'^ ►!. <% s.'^K< «% >3 'Sf?' K< I<'S|^ >^^7^ 4 » t T • ^ « T Jo ^L <)Jo tIL <^ 74L- r^ ii ^ • GEORGE WAIpREI^^ 4o ^ # I 4L <^ 74L (^ i4L # 74L Oto ^L ()jo ^L <^ t^L <^ :^L y Al. t^ 74i ^ ,4L ojc ^ 9|o 4 <^ ^ ()|(. 4L 0; X'Q tbe Butbor ot VANISHED TOWERS AND CHIMES OF FLANDERS. VANISHED HALLS AND CATHE- DRALS OF FRANCE. HOLLAND OF TO-DAY. BRITTANY AND THE BRETONS. SOME OLD FLEMISH TOWNS. MARKEN AND ITS PEOPLE. THE FOREST OF ARDEN. ETC. A childhood land of mountain ways, Where earthly gnomes and forest fays. Kind foolish giants, gentle bears, Sport with the peasant as he fares Affrighted through the forest glades. And lead sweet wistful little maids Lost in the woods, forlorn, alone. To princely lovers and a throne. Dear haunted land of gorge and glen. Ah, me! the dreams, the dreams of men! A learned land of wise old hooks And men with meditative looks, Who move in quaint red-gabled towns And sit in gravely folded gowns, Divining in deep-laden speech The world's supreme arcana — each A homely god to listening Youth Eager to tear the veil of Truth; Mild votaries of hook and pen — Alas, the dreams, the dreams of men! A music land, whose life is wrought In movement of melodious thought; In symphony, great wave on wave — Or fugue, elusive, swift, and grave; A singing land, whose lyric rimes Float on the air like village chimes; Music and verse — the deepest part Of a whole nation's thinking heart! Oh, land of Now, oh, land of Then! Dear God! the dreams, the dreams of men! Oh, depths beneath sweet human ken, God help the dreams, the dreams of men! Anon. From London Punch, 1917. iDV Beloved Xadi? Bnne Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/alsacelorraineOOedwarich *^Open my heart and you will see The land all emblazoned with Fleurs des Lys" 458625 tFoiYtnord ^f^HE one dominating purpose of the people of CU Alsace-Lorraine is their reunion with the mother ^■^ country : France. A temporary or final autonomy for the Lost Provinces, this "Land of Unshed Tears," is out of the question. The people do not want it. It would be most impracticable to establish it. They would not even discuss it. The people of Alsace-Lorraine con- sider themselves French and a part of France. The creation of even a temporary autonomy would be nothing more than a makeshift, a deferring of the whole question, and history shows conclusively that there is no attempted settlement so dangerous to ultimate peace as such a makeshift; a temporary autonomy such as Ger- many proposes. The only logical way to settle the mat- ter is to sever completely the enforced, undesired and unnatural connection between the provinces and Ger- many, and return them, with as good grace as they can assume, to their natural place as part of France. There is no way of causing the self-expatriated inhabi- tants of Alsace-Lorraine, who fled rather than live under the Prussian rule, to return to it under an autonomy. FOREWORD In the United States, in England, and in France, there are half a million of Alsatians who would not consent to leave their adopted homes and new occupations for the doubtful opportunity of taking part in a plebiscite in the country of their birth. They know too well the touch of the iron hand. The seizure in 1871 of Alsace-Lorraine is regarded by the Germans as the crowning triumph arid victory of the Bismarckian era of conquest, and it must be made for them by ourselves and our Allies one of the reasons for their defeat in the present war, which that blood-steeped war master of Europe has precipitated upon the nations for their domination. The wrong done to Belgium is not greater than that done to Alsace-Lorraine, save that the latter country has not yet been so wrecked by fire and sword. How can the wrong to either nation be righted save by restoration ^ How else than by France's recovery of the provinces so wrongfully seized, can Germany be defeated*? — Treaties with a government which contemptuously re- gards them as "scraps of paper" is play for children or Bolsheviki. Indemnity without a return of such territory is not to be considered. Germany must not merely be made to give up what she has seized; she must lose as well the 10 FOREWORD material resources upon which her iniquitous enterprise was based. In 1871 no plebiscite was taken, although both France and Alsace-Lorraine vainly urged it. Why, then, should there be one now, or at a period after the end of the pres- ent war*? *'Has there not even been a continuous plebi- scite in Alsace-Lorraine from the protests of the elected representatives of these provinces at the National Assem- bly in Bordeaux in 1871 and in the Reichstag in Berlin in 1874, ^^^ ^^ ^P to the popular protests of Savern (Zabern) in 1913?