom. Even the market women had large, white printed bordered handker- chiefs folded daintily in thiswise, while a plain but tidily dressed woman who sat upon a doorstep sewing was a most pleasing picture. A hot tedious journey of an hour and a quarter, with little to interest along the way, save the novel sight of hundreds of lovely white and pink olean- ders in profuse bloom, brought us to Avignon, for over one hundred years the residence of the Popes " in exile " and the scene of the platonic love of Petrarch and Laura. Our ideal was most poetic ; the reality most disappointing in spite of battle- Pont du Gard UNTO THE END. 269 merited walls and towers, — the lovely grounds upon edge of the precipice above the river, and the view over the Rhone and the environing country. Had we not been prepared by the sight for several days of sundry photographs, the great ancient Palace of the Popes would have been an utter disappoint- ment, for while we knew it was more fortress than palace we had supposed it more ornate. Like every colossal structure, it is imposing. The great massive walls, sixteen and eighteen feet in thick- ness, rise up bare and plain, save the Gothic recesses sunk in their face, to four and five stories in height. Built in the thirteenth century it looks as if it would stand to the end of time. The balcony from which the Papal Benediction was pronounced has disappeared from the front fa9ade and only a long line in the second story and the original sup- ports over the chief entrance suggest it. It is dif- ficult to conceive that it has ever been the scene of luxurious and profligate living, until the interior is visited, but even that has been so divided and sub- divided to adjust it to its present use as a barrack, as to suggest little of its original grandeur. The stately Gothic hall of the Consistory which was orig- inally a lofty and regal apartment with rich groined roof, is now divided by a floor into two stories and one side has been cut off to form a passage, so that in lower rooms are seen the columns and in upper the groined roof. The structure encloses an immense court with nothing but massive dingy walls, four and five stories in height, entirely bare of any architectural ornament or beauty. There 370 FRANCE. was really very little to see. In the third story a pretty narrow passage with groined ceiling, and the cells of the cardinals were shown. Descending, we crossed the great conrt diagonally, ascended a filthy staircase, passed through a room with old frescoes and went out upon a little balcony which led up to the Tower of St. John into the Chapel of the Inquisition, with walls covered with ancient but badly defaced frescoes, the Chamber of Tor- ture and the Tower in which the brave Eienzi was confined as a prisoner until released through the entreaty of Petrarch who was here a guest, were not shown. From the outside at various points we caught glimpses of the different towers, but while massive, extensive and fortress-like it was a disappointment. The term ^'^ Gothic^' conveys the thought of arches, turrets and foliated orna- mentation. We had pictured it yellow in tint, Gothic in character and perched upon cliffs over- looking the Rhone — while to-day it shows merely a pile, which in its immensity and massiveness pos- sesses only a certain grandeur. Immediately ad- joining the palace, but upon higher ground, as the rocks rise rapidly and steadily, is the Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms, built in the eleventh century, of no external beauty, but with an en- trance porch exquisite and unlike in character, supposed to have been originally a Pagan Temple. It is square in shape, and classic in style, with elegant Corinthian columns and sculptured orna- mentation. Coming from the glaring sunlight the interior at first seems dark and gloomy, but as UNTO THE END. 371 the eye becomes accustomed to it, like magic, features beautiful and suggestive appear. Follow- ing the lines of the nave is a narrow, richly carved and decorated renaissance balustraded gallery, which as it passes the piers, bulges out and is suj)- ported by solid exquisitely carved brackets, all of which is probably a modern addition. The east end is octagonal and forms a choir back of high altar, above which is a singular octagonal dome. Perhaps the most interesting item is the arch- bishop's chair, the throne of the Popes for nearly a century, a small white marble seat with beneath one arm, a large rude bas-relief of the winged Ox of St. Luke, and under the other the Lion of St. Mark. Directly in front of it, a slab in the floor marks the grave of " the brave Crillon," a bronze statue of whom graces the open place below the front of the cathedral. The effect of the interior is curioQS but pretty, but a little mixed, antique marble columns being set up on either side of chapel entrances, exactly as if they had them on hand. Li the sacristy is one of those elaborate architectural trophies sometimes met, which fairly startle and overwhelm with opulence of conceit, exquisiteness of design and perfection of execution, — the remains of the tomb of Pope John XXII. (1334) which originally stood in the nave of the cathedral. The effigy of the pope lies at full length beneath a magnificent, tall, elaborately wrought Gothic canopy, the turrets and pinnacles, arches and floriated ornaments of which form a pile twenty-five or thirty feet in height, of exquisite 273 FRANCE. grace, quite suggesting in its shattered state a mass of icicles or stalactites. It quite reminds one also of the exquisite chantries seen in English cathedrals. Originally sixty statues under ex- quisite canopies and upon delicately chiseled brackets graced the structure, but the orgies of the Revolution made sad hayoc with them. Beyond the cathedral, covering the summit of the great rock which rises precipitately some three hundred feet from the river is the " Promenade des Doms/^ beautifully laid out with winding paths, hedgerows, flower-borders and fountains. The view from the extreme edge is superb. Im- mediately below is the rapid-flowing Rhone, form- ing by its junction with the Durance a long beauti- ful island covered with orchards and golden grain- fields. Beyond the river, upon other shore of the island is the fortress of St. Andrew with lofty and massive walls, ponderous gate towers, and heavy square tower. The houses of the village of Villeneuve, hard by, are so nearly the color of the tawney yellow brown of the soil as to seem a part or parcel of it. All along the distant hillsides appear the gleams of country villas, while looking in opposite directions the valley spreads out level and fertile till lost in the distant horizon line, quite reminding of the Connecticut Valley at Spring- field. While at Nimes we wished to drive to the Pont du Gard, the finest and grandest of all the Roman UNTO THE END. 373 remains in Southern France. The intense heat and the white dust made it unadvisable, but find- we could reach it by train from the Pont du Avignon, a station ui^on the opposite side of the Khone, we drove across a suspension bridge, hav- ing in our progress a fine view of the machico- lated and battlemented walls and several of the thirty-eight watch towers, and in about a half of an hour reached Eemoulins. The only convey- ance to be had was a small ^' ramshackle " bus and a very decrepit old horse that it seemed a sin to hurry. The heavy old driver assured us he could take us to our desired haven in twenty minutes, and strange to say he did, although it seemed in its discomfort, like forty ! As the magnificent structure rose before us in a scene of utter solitude, without suggestion of man or habitation of man, we felt how utterly impossible to convey any idea of the grandeur, sublimity and magnitude of this work of the age of Agrippi, son-in-law of Augus- tus, nineteen years before Christ, blazing almost unharmed in the sunlight of this nineteenth cen- tury summer day. Built originally as a portion of an aqueduct to carry the water of two springs some twenty-five miles away, to Nimes, it gives to-day, perhaps the most impressive picture ex- tant, of the lavishness and luxuriousness of that Roman Age. Just where the River Gard bends most picturesquely through wooded heights and passes out of sight, it springs from one steep bank of the valley to the other like a colossal bridge eight hundred and eighty feet in length, consisting of i8 374 FRANCE. three tiers of arches with in all a height of one hundred and sixty feet. The first or foundation tier, has six massive arches, the second supported by it has eleven, while the third which carries and upholds the aqueduct has thirty-five. The whole structure is formed by immense blocks of tawny yellow stone, laid with the marvellous precision and nicety of Eoman work, without mortar, or cement save in the aqueduct on top, which con- sists of an enclosed canal some four feet by three inside. Save a carriage-road built out upon the first tier in seventeen hundred and forty-five and in use at the present day, the entire pile is useless. But as a spectacle it is grand and awe-inspiring, overwhelming in its magnitude and boldness. The solitude and quiet invests it with a strange and mystical air as it soars away some one hun- dred and sixty feet in the air. It is finer and grander than the aqueducts on the Eoman Cam- pagna or any of the ruins of the Ancient City, save the peerless Colosseum. As we stood some distance from it, the sun broke through the clouds, the yellow stone glowed with life and arch after arch, sharp and well defined, framed in a portion of the country beyond with startling and exquisite effect. As we turned regretfully away, in our confused thought and bewildering revery was mingled the impressive consciousness that, as it stands to-day, so it rose in all its pristine grandeur and pride, ere the blessed Master walked the Judean fields or climbed the far-away slopes of the Galilean hills. UNTO THE END. 275 Pagan Rome, with its pomp and glory has passed utterly away ; the Judean hills and the shores of Galilee are denuded and deserted : but the King- dom of the Nazarene marches steadily on, even to the triumphant end. THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. BY A WAY WE KNEW NOT. Miss Edwards, in her " Untrodden Peaks," published more than twenty years ago, says of the ignorance of the English-speaking world in regard to the so-called Dolomite region, '' that it is by no means uncommon to find educated persons who have never heard of the Dolomites at all, or who take them for a religious sect like the Mormons or Druses." But *^ Dolomite'^ is a much varied and elastic term. To ordinary folk, it designates a certain but comparatively small portion of South- eastern Austria and Northern Italian Tyrol, where within an area of thirty-five by fifty miles are found strange isolated mountain peaks, piunacles and buttresses, which in the most unexpected and unaccountable localities, tower in weird, defiant, awe-inspiring and violent forms, often far above the elevation of ordinary Alpine heights. To the geologist and scientist, it tells of a peculiar rock "formation of carbonate of lime and magnesia, chalk in fact, (in which five thousand feet above the sea level are found remains of fossil fishes and marine deposits,) resting upon granite and other founda- tions of entirely different character, to wiiich atten- 270 280 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. tion was first drawn by Monsieur Dolomieux, a French savant, who in 1789-90 travelled, explored and studied much in the district, and whose name is easily recognized and embalmed in the coined word, '^Dolomite." It is an interesting fact that the mountains are not entirely of this peculiar for- mation, the tallest of all being only so at the top. To the artist it means a wilderness of striking effects and a wealth of fabulous color, compared with which even Switzerland is tame. To the Alpine climber it offers a comparatively new field with sufficient of the fascinating element of dan- ger and an abundant prospect of easily broken neck or bones, — while to the common tourist who looks only from the standpoint of the picturesque, it unrolls a panorama so novel, so unlike all else in Europe, as to seem of another continent or world. Ignorance, however, even at this late day, of routes, modes of travel and accommodations, is quite pardonable, especially if one finds himself unexpectedly in Italy and wishing to reach Inns- bruck, desires to take the Dolomite country on the way, for the literature upon the subject, in English at least, such as guide-books, simple maps, etc., is very meagre, and reliable and serviceable infor- mation exasperatingly difficult to obtain. Baede- ker's '^Eastern Alps" is most unsatisfactory. Meurer's Guide, in German, is admirably illus- trated, the plates giving, in fact, an epitome of all that is grand and striking in the scenery of this enchanting district. We were told at Cook's office in Rome that at their agency in Venice we BY A WAY WE KNEW NOT. 281 could procure all the information, maps and tick- ets we desired or would require. Serene in this assurance, we neglected to improve some opportu- nities for acquiring information from passing friends and tourists, and finally when in Venice we walked up '^ to the Captain^s office to settle," were told they ''knew nothing about the country and had never had a map or ticket." Yet upon a clear day, from the beautiful city of the lagoons, far away may be seen glowing and gleaming against the horizon blue, the mountains of the unknown district ! Perhaps if one speaks German, French and Italian fluently, the difficulty would not be so serious, for a shred of information could be ac- quired here and a bit picked up there, but unfor- tunately it is not every tourist who has so many strings to his linguistic bow. Possibly, too, in London some useful literature could be found. From an old acquaintance. Rev. Alexander Rob- ertson, D. D., some time a resident and a most efficient philanthropic and religious worker in Venice, we finally procured sufficient information to start us upon our way rejoicing. Several weeks later Dr. Robertson commenced the publica- tion in the Paris, N. Y. Herald of a series of articles, which is now offered in book form, under the title of ''Through the Dolomites," quite the most convenient, compact and instructive com- panion available. But he touches lightly, — almost ignores, in fact, — Panaveggio, San Martino and Primiero, which to us (especially San Martino) were the most delightful of all. If one is m 280 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. tion was first drawn bj Monsieur Dolomieux, a French savant^ who in 1789-90 travelled, explored and studied much in the district, and whose name is easily recognized and embalmed in the coined word, "Dolomite." It is an interesting fact that the mountains are not entirely of this peculiar for- mation, the tallest of all being only so at the top. To the artist it means a wilderness of striking effects and a wealth of fabulous color, compared with which even Switzerland is tame. To the Alpine climber it offers a comparatively new field with sufficient of the fascinating element of dan- ger and an abundant prospect of easily broken neck or bones, — while to the common tourist who looks only from the standpoint of the picturesque, it unrolls a panorama so novel, so unlike all else in Europe, as to seem of another continent or world. Ignorance, however, even at this late day, of routes, modes of travel and accommodations, is quite pardonable, especially if one finds himself unexpectedly in Italy and wishing to reach Inns- bruck, desires to take the Dolomite country on the way, for the literature upon the subject, in English at least, such as guide-books, simple maps, etc., is very meagre, and reliable and serviceable infor- mation exasperatingly difficult to obtain. Baede- ker's "Eastern Alps" is most unsatisfactory. Meurer's Guide, in German, is admirably illus- trated, the plates giving, in fact, an epitome of all that is grand and striking in the scenery of this enchanting district. We were told at Cook's office in Rome that at their agency in Venice we BY A WAY WE KNEW NOT. 281 could procure all the information, maps and tick- ets we desired or would require. Serene in this assurance, we neglected to improve some opportu- nities for acquiring information from passing friends and tourists, and finally when in Venice we walked up ^^to the Captain's office to settle," were told they ^^ knew nothing about the country and had never had a map or ticket." Yet upon a clear day, from the beautiful city of the lagoons, far away may be seen glowing and gleaming against the horizon blue, the mountains of the unknown district ! Perhaps if one speaks German, French and Italian fluently, the difficulty would not be so serious, for a shred of information could be ac- quired here and a bit picked up there, but unfor- tunately it is not every tourist who has so many strings to his linguistic bow. Possibly, too, in London some useful literature could be found. From an old acquaintance. Rev. Alexander Rob- ertson, D. D., some time a resident and a most efficient philanthropic and religious worker in Venice, we finally procured sufficient information to start us upon our way rejoicing. Several weeks later Dr. Robertson commenced the publica- tion in the Paris, N. Y. Herald of a series of articles, which is now offered in book form, under the title of '* Through the Dolomites," quite the most convenient, compact and instructive com- panion available. But he touches