Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-22
ends to the dairy and the family wash. Worst

tends to the dairy and the family wash. Worst
Of all she is alone with one servant or a daueh-
ter. She does not dance, and she most often
confines her singing to prayer meetings and
church. have seen both sides of the picture
The American farmers wife too often breaks
down at fifty years of age. The European
peasant woman at sixty-fve is still strong
enough to work in the fields and excite the
commiseration Of American tourists.
AN ARoADIAN SCENE.
In the fields outside Of Nantes the women
are picking vegetables and fruits and the men
are tending the vines. The carriage rolls
along the level road that skirts the riverside
Later the road turns from the river and. as
cending gentle slope between apple and pear
orchards. shows picturesque glimpses of the
valley of the Seine. There are no fences mark
ing off the fields. which are scattered with
scarlet peoples and the yellow of wild mustard
Along the roadside are hawthorn hedges with
their red berries and bushes of wild plum with
their glistening purple fruit. One sees patches
of green corn. which 10 grown for fodder The
grapes along the protected hillsides are both
purple and yellow and are nowadays sent to the
Pans fruit markets rather than used for wine.
Skir'lng orchards Of golden pears open fields
OF caobages that glisten with a metallic BLUSH
green. passing pasture fields where little girls
tend cows and donkeys, the road ascends to
the plateau which overlooks the Seine directly
opposite Nantes. The Seine is not the
Rhine-it Is smaller, the hills are not
so high and the castles vanished long ago;
yet the traveller, as he throws himself on the
turf and traces the contour of the river and the
land below to the right and to the left Ia ire
sist1bly reminded Of the view from the heights
Of Stolzenfels. Everything is on a smaller
scale, gentle, refined, peaceful and domestic.
Ihe BANKS OF the Seine are lined with graceful
willow trees. the two stone bridges are in sight.
the boundaries of distant roads and fields are
marked by slender Lombardy poplars and the
southern hillsides are covered with vines
Through all the river winds. lazy stream of
silver or dark green. II there are no castles
Immediately near there are at least the towers
of Nantes and the unfinished steeples of Notre
Dame. short distance further on there are
the ruins Of old convent Of the Celestine
monks. founded in 1876 BY Charles of France.
This hillside was celebrated for its good wine
II WAS in the act of foundation of this mon
estery that Charles for the first time used the
royal arms reduced to three ieurs-de-lvs, gin
honor of the trinity" as the charter itself says
little below the monastery, reached by a
winding lane. is the ancient hermitage of St.
Sauveur. entirely cut in a rock overlooking the
river. There is a chapel, little garden and
the dwelling place of the hermits In
old times these caves could only be entered
from the top by rope ladder from a
hole In the ground kept covered by a stone. In
the time of Charlemagne it was the rendezvous
OF the old Seine pirates. Three stone crosses
them were hung. There are no hermits in the
hermitage now and the town council of Nantes
has declared tho place to be public museum
They have put y man in charge who tends care
fully to the middle-age relics without rever-
ence for them. He is disrsputabls pleasant
faced old communist, who declares that .'the
days of images are past" He spends his DAYS
in solitude and keeps his spirits up by drinking
cognac. 1t is customary in entering a church
or sacred place for gentlemen to remove their
hats; but he cries out: keep on your hats
adding, as a rather mixed reason: Keep on
your hats. am Calvinist,'
Driving back along the hills to Nantes you
can complete your observations on the French
country by noticing the close cultivation of the
soil which has made France the richest nation
in Europe. In Paris the general distribution
OF property Is not so evident. but here every
French family has its own plot of ground to
stimulate industry and thrift. As said at the
beginning. this experience of the French coun-
tryside may well be added to what the tourist
sees In his confusing visits to the show sights of
the great CITY. STERLING HEIIIG