Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-06-21

A DAY AT vERsAILLES-rnE PALACES, FARKs,
FOUNTAINS AND TOLLIES Of THE FRENCH
MoNARcns-THE Swiss VILLAGE OF MARIE
ANTIONErTE, LTC., EIC-
PARIS, jane l. ISIS.
To tho Editor OF TIE Free Press and Times:
We started at eight i'll the morning to see
the palaces and parks Of the French kings
at Versailles. Our gnide, an old Polish
polyglot of twenty-five years residence in
Paris, >eedy, threadbare. and nervous, was
promptly On hand, and we stopped to take
cup of coffee at little cafe opposite the
BOirSe Soon after we were on the roof of
the unhandsome little black French car-,
running at the rate of mile in two min
uteS, and in less than n half hour we're in
sight of the Ialaces of Louis the Fourteenth.
| will not attempt to describe the edifces,
parks, statuary, and fountains, to which
the treasure and blood and genius of
Europc have Sd lavi>hly contributed. Wood
cuts and photographs wouli be unsat-
istactOry enough, how much more pen
sketch. We spent the day in II maze of
avenues, grOtt0s, fountains, lakes. palaces,
and statuary-statuaTy my Theological. classic
al, medirvai and modern. There were sta
tues in heroic size of Ney, Murat, Des>aix
and Soult. the generals who led the lc:ions of
the first Napoleon nn hundred fields; and
there also were Condc, and LouiS the Four
teenth, the s0-cllled great monarch who i'm
poverished France to build and heautiiy YER
saillc|. Near by were statues at DcmoSthc-
mes, of Sophoclcs, Of Apollo, Minerva. the
Venus of Milo.-in fact, it seemed a. II the
entire Greek Pantheon wa1 rcprudrccd in
these beautiful grounds. What surprises an
American rs much as the excellence
of these works in marble aud bronze.
is their profnsion. We have, in a
few galleries. copies rs good "a these hut
here you come upon works in bronze and
marble at every turn, and ii is little exigger-
ration to say that works of art exist here
with the profusion of toys in the United
States We walked and looked until our
eyes and legs were tired; nn horses or car
riages are permitted on the grounds. Pedes-
TRANS only are allowed to traverse these
magnificent distances. lt was now noon,
and We sat down in little cafe for refresh
ments. and left after our veteran little Pole
had pccketed the Jumps ut sugar that re-
manned ON the plate this Is 4 custom with
Parisianl, who are scientifically and vicious
ly economical After luncheon, We
went through the picture galleries, full
of tho paintings of the so-eallrd mas
ters, who proStitutri their genius in pie
tOrnl aputhcusc- Of royal brisandS, plmrS
and courtesans In the different pallres We
saw the chairs in which the Kings and the
Emperors of France had sat. the desks at
which they had written, the beds On which
they slept, the chambers that had witnessed
the loves and humintiOns Of MaintFnnn and
Josephine, and other queens and miStresscS.
In densely shaded park was the plain coun-
try residence of Marie Antoinct'c. surround
ed by the picturesque cottageS oi the SwI~s
village she had built, aud near by, amId
the lakes. grlttos, trees and fountains, "l
paradisiacal beauty, was the pavilion where
she delighted to meet the ladies and gentle
men of her court, all arrayed as Swiss pea
SAINTS. play the life of II simple past Irsl pcu-
pie, trying to ignore the black cloud sur
charged with the ylndictivcne>s of years Of
oppression, that was already appearing in
the horizon of Paris.
No matter how thoroughly informed the
foreign reader NAV be in French history and
literature, II visit To France will be scarcely |
less valuable as revelation than aS an inter
prcta tion. There is much to admire, but |
more to pity, in all that We STE Of this ripe, |
il not rotten, civilization, Whose Inspiration
has been military glory. and whose pose is
not 80 much that of the ing gladiator prone |
in defence. ~ that of the hrigand who chose |
his life and deserv ID his doom.
Ii is not remarkable that the French. or |
rather the Parisians, are a nation of artists
that they have attained an indescribable ex-
quisiteness in every variety of orna-
ths, they excel all other |