Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-28
ARROMANCHES.
A FRENCH BATHING PLACs-PosToFFTcE
AID TELAGRAPRS IL FRANCE.
Rural Life in France = French Towns
The Priesthood-An Old,
Old Country.
ARRoMANcHEs, August 4, 1880.

nestled down on the beach between rolling
falaises on each side, and is larger and more
important than Asnelles inasmuch as 1t
has an existence Of its own independent OF
It's summer visitors who come to frolic III
the surf. The principal hotels only close
during the winter, and the little shops and
industries, although less prosperous during
that season, continue their way uninter-
rupted. Handsome residences line the
beach along the dixie, but they do not pre-
sent the same air of richness and elegance
as those of Asnelles. The beach is formed
in part of stones and refuse green matter
deposited by the waves, and possesses in
that disadvantage compared to the clean
bands of sand belonging to the little neigh
boring town. Yet 1t can boast of a better
| and more
ABUNDANT MARKET,
As well as strolling concerts and circuses
during the season, so much appreciated by
all provineials. Then there is real post
Office at Arromanches, which adds consid-
cradle to it's Importance, for it is almost
impossible for Americans to realize the little
progress the posts and the telegraph have
made in France In all towns which are
not the cbef-hea Of the commune no post
Offices are to be found, and all letters are
called for and distributed by man or
woman, called facteur and .tact1ice, who,
round on foot. At Ores, from which
| oil ion,
with the rest of the world was through
Nemours, an old city situated several miles
from there. The .fdcteUr came every morn
ing at 10 o'clock to deliver letters and take
away those ready for the mail, thus 1t was
impossible to receive 4 letter and answer 1t
the same day. He, like the rest OF the
,tdcteurs, was not permitted to stop on the
way or accept the hospitality of some kind
teamster This life is very wearing and
the profits are very light; although young
in years, the poor man was already deep
marked by the elements, and in three
years time his gray hairs and wrinkles had
increased in fearful proportion. In spite
of the
HARD LABOR
The position is much sought for, for they
all have what is called a retrdae-a pen
sionlwhich is due them after certain num-
Der of years service, an advantage highly
appreciated by the French, whose anxiety
for the welfare of their old age is mani
tested at an early day. All letters reached
| Asnelles through a .fdctrice-a peasant
woman whose face was already lightened
by her gray hairs she seemed sort of
| - el.
never seen to smile, neither did she bow
and acknowledge the presence of travellers
| she met on the road, but trudged along
with measured tread as though she were
a machine l shuddered as | imagined the
poor creature struggling through rain and
snow nearly the whole DAY long to earn
twenty sous, for she is paid but six confines
| kilometer, and it requires five centimes
to make sou. Telegraph offices are even
! far more scattered, and ] was much sur
prised to learn that a telegraph sent to
| Ores from Paris would reach fontainebleau
only-and that for twenty sous; and that
| from there to Ores man would have to be
paid five francs-fve times as much to
carry it the rest OF the way on foot. The
same, should dispatch he sent from Paris
to Asneles, which could travel no further
than Bayeux, but would be sent the rest of
the way by messenger, that in reality it
is almost as cheap to have some person to
carry it all the way, and it would besides
arrive about the same time. The French
Government realize the existing deficiency
in their posts and telegraphs, and are now
beginning to devote their attention to the
means OF increasing them.
THE LITTLE TOWNS
Around, like those of Switzerland, almost
Join each other, that one cannot take a
long promenade without stumbling upon
several They all have their one church
and their two essential priests, that the
latter seem almost as numerous as the rest
of the inhabitants. Besides these cures,
in each of the rich families is to be found
an abbe-a young priest who has not taken
all the orders, and who conducts the edu-
cation of the younger male members of the
family. The present social position of
these abbes is very curious; in former
times an able was the third son of noble
family, for as in England all the estates
went to the oldest son, the second son en-
tered the army, and it's third took religious
orders but the Revolution having de-
the property between the children, those
who afterwards became priests were those
having a vocation. There was then enter
tanned for sacerdotal robes great esteem
and veneration, besides the mobiles had
given to them worldly Importance which
had not yet vanished. The condition Of
THE PRIESTHOOD
OF France is entirely different to-day, for
the priests are composed for the most part
of the paysans, whose little learning at the
village school has inspired them with am
bition, and whose voluptuous instincts
! have caused them to wish for seat at the
family table of noble, and desire to con-
TESS his wife and daughters. 1t is true,
there are intelligent men, who direct and
govern, but the vast majority, owing to
their ignorance and RIGHTEOUSNESS, have
succeeded in weaving intelligent persons
| from the church and of exciting the hatred
and animosity of the common people. The
French priest, owing to his ultramontane
doctrines and his opposition to all progress
finds sympathy and refuge only with
the nobility of France, whose power and
influence lie in their tenacity to the ancien
|
comforter of the poor and oppressed, but a
sort of half servant and contidant in the
homes of the rich, where he performs mass
in the family chapel, says grace at the
table, reads to the mistress of the house,
surveys the children and undertakes all
confidential and private missions. In no
place throughout France are there as many
noble families who cling to the ideas and
customs of their forefathers as in Nor
mandy, and nowhere are there as many
seminaries and priests to be found as in
this same country. They are always
to be seen at the sea shore
with the families in which they serve,
and so cover the beach that their black sill
houettes against the pale sky give them the
appearance of so many crows they walk
with the children, or seated on the sand read
to them from book, the words of which, as
they reach the ear of the passer-by, are
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