Richland beacon., 1873-09-27
Arcachon.
French Watering Place.


Du;t;ah ;sIes Doctors consider the res
mons exhalations from the pines won,
derfully healing il lung and Drohchihi
difficulties. ArcachOn Is the Poto."
word for resin. The peasants live most
ly by making turpentine; and Tor miies
around the village the trees are gasheo'
and an earthen vessel fastened on TO re-
ceive the gum as it Oozes from the WOOD.
There was a settlement here in very an
cient times called La Teste de Bucb.
from the head or chief of the tribe OF
Roians. that at one time inhabited this
mart of the country. Three times 1t was
overwhelmed by the sand, and afterward
rebuilt. In the time of the first Napo-
leon. who, it would seem. found time 10
attend to every thing, small as well as
great. an engineer called BremOntier
was sent by the emperor to plant these
sandy dunes with pine trees, IN order TO
keep off the inrOads Of the sea. so snc-
cessful was he, that we have now an ex-
tensiye and beautiful forest and flour
isbinp town. A monument to Bremon-
tier is TO be seen in the midst of the for
est. and the finest chalet IT the town Is
called after him. The principal bnlldlhG
one sees on leaving the depot Is the
| huge Casino, an imitation OF the MOOR
ish Alhambra. II struck me as rather
caricature of if, rs it is painted IN snch
gorgeous colors as to look like house
! built of cards, face-side ont. However,
the inhabitants view it with great pride.
It contains fine theatre, bathrooms,
readinC-rooms and library. 1T IS situa-
ted in the forest, and is the centre of the
Winter-town, or Vile dHiver, az IL
called the collection of pretty. romantic
| looking Swiss chalets, which are dotted
in among the odorous pines. All these
houses are owned by company In Paris,
whose agent lives in one of them, and
attends to letting them, collecting rent,
etc. In the Casino garden the flowers
bloom, and the grass is green all winter.
although snow aid ice are not quiet I'M
known in the sunny south of France. In
fact. one has q winter of six weeks that
is sufficiently disagreeableend quite cold
enough to make one wish for New York
furnaces but, once that is past, the
weather is quite heavenly, and Febru-
arv as balmv as May in these latitudes.
Looking down from the Casino, yon see,
at the base of the hills, the Vile d'Ete,
| OF S1IliIEtT-toWU. ici hh4'ND
along the sea. The private residences
are very elegant, and front on the BASIN
of Arcachop, as the inlet is called; their
gardens opening on the main street IN
the rear. Many French noblemen have
country houses here, the Baron Talley-
rand for one. The rest of the village Is
made ND of such queer little houses, not
old and quaint, bnt all looking like Chi
nese pagodas. and painted pink. blue. or
yellow. as the fancy of the owner has
suggested, and finished off with red-tiled
roofs. One owner of eccentric tastes
had spent. l was told, ten thousand
francs for three enormous gold bal that
suru,ounted his house. In his absence
it was rented toan English lady, friend
of mine, who was always known IN the
village as MADAME of the Golden
Balls" English names were never at
tempted by the good people, who
Thought it quite enough to call you by
the name of the house you occupied.
The company, in naming the chalets,
seem to have been anxious to conclllate
all nations, as we saw there villas Hum
boldt. Franklin, Shakespeare, and so on
nd libif,t,n. The cheapest and most SOL
itary cottage on the list was appropri-
atelv called Villa Robinson Crusoe.
There was still, Irecollect, however, one
that surpassed Robinson In cheapness.
II consisted of one room, had no win
dows at all, and was rightly named Villa
Solitaire. 1t was quite good enough, L
dare saw. for any one so crusty asto wish
to live alone. Arcachon is famous for
it's oysters, fish, and game, which are ev-
erv day shipped to Paris in large guam
titles. The basin is connected by mar
row inlet with the bay of Biscay, the
roar of whose waters is distinctly heard
from the village. The strip of land
which lies between the inlet and the tur-
bulent Atlantic is called the Isle des
Oiseaux, from the great number OF wild
, ducks which make it their resort. L, eir
light house is situated on its EXTREMIST
point. One day we went down to 1t III
Yacht, and then, crossing the narrow
, tongue of sand, stood on the shore on
: the bav of Biscay. How the wind roared
and the great waves came tumbllng IN,
t and the shore was strewed, not with the
8 bripht-colored shells we had hoped to
find. but with cuttle-fish bones, and ugly
= hits of wreck. At the sea-ward end OF
: the village there is erected, Onthe shore.
5 a huge iron cross. Tradition will have
it that monk, walking on the shore IN
: prayerful meditation, found there sta
t tine of the Virgin Mary, and erected this
s cross to commemorate what he consld-
s cred a miracle. Once every year, on the
t feast of st. Peter, the bay presents
4 lively scene, of which this spot is the
: centre. Hundreds of fishermen come
from far and near the shore Is lined
with boats. whose gay pennants stream
in the wind. At signal all kneel. and
from the foot of the Oss, blessing is
: pronounced by the cure upon them
Z their wives and children, their boats anc
!, their nets.-Apptetons Journal
c Mr.. Disraeli has often been lauRhe,
u at for his statement that very consid
= erable number of Jews all over th'
: world are unable to endure persecution
IS conceal their faith not only for years
l. but for generations. He PARTICULAR.
e instances Spain as country wher
, tboushnds of "CathOlic" families still
e remain Jews in heart, creed and habl
s of arranging alliances among them
y selves. The keeping of such a secre
IS seems almost an impossibillty, thoug
a rendered easier by the great amount o
II scepticism latent in Spain but we 9
y told that the numerous conversions l.
E Judaism in Austria, especially in 1Y
u were really revelations OF this praCti'
u All disabilities being removed, the 1e