The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-04-22
A FAMOUS CITY.
How the Ancient Capital of the Dukes
of Qijon Looks in Our Day.

How the Ancient Capital of the Dukes
of Qjon Looks in Our Day.
Dion, the old capital of Burgundy
and the residence of its Dukes, has
descended from its ancient pinnacle of
fame to be simply the seat of the de-
partmental government of the Cote
dor. Its present sovereigns are merely
commercial, and their seepter and sym
bols of power are the grand crus OF
wine-Clos de Vougeot, Chamberlin,
Volnay, Romance, Richebourg and all
the rest. The populace seems content
with the change of sovereigns. The
city has fifty-five Thousand inhabitants,
with the monotonous architecture of all
France for its modern buildings. and
Gothic and other medieval styles for
what remains of its old churches and
chateaux. Some of the old city walls
are still left, and portions of the old
moat forming little hollows beloved Of
the cabbage, beet and cauli1ower. Into
the rest of it have crowded the rear
walls of modern dwellings, or the ne
cessities of commerce have caused the
construction of streets, and business
houses have tended even more to oblit-
crate all traces. The churches, of
which. several retain in whole or in
part the peculiarly of the Burgundian
architecture, are numerous, and their
strange old towers and tall, slender
spires, not unlike in form to
the old-fashioned candle extinguisher,
form striking feature of the landscape
when seen at distance. The church
of Notre Dame is considered one of the
best specimens of Gothic architecture
in France. There is tall. square facade
of peculiar style which masks the main
edifice, and which, for want of better
name and the impossibility of more ac-
curate classification, has to be called
Burgundian. The remains of centuries
have raised the level of the adjoining
streets, and one has to descend to reach
the nave of the church, which, in spite
of the barenness of ornament, is at once
graceful, delicate, solid and imposing.
The light enters through some beau
tifully tinted stained windows, which
are all that could be called decoration,
though some little illustrations of the
passion of Christ in medallion form, a
foot square, are hung about the walls.
There are also vestiges of fresco paint
ings some four hundred years old done
by upskilled hands here and there, not
observable without effort. The day
was cold when I visited the. place,
which had its winter temperature kept
just above the point whereit would con-
geal the breath by scarcely perceptible
currents of warm air coming up
through gratings from suspected fur
naces somewhere in the regions below.
Over them were lowering old women,
who varied this grateful and unusual
occupation by begging at the door as
often as the thawing of their muscles
enabled them to extend their benumbed
hands in supplication.
The church of st. Benigne, which
has an attractive facade, incloses the
remains of its patron saint, with statues
of Philip the Bold, Vladislas King of
Poland, and some paintings very well
preserved on the, walls of the crypt.
The original structure was built in
1866, about the time of the Norman
conquest, but like nearly all other
churches of the same epoch, or a few
hundred years later, has been so many
times reconstructed that but little of
the first material remains. Notre
Dame, which was built three hundred
years afterwards, is exceptionally well
preserved. st. Michel, which is in the
style of the Renaissance, has an un-
commonly handsome facade which has
the merit and attractiveness of being
like no other in Europe. There are
other churches having special points OF
interest and of great antiquity, but
after the traveller has had his fill of the
| church architecture and pictorial and
ecclesiastical splendor of italy, and has
seen the sunlight drop its ladder OF
beams down into the dusky in:
teriors of the great cathedral in
| SPAIN, those of France, fine enough
| in their way, but seeming cold and
| bare after the warmth and richness OF
| southern color, are naturally viewed
with less enthusiasm. But though the
| churches want warmth and color, there
was no lack of it in the Burgundian
| life. Their Dukes had a southern heat
of temperament, for was not there
something of the Provencal fire and
poetry in their veinsp Charles the
| Bold, or the Rash, as the French cal
him. was as impetuous as young
| Guelph or Ghibelline and scarcely SC
discreet, but he had the qualities that
won affection far more readily than
those of cold, calculating and crue
/ monarch like Louis XII, of whom also
Diion has many "reminiscences. Sc
Dion, lacking splendor, has interest
not alone for the antiquarian, but fol
him to whom the shadowy heroes o.
other ages are creatures of romance
the siftings of tradition sands OF golt
and the present the rich afterglow of q
splendid past. Cor. San Frdncisct
/ Chronicle. s As&#
A German statistician says tina
there are about 800, 600 deaf mutes il
the world, So per cent. of whom ar,
born thus, and 81 per cent. become 81
later. There are altogether 397 insti
tutions for the education of these unfor
tunates, in which 1000 teachers ant
26.473 pupils are found. OF these insti