* (Clement Rueff.) The possibility of even a fair competition between Germany and France to an autonomous Alsace-Lorraine is unbelievable. After what has happened to Belgium and other countries no one can believe in such a sugges- tion. It must be won upon the battlefield where France stands an even chance, at least. Germany can be intimi- dated or won over only by a show of force. She cannot comprehend gentler methods. A people who glory in such acts as the sinking of the Lusitania; the murder of Edith Cavell, and Captain Fryatt; the placing of young children and their mothers before the marching soldiers; the assault upon undefended towns ; the bombing of hos- pitals; the slavery of French and Belgian women. Those who applaud the acts of Von Bernstorff and Lux- burg, would hardly stop at similar methods in their deal- II FOREWORD ings with Alsace-Lorraine if they thought necessary. France would perish before using such means to subju- gate. Concerning the treatment of Germans in the provinces when they are eventually returned to France, witness how France treated Alsace in 1648 after it became French. Both Protestants and Jews were baited and persecuted in Paris and throughout France, yet in Alsace they were tolerated, even protected from interference, and allowed to worship according to their peculiar tenets. "The very question of language, which has so often been raised by Germany to prove that Alsace is German, is it not a conclusive demonstration of the extreme toler- ance of France? If France had used the same methods that Germany has used since 1871, can one think for a moment that the Alsatian dialect could have remained the popular language of Alsace after 200 years of French occupation? And let us not forget that an appreciable part of Alsace, with such towns as Thann, St. Amarin, Massevaux, Dannemarie, has been occupied by France since 1914 and has been incorporated with that other part of the Department of the Haut-Rhin, Belfort and surroundings, which remained a part of France after 1871. 'The French Government since 1914 has not ceased to give this question of the period of transition the most 12 FOREWORD earnest thought, and to this effect a special and official commission has been created, composed of prominent Al- satians and Lorrainers of all standings, with the pur- pose of studying this question from all points of view and of elaborating the means of preventing all friction with the people of Alsace-Lorraine regarding their re- ligious, political and economical relations after their re- union with France. "And I can find no better demonstration as to what will be the attitude of the mother country toward her recov- ered children than by repeating the words of the great and good Joffre to the people of Thann when he first came to that old Alsatian city; words that made the tears rise to the eyes of all old Alsatians who heard him, and that still make the tears rise to mine, when he said: "Je vous apporte le baiser de la France." (Clement Rueff ) .^ And so that the reader may know just what sort of peo- ple are these Alsace-Lorrainers — how some of them live, and under what conditions — I have gathered these ran- dom notes together, and ransacked my sketch books for types of people, and pictures of the old castles in the mountainous districts; the nestling small towns in the thick forests; the great rivers flowing through lovely meadow lands lined with marvelous old towns and vil- lages, which transport one who tarries there into the mid- ^ V. p. Association Grenerale des Alsaciens-Lorraine d' Amcrique. 13 FOREWORD die age. Then there is such a wealth of mediaeval churches and abbeys, ruined turreted castles glorified in legend, and exquisite old chateaux embowered in the shade of great trees. . . . And so, dear reader, may it charm you as it has the author. Greenwich, Conn., May 22, 1918. (Sontmts PAGE The Lost Provinces ........ 21 The German Yoke • • • 39 Ferrette, a Toy Village . 69 Altkirch 77 The Feast of the Pipers ....... 91 MuLHOUSE 105 COLMAR 119 The Vineyards 141 Fete Days and Customs 161 Sainte Odile 187 The Quaint Houses 195 Dreien-Eguisheim 205 turckheim 219 Thann 233 ROSHEIM 245 Metz 2^5 Strassburg . 273 The Real Reason 315 The Land of Tears 323 Bibliography 336 Index 337 %\st of initistrtitions PAOB The Fortune in the Teacup .... Frontispiece Title page Kaysersburg — Old Chapel and Houses on the River Weiss 26 Ancient Costumes — Sunday Morning .... 