Evening star., 1896-07-18

They Cling to Ancient Ways Witt
Picturesque Tenacity.

They Cling to Ancient Ways With
Picturesque Tenacity.
From the London News.
l see that Michelet Is quoted by q cor
| respondent to show how Brittany has ad-
vanced since 1888 The Bretons are less
altered by the events Of the last hundred
years than any other provincial people
Their culture is incentive. 1t has gone in
the same lines from time immemoriaI
Their Catholicism when well looked into
Will be found to haYe g. DruidIcal complex
strong 20
Bretons are good friends and nasty foos
They are very attached relatives, but read
lily adopt the orphans, of strangers. Wild
ows are In Brittany held in peculiar honor
me widow Is by custom absolute guardian
OF her orphan children and administra trix
OF their properties. Her husbands rela-
tives must not veK or grieve her by law
proceedings. She is looked I'D to by all her
nelghbors as an almost sacred being, and
in old age venerated by sons and grand
sons. % 20
Shakespeare, whe knew everything,
caught this trait Of Brittany civilization,
ana embodied it In Constance. mother Of
Prince Arthur. The widow of Jeoffrey
Piantagenet who faces John. is a Breton
widow Rosalie, the sister OF Ernest Re-
nan. truly sublime character. was a Bre-
ton She had the intensiveness already no.
uced. and the hue and structure of her
mind have much in common with the mind
Of Constance
There were wreckers certainly in former
times In Brittany. but Michelet did not
Know that province in 1S33 unless through
BOOKS. He was a painstaking man in try
ing to obtain colors for his palette but he
was very imaginative writer. and the
love OF literary effect often led him away
DOUBTLESS railways and steam navigation
have done much for Bretons in enabling
them to ind easy markets for their butter
and fish. but 1t may be said of Brittany:
IN fh4
ever shall be-" Its archaic features make
IL singularly interesting province
Some years ago. when on a tour in Brit
amy. met Partisan acquaintance going
70 castle in Finisterre, not far from Le
Conquet. He invited me to 20 with him
l hesitated; but. as he pressed, 1 went We
were received on the hall door steps by. a
most courteous old gentleman and lady As
TO the family motto carved in stone above
the door. 1t was in the Breton tongue hut
ne thus translated 1t: 1.-THE friends of
friends are our friends" The carved stone
bore the date Of 1896
L found that the motto had entered into
the lives OF the chatelain and chatelaine.
who had always lived in Finisterre, The
castle; or rather old manor house, had
Deen IN their family time out of mind
Might not the warmth Of heart that die
tated the motto have originated in such
d1diculiies and dangers as the inhabitants
| stantly obliged to face.
Dificulties without dangers harden the
disposition ard make it selfish Difficulties
with dangers Of the most appalling kind
sublimate the character and give 1t a ro-
mantle nature. They give 1t more than a
touch OF noble recklessness One sees this
In the women shrouding the corpses of the
drowned English in their best sheets and
dressing the young lady and child In pretty
costumes A F1nisterre costume is made to
last lifetime and is very valuable. One
should understand what store the French
Weman sets on her house linen to set q
right value on the sacrifices made.