Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-07


tour down through France to Marseilles and
along the Riviera into Italy. The several
guide books, which are almost a necessity
for such trip, especially 70 one Ike myself,
with no knowledge Of the French or Italian
language, / could not carry along with
me in the knapsack, but could at
least send them along By mail 70 tke
different points where they would be-
come needed, and by so doing tighten the
load in the knapsack So took Northern
Italy, with NE, for that book began at Lyons
and took in MarseilIes and Nice. Central
Italy" ! sent to Florence, to be called for
when I reached there, and Southern Italy
l sent to Rome Then, with road map Of
France in the knapsack, rode out through
the ST. Cloud gate, climbed up through Meu-
don and out OF the great basin in which
Paris is situated aud out upon the level or
slightly undulating country to the south OF
the beautiful city il which I had spent
mouth 80 pleasantly.
The second dismount I made, however, re-
suited in bringing the well filed knapsack
down with such a strain upon one OF the
hooks that it broke short of. Here was
trouble TO start with But the coil Of pliable
wire, which l bought for FIVE cents II a
was Of great service one day out on the
plains and again in the Yellowstone park,
once more proved TO be q very handy thing
% have in the house, and, with the break re-
paired, was soon on my way again.
On leaving Paris / was advised 70 take a
more circuitous route 70 Fontaineblesu TO
avoid the block pavement which extends for
miles over many Of the direct roads leading
70 re-. 1--- ET-- fr71s la -
written out for me by a whee!man, who had
himself never been over it, and finding moth
ing else but pavement, struck out for my
self and tried TO find the direct road to Fon-
tainebleau. To the first man l met l said:
Monsieur, the route 70 Fontainebleaun So
much could say in French, but no more
He not only began to explain very explicitly
the way-which, OF course, | could not IN
derstand-but he also used many gestures
and signs, which were Of more value to me
than e volume Of words When l came 70
the next turn il the road repeated my first
lesson n French to some one else. and in that
manner, after being led SIX or eight miles
out OF ny way by the wrong advice 70 start
with, gotto the direct route and had 10
more trouble
Since then I have found that one gesture,
IN directing NE TO take the next right or the
next left II passing through q town or in
looking up the pOsto6ce, IS worth more than
she most careful verbal directions. Mon
sieur, the post and telegraph II repeated
every few blocks in French, which IS much
the same as in English, will lead one to the
poSrofIice in any large French town or city.
And the French are particularly free with
their gestures, 50 l get along very nicely IN
regard to finding the way, for not only are
there stone posts along all the main roads
giving the distances in kil0meter5 10 the next
place, but az every cross road there are blue
sign boards, 50 that wheelnaL, though .
foreigner, need not err. but travel along IN
comparative com olaisancy. l hoped TO reach
Fontaiaebleau the first night, but at dark
found myself twenty miles from that place,
and with little else Cnan block pavement IL
prospect. The color OF the stones Is consid-
Grady lighter than that Of the surrounding
soil ana alter gliding along mile OF more
over the beautifully smooth dirt road II was
quite disgusting TO ride up over the brow OF
Z low hi and, II the dark distance, see the
light coIored pavement rising up before me,
Ike BaDqQo's ghost, between the long lines
Of tail shade trees, giving me premonitIoa
II the pounding I must endure before the
Rex5 town could be reached
But the lights Of Essonnes finally came in
sight at the top Of the hill and | walked
down into the town, for the place was too
poorly lighted 70 ride with safety. To the
first man I met l said; Monsieur, the hotel
o. boarding house" He did not understand
nv French, and 50, for his sake, shortened
ne sentence into 1.-THE hotel for I found
vas, by too much voluollIty, making II diff
,u,5 for toe French people 70 understand
their oSn language. saw that they could
not grasp long French sentence. "Ho0es7
the man understood, and pointing to
lighted lamp n front Of a building
down the street be said: The fire"
went straight for the fire and found very
good hotel. As least they understood per-
fectlE what l wanted when l said: Il am
hungry, sleep" Those few words I picked
up IN Paris and laid them carefully away for
inst such use as they now were put to, for Of
ali the words in the French language those
two hungry and sleep" were sure TO DO
tbs most important ones 70 me-
The next morning a large bowl Of lot
milk, about a NlneglasS OF black coffee
brought IN bottle and some bread were nv
breakfast The coffee curdled the milk as
soon es it was poured into II, though did
70. know bus il always acted that way n
France The beet sugar, Of which there Is a
great quantity grown IL France, helped %
make the dish palasabIe, however. The bill
st that hotel was SL2Q The next night l
found fully as good accommodations ct the
first hotel to which applied, and the charge
was but eighty cents Tor the whole thing
dinner, room, breakfast and service.
The country from Paris through Foutaine-
blsau, Nonta-gis, M0ulins AMI Ia Palhsse is
generally level or slightly undulatlng, hut 20
Roanne IL IS more billy, and from there
towards Lyons. for twenty miles, IL IS really
mountainous. Ii was steady climb, know,
thas entire distance, and before l got to the
top the SNOW b.sw across the road and the
hills were white. Even the exercise Of hill
climbing, with a thick coat on and the KNAPP
sack on nv back, was hardly sufficient 20
keep nv body warm with the wind blowing
c gale from the north. IL would be a nos,
enjoyable tip over those hills il pleasant
weather. for even with the clouds and sect
shutting out much 81 the view to the north
tie prospect II al other directions was very
extended and showed susooth. rounded hills,
capped with clusters Of tiled rooted houses,
haruoniEng vel with TIE reddish upturned
patches Of sol The only pleasant anucipa-
ton had n the tnree hours climb was the
coast that was sure 70 come, ari when il did
come ! en- Oyed IL 10 the utmost. The first
five miles down along the broad, smooth
road which wound about the sides OF the hill
were made IL fifteen minutes, and after that
there were several other coasts Of mile or
two in length. one especially dne one, I
thought, at town called Bully. l reached
LYONS thae afternoon about O'Clock having
ridden l56 miles in the pass two days The
distance ridden from Paris was SAB miles.