32 Strassburg; Cathedral at Nightfall .... 54 Ferrette in the Sundgau 72 Young Alsatian Girl with the Provincial Headdress 82 Feast of the Pipers 94 Mulhouse: Hotel de Ville .108 Mulhouse: Bollwerk Tower 112 Colmar: House of Heads . . . . . . .122 Colmar: Maison Pfister -. . .130 Old Wine Press 148 The Fiancees 166 Sainte-Odile : The Monastery 188 Lower Alsace: Interior of Peasant House . . .196 Dambach : Old Houses on the Square .... 200 Colmar: A Fifteenth Century Well .... 208 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGS Niederhoslach : Saint-Florent 212 Tiirckheim : The Ancient Gate 220 Tiirckheim: Sunset 226 Thann : The Sorcerer's Eye 238 Thann : On the River Thur 240 Rosheim: Hotel de Ville 246 Metz : William II as the Prophet Daniel, Metz Ca- thedral . 256 Metz: Cathedral 260 Metz ; Porte des Allemands 264 Metz: Remains of the Chateau-Passetemps . . 266 Metz: The Old Bridge (Basse-Grilles) ... 268 Strassburg: Cathedral (unfinished sketch) . . . 276 Strassburg: St. Laurent Portal 290 Strassburg: The Kammerzall House .... 300 Strassburg: The Port of Little France .... 302 Strassburg: Quartier du Petite France . . . .310 Metz: Houses on the Mozelle 316 Metz : Ruins of the Roman Aqueduct .... 324 Wsf Host Prolrinmi m HEN we get to the top of the road, M'sieur, we shall be in Alsace. There is a post there to mark the boundary — the frontier — *l^ien entendu^ On this side one sees the shield of France, but, 'toute au coup' once one has passed, one sees that it bears the black *bete' of Germany on the other side, and then one is in Alsace!" Thus the driver of our auto, not really our own, but one that we had hired for the day at Belfort for the thirty odd mile drive to Mulhouse. Through this green-gold hay- and-honeysuckle-breathing afternoon the low valley wel- 21 ALSACE-LORRAINE comes us along perfect roads to the boundary. Occa- sionally drowsy laborers, despite Sunday, are loitering in the fields; we pass two huge cream colored oxen hitched to an immense hay cart, a peasant lolling in a doze high on the fragrant hay — a small white stoned cemetery with the majestic Crucified Figure above a blazing labyrinth of hollyhock and sunflower; then a village of some score or more of creamy- walled homes topped by a gray old spire. Then a fringe of purplish gray poplars, sentinel- like, on either hand. The wooded heights grow into mountains all crested with ancient gray ruin of historical strongholds. The Dukes of Lorraine coveted these ; took by force, and sometimes married them with their Chate- laines. Louis XIV likewise coveted them, and ravaged them with fire and blood by the iron hand of Boufflers. The Barons were given little or no notice of his coming; the family might be at breakfast over the second cup of whatever it was they used instead of coffee, or the sleepy sentinel on the tower might be aroused by the clatter of approaching cavaliers and cannon along the winding road. Cannon and powder brought the doom of the great strongholds so long deemed impregnable. The massive towers fell like ninepins under the blast, and many vanished into dust, leaving hardly a trace to mark the site now so exquisitely draped in ivy. Thus the whole region became what the tourist calls "pictur- esque." 22 THE LOST PROVINCES No two agree as to just what constitutes a state of pic- turesqueness, but perhaps dilapidation forms an essential part of it. Certainly these ruins are as dilapidated as one could wish, and this warrior Boufflers was the cause of it. The unfortunate peasants of the region, who then eked out wretched existences, as it were, between hammer and anvil, chased hither and yon by the marauders, dodging the bolts and the chance morsels of bastion or tower that flew about during these busy days when Boufflers demol- ished their humble homes, have made way for a pos- terity that now enjoys jingling the freely given francs of the appreciative tourist. Everywhere there was this day a look of smiling contentment; little gardens where are flowing brooks, and buff or heliotrope colored cottage walls, with windows bright with fuchsias, roses and dahlias, and here and there the flower framed face of a woman glancing out at us as we passed. "Via, les Touristes." — They have come! The sun shining with spendthrift glory flooded the long smooth road and the low houses. The eye passed over nests of* sweet clover; over the tops of apple and peach trees now frosted with blossoms. The fields were full of cattle, and the women who watched them ceaselessly knitted. They were broad hipped figures clad in coarse skirts of blue or brown stuff, with dark bodices and bright pink or orange kerchiefs. 