lightly, — almost ignores, in fact, — Panaveggio, San Martino and Primiero, which to us (especially San Martino) were the most delightful of all. If one is m 283 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. Venice and wishes to go north as rapidly and with as little delay as possible^ he can travel by train in about five hours to Belluno, and then by carriage ending at Toblach, make a most satisfactory trip, but thereby he will lose this most charming portion of the country. From Venice to Botzen on the Brenner Pass railway, may seem a roundabout course, but it will abundantly compensate for the few additional hours consumed, while if time is not limited, it can be most pleasantly and profit- ably varied by a stop at Verona. If, however, one is in the north, Botzen is a most convenient start- ing place, being in close and direct communication by rail with Innsbruck. Let it be understood at the beginning that these papers are not intended for Alpine climbers or hardy pedestrians, but rather for the goodly number of common folk who must needs keep to the high-road and be comfort- able in mind and estate : for those, who otherwise might be deterred by needless fear of undue fatigue and hardship, and that they aim only to be a rec- ord of a most delightful personal experience dur- ing an easy and feasible tour, when considerably worn and wearied by travel in the Orient, — through a not generally familiar country. The consciousness that for two or three weeks at least, there was to be no more compulsory sight- seeing, no churches, no palaces and no picture- galleries, which in " duty bound " one must see be- cause ^^you may never come this way again," alone reconciled us to turning our faces, upon a peerless June morning, away from brilliant, fas- BY A WAY WE KNEW NOT. 283 cinating Venice, all glowing and basking in a flood of golden sunshine. What a poetic, idyllic way of reaching a prosaic railway station it is to sit under a pretty awning, upon a warm summer day, in a quaint, solemn gondola and glide noiselessly past marble palaces rising like apparitions from the glistening waters, or to thread one's way through narrow, shadowy side canals, often wondering how he can pass the various craft without collision or harm ! Being strongly advised, we decided to go by rail to Belluno and thence by carriage the re- mainder of the route. It was a mistake, for when we reached Toblach at the termination, we were so unsatisfied, — so unwilling to turn away, perhaps forever, without seeing San Martino di Castrozza, that we took a train to Botzen and made the entire tour, which involved of course a repetition of that from Belluno to Toblach. One could take it, though, a dozen times without loss of freshness or novelty, so varied and changing are the colors and moods of those weird, cloud-like forms. Leaving Venice our way crossed the shallow lagoons, coursed along mile after mile over a level country every rod of which apparently had been *^'^ tickled with a hoe " and upon which the earth was fiist bringinor forth her increase. Such a stretch of soft delicious verdure ! — fields of grain, trees with the ever-graceful festoons of thousands of grape-vines, pretty villas half hidden by a screen of trees, and picturesque villages fairly glowing with sunshine ! One hour of this, with tlie glad, exultant conscious- ness that we were in the country and that every mile 234 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. and every fleeting hour were bringing us nearer to the mountains which, dim and spectral, were so enshrouded and enveloped in the soft haze and white floating clouds as to seem at times almost as temporary and evanescent, brought us to Treviso, where a change of trains was made. For a while there was little to note, for it was only a cool de- licious sweep of greenness with a multitude of flowering shrubs, and around every villa, or hang- ing over trellis and wall, great masses of pink and blush roses. It seemed as if all the world was level, save the horizon line of shadowy and snow- tipped mountains, but it was so restful and quiet- ing we sat and looked and looked without thought of anything but present bliss. Some three and a half hours later, after waiting fifteen minutes at a way station while the engine and freight car went down the track and were switched off to a side building where a huge cask was rolled on (a most droll performance), we entered almost immediate- ly a narrow mountain valley or pass, and were in the blessed, enfolding shadows of the eternal hills at last ! Between Venice and Belluno, our desti- nation and the terminus of the road, an ascent of twelve hundred feet is gradually made. The road overhung the rapid shallow river Piave, with plenty of lee room for the torrent it must become at cer- tain times of the year, and looked across upon a mountain range, verdant to the summit save patches of bare brown rock and a carriage road cut from its face, bordered by a stone parapet, — a thread of gray in tremulous line through the BY A WAY WE KNEW NOT. 285 mantle of green. The mountains bonnding up at once without the hesitation and dwarfing of '^ foot hills " gave perhaps from the car window an im- pression of height greater than they possessed. The sky darkened and a shower came, and that which a few moments before had seemed so glad and exultant in the glowing sunshine and dreamy haze now became grim and sombre. It was a lovely rapidly bending and curveting valley. One moment we would look through a beautiful vista of mountains, piled one above, opposite and along side of one another ; again, against a massive wall of green, and sweeping around a curve, would look backward and forward upon the battlemented hills which, green to their summits, enclosed us. It seemed as if at base and far up the sides every rod that could be filched from nature in her wildest mood had been patiently cultivated. All the way we wondered why Italians go to our far- away land and work on railroads when all this cultivation and pastoral life lies at their feet. Ere long, upon one side, high up in the rain clouds, peer- ing above the banks of vapor or standing out against the sombre sky, appeared strange, weird shapes, '^ aiguilles,"' great pointed peaks ; long, ragged serrated ridges, and we exclaimed, — ''The Dolo- mites,'' although we knew the time of the Dolo- mites in all their glory, was not yet. They were the evangels, the forerunners, that gave us a most thrilling and exciting suggestion of the treasures of the land. As in every mountain region, the rapidly moving train showed us a succession of 286 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. enchanting pictures, in the wayside houses, the little clustered villages, half buried in verdure beneath the shadows of the hills ; here a bridge, there a rippling cascade and always something to make one wish he could stop a few moments. Ere the valley widened, we passed a lofty, pro- jecting rocky cliff, crowned upon its very edge by the extensive convent of ^^ Madonna della Kocca,'' with church and tall campanile. Like many an- other Italian conventual building or walled town, it was so close to the edge of the precipice that it would seem as if only a slight seismic disturb- ance would send it rapidly to the depths below. The valley broadened ; the mountains were all around ; we were in the heart of them ! Soon we saw Feltre, like all Italian towns, a most pictur- esque huddle of houses, tiled roofs and square campaniles. The rain had ceased, although the clouds were evidently gathering to put in some good night work. The widening valley afforded still more sweeping views of the surrounding mountains. Oh ! the glory, the strange impres- siveness of the sharp pointed Dolomitic peaks that occasionally rose against the sky with touch of snowy white ! Along a broad fertile valley, — past villages, — past white campaniles rising from green copses, we sped for an hour, always with grand, lofty and beautiful mountain forms bounding the outline of our vision on every side, and then we came to Belluno, just as the clouds were closing in and a generous sprinkle told of the coming rain. I A GRACIOUS OPENING. Belluno, beautiful for situation, ujion a level plain lifted high and abruptly above the junction of the swift-flowing Piave and Arno, with a su- perb surrounding of lofty mountains, proved a most interesting and pleasant old town, while the more than comfortable and attractive Hotel des Alpes, where for a portion of the time we were the only guests, made our sojourn most restful and enjoy- able. The rain fell fitfully and heavily all that first evening, but in the intervals Ave had a most bewitching vision of the great, white, ghost-like clouds stalking stealthily along the deep blue mountain sides, with strange majestic motion not soon to be forgotten. We awoke to a perfect Sabbath day, ''so sweet, so calm,"' with blue sky, white lazily floating clouds and warmth and sun- shine everywhere. In the early hours we strolled away from the little town along a smooth country road, bordered where there were villas or gardens, with high walls and elsewhere with tangled hedges of hawthorns, privet, clematis and elm, with views over long, sloping hillsides anddeep verdant valleys, and upon great solemn mountain peaks that were a perpetual surprise and delight. Away off upon a hillside, rising from clustered trees, gleamed a 287 288 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. white campanile, — here and there a villa, and once in a while a hamlet, to which probably, distance lent enchantment, while upon the still air sounded the striking of far-away bells, not always exactly musical, but in strange harmony with the Sabbath scene. Frequently upon the road would appear groups of peasants, attired in their best, wending their way toward the town, making many a pretty and picturesque effect. The wild flowers dotted the meadows and along the tangled hedges gleamed many a mass of pink and white single wild roses or sweet-brier. A walk in the opposite direction led us through the town, which is very quaint and pretty and amazing in its cleanliness. A large open plaza, faced by a curve of fine buildings, a church and orphanage, with arcades and pretty shops, gives it an important air. It was as quiet a Sunday as would be found in a New England hamlet, — the little shops being closed, — every one attired in his best and apparently at leisure, — the Duomo well filled and nothing to mar or break the Sabbath stillness and expression, save the sounds of a few peripatetic vendors of fruits and sweets, and upon the plaza, several double swinging-boats, filled with rustics, and surrounded by an admiring crowd. The duomo, like many another Italian ecclesiastical building, is constructed of rough brick, which, until covered with a veneer or jacket of marble, presents a mean and poverty-stricken exterior. Many never have their nakedness cov- ered. This poor duomo has waited long, — is waiting still and is likely to wait Iqx its Qutwsiirci I A GRACIOUS OPENING. 289 glory of choice marble and precious stones. Close to it rises a superb campanile with an odd slant- ing base. There is a peculiar charm and dignity about these tall Italian towers, crowned with lan- tern or loggia more or less ornate. True, they lack the florid beauty of elaborately ornamented Gothic towers and spires, but for simple dignity and unpretentious beauty, these tall towers spring- ing up so high in straight lines, and then budding into cupola or peak, are incomparable. They harmonize, too, so exquisitely with both the level plains and the lofty, towering mountains above. The summit of this is surmounted by a bronze figure of its patron saint. The prefattura or municipal building is architecturally very fine, with arcade, clock tower, Venetian clustered win- dows, and niches with bronze busts of Victor Em- manuel II. and Garibaldi, and palms and marble slabs with the names of the Bellunose who were slain in the struggle for Italian independence, and a record of the result of the plebescite which con- stituted Victor Emmanuel King of United Italy. How unlike our cold northern race they are ! They fairly effervesce and manifest their emotion in many a tablet, bust, or statue, in less time than it takes our people to raise money for a single one. In the older part of the town is the ancient church of San Stefano, of much interest, and beside its door, an antique Roman sarcophagus with sculptur- ings and inscriptions. But, weary with sight-see- ing, our chief joy was in strolling or driving in the vicinity of the town, looking into the depths II 290 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. of the verdant valleys and off upon the mountain heights which are in such marked contrast^ being atone side just grand, sloping, towering ranges ; to the other^ sharp pinnacles and peaks, — the fan- tastic shapes of the Dolomite country. One day was devoted to a carriage excursion to Agordo, which lies some eighteen or twenty miles up in the Cordevole Valley. Our course commenced at once a gradual ascent, by a smooth, hedge-bounded white highway. The air was warm and delicious, and over the mountains toward and between which we were to drive, thin, white, fleecy masses of lumi- nous vapor like a bridal veil, wreathed and floated away and passed their sun-tipped summits, while down the sides lay white, cotton-like clouds, with often, peering above, the strange needle-like peaks. For a way the lovely country road was along a wide, deep, verdant valley, overlooking a • finished landscape, and then with new beauty it f curved and wound through cool, green woods, with often, at end of the vista, a far-away, cloud-tipped " monarch of the glen.^" Along the way, the banks and meadows were as full of a great variety of brill- iant wild flowers as the slopes and plains of far-away Palestine. As we neared the mountains, the road fairly hugged their bases and overhung the rapid Cordevole. Before us, silent, solemn and grand, rose great shattered peaks with summits lost in summer clouds. We entered the valley along whose solitary and enchanting course and depth we were to pass for the coming two and one-half hours, seeing in the middle distance a most exten- I J\ A GRACIOUS OPENING. 291 give certosa or monastery, a group of fine large and small buildings with an attendant campanile. Soon we were swallowed up in a narrow, winding, abruptly curving valley with jagged peaks high above us, and, owing to the circuitous road, a con- stantly changing panorama of Alpine-like heights. Occasionally a narrow rent in these great encom- passing walls, revealed a lateral gorge, dark with shadows or with gray grass-covered ledges tipped fascinatingly with glints of sunshine, while in the blue loaded atmosphere rose breathlessly, slender peaks, and upon opposite range lay great shadows of passing clouds. Like the apsidal end of some grand cathedral choir rose before us, high in the cr3^stal air, the gray bastion-like walls and slender turrets of Monte Colei. We stopped at a small rude wayside Albergo at Stanga for a half hour, and while the horses were resting walked back the narrow cleft to a little lateral gorge with a rapid stream and cool, shadowy, fern-filled depths, and were even more impressed Avith the wild rugged grandeur of the lonely canon. The nearer mount- ains soon after grew more white, bare and precipi- tous. As we passed a waterfall, a long plume of white foam hanging against the rocky mountain face, we were even the more reminded of Norway. In fact, all the morning the scenery was more Scan- dinavian than Alpine, because upon a smaller scale, although without any sacrifice of beauty or en- joyment. Rapidly the valley narrowed to a gorge, with great, white, frowning, precipitous and piti- less walls. Midway from one lofty barrier spouted 393 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. a small stream which fell in a slender thread to the river below, — literally water coming from the rock, — the more striking and curious as there was no snow deposit visible to melt and feed it, and for hundreds of feet above the aperture not a ledge or break could be detected in the well-nigh smooth face of the rock. Crossing the gorge we came, some three hours after leaving, to a fine stone bridge, " Ponte Alto,^"* in the narrowest part of the pass, defended by fortifications of stone pierced with port-holes commanding every possible ap- proach, — which in 1848 was the scene of a fear- ful struggle. The pass at this point is scarcely more than a defile, and is peculiarly wild and de- fiant with the great white limestone precipices frowning upon either side. The bridge bounding across the chasm adds to the picturesqueness and gives also a superb view in either direction. The road crosses from one side to the other some four or five times in the course of the drive. Farther on, the road bends and doubles and makes a rapid ascent. As we crossed the gorge, above and be- yond, we looked upon another bridge spanning the ravine close by, framing in with its rude lofty trestlework and arch an exquisite picture of rapid green river, precipitous rocky sides, a lovely valley and distant hills. A sudden turn revealed, some way ahead, numerous rude structures and '^^ works" connected with the government copper mines, at the entrance of which they are situated. A most peculiar effect is produced by the chryso- prase waters below, breaking over numberless I A GRACIOUS OPENING. 