Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-31
ON WHEELS IN FRANCE.

ON WHEELS IN FRANCE.
A Journey From the seacoast to Paris
on Bicycles.
TIE ROAD INLAND FROM pIEPPE-rHK MAGICAL.
xyrEcr OF THE NAME NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ING FOR BREAKFAST WITH THE AID OF A
PHRASE Boox-PIcrUREsQUE PEASANT GIRLS.
Correspondence Of THE Ev,xns srAn.
PARIS, July a.
We were all mp bright and early the morning
Of landing for the invasion Of France. The
steamer got in shortly after o'clock and we
were soon engaged in the full practice Of our
''poll-parrot" French. A lot of aowsy-looking
gendarmes stood around to see that none Of
us missed the customs inspection, which was
soon over with and we we're free to give our
attention to coffee and rolls, which we success
fully ordered and devoured. Our bicycles
were admitted free of duty upon our captain"
exhibiting his cyclists touring club member
ship ticket For some French reason, which
we do not understand, duty is charged on all
bicycles coming in by way of Calais and Bou-
logne, the other two ports through which the
traffic from England generally passes, but not
at Dieppe.
The road book directed us to ''go around the
harbor and turn to the left" We went around
the harbor until, like the rat, we found our
selves going in the same hole we ''came out at"
Then c., the most skilled in the language,
braced up and sprang some of his best on a
blue-bloused workman. The experiment was
repeated several times on various other work.
men, each time q little more crescendo than
the one preceding and with the addition of a
few more words to the dose. But, some way,
cnnldn'f nd or fbay
couldn't understand him, and we seemed no
nearer to finding our way out of the town than
we were before we began our examination of
the natives. At last, after a series of gesticula-
tons on both sides, punctuated here and there
with word or two, We found the road and
bowled away up the valley Parisward. The
landscape was quite American, not having that
well-kept appearance which generally char
acterizes the English. The poplar tree is in
deed poplar tree in France; for it lined the
road and dotted the landscape all the way to
Paris.
NEGOTIATING FOR BREAKFAST.
Fifteen miles out from Dieppe, at the village
of St. Vast, we concluded we would fortify
ourselves with some more breakfast, as we had
gotten very early start and it was now only $780,
Dismounting at typical French country inn,
we stood around outside while c. vainly en-
deavored to rake together a sufficient quantity
OF 'parle' to bring down something to eat.
H chaffed at this delay, and was for going
at once and ordering something to eat"
French or no French. So we stole in and
ranged ourselves on a bench at one side Of the
table, while madame, with short skirts a white
cap, and what was intended for a benign smile
of welcome, advanced from the other side
With French-English pocket dictionary and
Harper's phrase book we, with much stumbling
and frequent reference to our codified French,
embarked upon the hazardous task before u.s.
Bread and milk, cheese and "a bottle Of the
cheap country wine was what we wanted, and
we ordered them-or thought we did. But
something was wrong. Madame smiled blankly
and chartered at US. There was a screw loose
somewhere in our French. So we tried again,
changing the words around and varying the
accent little. This was repeated several
times, until ray OF light dawned upon madame.
MONSIEUR BECAME soCIABLE.
During this lengthy conversation monsieur,
the landlord, who generally sits around all day
chatting and drinking with patrons while
madame manages affairs, was seated at the OPP
game OF dominoes which, at least in this sec
ton, appears to be a more popular game than
cards. Monsieur in the present instance was a
short, pudgy old fellow with cumpy wooden
soled shoes, blue overals. of the order vulgarly
known as high water, supported by strap
around what would ordinarily have been the
waist, but which in his case was a broad ex-
panse; pipe, glasses, a short scrubby mustache,
little cap perched on top of his head as apex to
the whole His guest departed, monsieur
hitched up his high-water marks and
ambling over in our direction entered
into conversation, which speedily became
laborious to all concerned. H tried to
have him point out in our dictionary what he
wanted to say, but the dictionary was too deep
for him. In response to some remark Of his,
as to our being "Ong-glay" (English), we en-
tered q disclaimer with the information that
We were "Americang." His increased interest
upon this announcement gave us a pointer
which we have ever since used to advantage in :
provincial France. courteous Indifference
as long as the superstition remained that we
were only "English" (for it was not natural to
suppose that Americans would come way over
here to knock about the country in this man
ner) was without exception changed into
active, friendly interest upon learning that we
were from the great sister republic across the
water.
After doing full justice to our repast some Of
us sprawled out on the benches and went into
doze, monsieur and madame going about as
softly as circumstances brick floor and
wooden shoes-would permit SO as not to dis
turb sleeping America. Upon our departure
madame beamed on US from the doorway while
We shook hands with our jolly host and wished
them all bon jour-as near as we could get it.
After passing through succession Of little vii
lagos and towns, the houses in which were for the
most part of stone, and the streets narrow and
without sidewalks, We reached Forges-les-
Faux, q town OF considerable importance,
where we stopped for dinner. Our hotel was
designated, according to our English transla-
ton, as the Golden Mutton" so we ordered
mutton chops to see if there was really
anything in it. A large sign informed us that
English was spoken there, but we failed to dis
cover the person who ran the English-speaking
department.. We concluded that the sign meant
that English was spoken there when English
speaking people were staying at the house. By
unanimous consent it was left to G. to in
before dinner. d, after due consideration.
said something to the man, who Immediately
went into brown study. Thereupon Won muir
INJURED 'lavare" Qaver, to wash), going through
the motions of rubbing his hands over his face
This comprehensive French secured what we
wished in short order.
AN ENCHANTING ROAD.
The road from Forges-les-Eaux to Gournay.
en-Bray was beyond doubt the most perfect in
all respects that we have yet encountered.
Wide, with q surface hard and smooth as
asphalt and lined with tall poplars set closely
together. it stretched away for miles without q
bend. As 1t led over rising, undulating coun-
try, we could at many points see it for miles in
advance or to the rear, disappearing from view
as a white thread against q dark green back
ground. The hedges and walls, which had
served in q measure to obstruct our view until
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