Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-18
On a Foreign Shore.
FoUGERE. FRANCE. (On Train to Paris,
Monday, June 18th, 1901.

FoUGERE, FRANCE. (On Train to Paris.
Monday, June 18th, 1901.
Ny Dear Friends: We have had two
lovely days on land so full that / need
an extra day to write them up. The
landing at Cherbourg was made very
easily. because the sea was calm and
the sky unclouded. A small steam
boat came out from the docks and a
gangway was let down. Perhaps half
of the first class passengers got out
there and as we started ashore the
band played and those on the Queen
Louise" waved to US.
Cherbourg, although we got only a
glimpse of it, fairly drove US wild with
its queer buildings, odd corners and
strange looking costumes. As the
QIeen Louise came near enough to the
town to distinguish things, we could
see the long lines of low lying fortifi-
cations and occasional fortresses that
| line the shore. 1t is a great naval
station. The Notifications extend for
two miles. The ride to Coutances
lasted from 3:45 until nearly seven
| and it was a constant delight for each
one of US. Lovely green fields and
trees. The fences are made of dirt.
They look like mud walls but are
green with grass and often crowned
with shrubs and trees. lsuppose their
roots help to keep the thing together.
We have seen thousands of trees that
only tuft of foliage at the top-such
as | have seen in paintings sometimes,
and didn't believe that they existed.
Poplars simmer than ours, fields yell
low with mustard, white with oxeye
daisies, or one blaze of red with pop
pies, some times the three colors min
gled, other fields of clover with bios
SONS of dark red purple hue.
Paris, June 10, 1901.
My letter writing is going to be a
dismal failure I'm afraid, because it
has to come in at odd moments. L
just wun't sit up nights to write, as
some of the girls are doing.
In an hour we go for ride around
the city and climb the Arch of Tri-
umph to get general view of Paris.
We enjoyed Coutance in some thing |
tho cona uey INV En0Ijsh trim q affaotod |
me before-or the first few days of it. |
1t is such quain: town-people walk
ing in the streets, OF necessity because
the walks are so narrow, children and |
men in wooden shoes, women in funny |
white caps, carts with wheels twice as
high as ours and the shafts coming up
on level with the donkey's or horses
backs.
Sunday was special fete day in the
church and we could travel for ten
summers without seeing anything as
original as the procession that was
held Sunday morning. The streets
were all decorated with flying gauze
banners, the shops and houses covered
with white drapery, Shrines decorated
with flowers, evergreen trees, potted
plants embroidered banners and can
dies were put in dozen places about
town. We'started out early and saw
men finishing the decorations. For
some distance from some of the shrines
they had made green paths of leaves,
picked from poplar trees or box branch
es. Near the shrine these green paths
were ornamented in geometrical de-
signs with daisies, thousands OF them
picked off at the heads and laid thick,
and rose petals and yellow flags and
some poppies. | cannot remember the
exact designs, but some of the pref
test effects were the result of border
ing the white daisy lines with the pink
rose petals. AMI these on a solid green
back ground. When the bishop came
to these paths the white robed priests
tossed rose leaves up in the air before
them. And the procession, how can /
give you an idea OF it? There must
have been two thousand in it for /
counted four hundred boys from differ
ent schools and about as many girls.
and the black robed nuns, the white
veiled first communicates and the
priests of various orders made three
hundred more; then the adult citizens
came behind. In the whole process
sion there were two rows, one on each |
side of the street. At each shrine |
they stopped, the bishop brought the
host up on the shrine platform and |
elevated it. The people all knelt and |
rose again as the bell gave the signal. |
There were several of the highest rank |
in the church who marched by the |
bishop under a gilt and red velvet |
canopy carried by priests in white |
lace robes. Their dress was very gor-
geous, particularly the bishops who
wore purple velvet cap. At times,
the whole throng chanted and at other
times the censor bearers waved the
burning incense before the people. |