293 boulders and stones, stained along the water^s edge a brilliant flame or orange tint. The valley broadened and lost much of its wildness, and at high noon we drove into Agordo which, like all of these closely built Italian towns, is most picturesque in approach. We clattered along the crooked and narrow streets, brilliant with carnations and roses in window boxes or upon ledges, until we came into a large open plaza, " fit for a king,^^ to the Albergo dell Miniere. We had read the day before Miss Edward^s experience at this inn and had many misgivings ; but they gave us a delicious and well- cooked dejeuner, beginning with a most j^ala- table potage and ending with a great abundance of mountain strawberries. The great plaza is a green, faced by the hotel ; opposite is a fine large munici- pal building, and, upon two other sides, dwellings and a fine large mansion with pretty balconies, a corner garden with tall iron fence and sixteen stone posts supporting as many statues ; all, however, rapidly falling into decay. The town is said to have a population of three thousand, but a very small proportion of that number was visible that day. It looks and probably is poor, but like the Black Forest and Switzerland, the numerous houses with fancy balconies and projecting roofs, make numy a most effective tableau. After lunch we walked a long way toward Caprile, some twelve miles dis- tant, the road to which passes finally through a still more wild and narrow valley than the one by which we came, As in Switzerland, the extent of cultivated land is astonishing, for even way up on 294 TH£^ COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. the mountain sides are seen numerous fields appar- ently well tended. The fields around Agordo were merry with haymakers. The people impress one as an industrious, hard-working class, with little of the " happy-go-lucky " air of the more south- ern provinces. But the air is stronger, the cli- mate more bracing, and as a sequence, the people are sturdier. The surrounding view is very fine, for imposing and towering mountain peaks in groups rise on every side, around which the clouds gather most fascinatingly and enchantingly. We watched the storm clouds roll along and dash against the towering peaks and tumble as it were upon us in the valley in rain. At four o^clock we started upon our return drive. We had seen the mountain barriers in the morning against a sky of blue and bathed in sunshine. Now for a while we were to look upon them cool, dark and sombre, with clouds around and above them, and here and there a patch of blue. Although we lost some of the outlines and occasionally a peak, we thought it even more enjoyable and impressive than in the earlier hours. We passed the ^'^rain centre," and in a provokingly brief time came again into the valley overlooked by sunlit mountain summits. The hush of evening was upon the country as we came into the ^'^ open "and for an hour drove quietly along, overlooking the wide, highly culti- vated valley, and a few minutes of seven reached " des Alpes," happy with the memory of another glorious day close within Nature^s heart of hearts. m THE HEART OF THEM. 0:n'E whose time is limited will lose little of the peculiar characteristics of the Dolomite region by scarcely stopping at Belluno, for, although pleas- ing and attractive, the startling and weird effects in all their profusion and grandeur are only met with farther along the way. Extreme weariness of the flesh and a decided unwillingness to take any portion of so short a driving tour in unfavor- able weather, or with the wonderful peaks envel- oped or half hidden by the clouds, kept us there for some days, every hour of which, however, was enjoyable. The morning of our departure, after a night of rain, dawned unusually fair and glori- ous, and almost every peak and outline of sur- rounding mountains stood out clear-cut against the warm blue or an occasional white floating cloud. About eight o'clock we were seated in a landau, wav- ing our good-bye to pretty Belluno with the parting assurance that, owing to the downpour of the night, the road would be so heavy that we would be six hours instead of four, going to Tai, our next resting place. Crossing the Piave and the deep ravine through which it flows, after clattering through the marketplace and town, we looked back from the opposite hillside upon Belluno, upon its elevated plateau against the background of distant ^96 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. heights. The tall campanile of San Stephano stood directly before us, beyond which, in the sunshine, appeared the onion-like terminal of the Duomo tower with its winged saint of bronze, and then we saw no more of Belluno, until, an hour later, we looked back from a turn in the road and saw it enthroned and brilliant with sunshine. The road lay along the valley, pointing to a pass, and, be- tween the unusually fine view of the mountains, the rushing stream in the valley-depths, the little ham- lets and the rustic haymakers, was most enjoyable. For awhile the valley narrowed and the road hugged close or was cut from the rock-face, while ahead the hills closed in and the valley apparently terminated with several jagged teeth-like peaks, then broadened, and we looked upon a river bed so wide and sandy as to suggest the bed of a former lake. Upon a plateau on opposite bank was perched a pretty village, beyond, a lateral gorge re- vealed a multitude of tossed and tumbled heights, — through a ravine appeared a regular spelling class of sharp pinnacles, each apparently deter- mined to be '^ up head." A slight haze imparted a dreamy mystical appearance to even the most austere heights. Again the valley widened, and way ahead loomed mountains above mountains with three or four great Dolomitic peaks with heads lost in the clouds. The river makes the industry of this Ampezzo valley, which shows itself in the numerous saw-mills, piles of lumber and rafts and countless logs which farther on become most inter- esting. In two hours we reached Longarone, where IN THE HEART OF THEM. 297 the horses rested for an hour and we visited the tiny church of San Liberals, called the smallest in Italy. It was of little interest apart from its size, that of a good-sized room. Directly after leaving Longarone the valley closed in, the road passed down a steep incline, the air became heavy with odor of elderberry blos- soms and the views became superb. Far below, level with the river, was a large tract, beau- tifully laid out with winding paths, shrubbery and trees close to a large mansion which we were not surprised to learn belonged to a Scotchman, for wherever the English or Scotch go, the flower garden in all its glory is sure to go also ! For awhile the scene in both directions was breathlessly fine and decidedly Alpine. In the retrospect we saw Longarone, and towering solitary and alone on the opposite side of the valley, a great colum- nar height called the " Hen's Beak," while in the vista before us appeared the village of Castel La- vazzo. A mile or so beyond, the valley narrows and bends and there is seen through the one long street of Termine, rising upon the opposite side, a great, lofty, tawny yellow crag with sides garlanded witli clouds and summit hidden by them. A little waterfall drops from an opposing rock like a slen- der plume, and withal this was the finest point in the valley. The grandeur and impressiveness of this dark and narrow gorge with the sharp tower- ing Dolomitic heights, are quite indescribable. One is bewildered and confused by the varied, spectacular and breathless effects, and ere the mind 20S THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. is composed and the scenes fixed in the memory, lo I the rapidly-moving carriage brings one face to face with new combinations and wonders. One feels so little, so minute, in the presence of such grand and lofty heights, that words to express the confused emotions that crowd mind and heart fail to come at command. Gfradually the road which hugged the face of the rocky precipices, buttressed with walls and supports, bent and turned with every variation of its rugged outline and overlooking the rapid Piave, upon which were frequently seen huge rafts of timber, descended and passed through hamlets and forlorn villages to the bed of the valley, where at last we came into a great open space formed by the intersection of two valleys and the confluence of the Boite and Piave and in full sight of Perarola. Glimpses of the highest peaks (8474 ft.) of the Premaggiore range came in view and just before we reached the '' Oor- rono d'Oro," for a moment all tijoped with clouds, we saw Antelao, one of the greatest of the giant Dolomites. Here we rested for two hours and were provided with a most de- licious lunch. The situation is most pictur- esque, — the outlook charming. To one side lay the village below, upon opposite hillslope a hamlet with many a Swiss balcony, between the river dashing impetuously along, bearing countless logs, and all around grand old mountain monarchs. But the clouds gathered and the customary shower descended. When it had quite cleared we began, by a fine road, to ascend the very face and side of IN THE HEART OF THEM. 299 formidable Mount Zucco, wliieli wiis carried in long zigzags cut from the rock, guarded by a parapet of stone, and which commanded magnificent views over the adjacent valleys. The weather is a fickle thing the world over. In less than a half-hour the clouds gathered and the rain fell heavily and steadily and the carriage-top had to be closed, much to our regret, for the road followed around the heights, overlooking always between evergreen woods, the deepening valley and looking off upon a range of superb mountains. A little after four we reached the Albergo Venezia, beautifully located upon the hillside, five minutes above the village of Tai, which we had watched for a long way from the road below. A second story veranda faced the great Pre-maggiore range, — a mighty procession of solemn peaks, while to the west and south rose several peaks with snow-crested mount- ains beyond. Gazing quietly from our windows, in the very early hours of the following day, was like looking into some solemn sanctuary, — some high and holy place. Towards the soutliwest, bounded lofty heights, wooded and green a long way up. In a dip in the outline, appeared far away a range of snowy peaks. In the foreground lay the little village, the middle distance being a sea of green, and over it all, in long slants and bars, the light of the coming day, and a hush and stillness that might be felt,— an atmosphere of solemn, spiritual, and poetical suggestiveness. With singular vividness came the remembrance of Guido's peerless Aurora, with the God of Day in 300 TflE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. just such a flood of golden light, surrounded by the glad, earnest hours, as we had seen it upon palace walls in far-away Eome. About a mile east from the Albergo, perched as upon a saddle of the hills, and overlooked by a castellated or fortified height, is the village of Pieve de Cadore, especially interesting as the birthplace of Titian. The quaint irregular house, the sight of the place, is most ef- fectively located, facing an open space, ornamented with a fountain, just out of the great central plaza of the village, and has slanting roofs and pictur- esque chimneys, and a variety of uninteresting occupants. A small room with one window is shown as that in which the Old Master first saw the light in 1477. It did not seem calculated to give to a new-comer a very cheerful impression of this world and life, to say the least. In the large, almost triangular plaza, around which huddles the various places of interest, is a fine bronze statue of the great painter. It boasts a municipal building in which are some richly carved wood ceilings and a tower at the base of which is a pyramidal memo- rial to Calvi and other patriots who laid down life in the troublous times of 1848-55. Near by stands the Palazzo Zampieri, said to have been the resi- dence of Titian's grandfather, a most interesting building in which we passed through a damp, dingy hall, up a stone staircase to an upper hall with queer antique chairs, and into the '^ salon/' where, upon the wall, but enclosed by a frame or guard, is a fresco said to have been executed by Titian in his thirteenth year ! Be this as it may. IN THE HEART OF THEM. 301 there is something in the child figure, kneeling before the Madonna, which suggests vividly the lovely one of the Virgin in the matchless ''Pres- entation/"* at Venice. This seems a marked peculiarity of Titian, for many figures and faces in his earlier works are recognizable, developed and perfected in his later ones. In the duomo, a few hundred feet away, is one figure strikingly similar to one in ^' Sacred and Divine Love " so long in the Borghese Palace in Rome. In a side chapel is a Madonna and child, with two officials in adoration and Titian himself in the background, all the faces being family portraits. Over the high altar is a beautifully grouped " Last Supper," by a brother of Titian. In a small museum, a charm- ing clerical brother showed us with genuine en- thusiasm a most interesting collection of engrav- ings of his works, also his " Patent of Nobility," beautifully engrossed and illuminated upon parch- ment. We also visited the Solero Palace, with fine old carved settles and chairs, — hall and library ; but the proprietor, being absent, we were obliged to pass much we would liked to have examined. Perhaps midway between Pieve and Tai is the wayside church known as the " Santissimo Croci- fisso," so named because it contains a most remark- able crucifix, found in 1540, buried in an adjacent field, by a husbandman while ploughing. The in- cident is pictured upon the tympanum of the classic front portico. It is a hideous-looking ob- ject, dark in color, with natural hair, and the blood pouring from the wounds, and is placed in 303 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. a glass case above the high altar. The supposition is it was buried where found by some one of the retreating armies of the troublous time of long ago. Some delightful excursions can be most con- veniently and comfortably made from Tai, even by those who are limited to carriage drives. One glorious day must ever live in our memory, that upon which we drove to Auronzo and San Stefano. The day was peerless, and at an early hour we were oft in an open carriage, wishing that every one could look upon the beautiful, unfolding scene, for it was a vision of all that is beautiful and grand and our way the livelong day a royal progress. We passed through '' Pieve di Oadore,^' and then, what a surprise, what a revelation of beauty, in a prolonged decline, overlooking a great open valley, surrounded by the breathlessly lofty mountains ! Wide valley does not express it. It is rather a great undulating, wave-tossed sea of green, dotted with villages, in the encircling embrace of everlasting hills. Looking backward, the view was superb, — a magnificent sweep, — bold single mountain spurs, — Pieve di Cadore glisten- ing upon its ridge, and always the weird, strange horizon mountains. The road turned into coves and suddenly, against the sky above, a deep dip in the outline of the nearer mountains, rose the great snow-touched mass of " Marmarola,^^ a group of sharp gray peaks lined with yellow and seamed with white. It was a breathless and daz- zling vision on that glorious sunny day ! It seemed as if every moment revealed some new and I J IN THE HEART OF THEM. 303 beautiful effect. Following the banks or walls of a deep ravine we descended rapidly to a pictur- esque bridge, beside which, upon a support or foundation of great water-worn, columnar rocks, stood a tiny church, with steep, pitched roof and a little campanile. The early morning, the uni- form verdancy, the great variety of surface and the wonderful mountain forms made it perfect. Sometimes great masses of evergreens, again, in break of horizon hills, great jagged, teeth-like crags and peaks, and something to call forth an ejaculation of delight at every rod. At the end of an hour the valley narrowed, and ere long we came to the confluence of the Piave and the Ansici, where is a most singular and picturesque stone bridge, the ^'Tre Ponte," consisting of three arches spanning the two streams and a ravine, all uniting and resting upon a central pier, above which three roads met. We were told that it was the scene of a fearful and final struggle in 1866 in the war with Austria. Leaving the Piave, wdiich we had literally in sight all the way from Belluno, we turned into a wild, narrowing valley, through whose cool, shady depths flowed the Ansici. It was the " Val di Auronzo," with lofty hillsides dark and lustrous with evergreens and every rod a combination of beautiful groupings and effects. Within a half hour we came to a great curving bend, when, like a pictured canvas, lay before us a broad valley with a ramblingj straggling village and a huge white-domed church which, had we been in the East, we would have 304 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. said was a mosque. All around were the wonderful encircling mountains, and towering above all else in tlie extreme distance the three mountain obe- lisks of the '' Drei-Zinnen/' which we knew from photographs. It was a marvellous outlook, this extensive, verdant valley with its rapid foam- ing river, its forests of laurel and firs, and the great encircling silent heights, all in a blaze of morning sunlight ! We drove through the long straggling rows of houses and Albergos, ere we came to the one where we were to rest the horses, and lunch, and then we walked on to the end of the village. Many of the houses are Swiss in style, in that they have fanciful outside balconies and wdde projecting eaves. As many of them have no chimneys, but only holes along the ceil- ing to allow the smoke to escape, they are stained almost black, and look horribly unhealthy and unattractive. As we have passed through the country we have been much interested in, and amused by, the kitchen fires. A.i the Albergo Venezio at Tai, as well as the one at which we here lunched, the fire was made upon a stone hearth or platform a foot or more in height. Above this is suspended a hood which gathers the smoke and carries it to the chimney. Here, a bench or settle was built against the wall around three sides of the hearth, so that the inmates could sit and toast their feet, while the other side was left unob- structed for the cook. Very frequently is seen, upon the side of the house, that which suggests a square bay window. From the centre of the THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. 