23 ALSACE-LORRAINE Some of these toiled from the fields bearing full jugs of milk, which they carried not ungracefully. In the dis- tance were the figures of ploughmen, rising and falling with the rolling of the land, turning the fertile sod for the new crop. All was peaceful on the Alsatian border that sunny afternoon of 1910. "At the top of the road, M'sieur and Madame, just above, is the boundary line between France and Alsace,** said the chauffeur. "On this side you will sec a monu- ment, on the top of which is a cock in bronze looking towards France. Below, M'sieur and Madame will sec a bronze figure of Victory with wreaths in each hand, and on the stone shaft is carved the words, *To the Soldiers of France, who died for their Country.' There fell my father in 1870. Always there are wreaths of fresh flowers on the mounds hereabouts, but those who lay them there are mainly the children of exiles from German Alsace now living in France." Here lies the frontier, its boundary marked by the tall iron pole, striped with black and white, and bearing on a shield at the top, on one side the arms of France with the letters R. F. and on the reverse, the sprawled out and crowned eagle of Prussia, over which are the words *' Dents dies Reich" the mark of the Usurper, the oppres- sor, which the children of the country-side call "La Chauve-Souris" (The Bat) — not aloud, you understand, but in half whispers among themselves. Upon the occa- 24 THE LOST PROVINCES sion of my first visit, twenty years after the Franco-Prus- sian war, such frankness was inadvisable on the border. Crossing the Vosges at that time into Alsace-Lorraine, it was then difficult for the tourist to "get at" the people; they were still too sore at heart to talk much even if they trusted one, — and the painter is ever trusted by the peas- ants, and cordially welcomed to the house and a place at the fireside freely offered to him. At these firesides one has sat quietly listening to the discussions of the elders, who at times forgot the presence of the stranger, and voiced their feelings freely. One has thus listened to their opinions of the annexation; of the Protestation of 1874 ^^ Strassburg and Mulhouse; of the agitations of 1887; ^^ ^h^ dissolution of the Reichstag; of the Bou- langist movement in Paris; the Schnaebele incident, and the passport regulations, down to the Zabern outrage. But even after this intimacy it is not proper to say that one knows the people, so that these notes must not be taken in a more serious vein than that in which they are written, the object being perhaps to entertain rather than to instruct. The route followed is haphazard, and this book is quite useless as a guide book. With this warn- ing the reader may be content to proceed. One may well pardon the Alsatians for saying and be- lieving that their country is the most beautiful on earth, for it offers to the eye a panorama of exquisite hill and valley and silvery streams. Lying between the Vosges 25 ALSACE-LORRAINE and the Jura and bordered by the curve of the Rhine lies this little country, the land of unshed tears. Mulhouse is at the entrance or foyer, Belfort (Vosges) at one side and Huningue (Jura) at the other. The railway paral- lels the Rhine from Wissembourg-Hagenau to S trass- burg, branching off to Schlestadt-Ribeauville and re- turning to Mulhouse. The whole length of the Vosges one sees the evidences of the ancient torrents, in the sandy plateaus and the talus left by the glaciers. The mountains and high hills are crowned by heavy forests of oak and pine, in which are yet found the ancient altars of the Druids, and dotted here and there with the ruins of great castles of the Barons of Alsace, which in the olden days resounded with the melodious notes of the hunter's horn, and the baying of hounds on the scent of the fleet footed stag. Northward one finds the plains of the Zorn, bordered by the forest of Brumath; the picturesque valley of the Moder; the ancient sylvan haunt of the Hagenaus, where in the middle ages the great Charlemagne was wont to gather his knights for hunt and feast. One may follow the many charming streams throughout the province with great artistic return ; for instance, the various tributaries of the 111, such as La Laich and the Grand-Ballon. The former serves as a silver setting for the charming little industrial town of Guebwiller, whose smoking chimneys are curtained by splendid trees massed against sloping 26 e^-rr^:.-^ 'UfJi <^