, 1879-07-20
In a FRENCH VILLAGE.
Artist-Life at Barbizon-..cheap
Living and Good-Fei-
towsfip.
The Inns and Observation-Disclosures
Bellies and British "Swells -
a Doctors Hobbies.
Waggeries Of 'f AIan in an Iron Mask "
.---The Hisadyentures Of Mile.
Bernage-In the Forest.

| ~NA
SD<ciai Correspondence Of The 1ribrn&
ON TIE EDGE OF FOREST, BARB1zoN, July
| AT the entrance Of the grand and romantic
forest Of Fontainebleau, which all artists are
agreed in calling the finest in the world, stands
the little Village Of Barbizon. a great p'ain
eight or nine miles across, separates It from the
| thriving Town OF Melun, on the Seine. Between
Melun and Barbzon nothing breaks the monoto
ny Of the bare French landscape but the hamle.
Of Chailly,-an insignificant spot in 1tsel1, but
interesting to Barbizon for two reasons: 1t
boasts church and post-ottice- Through the
latter BarbiZon holds all written communlc2-
|. ton with the outer world; and through the
former it accomplishcs ali those outward acts
of religion required or exacted BY the laws and
customs OF the land. They are not. numerous,
for Barbizon
IS ALMOST AS BARBARoUS
as its name in some ways. The men Affect
fine Indifference to tic Church. and even the
women don't greatly care to go two miles to
hear dreary old prizes: humble mass. So the
devotions Of the villagers are chiefly conspicu-
Gus by their absence, except when marriage,
or burial, or a christening renders the Cure
de Chail ]y an indispensable wheel in the ma
chinery OF the neighhorhood. On the Fontaine-
bleau side, the rocks and glades OF the forest
stretch for miles and mies,-6fteen, maybe, or
morc,-till they reach Rosa Bouheur's park at
Thomeray and the pretty artist-settlement at
Marlotte. You see VIC are almost IN solitude
down here, although an hours ride from Melun
will carry us into the great metropolis, Paris.
Hnrdly has the Salon opened when Barbizon
begins to fill. First come the artists, young
aud old, to whom the reputation of the place Is
DUE some to sketch, others to finish pictures
| begun during the long winter months in
the ateliers OF the boulevard de ClichT
and the Rue de Cherche-Midi Next
comes the foreign detachment, t,-Amcri-
can bellies, anxious to repair the rayages
made by a protracted course Of ElTsee recep-
tions and Ministerial balls in the Faubourg St.
Germain,- charming girls from Boston and
New York, merry flrts from the Far, Far West,
or Paris colonsts Of long standing, from the
Champs ElyBces and the: Faubourg st. Honore.
And lastly We have the casuals," as we Call
them,-stray tourists on the WAY south to Italy,
or English painters in search Of new fields to
exercise their art in. The last generally put up
at Luniot's,-a prctentious inn, calling itself
hotel, at the end Of the:vlllage next the wood.
always :,
co ro Z .9enss:Au1r's
myself. It Is not sot fashionable or so big as
the "hotcl": but you have good living, good
fellowship, good beds, good attendance, and
good society, for aboat 'pne-half what all these
necessary luxuries eosE-when you get them
at all-at Luniot's. IL. 81,
The cost Of living down here is surprisingly
small though, at the stkdEst; at least so Amer
leans find il, Five FRANCS day keeps US at
Gira1llt's, and for the same sum YOU can be
o.o,r,,ond,ted at a ,tn,r1l inn. stani]no be
49, 49, +,r,,u ut.oa,e. h,t o,n,t roo-
tween 'ne olnet Ivy 'to3 9s' Wv eAn
ommend it. suon's 81 be6 ipcen taken undef the
protection Of the r9YdK painter element in
Barbizon. and the life1of apy respectablc-look-
;ns man nr woman wha puts IN there is soon
deliberately made unEsurablc
We are very early risers down here, most Of US.
At half-past 5 the gent1emcn Of the brush may
he seen issuing form +. twos and threes, With
the um mbrellas easels,y Samp-stools, and other
parapbernaia OF their ntTadc. Some are off to
Sketch the magnificent sid trees that tower hard
hv In rhe dales Of the Bas- -Brcau Some settle
d.,wn to paint-for the tye-hundred-:luu-n
tf1ne-the insipid churcl:steeplr of ChallIy, aud
Tie long avenue of ARnted applc-trees that
rnns through the Surrounding pain. Il never
could understand the delight Frenchmcn take in
fiat sccnery.) others Chamber, up the neighbor-
ing rocks Of Aprep unt.!5how savage and i'm
posing they are in the e2rly ulornlng,-or man
iully aseena M 1ne SppperH oa1H 'eau.ng t ~ ~ u'e
famed Cave des bE1ganas. fou cannot go
hundred YARDS mere "l1aont meeting +s sseten-
able aud picturesque sue! No "ouuee tne -.
Elo-Saxons VI poth aem!Spue1es are 50 1oso u
Barolzon!
An, those Anelo-sa1ons! 1heg are
PLAYING SAD HAVOC
with this delightful little artistic colony There
was time, not many ycars ago, when it YVES
possible, without passing for q savage or
heggnr. TO 60 about oue's affairs, of business or
nleasure, in Barbizon, without being forced to
don the conventional black cloth coat and white
linen shirt OF the ciyfltzed world Bohemiaus in
straw RATS and b]ouscs, With or without shirts,
were not excluded from the dinner-table, even
ot I,uniot's. Bnrbizou had rustic and prni-
tive simnlicity about it that made it the most
charmintr Of Mi the ortiststttlements of France.
I,ifc was rongh and ready. free from shams and
shol1dy. easy and merry. plain and .patrarcbal,
til the American bellies and the ianguid British
ers Invaded It, turued Luniot's head With
rdcrlous loog.ngs for qentjlty, and 1royo oll
lovers at the oId order Of things to the less
fashionable, but more agreeable, inns at the
other end Of the village, :. :
At Girarlt's we are still uucoutamnated BY
nripr1sh affcctaton and philisltnism. We mus
ter On an aycraec twenty at breakfast and din
per,-artists, journalists, actors, and their wives,
altnosr witho;1t an excention. At the bead OF