305 junction of its roof and the main building the chimney is carried up, thus making the square space possible in the room below. In the better class hotels we have seen upon the hearth, most elaborate fire-dogs of iron and brass with small cranes and chains and a variety of shovels, tongs and picks, which are really very ornamental, and which need only to be seen by our peripatetic countrymen to be transferred to artistic homes across the sea. Returning by the same road to beyond the Tre Ponte, we turned abruptly away, to drive to San Stefano. How little we dreamed of what awaited us ! How difficult to convey any vivid, truthful idea of it ! For soon we turned into a valley so contracted and narrow between lofty mountain ranges as to be scarcely more than a fissure or gorge, with the road cut from and walled up against the steep sloping mountain sides. At times we fairly hung over the depths, through which dashed and roared our old companion, the Piave. Upon either side, towering up and up, dense green of foliage and the gray of bare mount- ain walls ; — above, the great black clouds which had come up rapidly ; way below, the beautiful innumerable rapids of the river breaking over the rocky bed, — while always before us, in and out, around projections and, in one place, through a tunnel, was the beautiful, white, stone parapeted road. For awhile this was all, and then a wide curve or bend and a slow gradual descent, — and then towering walls of glittering, glistening, bare, 20 306 IN THE HEAET OF THEM. gray rocky heights. In some places, the sqow and ice, glacier-like, flowed down the rifted mountains to the river's brink. It was a wonderful drive of an hour or more through a constantly changing scene of rocky Avails with, through great rifts, glimpses of tremendous peaks and crags. One huge mass of glistening gray, in its outline and sur- face it seemed like a gigantic draped but head- less figure. One moment we would be in shadow of passing cloud or patter of rain, — the next looking up through some gigantic rift at distant peaks ablaze with sunlight. We came finally into an open verdant valley, brilliant with wild flowers, — huge clusters of maroon columbine and along the wayside, places blue with forget-me- nots. The little village of San Stefano was of no interest. A rest of two hours and then we returned by the same wonderful canon and the road we passed over in the early morning. Eelieved of the necessity of being constantly on the '^ qui vive,'' or alert, we sat quietly and watched the changing effects of the subdued light and lengthening shadows over the enchanting scene, until, much to our regret, at six o'clock, we reached again the Albergo Yenezia at Tai. A ROYAL PROGRESS. From Tai to Cortina, the best known place in the region, the distance is not more than eighteen miles, but the character of the country is so en- tirely different, the valleys being much broader, the mountains, seen at better persj)ective, being more weird, bold and overwhelming, and every feature, in fact, being upon so much larger a scale, that one is silenced, and gazes in a helpless awe and wonder that leaves a most confused and bewilder- ing remembrance. We passed down the valley road through Tai and plunged at once in scenery beautiful and fine. The way was circuitous for a while, for it followed the course of a deep valley, in great loops, looking down into cool depths and upon densely wooded heights ; passed through Valle, an important village, and through numerous hamlets, and continually ascended (Cortina be- ing some twelve hundred feet above Tai), and soon gave us our first unclouded view of Antelao, a sight for a lifetime. At one time quite shut in by Mt. Pelmo, but for a long way looking along the great trough-like valley, with the strange mountain forms, one is fairly dazed by the grandeur and oppressiveness of the scene. It is quite impossible to express the impression this grand, broad valley, with all its turnings, 307 308 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. makes ; its revelation of one after another of the great peaks of the Dolomites, beginning with Pelmo and Eocchetta, and continuing so long with majestic Antelao, as to make it seem, in its curving and bending, like a single peak, and then a long range of them, with strange cross lines of snow, — and nearing Cortina, the two wonder-inspiring heights of Tofano and Cristallo ! At one place was passed a tremendous landslide (1814), a great torrent of glaciers, of fine white dolomite, from the slopes of Antelao, which, even after the lapse of many- years, is still a terrible sight. Two or three villages were swept entirely out of existence, leaving noth- ing but this white bed of pulverized stone to tell the tale. Again, in 1868, a similar disastrous slide occurred. Some three or four miles from Cortina a red, white and green pole half uplifted above the road, several uniformed revenue officers and a customs station, and a few moments later a similar separating bar of yellow and black, and officials in different attire, told us that we had passed the magic line that separates sunny Italy from sturdy Austria. Fortunately the Austrians were good- natured and content to open only one piece of lug- gage, for the black clouds were gathering rapidly, and before we were fairly off the rain was falling heavily. So we lost the immediate approach to pretty Cortina, although, when within ten minutes of it, we were able to throw the carriage open again, and have the whole marvellous scene dis- played at a glance. Cortina lies in an amphitheatre, or basin, in the heart of an undulating valley. J Cortina J.N v". Oi ^Bf «^^ \ ^^^Bti'^B' y -% ^Q^^^Jk^ur^H jRUf :' vi ^n^Rm^ • '. -X ^^^^H ui^\^Dtvn ir ^r ' p n •■;;■'• ■>; ^ IIH 1 1 ' ' fl ^M . .\' > ^ yi^B^ A ROYAL PROGRESS. 309 which, in great waves of living green meadow-land, bounds up to the base of densely woodj3d hills, above which rise the strange, weird, single and clustered peaks which give to this wild, solitary country the name of "The Dolomites." Like a handful of brown and white pebbles, it lies in the centre of a valley, unique, majestic and grand, some four thousand feet above the level of the sea. Ordinary mountain forms bound and rock on every side in long, graceful, billowy outlines, while here and there, tossed high, and as if arrested in mid- air, like mighty waves of boundless sea, are seen these strange pinnacles, turrets, castle-like battle- ments, so unlike any other form save perhaps the "Aiguilles" of the Alps, and the fretted points which are mirrored so bewitchingly in the calm waters of the bay of Uri. No words can describe the stately grandeur, the sublime dignity or the oppressive loneliness of these tumultuous masses of silver gray, which encircle Cortina like an immense cyclorama. Seen against a blue sky, uplifted above our common air, they possess the impressive seren- ity born of dwelling at a holy height and within a purified atmosphere. The little town bubbles all over with small hotels and lodgings and has many pretty shops where the metal and wood mo- saic, the carvings, ^ ' hot poker work," and filigree silver and gold articles made at the shops of the government schools, are displayed. We had en- gaged rooms at the Stella d'Oro in the centre of the town, not knowing of the Falorio which is perched high upon the hillside, commanding a sweep- 310 THE COUNTRY OF THE, DOLOMITES. ing and magnificent view of the cradle-like valley and all the gigantic peaks which peep and rise above the nearer mountain ranges. Sorelle Bar- baric the landlady, unable to speak a word of English, received us with outstretched arms and fervent welcome. She led us triumphantly up- stairs and down, showing the forlorn little ^*^ salon'' with as much gusto as if a drawing-room, and then, taking us by a Swiss outside balcony to an adjoining house, led us to our apartments which, because of crucifixions, several Madonnas and a doll dressed and crowned ^^Our Lady," seemed decidedly religious in tone. Our windows looked upon the Plaza, and here and there through the tree branches were had glimpses of the surround- ing heights. In the plaza was a fountain, evi- dently the village water supply, with four spouts and an immense bowl, and the amount of gossiping and laundering done around it by the simple dames was apparently endless. Two churches minister to the spiritual needs of the simple folk, one with stately campanile of cut stone, fit for a great city. In many respects Cortina is the most popular and interesting point in a region singularly crowded with marvellous and startling combinations. The excur- sions, both driving and pedestrian, are numerous and satisfying. As the clouds seemed indissolubly joined to the mountain tops, the first but other- wise fine day of our stay we were content to stroll along the high-road and up through meadows '' knee-deep with exquisite wild flowers." In variety, color, and choiceness the display far ex- A ROYAL PROGRESS. 311 ceeded the flower-starred fields of Holy Land. Xo need is there for phi eking a common blossom, or what we would call a weed, for there are myriads worthy of a choice parterre. One day you may return with a symphony in yellow from palest canary to deepest russet ; another, with one in lilac, running the whole gamut from white to heaviest purple, and again with that of fairest and most delicate blush to rich and ruddy rose. Small pansies by the thousands ; blue forget-me-nots so thick that the field in sections will be blue with them and a myriad of the dearest and sweetest little pink and white flowers innumerable greet your every footstep. You stoop instinctively and pluck them, wondering what you can do with them, with wash-bowl, pitcher and tumbler in your room already full, yet unable to withstand the impulse. Our second was a day of days ! The first abso- lutely and continuously clear day from morn till dewy eve we had had since our departure from Venice, with a cool, refreshing and life-giving breeze and everything to make an excursion to the Tre Sassi Pass a success. In a light, comfortable carriage with a pair of good sturdy horses that were not likely to be a steady drain upon our sympathies the livelong day, we started about nine o'clock, and crossing the little river Boite, drove directly up the opposite hill with fields and meadows beautiful with blush of pink, sheen of yellow, glow of purple and the lovely blue of forget-me-nots. We could have employed a half-dozen sets of eyes, for An- telao arose finer than ever before, unobscured by 313 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOmTES. cloud or vapor, from first springing from the valley depths to the topmost pinnacles ; — with breathless beauty appeared long slanting mountain gides, dazzling ridges like roofs covered with snow, and beyond, the fretted troubled outlines of shattered heights ; — and Tof ano rose in awe-inspir- ing shafts against the sky and one solemn height and another filled our minds with wonder and amazement ! It is so sensational ! Everywhere is a horizon line of staid well-behaved mountains, but at intervals, upspring without any '^'^ifs or ands,^^ the most fantastic, often grotesque and always startling shapes and forms ! For a while the grad- ually ascending road followed the base of a pre- cipitous mountain with brown and yellow face, against which, with exquisite effect, rose slender, graceful larches. As we climbed in the shadow of this great rock, away across the pasturage, gaunt, abrupt, and with a wild, turbulent and savage grandeur, loomed Mt. Tofano, to a height of over eleven thousand feet, like titantic slanting roofs and sombre towers. In an open space or " Al^," literally •^' set in a high place," we found the Albergo Tofano, a small hotel, with a superb view way off to the left, over soft fringe of evergreens, of towering Sorapis (also 11,000ft.) and mighty An- telao and a breathless panorama of all the greater heights, seamed with snow and tossed in air and fretted in strange likeness unto cathedral towers, buttresses, pinnacles and Gothic roofs. As we mounted higher through pasture-land and woods of evergreen, Sorapis and Antelao grew stupendous A ROYAL PROGRESS. 313 and presented the most glorious and overwhelming scene we had yet witnessed. One loves the Swiss mountains with their long, bold, but jDeaceful lines and suggestions, but these -" rear their forms so high, Against Heaven's blue dome," in such violent and restless sliapes, that one gazes at them in a helpless awe that is almost akin to fear. By a serpentine road, our way winds through thickets of larch and across open pasturages, strik- ingly resembling private grounds, with the strange apparition through the trees at times, of great mountain-peaks bounding high in the crystalline atmosphere, and at our feet often the stunted heather rapidly growing pink and rosy with the fast developing blossoms. It was a marvellous drive, first in the sunshine, then beneath the feathery larches and over shadow-flecked green ; — now above the evergreens, a cathedral spire, tur- rets and pinnacles, — anon, the battlemented walls of mountain fastnesses and coming into an open space face to face with the great yellow and gray mass of Tofano against the brilliant blue sky, — all in quick succession. Over a hillside covered with dense growth of evergreens, peered one mount- ain, like a great solitary square tower. These masses of strange form, and these wild, rocky heights, violate all accepted ideas of what mount- ains should be, and compared with the dignified Alps appear like freaks or antics. We turned into a narrow pass, — the yellow road wriggled on be- 314 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. tween gray boulders and tall evergreens, and be- side a brawling stream, until at 12 M. we reached the Ospizio Falzarego (6,535 ft.) at the beginning of the Falzarego Pass, a breezy upland closer than ever to the great peaks which, as if affronted by our temerity, suddenly assumed a strange, unap- proachable air. Fifteen minutes later above the hill ridge before us stood a rustic cross and against the warm blue beyond, the crest of a snow-cov- ered mountain. The coachman waved his hand, but ere he could call out, we exclaimed, '^ Marmo- lata ! " It was evident we were to see more than Miss Edwards did, for the skies were clear. Fifteen minutes later we came to the terminus of our drive, — the Pass of Tre' Sassi, a wild rugged place, a great billow, as full of huge boulders as the bed of a brook with pebbles. The towering, awe- inspiring heights were very close, — we seemed, in fact, at their very base. The outline against the perfectly blue sky was unspeakably grand and sub- lime and the variety of form and frequent fringe or cord of snow surpassingly beautiful. From among the boulders our eyes swept over a scene breathlessly magnificent. Down and down sank the valley ! Across it a long, sloping, undulating mountain, bronze green with scanty turf at summit, but spiked at base with darkest ever- greens, and beyond this barrier against the warm blue " Marmolata," not in jagged peaks but in long wedge-like ridge, with the almost unbroken snow-fields covering fully one half of the sloping side, the other showin^^ bare rock with snow in II A ROYAL PROGRESS. 