New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-08-26
A FRENCH WATERING PLACE.
,prrFR FROM HENRY JAMES. JR.

FENBACH.
,r,ox REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE'l
FTRErAT, Aug. 1.-The coast of Normandy ana
p;cardy from Trouville to Boulogne, Is chaln
Of what the French call bathing stations each WIN
Go particular claim to patronage. The grounds OF
.ba claim are in some not particularly oDvlous
hn, thew are generally found to reside in the fact
.bt If the locality is nasty, it is also cheap. There
tho nlaces that are dear and brilliant, like Trou-
lila and Dieppe, and places that are cheap and
aroorv like Fecamp and Cabourg. Then there are
tbe nlaees that are both cheap and pleasant This
drabtful combination of qualities may be found in
Tho modest station de bans from which 1 write these
lines. AT Etretat you may enjoy some of the finest
cliff scenery it has been my fortune to behold, and
,ou may breakfast and dine at the principal hotel
Cor the sum of five and half francs a day. You
NAV engage a room in the town over butchers
sbon tailor's or laundress's at rate that VIII
denend upon your talent for driving bargain, but
,ht !, no case will be exorbitant. Add to this your
subscription to the Casino, which, for the season, Will
anopnt TO some IS or So your few coppers daily for
.ho hire of vour bathing toggery and your matutinal
subsdv TO the lame beggar at the beginning of the
beach and YOU have list of all your possible ex-
,onsas at Etretat. You wear old clothes, you walk
~ canvas shoes you deck your head with atisher-
mans can when made of white flannel these articles
NAV be extoled for their cooness convenience and
nctnresoueness), you lie the Debbly strand most
of the day. watching the cliffs, the waves, and the
bathers; in the evening you loaf about the Casino,
ond Won keen monkish hours. Though Etretat en-
lovs great and deserved popularity see no symp-
toms of the decline of these simple fashions-no
menace of the invasion of luxury. little more
Injury indeed, might be imported without dong
any harm though after all we soon learn that 1t is
an idle enough prejudice that has hitherto prevented
us from keeping our soap In sugar-dish ana closing
our elothes-press with stone. From Partisan
point of vew Etretat is certainly primitive but 1t
would be atfectation on the part of American to
nretend that he was not agreeaby surprised to find
a Simmer resort in which he had been warned
that he would have to rough it, completely APP
pointed and so intelligently organized Etretat may
he primitive but Etretat is French, and therefore
Etretat is administered" The place strikes me as
arather happy combination of smoothness and rough
ness 1t weans You from the cOrruptons of civillza
ton but it lets you down gently upon the bosom OF
nature; it does MT dump you there with the brutal
ity observable upon the coast of Maine and OF Massa
chusetts
Ftretat like most of the French watering places,
has brief history. Twenty years ago 1t was but
,luster of fishng-huts group of artists and lite
.ary people were its first coonists, and Alphonse
Karr became the mouthpiece of their enthusiasm.
IN legend at the presenthour the genius loci The
main street is named after him; the gable OF the
chief inp-the classic Hotel BlanQuet-is adorned
with coored medallion representing his cropped
head and long beard; the shops are stocked with
his photographs and with pictures OF his villa. L
don't know whether like the hero of Mrs. Sheeys
"Frankenstein," he became appalled, at the monster
be had created and felt that he had succeeded too
well; but of late years he has withdrawn from
Etretat The artistic fraternity however, stu
haunt the place. and it enjoys also the favor OF the
atrical people, three four of whom, having retired
upon their laurels possess villas here The largest
lumnary in this line is NJ. Jacques Ofenbach, who,
believe has for some time lived here. and who
NAV be seen in the evenings in the Casino sitting
In auiet attitudes and, to ones extreme surprise,
not shaking his legs making play with his eyes,
OF INDUCING in any degree In that familiar
quality of gestculation with which his name Is SO
invariably associated From my open window, as
write these lines look out and over little cluster
of clean housetops at the long green flank OF the
downs as il slopes down to the town from the sum-
NIT of the cliffs To the right is the top OF an old
storm.twisted grove of oaks, in the heart OF which
stands a picturesque farmhouse; then comes the
sharp even outline of the down, with its side
spotted with little fat bushes and wrnkled with
winding paths, along which. here and there, see
the cliff stands bleak little chapel TO our Lady OF
the fshing-folk. Just here a most provoking chin
ney starts up and cuts OFF my view Of the downward
plunge of the cliff, showing me but CLEAN OF Its
white fantastic profile, and a bar of blue ocean be-
side IT, But there is not far to 90 to see without In
pediments. Three minutes walk along the Rue Al
phonse Karr where every house is shop, and every
house has dodgers above it, who scramble bedward
by ladder and trap-door, brings you to the little
pebbly bay where the cliffs fall and the foreign life OF
Eretat goes forward. At end are the small fish
ing-sniacks with their green sides and their Dlack
sails resting crookedly upon the stones at the other
is the Casino and the two three tiers of bathing
houses on the slope of the beach in front of it, This
beach NAV be said to be Etretat 1t is steep and
stony as to make circulation impossible; ones only
course is to plant camp-char among the stones or
TO look for soft spot in the pebbles and to abide in
the position chosen AID yet it is the spot In Etre
tat most sacred to tranquil pleasure.
The French do not treat their beaches as we do
ours-as places for a glance, dip, trot, places
animated simply during the couple Of hours OF bath
ing-time and wrapped In natural desolatiOD for the
rest of the twenty -four. They love them they adore
them they take possession OF them, they encanp
upon them. The people here sit upon the beach
from morning till night; whole families come early
and establish themselves, with umbrellas and rugs,
books and work. The ladies get sunburnt and don't
mind il; the gentlemen smoke unfortunately; the
children roll over ON the pointed pebbles and stare
at the sun like young eagles. The children's lot
rather commiserate; they have no wooden spades
and pals they have sand to delve and grub in !;
they can dig trenches and canals see the creep
ing tide food them.l The great occupation and
amusement is the bathing which has many enter
tanning features allude to il as spectaclej,
especially for strangers, who keep an eye upon
national iAioa,.nnrnains The French take their