The true northerner., 1883-05-18
BESIDE The ANTE.

bESlDE The ANTE.
Every one ut Falaise knows the story
of the mother of William the Conqueror
by heart. They trouble themselves verv
little about the results of modern in
vestigation in regard to the real facts in
the case, these good folk of Falaise.
They see no reason for doubling any
part of the story they have always
known. They wfll show You with pride
the beautiful old church of st. G G.rvais,
and its not distant neighbor in the
Grande Place. La Sainte Trinite; but
they will bid you look longest Mt the
great bronze statue of the Conqueror in
the center of the Grande Place. And
it is well worth looking at The Nor
man hero is mounted on spirited
horse, represented as plunging impetu-
ously forward, and the King, in a suit of
mail, and with visor up and grasping a
lifted lance and pennon in his hand, is
turning, as if TO beckon an army on to
victory.
at is most wonderful" tie folk of
Falaise will say to you, as you and they
gaze at the warrior figure of whose his
tory they are so proud.
,But they have more TO show YOU than
this; for then they will take YOU up the
hill and through the arched gateway of
the castle. On the ramparts is quiet,
grassy walk, well shaded by trees, and
there is a school up here above the
town and an old twelfth century chapel.
But YOU have not been brought to look
at these. You go, instead, into the
castle keep, and there you will be
shown double-arched window, with a
stone pillar in the center, and looking
out Of this you will gaze into deep,
narrow valley very far below, through
which winds the river Ante, its surface
visible only here and there among the
trees On the other side frowns steep
range of hills, the steepest of all being
known as Mont Mirat.
"From this window" says your COM
panion, Count Robert first saw Ar
lette;" and then you are told how the
youth of Is, looking down into the val
ley of the Ante, saw the women and
girls washing clothes i'll the stream.
just as you see them doing now, eight
centuries later, and among them saw
the beautiful Arlette, the tanners
daughter, and seeing, fell in love. You
look down at the women below. You
can just catch the sound of their voices
but you cannot distinguish one from
the other. If the story YOU have heard
is true, love, in Roberts case, at least,
was not blind, but most extraordinarily
sharpsighted. BE that as it may, he
afterward made her Duchess of Nor
mandy, and you are shown q little cell
in the castle where their son, the Con-
queror, was born, unless the historians
are right who say that William was not
born III this castle at ALL Afterward
you will be taken to the top of Talbot's
tower, hundred feet higher, from
which a most magnificent view can be
had; but since this tower, built by the
English King Henry the Fifth, can in
no way be associated with William, it
has but little interest for your Falaise
companion.
Another day you go to the washing
place beside the Ante, and watch the
women and girls chattering and laugh
ing at their work and you think of the
young Robert catching sight of his
beautiful Arlette in just such another
group. of workers eight centuries be-
fore. Here the river runs through a
sluiceway, made for the use of the
washers, and here are great square
tanks beaped high with soaking gar
ments, the whole protected from the
weather by sheds. Each one pays 3
sous day for the privilege of washing
here, but must furnish her own soap
and cerrosse for beating the.clothes, so
one of the white-capped women will
perhaps inform You. Beyond are open
air tanks, where those who have no 3
sous TO spare may wash for nothing.
You wonder if there is an Arlette
among any Of these women. They are
not very beautiful, you think. But as
you stand at the arched entrance to the
wash;ng-place you do not see all the
women, and, even if YOU could, YOU
would not know which was named Ar
lette, if there were one of that name
there. Yet there is an Arlette there,
and, If you had been told of it, L think
it would not have been difficult TO dis
cover her. Arlette must be beautiful to
bear out her right TO the name, You
imagine; and You, within the archway,
are not much impressed with the faces
you see. But this modern Arlette is
among the poorer women beside the
Ante, and too far off for you to see her
There has always been an Arlette
among the women at the river, for it is
a fayorite name at Falai g, and some
shines thore have been several: but al