315 pockets. It was disappointing in so far as we ex- pected to see it alone as we had seen Antelao, but the nearer hill so obscures its lower slope that comjiaratively little is seen, but that little is so un- earthly, so unspeakably grand, one wants to see it all the time ! But bearing away to the left was a regal procession of mountains tossed in easy, graceful shapes, like the waves of the sea, crested with white. Lying upon an apparently level up- land was an immense stretch of unbroken snow, like an ermine robe shrouding the form of a king, which recalled vividly the effigy upon the royal tomb of Kaiser William at Charlottenberg with the rich ermine-lined mantle lying in heavy, massive folds over the prostrate form and hanging like snow in drifts over the base. We sat there for a couple of hours seeing soft white cloud-banks arise beyond so like them as to seem a continuation of a procession of courtiers coming to look upon the face of the royal dead. Here and there beyond, triangular peaks became as blue as sapphire ! It was so still! It seemed a Holy of holies ; a glimpse of a spiritual kingdom from a far-away Pisgah height ! Oh ! day of days ! we said, surely you are not for a day only but for all time, for such visions may fade but cannot entirely perish from the earth. Such an unclouded view is very rare, and as usual, we turned away reluctantly. On our way down, just before we came to the precipice at whose base the road lay almost at be- ginning of ascent, we turned into a lovely wood 816 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. road in the cool shadows of a larch forest and came out finally at the Belvedere of Monte Crepa where, upon the edge of a hluff a thousand feet above Cortina, was a summer-house and a restau- rant. The view from it lengthwise of the Ampezzo valley was wonderful, for flooded with sunshine it lay like a great deep billow, the mountains on either side with their fantastic and snowy crests corresponding with the wind-tossed waves and spray. The view of Sorapis and Antelao was like that of another world. As we sat there noting, over a cup of afternoon tea, the lines of beauty and the wonderful gradations of color, one beside me said, ^* Do you see that face in the snow upon Antelao ? '^ I looked and in the outline of the snow- sloping side, requiring no imagination to decipher, lay a great, solemn, peaceful profile and face. The forehead, closed eyes, nose, moustache and chin were perfect. It was as mysterious as the colossal, immovable faces seen in Egyptian illustrations. An expression of ineffable peace played around the lips, — a purity, as if made whiter than snow, rested upon every feature. I have seen many fanciful suggestions in nature, but this, save the Profile in the White Mountains, surpassed them all. We watched it as the summer clouds passed over it, and left it placid, peaceful and undisturbed, won- dering in our hearts if it were possible so to live that the clouds and sorrows of life could leave no trace, " And not a wave of trouble roll Across the peaceful breast I " A ROYAL PROGRESS. 317 So the glorious day found upon the level summit of that abrupt precipitous height a strange and tranquillizing closing, in the long sweeping view of the quiet valley, the solemn company of uplifted peaks and this vivid suggestion of absolute and "perfect peace." OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. The pedestrian is to be envied at Cortina, in fact all through the Dolomite country, for there are so many points only to be, or better, reached on foot, and even when driving one wants continually to pause and so look at the wonderful and novel com- binations of mountains and hills, as to carry away a lasting remembrance. Yet there is much that can be satisfactorily seen from the carriage, more in fact than one can carry away in a single sum- mer. The weather had been so fickle that when, to our surprise and delight/another perfect day dawned, we arranged at once to drive to Tre Croce, Lake Misurina and Schluderbach, which we had been assured was the most charming excursion of all, although better taken in the re- verse order. All along we met parties taking the greater portion of the route on foot, than which, owing to the many beautiful views, nothing could be more charming. At nine o^clock, in a very small one-seated carriage, with two strong horses, we started, having the same gentle, cool breeze as yesterday, which seem to come from the snowy uplifted ledges to temper the heat of the sun. A few rods beyond the Stella d'Oro, we turned from the main street of Cortina and commenced at once a sharp ascent. Slowly, after getting a permit 318 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 319 to cross into Italian territory, which we would do at Tre Croce, we climbed up the extended slope with a charming retrospect of the verdant valley, — little Cortina glittering in the sun, and the cool and green opposing slopes. Ere long, save upon a distant hillslope a hut peeping out here and there, we were without sign or hint of human life, literally lost in the fresh, beautiful u^^lands, — alone with the works and the thoughts of the In- finite. It was so still, so solitary, yet too spring- like in freshness, too exultant in expression to seem lonely. Again we came upon the park-like beauty we so revelled in only yesterday, of slop- ing greensward upon either side, with countless tapering larches through which the sunlight fil- tered in golden glints with bewitching shadows upon the turf beneath. Looking through the del- icate feathery branches, against the wondrous blue, here loomed up a great cluster of peaks, — there a mass of snow-covered heights, while on opposite side of a little ravine, parallel with our road, lay a long, abrupt ridge with fearfully precip- itous face. The cattle, as in Switzerland and Nor- way, are taken into the high mountain pastures for the summer, and as we passed farther along we caught occasional glimpses of mountain hut or dairy. Once when we were passing where there was no suggestion of human life and were looking back over the beautiful, undulating, lawn-like ex- panse and the far-away tremendous barrier of mountain and snow, from behind a distant })ro- jecting cliff or spur, appeared, sharp-cut against 320 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. the sky, a most picturesque procession of ten peas- ant women with bright-colored skirts tucked up, carrying upon their heads great trays of cheese and butter, — as pretty and spectacular a sight as if a part of the scenery of a play. In the fresh- ness of early morning, all was as jubilant and joyous as if Nature was sounding a paean of triumph, — a psalm of adoration upon the still air of these expectant uplands. At the end of an hour and a half, apparently at the end of the roadway, appeared a little knoll with three rude crosses, and we knew the summit of the pass was near at hand. A few moments later we alighted for a half hour rest of our steeds at a pretty little hotel, " Albergo Tre Oroce," most attractively located. The rooms were tidy and prettily fur- nished and every window commanded a view that satisfied the very soul. To one side the outlook was over a beautiful undulating hillside of lawn- like verdancy and beauty. In the distance was a fringe of feathery larch as effectively disposed as if a study in landscape gardening, while beyond were the blue, Uue cavernous depths of the Yal Buono, — directly above which was the long, mas- sive, range-like pile of ^' Marmarola,^^ over ten thou- sand feet in height, with dazzling but sadly torn and rent mantle of snow. To our right toward the overwhelming peaks, pinnacles and walls of Sora- pis, seamed with long lines of white. Beneath the undimmed and unclouded sun, the snow gleaming and flashing, made these heights seem like the walls of an Eternal City. A brief half hour in such OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 321 enviroument scarcely more than dazes and over- whelms and fairly blinds the sight and hopelessly confuses mind and heart. It is simply intoxicat- ing ! In opposite direction trembled in crystalline air, Malcora and Tofano, the giant crags beyond Cortina. In a deep dip of the outline of Malcora shone the tip of a peak beyond, white with the driven snow, — the summit of distant Marmolada, with which we stood face to face twenty-four hours before. Far away beyond the blue darkling dej^ths of immediate ravines, against the sky, bounded and fairly leaped for joy this gladsome sunny day, a range of varied and mighty mountains sapphire and opaline in touch and tint. Back of the house bounded immediately upward, so high ! two clustered groups of sharp, needle-like peaks. In every direction it was a scene fair and beautiful to behold, — a play of exquisite color, a riot of grace- ful forms and lines. Yet lovely as the situation was, we knew it was only one of a great multitude tucked away in the Tyrolean and Higher Alps. As we had reached the summit of the pass, our road upon leaving passed rapidly down the mount- ain side. Deeper and deeper lay beneath us the wondrous sapphire depths of the Val Buona, so glorious and fascinating in color we fain would have followed its azure course to Auronzo. But at a junction, our road turned away and soon began to ascend. Again the fascinating park-like effect of smooth turf, pretty knolls and tapering larches without number. Upon every sunny slop- ing bank the exquisite wild flowers were having a 323 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. garden party, a lovely sweep of color. In wonder and adoration we gazed at the weird, almost fu- nereal effect, of the tall green spikes of larch and spruce, with their sombre shadows, and through and above them, heights of snow-crested and snow- draped adamant so hushed and still ! All nature seemed at worship and we felt the awe and hush that fills mind and heart when one comes into a place where prayer is ascending. We climbed sloAvly. For a while there was only an interesting hill-slope before us ; but behind us, way off beyond the valley depths, like a continuous range all dashed and dotted and seamed and draped with snow, wherever it was possible to lodge, were Sorapis, the wondrous Marmarola and the white peak of Antelao, not unlike a mighty army with banners flashing in the sunlight, seen through the unearthly blue and opaline atmosphere insepa- rable from these larch and evergreen-wooded hills and dark, ravine-like valleys. Before us, over the the rounded hill-top, arose the strange clustered peaks, the " Drei Zinnen,^^ which here looked like the twin gables of two gigantic cathedral naves. About noon we came in sight of a small sheet of water about one half a mile long and one quarter of a mile broad, which in our country would be called a pond, but which here basks beneath the summer sun under the musical name of Lake Misurina. A small hotel and restaurant faces it and in its mirror-like surface are reflected the dis- tant peaks. Almost immediately after leaving we came upon a strange picture, a great open Durren-see — Mt. Cristallo OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 323 space like a lake of green with a billowy opposite bank, dark evergreens and alone up and up in the sunny glowing atmosphere the weird peaks of *' Drei Zinnen/' like some mighty ruin. Then through sunlight and shadows we passed again into a silent land, for the way led down the Val Popena by a toboggan-like road and zigzag route, giving a succession of overwhelming visions of tremendous opposing slopes as of mountain sides and debris flowing like lava or a glacier towards the depths ; of the red, yellow and gray mass of distant Rossa and glimpses between deep dips of the shadowed ranges, of square towers as of some ancient stronghold flashing in the sunlight. In the bed of the valley, with lovely pink daphne making the turf as brilliant as choicest parterre, we looked up at Mt. Cristallo rising like a wall then breaking into towers and pinnacles of light glowing yellow, pale gray and snowy white. About half-past two we came to the end of the Popena Valley and, through the shady woods, saw in an open amphitheatre, surrounded by great mountain monarchs, two handsome buildings quite similar to a summer hotel in our own land, which, with a tiny ancient chapel and outbuildings, constitute the station upon the great Ampezzo Valley post- road,— of Schluderbach. We fell in love witli it at once and resolved we would quickly return and have some needed restful days in its quiet enclosure. As a matter of fact we returned and tarried sev- eral days, not only once, but a second time: andre- member it as a delightful resort only second to San 324 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. Martino in tlie wliole district. The location may be described as a bit of widened valley between two sudden turns of the mountain range, — a sea of green, level and verdant, hemmed in on every side by rocky barriers, well covered a long way up with wooded or stunted growth. The great rounded forms dip low ere bounding up into a group of jagged heights, revealing in the gaps, tall, bare, gray, snow-flecked pinnacles of Dolomite beyond. Other green-sided mountains take up the story and carry it along as they bound away in sharp outlines and lines of snow. Others rise abruptly in a sheer precipice, and everywhere the peculiar whitish gray and the dull yellow of the rock faces gleam and glisten like scorched and stained mother- of-pearl. But the noblest of all, one of the most striking and strange sights of the whole country, is ''Croda Eossa," the red mountain, a tall pyramidal mass of jagged peaks, with sides pro- fusely splashed and spotted with touches of the deep red of brilliant iron rust, with exquisite shad- ings of bright orange and pale yellow upon a ground- work of softest gray and white. To sit, even for one short hour, and watch this wondrous pile and note the marvellous chameleon-like changing of tint and color as the sun blazes upon it, or shadow of passing cloud rests over it, and as the sky be- yond may become gray and leaden, throwing out every hue and shade with emphasis, is alone worth the journey thitherward. One morning the rain fell in torrents, but at an early hour the clouds rolled away, the sun flooded the scene, the OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 325 sky became a most peculiar blue, and in the clear atmosphere the colors upon this rocky height were so intensified that it seemed in flames ! Oh ! how startlingly beautiful the soft grays, the mellow buffs and yellows and the intensified reds were, for several hours ! An English writer, because of the great blood-red splashes and spots, calls it the •''Mount of Sacrifice/' The grandeur and sublim- ity of the encircling mountains are overpowering. One seems in this level, solitary valley depth as in ;the presence of just men made perfect. The hostelry group and tiny chapel alone suggest the work and need of man ; — all else is of the heavenly ■and spiritual. Standing in this open space was iike waiting in the centre of some mighty arena ^surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. It was not, liowever, an atmosphere of conflict or strife but of perfect, heaven-born peace. The hotel, which was a fine one, seemed filled with Germans, and ^boasts as former patrons the Crown Prince Prederick William, and the present Empress Prederick. In th^ late afternoon of the day we visited Tre €roce and Lake Misurina, we returned to Cortina by the Ampezzo road, a drive of two hours. Like that froniTai to Cortina, of which it is a continua- tion, it is through a broad valley which grows per- ceptibly narrower as it proceeds northward, with al- ways the great mountain walls upon either side and frequently some gigantic peak peering above his fellows. The superb roadway, smooth and white, following the outline of projecting slopes and 336 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. spurs, often lay before us in a succession of curves and bends, handsomely walled upon the inside and protected by stone parapets upon the other. The vistas through the evergreens ; — the look down into the shadowy valley with the beautifully tinted waters ; — the deep-shadowed mountains upon one side and those upon the other in full blaze of the sun, and the constant revelation of sun-kissed mountain peaks high above us in the most unex- pected places, crowded every moment with delight. In one place the road, in order to descend and cross to the opposite lower side of the valley, was carried in a long loop or doubling, giving the most spectacular view upon the route. A night at Cortina and we passed this way again, but as it was uphill a greater part of the way and we looked along the vistas and over the hill country towards which our backs were turned before, it had the charm of an entirely unknown route. A little way from Cortina we seemed to face and go steadily towards the very heart of the majestic monarchs, looking for awhile at the junction of the grandest and loftiest ranges where lay a curious mound with red and yellow bands, while beyond and above rose a height of softest gray and white with copious dashes of red and yellow. The half has not been told of the strange and wonder- ful colorings in these Dolomite regions. Pictures succeed one another most rapidly, for a road can- not follow the line of deep coves and cling to the edge of projecting mountain spurs without giv- ing a variety of unique views. Sometimes we OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 327 passed upon level plateaus and looked down upon thousands of tapering larches and above them on the opposite slope upon a single, gigantic, majestic peak. Often the road is cut from the mountain- side and is supported by masonry. The turn of the valley where the road is carried across in a great swinging loop, slowly ascending, is very fine. Suddenly, as we were ascending, a slender deer bounded across the road and in a moment was out of sight. Pink daphne, the sweetest and loveliest of the wild flowers dotted the banks and slopes with all the finished beauty of a carefully studied garden. There is a most peculiar finish in this en- tire drive, with its superb road bed — lovely larch vistas, park-like stretches and the overpowering grandeur and majesty of the detached heights. As we neared Schluderbach, it seemed as if bril- liant sunlight, blue crystalline air, and glittering mountains combined, for one last grand '' coup d^oeil," for to our left, way up and up, above the nearer gigantic mountain range, rose one awe-in- spiring cluster of peaks like some superb architec- tural triumph of ancient days, shattered and torn, but showing still its Gothic form and outlines, all dashed and glowing with red and yellow. It was the mighty tower of Croda Rossa, so grand, so sublime, that instinctively we thought and sang, — "Glorious things of thee are spoken." — Beyond Schluderbach the valley turns abruptly, narrows suddenly almost to a gorge. Tlie great mountains compact and rounded, yellow, brown 328 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. and gray, rise witli impressive effect upon either side. Dark forests and bare mountain crags, make it peculiarily sombre in the afternoon when shadows close in. Very soon is passed the the Durrensee, a beautiful sheet of green with above it, through a gap in the almost solid wall, an exquisite view of the distant '^ Drei Zinnen" peaks, wonderfully like the two towers and spires of some grand cathedral, glistening in the sun. Farther on is Landro, with a backward view singu- larly striking and impressive, of the group of Cris- tallo with its jagged peaks, its fields of snow and its glacier, with Popeno and Cristallino beyond, all over ten thousand feet in height. As we stood in the shadows of the valley and the sun flooded it, it presented the most brilliant, startling and dazzling effect we had ever beheld. While the narrowing valley was not startling with strange shapes, it was fine because of its almost uniform, precipitous lichen-covered mountain walls. Beyond Landro is quite an extensive fortification commanding the valley. The mountains become bolder and the gorge narrower, — the little green Toblach-see was passed and then we swept through the gateway of the valley, guarded upon either side by gigantic heights, which bounded abruptly into the air to a height of 7,750 feet. Afterwards the valley widened, the road descended rapidly through thickets of larch, curving and turning in most picturesque fashion. In the distance spread before us the open country, — the '^ Pusterthal," green and beautiful, but very tame compared with the rocky fastnesses we had Drei Zinnen OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. 