New-York tribune., 1901-11-25
INAFARC CORNER OF FRANCE
FEATURES OF THE PRIMITIVE LIFE OF
A LITTLE BRITTANY COAST TOWN.
Benodet Par Quimper
Finistere. Brittany. October T.

Finistare, Brittany. October u
Even TO many French people this little haven of
rest Benodet. or Beuodette, the peasants call
it, is unknown.
There are perhaps. twenty Parisians in the whole
place: quiet. unpretentious people. who love real
country life. beating. fishing and bathing. with
out the complications which spoil these things in
the popular and fashionable summer resorts Prob
ably they say little about ii. for they seem 10
wish keep the place jealousy TO themselves
1t is a temptation TO do likewise but II would
be selfish Benodet is poor. and it would be
a godsend to the peasants bring a few more
people here \ number of years ago it pros
porous. but the hotel badly kept the proprie-
tor drank his wife painted the town red gener-
ally, so they ended by having Benodet and the
fun themselves.
This year the hotel has been bought by a great.
tall. soodnarured fellow. who. together with his
mother keen, wry old woman in cap and apron
the place upon the most simple possible basis
The inn office is both the baker shop and the bar
the village. You stop in for hot roll. a glass
of beer to pay your bill You pays your money
takes your choice" Here is usually stray lob
ster, a brace of dead rabbits or birds. freshly
killed by of the local sportsmen, lying about
on the floor or tables. The fishing and shooting
around Benodet very good. Indeed one
seldom finds a place which combines so much IN
the way of natural resources.
The sea bathing is capital, and. like the man
agement of the hotel simple in the extreme Inere
are no bathers no boats. lines. tickets TO
be taken: you just hire cabin for 70 francs d
month, put the key in your pocket and go in and
come out of the whenever you choose. as here
the tide makes little difference in the rise and
fall of the water.
The River Odet which enpties itself into the
ocean at Benodet is, perhaps. the greatest attrac-
ton of place.
1t winds up to Quimper and beyond. through
thickly woodeds8lills. dotted here and there with
the picturesque old chateaus-
One comes here from Qumper by sailboat tthe
nearest station from Renodet 10 twenty miles
away As you skim through the blue waters it
seems after the heat and stufiness OF Paris as
though you had been transported TO some land oil
enchantment- The river gives the illusion or De-
ing a series Of miniature Swiss lakes
For those who come for the first time TO Brittany
the surprise continues after you land the little
stone quay stones throw from the tavern The
peasants all in costume and speak Breton-in
fact in Finistere. where everything IS centuries
behind time many of them neither speak nor un-
derstand French at all. The children here are
particularly attractive. They seem almost to have
come into the world with their fascinating head
gear. One never sees bareheaded youngster tof
the female persuasion. Little tots Of four or
five wear gowns down 10 their heels. huge stiff
white collarettes. and the quaint white linen ard
lace bonnets peculiar to Brittany. They are the
queerest most absurd and also the dtrtiest little
objects one can imagine. They look Ike ut COM
panions for Alice in Wonderland.
Dirt is not a specially of the Fnistere children
ony-it seems TO be sort Of superstition with the
peasants in general. AS an example; In most coun-
tries mothers usually consider that their ofsprings
heads should be kept free as possible from
everything but hair This does not hold good in
Finistere. Inhabited hair is considered sign OF
luck and 10 be conducive to good health II child
Is unfortunate in this respect, a truly devoted
watchfuI Finistere mother will borrow Few MI
croscopic animals from a charitably disposed neigh
bor put them in her child's head and let nature
do the rest, This is an actual fact, not appe-
tzug one but typical Of the moral status Of the
people that it worth mentioning The small chill
dren are strong and Iusty, but toward fourteen
or fifteen they become puny and delicate. There
is no stamina in them. and when you consider the
conditions in which they live you wonder how they
manage to do so at all. They eat, dear knows
what, and the general squaIor of their surround
ngs may be imagined from the above anecdote-
Drunkenness IS the vice, the curse OF the coun-
try On Sundays every in the place Is as
drunk a lord. and it is 10 be feared that even
the women lay little claim to soberness-
Last Sunday. for instance the writer crossed over
10 Saute Marine a village of four or five houses
nestled among the pine trees opposite Benodet-
Pere Tristan. the old fellow who rows the ferry
boat could scarcely sit up. His thin, shrtveiled
face and light, bleary, blue eyes had a most Pc
cuIiar look about them noticed before When
ne asserted that OF the yachts anchored in the
harbor had a hole in the side. from which stair
case led UP heaven, one began to understand
why The water was rough and the wind blowing
hard. II was pleasure to land NJ BoisseI
Of the hotel said afterwarG that old
Tristan was champion topper of the place. That
speciaI dav he had done away with three quarts OF
fiery rum. which the sailors here call tafa. 1t
seems hard believe. but BoisseI declared that If
a fact
on the whole. Banodet is happy-go-lucky. live
and let live sort OF place. but. Notwithstanding.
the people of the Grand Hotel % here managed TO
form themselves into ciiques. Probably there were
cliques in Noahs Ark. ard the female portion of
FISH between and upon stormy winter after
Moons
The ostraczed person this season is tall. pretty
young woman. with lemon ccIored hair She behaves
herself in most exemplary manner. but for some
pr1m meInbe OF the cornIIunlty should hold aloot
She left alone lately for two days by the per
wearing heavy white lace veil drawn closely
down over her sailor hat She seemed sad and
no. he worn To hide the traces of tears
When he returned from his fishing excursion the
weary and careworn. In the afternoons she often
sits demureIy under the shadow OF the church
of her dessert to two little girls-Mare and Jeanne
who wait regularly for the few cakes she slips
It is said that she is making for them little black
delighted and bewlldered eyes
one compares the summers and the Stunned. and
silently wonders whether the former would deprive
themselves of dessert any one or could ever be
capable of wasting good, substantial black silk in
order to give few days happiness TO two poor
Benodet is within easv reach OF most places OF
absurdly cheap You hire for a whole
afternoons fishing from 80 50 cents The car
pretensions whatever TO being anything else Sell
dom such collection of ramsha ckle old
cabooses The obsoleteness Of everything is one of
the greatest charms of Benodet and is likely
servative among the conservatives. and indoIe't
and Indifferent to anything IN the shape Of i'm
This is distinctly not place for the smart set OF
any land 1t IS a ind for those who from
one who has A book 10 write or a picture TO paint
In other words for those who nave brains needing