The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-09-28
Entered at the POST Office at Richmond, Va, as
second-class matter.
EsPOND NCE.
Letter from France.
TRoNvILLE, FRANCE, Sept. l.

TRoNv1LLE, FRANCE, Sept l, 81.
MeSsrs Editors, weather of this
summer has been very disastrous to the
resorts Of France. Usually, holiday-seek-
ers flee Great Britain for sunny France,
almost assured that they will find bright
skies to the full But the bad season ex-
perienced this month has never had a.
parallel in the memory of the inhabi-
tants OF the Norman coasts Like Richard
III, it is itself alone. We have been in
the lake country of England, and during
our visit the belief settled upon us like a
positive conviction that either the climate
had undergone stupendous change, or
that Wordsworth did great deal of his
mountain rambling by his own freside.
His own candid notes to some of his SON
nets stating that they were not composed
under the circumstances described in the
poem, opened the door to this sceptical
view Days of sullen clouds and gloomy
horizons, and pouring showers confirmed
the dlsbellefs. In Scotland it rains even
more persistently and weightily than at
the English lakes, but the natives steadily
deny 1t, and the traveller is not bold
enough to stake his partial experience
against their alleged lifelong knowledge
1t may be that to the Scotch mind rain
and mist present themselves under diff
terent aspects to those present to the ex-
Perlence OF other countrymen. Perhaps
under the Falls of Niagara Scotchman
might admit that it was showery. In his
own country, with the rain fall of several
inches the hour, it may sometimes be
salt or at the worst trough" but that
is his farthest admission as to the climate
The traveller, however, scarcely expects
In balmy France to encounter the furies
OF the elements. Yet for three weeks the
Cotes de Normandy
have been the dolefullest of all places.
Ihe hotels and the rows of houses in
which lodgings are let, and facing the sea,
looks to ones jaundiced imagination as if
cozy, inward warmth had never been felt
within their walls. A dreary seaside
residence in which one must listen to the
moaning OF the melancholy sea over the
way, and watch the clouds violently
weeping into its depths, is well calculated
to bring on an attack of le spleen. And
yet on fair day
Tronville Sur Mer
is perhaps the finest specimen of French
watering place. 1t has often been called
Florence. 1t Is small maritime Flor
tence. 1t looks like bouquet of villas
by the sea-so jaunty is the air of the
place, with It's pennons flying along the
waterfront AS one perceives it distinct
~ from atar when approaching by the
boat, the town flames in the sunlight, and
produces the effect of an immense bed of
brilliant flowers on the border of the sea
with background of steep hill and vivid
green. By its capricious architecture,
Ironville ct D'lauville is calculated to
charm the most fantastic taste. Here all
the styles and all the epochs are con-
founded together-Italian palaces, Swiss
chalets, Holland houses, Gothic castles,
Louis XIII manors, hotels Louis XIV.
Alhambras, and modest cottages. The
hotels are full to overhowing, notwith-
standing the reputation the place bears
OF being the dearest in all France Enc
!lsh Lords, and French Counts, and Amer
lean spendthrifts, are calculated to rem
der a resort exorbitant, and this is a
rendezvous for all these classes. OF all
open-handed, open-pursed travellers, the
american bears the highest reputation
ior generosity, and not only has he made
travelling outrageously expensive for his
countrymen, but also for every stranger
OF any land who follows in his wake. It
Is the complaint Of foreigners that Ameri-
cans, by their "open and liberal hand :"
nave doubled the cost of living ON the
continent, and we do not doubt It. So
1ar as hotels go, Tronville is well pro
vided in ordinary times, and what seems
70 be most wanting is good sea walk
after the fashion Of the Promenade Des
Anglais at Nice. At present the only
sort OF promenade is along the planks laid