329 left so regretfully behind. We came into the broad valley in due time and found at Toblach a very handsome spick and span modern hotel, facing a railway, — the end of the drive through the Dolo- mite country, but, unsatisfied because we had not seen San Martino, of which we had heard so much, we took the railway to Botzen, a beautiful jaunt of some three hours, to make, in fact, our journey over again. m THE SHADOW OF A GEEAT ROCK. BoTZEN is beautiful for situation, witli one peer- less view sufficiently grand to make it famous. Our windows at the Victoria commanded it, — a break or deep dip in the far-away mountain ranges showing apparently still more distant, in most spectacular and dramatic manner, the wild, grim, rugged Rosengarten and the sharp sabre-like peak of Schlern, one of the greatest Dolomites. At sunset, with almost an Alpine glow upon it, it was superb. Our journey of an hour by rail brought us, about nine o'clock in the morning, to Neumarkt Station. Having telegraphed the evening before to the " Messaggeria Postale,'' a carriage and pair awaited us, and without delay, across a dusty valley, with a fine view of a great amphitheatre walled with goodly mountains, and an effective closing in at end, we drove directly to the village, and clat- tered past its arcades and oriel windows and over its one stony street and began at once the gradual ascent of the abrupt mountain range at whose base it lies. It was charming, for the road was carried in sharp zigzags or followed the course of deep coves, and, frequently high above us and apparently flat against the rocky, precipitous sides, could be seen the parapet of the continuation of the way. In the depths of one cove we looked up at a quaint 330 IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK. 331 and picturesque old chateau with battleniented walls, steep roofs, odd turrets and towers, and later, upon turning a zigzag, came quite abreast of it. These old castles and half-ruiued chateaux, the outcome or growth of an age that is past, perched in the most picturesque and well-nigh inaccessible points, never lose their charm with our country- men, for the reason that they constitute the one feature in the landscape which can never become a familiar one in our land. The road often is cut from the very face of the tall precipitous mount- ain, and from such high vantage-ground one looks down into, and far and wide through, the great valley below. Steadily the road led upward, pass- ing in the level stretches many a group of hay- makers (the men wearing aprons), through thick- ets of walnuts and woods of evergreens until at noon we reached and halted for a half hour at the Fontana Fredda, a large brewery and inn at an elevation of 3,115 feet. For a long way after we seemed upon a level elevated valley with evergreen- covered hillsides, and at end of vista some distant snow-streaked mountains. It was pretty and charming, but at no time remarkable. The road wound around the hillside through lovely ever- green woods, like great dim cathedral aisles and following the hill ranges, bounded first one way and then another, always with a lovely view down in the valley depths. At last it turned a spur of the hills and we looked the length of a long, broad valley with several villages and churches most pict- uresquely situated, and at the end, higli above tlie 332 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. ranges of mountains, the '^'Fiem-me/' with sum- mit wreathed with passing clouds. Later we came to Calvalese, where horses were changed and a simple luncheon procured. The road, as we gradu- ally descended to the Fiem-me Valley, was fearfully dusty, which, however, was better than pouring rain and pasty road-bed. The valley is modest in width, with the Avisio watering its course. At three o^clock, well-nigh smothered with yellow dust, we drove up to the Albergo Eosa, at Pre- dazzo, where we were to spend the night. (It would have been better to have pressed on to Pana- veggio, four hours^ distant, for the accommodations were better. ) The cavernous depths of the entrance passage revealed the stable and suggested the pig- sty, and was far from attractive. Three men, a nice elderly woman and two blooming damsels quickly appeared and escorted us to our rooms. As in the spiritual world, the higher we mounted the purer and sweeter it became, until at the third floor we were ushered into clean and tidy rooms, with marvellously frescoed ceilings, lace curtains, Bohemian glass toilet service and sundry engrav- ings Between them was a wide enclosed landing, such as Miss Edwards so frequently alludes to, where our meals were acceptably served. We really had nothing to complain of, but it was very novel and exquisitely droll in every detail. We were not much impressed with the beauty of Predazzo's location as we drove in, dusty and tired, but a stroll in the meadows revealed, through the pass of the Trovignolo Valley to San Martino, one of the IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK. 333 grandest pictures we had seen — the distant Cimon deUa Pala group of sharp, characteristic peaks, flashing in the sunlight ah-eady hidden from the little town by the western heights. A handsome church faces the plaza of the town, numberless balconies adorn the houses, a stream of water flows through the streets in a sunken trough, and at eventide can be seen the milking of the goats, and many aged men sitting on settles, gossiping as old women are said to do. \Ye retired early, but at nine o^clock the clocks of the two churches struck ; the bell of one rang and clanged ; the sound of chorus-singing in the cathedral was heard, followed quickly by the clatter of the feet of the people returning from service, and, when all possibility of sleep had departed, a bugler beneath our win- dow gave repeated but musical calls. The extreme heat led us to make, the following day, the early start of half-past six o'clock. Our little vehicle rattled over the stones and bore us at once to the Travignolo Valley, beside a little noisy river, the ascent beginning at once and in one way or an- other continuing until noon. The fine road was carried over grassy hills by a succession of zig- zags, slow to climb, passing a jungle of wild flowers, thousands of evergreens and many a charming view. We came into an elevated and quite level valley, — an Alji, with the snow-streaked mountains on opposite side, apparently very near. As usual the road followed curve and projection, dipping deep in ravines with imposing boulders and foaming waters, crossing bridges and follow- 334 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. ing banks overlooking somber depths. In two hours we came face to face and in fine sight of the great distant Dolomite peaks of Cimon della Pala and Cima Vezzana, piercing the clouds at a height of 10,450 feet and more, as they rise above San Martino. We wondered where we were, when we came upon a temporary elevated railway, used in the construction of extensive fortifications upon the summit of a mountain commanding the length in either direction of the quiet valley. Then the road along the mountain-side which looked down and down into dark and sombre depths as it passed through evergreen woods, became very beautiful, quite unlike any we had seen in its intense solitude, the peculiar atmosphere and the weird, almost ghostly effect of the great company of slender larch and evergreens. In less than three hours, we reached Panevaggio, a church, hotel, and de- pendance, and three or four other buildings in a position which commanded a view of surpassing loveliness. Over the opposite mountain side, cov- ered with firs like a mighty army, against the sky, stood alone, a towering wedge-like peak which, although unlike, recalled vividly our first startling view of the Matterhorn from Zermatt. Two other masses show, but they are rounded in form and less fantastic and sensational! As soft, white summer clouds broke against and half enveloped the principal peak, there was a mystery, a grandeur and sublimity about it which fascinated and en- thralled. The view down the valley, taking in hills covered with lance-like evergreens ; one or IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK. 335 two minor snow-crested heights, ending with the monntain spur upon which the extensive fortifica- tions, with an air of solitude which can be felt brooding over it, is very charming. After leaving, our way for an hour and a half was by successive zigzags up the mountain-side, through a forest of carefully tended magnificent evergreens. This part of the country furnishes the masts for the Austrian navy, and like all these wooded heights, is the property of the State and cared for as ten- derly as if a pleasure ground, by foresters and a corps of workmen. Every year tiny trees raised from seed are planted in great numbers and pro- tected by a tripod of staves until too large to be injured by cattle. In eighty years, these little twigs may be tall, stately trees fit " for the master^s use.^^ So carefully is the law of supply observed, that it is said, someivhere, trees can be felled every year. The beauty of this drive through the cool forest depths, with tingling sunlight and bewitch- ing shadow through the quiet aisles, — frequent glimpses of far-away heights or seemingly un- fathomable depths, is beyond description. The wild flowers nodded upon the banks, a single red squirrel sprang from bough to bough and through the columnar vistas could be seen the white, ribbon- like road below, over and over again. There was little to tell of and yet, so much ! so much of color, so much of detail, and oh ! so mucli of wondrous combination of far and near, in the cool, quiet, exquisite beauty of those weird, solemn Gothic- like columns, and in the dreamy, mystical per- 336 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. spectives in which air, mountain and sombre forest- crowned hills, blended and faded away. We knew we were missing much in keeping our carriage seat, yet were physically unable to walk. Some- times it seemed as if we would never reach the summit, — the end of the zigzags, — and we scarcely cared if toe did not ! At length looking upward, we saw against the sky, the last line of road with a tombstone appearing guard. Beaching it, we came upon a knoll and, delight of delights ! it was fairly covered with clumps of the lovely Alpen- rose, which heretofore we had only seen in tiny plants. It spread out, growing low like juniper, in great masses of the loveliest deep rose-pink blossoms, making the great knoll a dream of color and beauty. Beyond stretched an extensive green Alp with scores of cattle grazing. We were in an upper world, far above the lovely scenes of two or three hours past. Still, by telegraph poles and walls, we could distinguish our road doubling and zigzagging a long distance ahead. The way, how- ever, did not appear so steep as to make all this necessary. When we came to the Rolle or Costanzello Pass (6,415 ft.) oh ! what a pano- rama opened before us ! We were apparently so near the mighty range of Dolomites, — the scene was so wild, — the forms so defiant, — the peaks and pinnacles so sharp and jagged, — the range so lengthy and it was all so fantastic, Ij startling and Unvaried by milder outlines, that we simply " gave up." The soft silvery gray and the yellow glow of the rock, the fleecy clouds IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK. 337 floating before them giving the strange look of processional movement, and the wondrous effect of the brilliant sunshine, were simply en- chanting. The great peak Oimon della Pala (10,455 ft.) is called the Matterhorn of the Dolo- mites, but its personal characteristics are suffi- ciently grand and unique to justify calling it simply itself! We had passed the highest point and before us was soon to open a deep ravine-like valley, so crowded with interesting and delightful visions that it was a shame not to walk slowly down and loiter and stop till soul and body could hold no more ! From a high table-land we had just one view of San Martino (a few white buildings, a little church with tower and spire), way down in the deep green valley, two thousand feet below. It glistened white and pearly as a jewel, in its weird surroundings of gray rocks, dark, lustrous, fir-covered hills and emerald fields. The descent by a magnificent military road, a won- derful piece of engineering, began at once. We thought we had seen loops and zigzags that could not be excelled, but this surpassed them all ! In sharp turns, in pretty loops, the road beneath is seen repeated again and again and frequently way off in the trees, in most unexpected places, gleams the little white fluttering ribbon-like way. For twenty minutes or more we were shut in, with no suggestion of presence or habitation of man, witli the grand old range of sharp, needle-like heights above, gleaming and glittering in the sunliglit like some fantastic freak of nature. Between twelve 22 ms THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. and one o'clock we came in full sight of San Martino and were soon domiciled in enormous rooms in the admirably ordered '^ Hotel Dolo- mite." San Martino di Castrozza (to give it its full name) was with us a case of love at first sight, and as at Schluderbach we would gladly have length- ened our stay of several days to as many weeks. The day of our arrival was so superb, the environ-^ ment so exceptionally fine and the long chain of^' clustered peaks so thoroughly '^^ Dolomitish/' that it impressed us at once and proved to be the most satisfactory abiding place we had found. Being in the centre of a richly- wooded, basin-like valley with a great green knoll or Alp, — with a long procession of tall, lancelike, turreted dolomites to one side and densely wooded hills on the other, — and directly across and closing the view at the end of the valley, the long chain of the '^ Vette di Feltre," wonderfully suggestive of the Mountains of Moab seen from Jerusalem, with at their base a glimpse of the Primiero Valley, — it would seem as if nothing could be more restful or beautiful. One need net do anything, for it is all done for him ! Just as one sits in an opera box and sees the spec- tacle pass before him, he can sit quietly for an hour in the open and note in speechless wonder the weird and marvellous changes its short round will bring. One moment, the shattered peaks may each and every one stand clear and distinct against a background of blue or pearly gray ; — a IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK. 339 few moments later clouds and darkness may be around them ; — again the passing vapor may break against them and roll away like the smoke of dis- astrous conflict ; — the sunlight may touch the edge or lining of clouds, glorifying them as by an un- seen and Divine presence, and then the mists may roll away and, in all the glory of silvery gray, golden yelloAV, with slight touch of red, they may stand out dazzling and flashing in sunshine. And this goes on every hour in the twenty-four ; every day in the three hundred and sixty-five, and the watchful eye, the sympathetic mind and the rev- erent heart may have an unending feast without money and without price. Here, one is so close to them as almost to be in the shadow of the great rocks. Or one may stroll in the woods, full of moss and lichen-covered boulders and rocks, — of ferns and countless wild flowers, of slender taper- ing evergreens which no man can number, with occasionally a babbling, noisy brook with waters churned to foam by its course over a rocky bed, and often through the tree-tops catch glimpses of the marvellous shattered peaks and turrets. The carriage road as it winds through the woods be- comes a poem, — a sweet and quieting song. Walking along the zigzag