Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1878-07-13
OUR CORRESPONDENCE.
Our Foreign Letter.

After strolIing around looking at the
place shall now give my time to you.
To give you description of the places
we have visited and seen would take
up so much Of your space that you
would have no room for ADVERTISE
ments. "Dfoga compoqnooa' has already
told me that ! should curtail my
letters, for they would be too long for
you to publish. On this account l
shall have to omit many things which
would, doubtless, be interesting.
In my last letter, dated Paris, l
promised to send you more notes on
London, but as we only stopped there
on our way to Paris, and intending to
return later, l shall delay the account
of our stay in that great city.
After three days stay in London
we left for Calais. Getting into a
third class car we were soon engaged
in conversation with parties whom we
found in the car. One was a gentle
man who spoke fourteen languages
and in all this long list had never ac-
quired English. The languages he
spoke were the oriental languages, ex-
cept those embraced in the romance
list. He was on his way to Paris to
accompany from that city the Eng
lish Ambassador, Thompson, to the
Indies. He had travelled extensively
and had been in a convent in Asia
Minor, where he saw the lance with
Which our Saviors side was pierced
and also a piece of Noah's Ark.
There was also in the same car a
gentleman travelling as guide for the
great California millionaire, John W.
Mackay, owner Of the Virginia mine.
His wealth is $lOO,OOO,OOO.
The guide met them at Dover where
we also met the Rev. J. M. Jones, who
is now enrolled among our party.
Alter a short ride on the Channel we
arrived at the historical town Of Cal
ais. The country between Calais and
Amiens, our first place Of stopping,
was exceedingly beautiful, and we at
once concluded that the appellation
of "La Belle France" had not been
wrongly applied. Amiens is lovely
city with many attractions to the
stranger. It was here we flst saw the
soldiers oftLe "Repub'ique Francois" }"
in the uniform. France has a great
many soldiers and we met them every
where. Some wear blue coats with
opaulettes and heavy red pants. On
the breast of many we see medals for
vaIor. They were given during the
empire and 1 suppose they have a
latent devotion to the regime of tho {
days.
The citizens, however, say Of the
empire what has been said many times
before, "C'est impossible" "
After days stay in Amiens we
hurried on to Rouen which presented
more attractions to the stranger. One
Of the conspicuous places in Rouen
is the tower, built in the 18th cen
tury, known as the place where Joan
OF Arc was tried and imprisoned.
From this place William the Conquer
or is thought to have set out in 1906
against England. There GRE many
magnificent structures in this city.
They are all old, having been built
mostly from the llth to the 10Th
century. The most noted are St..
Owen and St. McLou, and the Cathe-
dral of Notre Dame. In front Of the
first on the public square is a statue
of the irst Napoleon mounted on a
spirited charger. They are all large,
their general length being about 44O
feet and height 140 feet The Ca
thedral is surmounted by an iron
spire. From the base of the church
to the top there are 8l4 steps, 1t is
impossible to ascend the towers and
splre without stopping many times to
rest. l suppose We were about four
hundred feet from the ground, though
I have forgotten the height. Looking
down in the streets of the city men
were little boys and horses hitched in
their wagons were toys. The spire is
entirely of iron and has Just recently
been put up. | cant imagine how
such an immense mass Of iron, almost
enough to lay a railroad, could ever
have been erected to such dizzy
he ght. The spire is not in harmony
with the rest OF the church, which is
entirely Ct stone. In this church
reposes the heart of the renowned
D;aIo,J non,,, 40 T ion