The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-14
LIFE ON TIE FRENCH COAST.
The Normnn EIshinr YiIIngcs.

Ine NOrhhHn FiShtng villages.
correspondent Of the Loodon Morning
Herald, who went TO the Industrial xhlbition
at Hsvre, has written an in ieresting sketch of
come of the villages ou the coast of Normandy
and their inhs hsbitauts, from which we make The
following extracts:-
"It Is something to escaoe from the roaring
and staggering prosperity of Havre, across the
sparkling Bay OF the Seine, to Houfeur, which
long ago went to sleep; 1T is crowned and en-
Gil cled by beautiful hills and ancient wood; il
is full of rotten, heavy bro wned houses, amid
which, sparsely scattered, are lmpertinences OF
modern brick work; it looks plactdly over the
river to the chslky ranges and the spreading
city on the opposite side; and few inferior
vessels creep now and then, IN aud out of the
three natrow basins-timber ships chiefy-wth
lew miscellaneous cargoes. Nothing increases
here; the end OF the town meets you every
where: outside, on the sands are rckety sheds,
where jointstock laundry is carried on, not bv
the daughters of Nausicaa, and they thump the
'iinen' INTO shreds with fails the fashion whereof
is thousand years old; inside, the beadle, con.
uary to Catholic custom, keeps the keys Of the
ehutcb. lest be should lose hyepence day; but,
clear o the fading town, miles upon miles OF
rich and joyous landscape expand fresh and
tempting.
ever, now outstanding the poverty of the port
wherein anchored once the merchantmen of
Portugal aid Spain, that 'mendcty' is abso-
lutely forbidden by the Law. All persons Offend
ing are Immediately arrested, charged as yaea-
bonds, sentenced to very long terms of i'm prison.
ment. and then forwarded TO a 'mendicity
depot;' vet at every corner you meet with the
notice :-'BegeiDg is not permitted in the de-
partment OF Calvados.' The fishing people of
Honheur moreover, are race that seems to
droop away. Some rarely II ever, go out OF
port. Their boats have no masts, or sails or
raging. oars, or even helms. They are
M ored day and night. with that everla ting
correld, which in such waters brings up about
u half-penny worth at every haul, and which
goes down and comes up all the day long with
miserable account of creatures caught, two
thirds of which are flung way as too young,
though, owing to the stupidity OF the men, not
until most Of them are dead.
"Viccarille, on the road to Trouvile,
attracted some years ago the admiration of
few Partisan artists. 1t was simp.e fsherman's
I home-reoe sed among the cliffs woods on one
n side, the sea on the other hanging above head
golden sands, lost amid black weed, tangled
rocks, and, Presto! the place became fashionable
4 as a resort of bathers. Of course, as a picture
1t was spoiled; but it is picture STILL although
the fishermen have had their ground invaded
and pert cottages find place in sight of their
! rude brown huts. They picturesquely congre-
gate along the sand-covered shiDgly rocks, now
dry, now washed ever. to fill the bottoms of
their cumorous tray-shaped boats with mus
sells. IL is amusin; to watch the women, in
coarse cotton or canvas pettcoats skipping
from rock to rock, carrying baskets of middle
age pattern, aud gathering ia the harvest of
bivalves, for which they find an eager market
anywhere along the shores of the Seine, up as
far as Rouen. They know nothing of improve
\ Nments, and would strip the sea bank bare were
necessary during the autumnal or pIopagating
months to prevent their utterly exhausting the
resources by which they subslst
'If they are thus apalhetic, what are we to
expect from the poor, halfnaked, simple mussel
gatherers OF Pendede Pie, who, probably, have
seen no other horizon in their lives? Yet even
with them changes are gradually coming on.
The modern settlement of bathers, while en-
croaohine on their old industry. has added
another to it, and the poor men and women find
little employment during the prohibited
vile, where, however the fishery class holds its
own with even greater tenacity.
Decidedly, the fishermen have had hard
battle to fight; but then it is equally rule
among bathers at fashionable watering places
TO be fond of fish, SO that the boats have not
been driven away to any serious extent, by the
true Norman fishery population is found. This
town is in solid state of progress. It is of
antique fame-once derived from its religious
houses, but at present f1om its fishing industry
and the manufactures in connection with it. 1t
is not very clean; its running waters are black
ened by the refuse of factories aud ioundries;
but it contains race of men who annually start
| in great fotillas for the banks of New
/ foundland to hook the stupid cod; they
are admirable mariners, and by no meaus
averse to new methods when once brought
! TO understand them; in fact, large proportion
of the new suggestions illustrated at the Exhibi-
tion are of Fecamp origin. The town is uninter-
testing from all other points OF view, but 1T
tEeethes with industry. Immense quantities of
behring's are cured here, and cured to perfection.
Sturdy fellows they look, these Fecamp mari
Eners, swinging along the beach, pipe IN mouth,
iB their red or blue cap and costume of iudescri-
bable rag. or making way tor those thickly-
built, broad. beamed, short heeled vessels-deep
bottomed, stumpy.masted, and not ver-weghted
with sail-whicb carry them on to the great
cod-banks towards the other slde of the world.
"Of course, the inhabitants of the
(rising towns are, by degrees, expelling the
fishery class. Havre, which boasts about the
Emperor speaking of its new Town Hall as a
Xe'Ilttle Louvre cannot spare its waste spaces.
/ Etretat will speedily be required by sketchers
/ and ramblers; Villeville, where introductions
are not required on the sands during the
season., is swiftly eating up the isherman's
traditions; and Trouviie is abandoning itself to
costly facades and exorbitant hotels. Even little
Bolbeca is growing vain of its scenery, though
1t Is hard-worklng town, and has little to do
with the water. Upon the whole, while nothing
can well be more pleasant than this coast, it
4 fourishps principally on the commerce of Havre
and Dieppe and through the repute at Paris aud
/ Rouen of its newly settled watering places. Its
fisheries are fast going to decay"