road by which we first approached, the view of the wonderful chain grew finer, — the peaks seemed loftier, more stately and more marvellous. Never have we seen suddenly arrested motion so suggestive as in some portion of this range ; — one who has laid in a steamer-chair and seen the waves of the sea tossed high in air, I 340 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. standing still for a second and then breaking into other shapes or tossed off in spray, can understand this suggestion. The motion, the tossing of the waves, is there, but is held there a thing of beauty forever. Yet as you sit in the perfect stillness and look up at them and see a bit of fleecy, filmy sum- mer cloud float around and break over them, it seems as if the whole mass would dissolve and, vapor-like, form again in shapes unknown. The brilliant sunshine and clear atmosphere bring out the subtle charm of the strange colorings of pearly grays, soft white, glowing yellow and rusty red, with most fascinating and bewitching effect. One night we had the " Alpen-glow,'' when the great wall or barrier at end of valley, so like the pur- ple Moabitish range, was fairly ablaze with quiver- ing, shimmering pink or blush. Had those glistening rocks been white with snow, we would have had a still more glorious vision. As it was, the sapphire mountains burned and gleamed like brilliant pink topaz and the scene was unearthly in its strange weird beauty. Personal taste prob- ably colors every opinion, but to us, San Martino, the site of an old monastery, snugly ensconced upon a verdant Alp, was the most delightful place of sojourn in the Dolomites, and there was no one single view preferable to the glorious and magnificent sweep of mountain monarchs, under whose shadow it rests, which guard in such spec- tacular manner the entire length of the valley it overlooks. ALL^S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. The day of departure from San Martino was perfect, — the long line of wonderful and majestic peaks was flashing in the sunlight, with more or less of thinnest cloud floating like a bridal veil around their summits or falling in long graceful trails down their sides. The witchery and fasci- nation of a mountain chain thus wreathed, display- ing a peak here or a great boulder there, high in the clouds, is inexpressible, — the more so perhaps as every moment reveals some new effect or combi- nation. For twenty-five minutes or more of rapid driving, the road was exquisitely beautiful, for it wound serpent-like through the dense evergreen forest in whose cool depths lie huge moss- covered boulders, great masses of feathery ferns and the loveliest colored stream breaking tumultuously over a rock-strown bed. It is only a woodland, a mountain drive over the smoothest of roads, but nothing could be more beautiful than the play of light and shade, the stately grace of the arrowy trees, the glimpses of azure valley depths or of opposing breathless mountain peaks. Then we came into a shadeless stretch, where long since the hillside has been denuded of forest growth, where we looked down, down into the valley of tlie Cismone and over upon hillsides covered with 341 342 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. meadows and dotted with many a Tyrolean hut. We were leaving behind the illustrious procession of abrupt peakS;, and attention was fast drawn to the lateral valley rapidly opening before us. By many windings and zigzags we finally came to the level of Primiero, a drop within an hour of 2,450 feet. Rattling through two or three hamlets we came at noon to the principal street of Primiero, and at the Albergo Gilli found pleasant rooms, a tidy house, an adjoining orchard and a garden full of tall white lillies, sweet williams, scarlet lychnis and poppies, upon which our apartments looked. We were dis- appointed in Primiero at first, for from Miss Ed- ward^s description we looked for something wilder, grander and more savage. The little town boasts a small Grothic church most picturesquely located upon the side hill in which is a dainty and curious Monstrance (a receptacle for the Host) presented by the silver miners more than six hundred years ago. For Primiero has had a silver day and '^ sil- verites^^ without number, as the mines in the vicinity were once especially rich. It is Gothic in character, exactly three feet in height and is in the form of a delicate open work spire, enclosing a cylindrical glass receptacle and holder for the con- secrated wafer, with small statues and a surmount- ing crucifix of gold. It is so delicate it could easily be injured, and so valuable, it is a wonder that with all the wars and rumors of war, all the advancing and retreating of armed and savage forces the country has witnessed, that it still re- mains intact, a sacred treasure in the humble ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 848 little church. In the chancel built against tlie wall is a tall Gothic receptable for it, which carried our thoughts to that in the church of 8t. Lau- rence in pretty Nuremberg, — of which Longfellow sang so sweetly. Directly above the church was a steep hill surmounted by a rude cross and small chapel which commanded a singularly beautiful and satisfying view. Below lay a broad, level, cultivated valley with the Cismone, a harmless stream at this season of the year, rushing through it. In huddled groups in the sweep of a mile or so, the brown roofs and white wallsof four distinct villages apjoeared. Way up at the apparent com- mencement of the valley, where the great wooded hills coming down towards one another form an entrance or gatcAvay, springs in the middle distance an almost perpendicular rock, crowned most pict- uresquely by an extensive, but ruined castle. Ow- ing to shattering and splitting of the rock it is said now to be inaccessible. From the di«?tance it did not appear like a ruin but like some long, stately hall, curiously lifted into mid-air, its yellow walls burn- ing and glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Upon the sides of lofty green hills, looking as if a touch would start them sliding to the valley below, every here and there were perched Tyrolean huts and chAlets. The scene was peaceful and sunny for the strange Dolomite heights were so high above, that there was little of the wild, savage and weird char- acter. Away to the south, lifted to the clouds, was Mt. Pavione, its shape so perfect a pyramid as to seem to have been formed by liuman hnnds. It is the 344 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. more curious, as it rests upon a foundation wall so straight and upright, that it looks artificial. The villages so compact yet so separated, each with its steep-roofed tiny church, with always a tall square tower and attenuated spire, give a peculiar idyllic air to the valley. In the twilight we stood awhile upon a bridge which spanned the Cismone, and looked up at the marvellous heights, with the late sunlight still upon them, although we were in the gloaming. They do not enkindle love, — they are so violent, so hard that they overwhelm with awe and astonishment. The uplifted castle showed like an apparition in that lonely hour. We walked along the river bank and up through one of the villages, whose one long street, because of irregu- larly placed houses, all gables and balconies, made a beautiful and artistic vista. Although it was squalid, dirty and forlorn, yet many a window blazed with pink and scarlet geraniums, gorgeous pelargoniums and lovely carnations ! Before sink- ing into sleep, we threw open the windows and looked, not up to the ponderous, tumultuous shattered heights, but through the glamour of silvery moonlight, upon the garden with its riot of old-fashioned flowers, while thought turned quickly to an old home of years ago, and one who was its light, and we felt anew, ^'^the tender grace of a day that is dead " could ^^ never come back " to us. We were sorry in early morning to leave Pri- miera for there was much that was pretty and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 345 quaint in the place itself. Some windows near our hotel with masses of nasturtiums or brilliant with geraniums, could not have been made more artistic. It was another perfect day ! Not a cloud ! The great, silvery gray heights away to the left seemed to bound into the crystalline air with glad exultant buoyancy. Sasso Maggiore lifted its cathedral-like towers with peculiarly solemn grandeur. The rock-poised castle looked a plaything, for, far above it (hidden yesterday by clouds) , against the blue, rose an outline of sharp, saw-like teeth, — the mountain which Miss Ed- wards says " bristles all over with points like a porcupine.^' With the usual flourish of a fresh start, we clattered through the principal street and turned into the broad valley, passing acres cf Indian corn and forlorn Swiss chdlets often made strikingly beautiful by grape-vines clinging to and hanging from the always picturesque balconies. The valley gradually narrowed, and twenty-five minutes after leaving Primiero became a narrow gorge with lofty mountain walls upon either side and in the bed a rapid river. The mountain sides became precipitous and the formation pecul- iar, in that the rock seemed in horizontal layers. Narrower and narrower it grew until not more than fifty feet in width. We dashed along through its exquisite course at a rapid pace when we fain would have walked, for it was so charming. — We reached Monte Grose at the end of an hour where, within a few feet of one another, were the yellow and black pole of the Austrian, and the red, 346 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. white and green of the Italian dividing lines. Upon one house were the coat-of-arms and in- signia of Austria, — upon the other those of Italy. The array was formidable, hut the customs ex- amination was confined to the simple question whether we had any '' tabac '' ? — In the vernac- ular of the dramatists '^exeunt Austria'^ and her florins, — " enter Italy " and her francs ! — Then along the narrow gorge, with nothing to molest or make afraid, — the tortuous valley depth, directly after passing the frontier, narrowing to a few feet, fl| with the water pouring through a rift worn in the rocks. The road excavated from the face of the precipitous rocks hung high above it. The coachman considerately stopped several times that we might look back the length of the sunny nar- row valley or down into the depths where the water rushed through a gateway or dashed through a narrow flume. Often the road ahead, bending and winding, following the contour of the projecting promontories, looked like a white shelf upon the mountain side. Continually we were encompassed by sheer or lofty hills with trees and scrubby growth wherever a root hold was possible. It was a succession of marvellous and beautiful surprises. At one turn we looked down the deep valley ahead, and there amidst the wildness and the verdure ap- peared a fine and lofty single arch bridge of cut stone. In the bed below the stream forced its way through a wall of rock several feet in height but only a few in width. An abrupt, almost angular turn in the gorge showed, at a point commanding ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 347 the valley in both directions, Fort Antonio, while high ahove it on the crest of the monntains was another large fortification. The lovely narrow gorge ended, — the valley broadened as we de- scended, — vine- clad slopes and orchards appeared and the air grew warm and hazy. The road con- tinned to excite admiration, for it w^as simply hewn from the face of the calcareous rocks. This is what military precaution does for the country and the post follows quickly. It was amusing to note, as we passed through one wretched Italian village, a side street with the cognomen " Via Amore." In one town there had evidently been an impor- tant festa, for workmen were taking down the really handsome and effective decorations of arches and columns in evergreen, and great fir trees along the streets. The air grew w^armer and warmer as we came upon the level plain, — the land evidently of the vine, for they were trained upon trellis or upon tree trunks on every side. It was past midday when we reached Feltre, where some two hours later we took the train from Venice and began the repetition of the route already described, but, as it proved, under such favorable conditions of earth and air and sky as to seem at times like a new and unknown way. For an hour we looked from the train upon the smiling verdant country, — the fields all " swept and gar- nished " by the haymakers, and upon the range of mountains which had given us our first idea and realizing sense of " Dolomite " form and pecul- iarity, and saw at length, upon the plain, the long 348 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. line of dull red-brown roofs and flashing white side-walls and the campanile of Belluno's familiar duomo. At the station, by previous arrangement, mine host of the Golden Crown at Perarolo awaited us with a carriage, for in repeating the journey we preferred to divide it differently. Along the way for two hours we met hundreds of men and women in wagons, carryalls and on foot, wending their way to Belluno, from whence at one o'clock at night a special train was to depart for Padua, for the Festa of St. Anthony on the mor- row. We looked at many of them, hard-worked and old, and thought of them packed all night in the cars (there would be six thousand in all) and arriving at Padua at 7 a. m. and remaining all day in the broiling sun until 7 P. m. and back again, and wondered at the power of a form of religion that could call forth such sacrifice and devotion. A little of this spirit in Protestantism might bring the kingdom perceptibly nearer. We had driven over this portion of the route with more or less cloud and finally at Perarolo a blinding rain, al- though we had seen much of it in full blaze of sunshine. Now we were to see it free from vapor or cloud, in the long slanting light of the after- noon and the cool shadows of early evening. Es- pecially grateful were we at the Termine, to see the gigantic yellow golden crag which bounds up so abruptly upon opposite side of the valley, entirely free from cloud and ablaze with sunlight, for it was magnificent ! From there to Perarolo it was superb ! Happy are they who see this narrowing ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL". 349 valley in the morning light, but more favored those who, in the cool of evening, pass tliis way. As we passed along the road close to the cliffs, encompassed by the shadows of the eternal hills, we lifted our eyes above the rapid river and the green and rocky walls and saw, far above us, fairly in mid-air, glistening, gleaming and flashing in full sunlight, the yellow and silver forms of the mighty, majestic monarchs. With the loveliest imaginable views in both directions, the road bends, following the valley curves. The eventime was light ; the air deliciously refreshing and cool ; the soft shadowing of the valley and the hills grate- ful to the eye, while frequently over the summits of the mountains which encompassed us, gleamed and glowed like pearly or golden ramparts, the wild, erratic, tremendous Dolomite peaks. Just before the " Albergo della Corona d'Oro " is reached, the road bends abruptly and crosses a bridge over the stream which pours down a lateral valley. We watched anxiously for this point, for when we passed this way before, clouds hid the " Presence," as Miss Edwards appropriately calls it, and we saw but little. But this wondrous evening, stately, grand, pyramidal in form, rose against the blue sky, unmarred by cloud, the gigantic, majestic, regal form of Antelao ! It was oppressively, breathlessly magnificent, and with its sun-kissed snowy summit, a vision of grand and kingly beauty, never to be forgotten. We found the Coronna d'Oro more than comfortable and the cuisine ad- mirable ; — and from a little balcony looked upon 350 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. T picturesque chalets and watched the logs like ani- mate objects float merrily down the rapid stream. M\ Each one is marked with the owner^s name as they are started on their way. Many are stranded, but a day or two of rain starts them on again. Under its present management it is one of the best hos- telries upon the whole route. We were favored with another perfect day, so, as we passed beyond Pararola, we had the view from the zigzags which ascend and round Mount Zucco and along the hill- sides and over the summits of the fortifications above Pieve and the approach to Tai, which be- fore we lost because of rain. The wonderful journey between Tai and Cortina impressed us as it did before, as so broad in valley, so bold and stupendous in mountain panorama, that words fail to portray it. It seemed as if there was so much we had not seen before in the bewitching beauty of the near slopes, green and fresh after the recent haymaking and rains, of the far-away exuberant bounding outline of cloudlike mountains and the towering peaks, gigantic towers and startling forms looming up undwarfed and unobscured by even summer clouds. The variety of suggestive forms astonishes and bewilders. It requires no play of imagination, for the towers, spires, battlements and walls are all there ! The great Pelmo was like a huge gray silvery sea wave, while Antelao from every coign of vantage was overwhelming. To- f ano, with snow dazzling in the sunshine came in view, and then ponderous and massive Sorapis, a mass of red, yellow and