Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
A VISIT TO VERSAILLES
WRITTEN 70. THE DISPATCH ]

Little train from the Care St. Lazare, Paris
TO our delight the sun came out warm and
bright As September, and dogs and bare
kneed children in bibs and blouses over
flowed the streets to bask in it, after being
coopeo up by careful housekeepers in dread
OF Group and muddy floors. The lortidca-
tions were passed and the train shot through
a couple of long, dark tunnels, across q
stretch OF tiny market gardens where small
vegetables were being raised by hand"
under glass globes, and out over a high
bridge ABOVE winding country road bord-
'ered with poplars and hedges. A small eeme-
terry tWlnkIed by, looking like some glass
exposition or the North Pole done in alum.
Thickly strewn upon every grave and
hoisted upon the crosses at their heads were
hideous funeral wreaths OF flowers, made
OF black, purple and crystal beads; here and
there was stifr wreath of dyed immortelles,
but not a single natural blossom to be seen q.
The effect to American eyes is gliastly and
horr1fylnS. Their very durability makes
them more unendurable. 1t is as much as
to say: "Pye mourned once and for all, ac-
cording to the fashion, and now 1 shan't
need to think of it again. These things'n
last!'
Madame De Maintenon's Villa,
1T was pleasant journey, so we arrived
at Versailles in a mood to do it thorough
ly and took cabs to the Grand Trianon.
The CLASSY Eaxed floors of Madame de
Maintenon's beautiful villa look as il no
loot had trodden there since her time, and
much of the ancient furniture remains,
carefully guarded from profane touch. In
the Salon des Glaces stands q magnificent
round table which might almost have served
King Arthur and his knights. The great
slab, nine ieet in diameter, is made OF q
single piece oil oak; such kings OF the forest
no longer exist in France.
We stopped to admire q beautiful marble
group in the Grande Yestibule, representing
France and Italy exchanging the kiss of
peace. 1t was a gift, some 30 years ago, from
the ladies of Milan to Eugenie, then
Empress of the French. Whether by chance
or by design, the resemblance of the
statelier statue to the ill.starred Empress
herself is very marked.
The PIaythings of a Queen.
THE Petit Trianon, where Marie Autoin-
ette spent her happiest days, stands near by
with her beloved dairy on the margin or a
little lake Outside the dairy, under
thatched shed. are the stone benches where
the lords and ladies of her court used to sit
and drink milk and pose as shepherds and
mflkmaids, with all the picturesque improb-
ability Boucher has immortaliZed on screens
and fans.
The lovely gardens and walks were almost
deserted Notwithstanding the beauty of this
mild November day. The dead leaves were
still falling and rustled pleasantly under
our feet as we walked through the grass and
picked some late bluebelIs and buttercups,
with nobody to "shoo" Us back to the road.
The leaves were drifted thick, too, in the
ho de
PAmour, the open-air theater where Marie
Antoinette and her ladies acted plays.
Some workmen were repairing the little
marble temple, and their ham,
mers and the tWittering of the sparroWs
were the only sounds that broke the silence
OF the woods. 1t was even lonelier about
the tiny mill and hamlet" with their
painted limitations of ancient stucco, fallen
away to show the painted prete nse of
bricks. 1t is most pathetic to come upon
the elaborate simplicity of these pretty toys
of Queen, which have survived two mon
archies and two empires, and which three
have spared. and even preserved,
in pity of their harmless triyiality.
A Costly and Almost Endless Work.
THEday was dry and pleasant, but moisture
dripped from the beds of moss that covered
the matched roofs, and the grass, through
which we strolled toward the gardens and
The palace OF Versailles, was very wet
The dank, swampy ooze OF the soil still
makes itself seen through all the labor that
hands have spent upon it through
more than two centuries.
1t is easy to believe that
A million peasants starved to build
Versailles;
TO dlain froggy marshes, plant forests of
hufId 1f
nile long, and cram it with all that was rare
md costly; to erect magnificent fountains,
md to construct aqueducts to supply
hem, which Ton account OF the
nature of the work)
DESTROYED a greater number of the unlucky
soldiers who were compelled to perform it
han many a battle that has decided the fate
1f nations
There was something really uncanny in
The sight of the vast and ella borate gardens,
adorned with the colossal statues and foun-
aims, the fnterminable broad walks, and
he immense flight of marble steps leading
I'D to a palace which has been inhabited by
0, 900 people at a time all in perfect repair,
apparently as void of life as the mountains
II the moon. 1t was like a scene from the
sleeping Beauty, or Hawthorne's new Adam
md Eve, exploring the empty city.
Some Of the Striking Pictures.
IT would be hopeless to attempt descrip-
ion of the endless galleries of pictures.
70 me, the most interesting of all was one
# Napoleon as First Consul; thin, keen,
handsome face, with look of quiet control. |
s If he felt the reins in his hands, and the |
,ower to hold them. I believe it is not a |
fine thing from an artistic point |
L view but, rs bit of historical enlighten-
nent, admire and value IL more than Meis- |
onier's "1S07," or any of the multitude of |
aintings of the Emperor's countless bat
les and triumphs.
Another picture, historically enlightening
to Americans, at least) represents 'le /
jomte Rochambeau and lie General WASH
ngton giving the final orders at the battle
CORVALLIS surren-
cred. The title is little misleading, for
he chubby little Count Rochambeau is CIV
1g the final orders all by himself while
Ieneral Washington (lIfe sized, though
cry French looking) stands meekly behind
i'm, rebuking, with gesture, an eager
oung officer who is evidently appealing to
i'm for instructions. "Don't you see that
his gentleman knows much more about
lch matters than l do7-ALez.voas en-,
polish boyP'
Now, one doesn't mind if the French are 3
rifle vaingloriou5 over their Henry OF
aware and Napoleon; but that they should
each out and appropriate the American
evolution to add to their hall OF triumphs,
seems like carrying the thing too far.
Full of Historic Suggestion.
IT was o'clock when we, together with
49,. = 1