Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-01-25
what ia Merchant saw i'm Europe.
MENToNR, SOUTHERN COAST FRANCE
THURSDAY EVENING, April ~. }

MENToNK, SOUTHERN COAST FRANCE
THURSDAY EVENING, April ~.
At six o'clock yesterday morning we
were in Marseilles, the chief seaport city
of France. We said goodbye to the
ship Guadiana as we might to a friend,
for, after all, there is something akin to
gratefulness of heart one feels toward a
ship after prolonged and safe voyage.
We have spent both pleasant and COM
fortress hours on the Guadiana. but one
is apt to treasure the former and forget
the latter We are rOwcd ashore and
pass through the customs with our lug
gage. meeting with urbanity and gen
tility, captivating to us the moment we
set foot on shore. We are as lost sheep,
had better say goats, for sake Of smile,
which have been wandering these weeks
and months in a strange wilderness. At
Barcelona we felt ourselves near the
margin of green fields, and here in Mar
settles we have come to the pasture
which, although not our own, is home
llht tliOllSl IL " bt tAbItilltlN ItIlNIlII3.
We took a cab without even asking the
price, and drove at once to the Hotel de
Marseilles, one of the grandest in Eu-
rope. That breakfast must be classed
one among the most relishing of our en-
tire journey. You who have been in
the army living on hard tack" for weeks
together and have been suddenly seated
before choice roast beef, chickens, and
delicate viands, can appreciate what was
our situation and degree of appreciable-
ness when relief came. After breakfast
we went to the post-Office where Wilson.
after reading his letters from home. de-
termined to continue with us a month
longer We went from the post-otfice to
the "Prefecture, which but the day be-
fore yesterday, was surrendered by the
Commune to the powers that be in
! France. The building is a grandmarble
structure which cost nearly 100000
and no Tammany job at that! Twas
with saddened interest we saw how mar
red it is with the shot and shell of NJ.
Theirs cannon. A frontispiece of the
noble structure was an equestrian statue
of Napoleon Ill, in bas relief, which
with French intolerance and changeful-
ness, has been so defaced that we can
only recognize its outlines, and when
saw them | thought it to have been a
singular freak of some destructive shell.
The streets are filled with soldiers on
| guard, marching in platoons end squads,
baggage wagons stacked with bayOnets,
| cartridge-boXes and muskets. We tried
/ to gain admittance to the Prefecture.
but were politely refused Even if a
Frenchman refuses to grant simple ia
vor, he has so acceptable and pleasing a
way of doing it, that one can think none
the worse of him. The soldiers look
tagged out, and the people as if they
had been permitted but half rations of
sleep since Napoleon surrendered at Sc
dan. We again and again have remark
ed how crestfallen these Frenchmen of
Marseilles appear. 1t may be a fancy of
our owa, but it is shared by our entire
quartette. We secured a carriage and
started off at rapid pace for circuitous
drive about the city. Our driver was as
pure specimen of a Frenchman as may
be found in France. A saucy boy car
rying number of long French rolls of
bread in basket, attempted to steal a