gray, a blaze of color as ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 351 never before. Flooded with sunshine and gladness, the whole drive along the base of Antelab and SorajDis and on to Cortina was a succession of won- derful pictures and effects. AVe passed for the last time under the yellow and black pole of Aus- tria, — and what was left of our Italian francs was transferred to another pocket and our Austrian florins had their day again. We lunched at Cor- tina, but slept at Schluderbach, and from Toblach some eight and one-half miles farther on, the rail- way bore us away to lovely Innsbruck, and our visit to the country of the Dolomites was ended. Again we would emphasize the importance of starting from Botzen, or at any rate, of not ignor- ing Panaveggio, San Martino and Primiero. But it is all wonderful and so unlike Switzerland that comparisons are scarcely suggested. These strange peaks, jagged and sharp, seem born of conflict and strife, and springing up so suddenly, silence, be- numb and overpower, and can never suggest the peaceful and spiritual as do the long snow-driven Swiss heights. From the Eigi Kulm, how spiritual and suggestive is the wonderful procession of snow-white Alpine peaks and slopes ! One can sit and commune in peace as with the Infinite. But throughout the Dolomite country the general feelinor excited is one of wonder and astonishment, and one often fails to get in harmony with it. " Like strains of martial music Their miKlitv forms suggest Life's endless toil and endeavor," 353 THE COUNTRY OF THE DOLOMITES. when one would fain have the rest of quiet com- munion with the hills from whence cometh our help. This may seem a long story of a very brief tour, for Venice is not more than one hundred miles from Toblach and only sixty of it (from Belluno) is by carriage. One thing is essential, nay imper- ative, that is, if you would really see the wonderful variations of outline and form and the marvellous play of color, and that is,— fine weather ! If it tarries wait for it, for it will come, and with it an exceeding great reward. IN AUSTRIAN TYROL. IN AUSTEIAN TYROL. IN A POET^S FOOTSTEPS. There was love-making in the old nest, — beneath the ancestral roof, — among the older members of the brood, and a presentation copy of Longfellow^'s '^ Hyperion '^ was one of the outward manifestations of the inward desire. The book was comparatively new, and the small boy heard much discussion and conversation regarding it. Curiosity may be only another form of commend- able hungering and thirsting after knowledge. Be that as it may, the small boy wondered who or what ^"^ Hyperion ^^ was, and what ^^ a Romance" might be. A time-honored old leather-covered " Walker^s " (it was before the days when Web- ster's great cumbersome ^'Unabridged''' was as familiar and as tiresome as a household word) soon explained the latter, but the first was not so easy of solution. Family censorship of the small boy's reading in those days was severe. The im- mediate effect of it, however, was defeating, for it resulted in the surreptitious possession of the book and a perusal of it in private as if reaching out after forbidden fruit, from mysterious title page to the mournful " roar of the wind through 355 356 [N AUSTRIAN TYROL. a forest of pines " with which the graceful melo- dious prose dies away. As a retrospect the picture of a boy poring over the poetic prose and fanciful dreaming of that classic seems inexpressibly droll. Doubtless, there was much in it he did not understand, but from that hour the Rhine, Heidelberg, Lucerne, In- ter! aken, St. Gilgen and St. "Wolfgang became ra- diant centres about which clustered many a pleas- ant, although perhaps profitless day-dream — and a sort of a vow was recorded that " some day I will see them all.^' But a child crying for the moon seems quite as likely to attain his desire as the boy at that time of reaching the fulfilment of this vow. Years rolled on and repeated ram- bles through Europe made the Rhine, Heidelberg and Switzerland an old, old story, although ever new, while Austrian Tyrol, owing to the impos- sibility of crowding more than a certain amount of travel in a specified time, was repeatedly rele- gated to " 2i> more convenient season. ^^ But at last the whirligig of charming travel brought us, in weather compared with which our hottest July days are cool, to Salzburg, which with its lovely environment and peculiar characteristics is one of the most beautiful places on the continent. The white town lies in the level valley upon both sides of the little, but rapid, Salzach. Abruptly from the plain rises the " Mornchsberg,^^ an uneven wooded hill or mountain presenting a bluff or cliff-like face towards the town, the highest ex- tremity of which is crowned with the antiquated IN A POETS FOOTSTEPS. 357 fortress-like castle of '• Hoheii'Salzburg," with pinnacles and roofs towering four lumdred feet above the valley. From afar, this castle-crowned, abrupt eminence bounding up so suddenly is most striking and picturesque. Our approach, in the soft golden light of the late afternoon was, because of the course of the railway, which brought us in full view of it, then carried us out of sight (a sort of ''' now you see it, now you don^t see it '' effect) and finally to the edge of the mod- ern suburbs, singularly exciting and enchanting. Although we w^ere upon a pilgrimage bent, we did not seek out the " Golden Ship " where Paul Flemming was so ill — for, degenerate souls ! we preferred the luxury and comfort of a more mod- ern caravansary, and soon found ourselves settled by the shaded walks along the river embankment with windows facing the uplifted spectacular cas- tle. Across the river the houses great and small hug closely the precipitous rock face : an elevator lifts one to the summit, where is a pleasure ground and tower : a j^leasant w^alk through woods and open fields past pretty villas leads at last to the castle, which, like all medieval structures, has much of interest and some odd decorations. A little ele- vated belvedere gives one a sweeping view of rare beauty over the level valley, the pretty hills and the mountains touched here and there with snow, undulating out of sight in a great billowy, opa- lescent sweep. The town has but few sights, the strange old burial-ground of St. Peter being the mostinterestinjx, with vaults hewn from the face of 358 IN AUSTRIAN TYROL. the rock — queer little cliapels and much wrought- iron work. Altogether, the place is delightful. The glamour of a '^ sweet first time ^^ hung about St. Grilgen and St. Wolfgang as turning from charming Salzburg with its uplifted castle perched eagle-like upon a mighty rock ; its environment of tossed and bounding mountain lines, and its rapid, jade-tinted river, we looked towards Ischl, feeling a strange thrill with the thought that lying dimly between were the two charmed spots. Busi- ly engaged in the final preparations for departure, we did not notice an ominous darkening of the western sky. Even at the station, with the man who could not gain admission to the ark and swam off, we said incredulously we '' did not believe it would be much of a shower.^' But a few moments after we left there came aslant the window-panes certain long feathery water-marks. Yet, as it was a. two-hours' journey to St. Gilgen we hoped for clearing skies. Alas ! it just came harder and harder till the great sheeted mass looked as if the bottom had clean gone out of the tank itself. It was a droll little railway, a sort of narrow gauge, too large to laugh at, yet too small to seem to be altogether in earnest ! It bore us faithfully and slowly into a lovely pasture country with vivid green fields, undulating and level : with abundance of dark tree-growth and often a fringe of abrupt rocky masses, boulder-like and inspiring, seen of course ''^through the rain and the mist.'' Until we came in sight, within an hour or more, of the '* Mondsee," we bore our limitations with cheer- I IN A POET'S FOOTSTEPS. 359 ful grace and becoming fortitude, but when the gradually ascending road climbed higher upon the mountain-side upon a narrow shelf cut from its face and we looked down, now upon lovely placid green waters, — now through dark evergreen forests with pretty roads winding along the points and saw picturesque villages, embowered cottages and villas, — great, bold, rocky promontories and level meadow lands here and there upon the varied shores, but lost the distant view, we exclaimed '' What fools we were to start ! '^ No words can picture the simple, artless, refined beauty of these little ^^sees." They are like water-colors in their delicate and suggestive tints and forms, with an air of purity and peaceful consciousness, quite fascinating and satisfying. The Mondsee is but seven miles long by one and a half wide, a small affair judged by the standard of " bigness,'^ but beaming and glowing with beauty in every rod, and the more charming because of the variety of the marked characteristics of its scenery. As we passed from it, we looked down upon Scharfling, a pretty village resting like a jewel upon an emerald meadow expanse, wdth a great abrupt precipice beyond. And then into the woods and through cuts and tunnels, emerging at end of four miles at the foot of Villa Billroth, a large, square, castellated residence with corner towers, most de- lightfully situated. In a few moments we saw the waters of St. Wolfgang see — and knew the de- tached half Swiss houses buried in the trees far below formed the village of St. Gilgen. Long- 360 IN AUSTRIAN TYROL. fellow sayS;, .^'^they came suddenly in sight of the beautiful lake of St. Wolfgang, lying deep be- neath them in the valley. On its shore under them sat the white village of St. Gilgen, like a swan upon its reedy nest. They seemed to have taken it unawares and, as it were, clapped their hands upon it in its sleep, and almost expected to see it spread its broad snow-white wings and fly away. The whole scene was one of surpassing beauty.''' Still, in spite of the sun, the rain fell heavily ! To prowl about the village was not de- sirable ; the proposed boat-ride to St. Wolfgang impossible ; a stupid waiting at the little station for several hours anything but attractive. Be- tween the showers, we walked down a pretty road which curved between trees and shrubs and led to an open place, upon which faced the "Post Tavern by Franz Schondorf er " of the romance — a great, square, plastered structure with broad Swiss-like overhanging eaves and the " half -effaced painting of a bear hunt " carried like a band or frieze above the first story. Under awnings projecting over the ground-floor, sat a dozen students in boating- dress, and several excursionists partaking of light refreshments and the ubiquitous beer. The en- trance floor and hall with serving-rooms on either side, were not attractive, nor altogether satisfactory to the olfactory sense. But on the third floor they showed us such large, handsomely furnished rooms we decided to remain for the night-trusting the storm would pass away before morning light. What matter if it did rain ? We sat by our win- IN A POET'S FOOTSTEPS. 361 dows and looked down upon an open irregular platz with the town pump or fountain, around whose curb a grou]^ was almost always assem- bled, for there is much talking to be done in this world ! A huge barn with shingled and ivy-cover- ed sides, houses standing akimbo, just as children would place their toys ; streets or roads wriggling out of sight and above the roofs the tall tower with bulbous spire ; beyond, gleams of quiet lake waters over-shadowed by mountains tossed high in air. Away off to the left towered into the clouds the famous Scharfburg. Evidently it is not vulgar to look out of the windows in primitive unspoiled St. Gilgen, for upon the lintels were red cushions in- viting the elbows and giving a charming bit of color to the quiet scene. It was like the setting of a story or poem. Later we were able to stroll in the gathering shadows to the ancient church and its i3eaceful surrounding God's Acre, where a great multitude sleep ^^with their arms crossed upon their breasts or lying motionless by their sides. " The quaint belfry tower forms a porch with open- ings into the yard as well as the church. A round arched ceiling profusely decorated : a very wide altar, two galleries and odd old pews with badly indented brass plates and a few tombs was all there was to see. Unfortunately we had no copy of Hyperion with us, and with the impression that the legend we sought was in the church, we scanned closely every lettering upon walls, tomb and pavement slabs, and began to wonder if that too, was romance I 362 IN AUSTRIAN TYROL. Passing out into the churchyard we picked our way between pools of water and sundry tumbled down crosses and stones to a small square chapel in southern corner. The outer doors were open but the iron ^' grille " closed. Upon the east wall was a tablet with simple framing, surmounted by an urn or bowl with flames, beneath which was a medallion with figure of Christ with cross and a palm-branch and a memorial inscription folloAved by the legend which is the text or moral of the gentle romance. '^' Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart. The morning brought the gladsome ^' clear shining after the rain." As we threw open the casement blinds we stood enthralled with the transcendent loveliness of the scene. The bene- diction of peace seemed brooding over it, while a Sabbath stillness filled the air. We w^ere impressed as many times before with the vivid truthfulness and correctness of the descriptive passages of the book. Although written so many years ago, the chapters on St. Grilgen and St. Wolfgang might with very slight variation be penned to-day. A stroll along the road that leads to the hill-tops faced with the quaint picturesque houses and shops of the village ; a brief tarry within the ancient quiet church and a lovely walk to the shore, and then a small boat bore us rapidly out upon the placid sunlit waters of St. Wolfgang's Lake. The seren- IN A POETS FOOTSTEPS. 3fi3 ity, tranquillity and exquisite beauty of the scene, could not be encompassed with words. With Paul Flemming we could truthfully, feelingly say, as we looked backward, *' Farewell to thee, St. Gilgen ! The quiet beauty of thy lake shall be to me for- ever an image of peace and purity and stillness, and that inscription in thy little churchyard a sentence of wisdom for my after life/* THE END. The Sacrifice of a Throne. BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF AMADEUS. DUKE OF AOSTA, SOMETIME KING OF 8PAIX. H. REMSEN WHITEHOUSE Foivnerhj attached to United States Legation at }fadrid; Late Secretary of Legation and Consul General to Central America^ Secretary of Legation to Mexico; Secretary of the Pan- American Conference and recently Secretary of United States Embassy to Italy. With full- page Illustratioas of ths Royal Family ia Platiaotype. One Volume. 12 mo. Cloth, $1.50. "The Sacritice of a Throne," is the title not inappropriately selected by Mr. Whitehouye, for his description of one of the most romantic and curious episodes in contemporaneous history. Step by step the reader accompanies the hero of this historical sketch, prepared from materials not within tlie reach of the general public; from the hour of his birth, as a member of one of the most ancient reigning Houses of Europe, to his acceptance and renunciation of one of the most glorious Crowns of Christendom. Briefly outlining the events which led up to the unifi- cation of Italy, the writer points out their influence in the formation of the character of the Italian Prince, and their bearing on the political and Bocial trials which made a further tenancy of the Spanish Throne anomalous. The description of the first Cuban rebellion; the attempted emanci- gation of the slaves; and the proposed political and municipal reforms, elp to a better understanding of the social condition of that unhappy island; while the glimpse of the complicated phases of Spanish parlia- mentary under currents of a quarter of a century ago, assists to a clearer appreciation of the difliculties encountered by the government of the Peninsula in the present crisis- similar in many respects to that con- fronted during the reign of Amadeus. In this connection the publication of Mr. Whitehouse's book is particularly opportune, occurring as it does at a moment when public interest is engrossed by current events in the Antilles. The character of Amadeus is carefully studied, and is free from undue prejudice. Admiration for such qualities as pluck and consistency— attributes which appeal forcibly to the Anglo Saxon soul— is not stinted and Mr. Whitehouse gives ample demonstration of the poeession of the moral and physical variations of these virtties by the young monarch, as evinced by his public and private acts. Putting aside the purely historical element and diplomatic criticism, sufficient romantic and dramatic episode will be found in the private I ifi; of the hero to furnish material for the plots of a score of popular novels. The illustrations, of which there are five, are artistically reproduced, and a-id considerably to the general interest of the work. BONNELL, SILVER & CO., Late with A. D. F. Randolph & Co., 24 West 22d Street, New York. ^^XP c) li h PD- 79. '^^ ^^^^^^ '^ ^ y ^^ ^"^^^^ o » <5 U^"^ ^\ ^PS• ?.Q-d .^ ^ ^^. ^^0^ :^°^ o H^^ ^o^^. ,^-/ 'V 5O ^ DOBBSBROS. '<*'^ " LIBRARY aiNOINO C, vP - ■.V •J?. JAN TSi-^" V '.>■.;/ V >^ \Vf<,* <5- ST. AUGUSTINE . ^ ' • . 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