New-York tribune., 1901-08-11
A MISLAID CITY.
CHARMS OF A PLACE WHICH THE
GUIDES DO NOT KNOW.
Paris. July 20.

Paris. July 20.
This letter is not written in Paris. has If any
thing 10 do with Paris. II is about city which is
not 10 be named. a city which has somehow escaped
notice and remembrance which has been mislaid,
as 81 were II is interesting city. or this letter
would not be written ALL but II is better left In
the obscurity which surrounds IT, This being
the case the natural question is. why write about
ftp And the answer IS. Because the temptation
IS not 10 be resisted" Some time ago an American
artist discovered the place and wrote and Illus
trated article about IL, but he HID It's name IL
was an example which the present correspondent
feels inclined follow Let one good place be kept
from the depredauons OF the ravaging tourist
Tourist is a vile phrase but what other so well
describes the thing? The artist aforesaid was
tourist of course and is the present correspond
ent hut they have found the place and the rights
Of discovery are theirs the general herd Of tour
lists keep away. At the office Of the personally con-
Quoted tours they do not know OF this place, and
they DO sell railway tickets for It Baedeker
mentions that a road leads 10 It from somewhere
else but that is all that he knows about it. He
does not know that there is a railway, and OF the
other stations that railway he has not even
heard OF the existence For the purposes Of this
article It is enough say that il is in Northern
France. Yet il is customary for a letter 10 be
dated somewhere and there Is no danger in adver-
tising Paris. let the date stand at Paris.
II is curious that this city should have been left
completely out Of the reckoning. IT is a good
sized place; it has twenty thousand inhabitants.
its department and the seat Of a bishop; It is the
centre Of a lace trade which employs one hundred
and thirty thousand workers in the city and the
surrounding country, and the said country also
grows famous brand Of chestnuts. 1t is won
derfuly picturesque place, and it has remarkable
monuments. ancient and modern 1t has had its
share Of war and has been many times besieged.
but never taken Great councils of the Church
have been held here. hut they have turned aside
from it. the last having been more than six
hundred years ago.
FOND OF HIGH PLACES
The people here have always had fondness for
high places. Some eight hundred or nine hundred
years ago they chose the top of rock shaped
like a huge sugar loaf the best place for
chapel TO ST. Michael Another hill. perhaps
trihe higher. was chosen for the Cathedral, also
venerable building. But rock still lowered far
above them both and It till within the last
nifty years that this was crowned with colossal
statue Of Our Lady OF France.
As the Parthenon and Pallas stood over Athens,
so this is dominated by its Cathedral and by
Our Lady Of France. The Statue Of Liberty
at home in New-York Harbor; looks for the
figure Of Germania on the Rhine. and It is natural
and right that it should be there. But why should
this mighty statue Of the Virgin turn all fits smiles
this little city hidden in rural France. unknown
TO travellers and almost forgotten the map? Yet
here il stands. seyentyiive feet tall. image OF
the Virgin crowned with stars bending her mild
gaze upon the town and holding in her the
Child. who raises His hand in benediction.
The statue is painted that II looks like terra
Gotta, but it is made from the metal Of more than