Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-15
Molly Randolph 10 Her Father.

HOTEL GASSION, PAU, December IA.
Dear Universal Provider of Love and
Cheques:
Thank you n thousand times for both
which have just been forwarded along the
route of this "wild-goose chase. as you
call it, WELL if it is one, don't know who
the goose is, unless Aunt Mary She Is
rather like that sometimes, poor dear; but
we get on splendidly. Oh, ] would get on
splendidly with five Aunt Marys (Which
heaven forbidD, for I'm so happy, Dad!
I'm having such a good time-the time OF
my life. or it would be If you were in it.
If you ever lose all your money and come
q nice, gentlemanly cropper in the street
called Wall, we might come to Biarritz to
live. just you and l. We would have fun!
And we could stop in our pretty little cheap
villa all the year round, for one season
only waits politely till another Is out 10
step in; It's always gay and fashionable,
and yet you needn't be either unless you
like. And the sea and sky have more gor-
geous color in them than any other Sea
and sky, and the air has more ozone; anu
the brown rocks that go running a hippo
potamus race out into the bery1-green
water are queerer and finer than any other
rocks. So you see everything is superlanve,
even the hotels, and as for a certain con-
fectioner; but he, or rather she, deserves
capital There are drives and walks and
curio shops where l spent my little all;
ana there's FOX hunting, WHICH WotuO ne
nice If il weren't for the poor tame FOX;
and golf. and petits cheveaux at the casino,
where Aunt Mary gambled before she knew
what she was doing, and kept on long
time after she did; and mysterious Basque
persons with ancestors and costumes more
wonderful than anybody else's, who dance
strange dances in the streets for money.
and play game called La Pelotte. which
is great sport to watch. And you walk by
the sea. with its real waves, like ours at
home, not little tuppeny-ha penny ones IKE
those l saw in the English channel; and
you look across an opal bay through a
creamy haze to mystic land made entire
ly of tumbled blue mountains And then
one of the best things about Biarritz IS
that you're next door to Spain. An, that
door of Spain, I've knocked and been in
through il, but just across the threshold
The way of it was like this:
I'd been up early and out to the golf
course for a lesson from the professional;
when | came home little before IL Brown
was waiting. He wanted to know If
wouldn't care to have peep at Spain, and
said that we could easily go there and back
by dinner time Aunt Mary and l were
ready in ''jiffy,'' and so was the car, and
we were buZZiny away along beautlful
road Though little 'accidentee," as the
French say near the ocean. There were the
most lovely lights 1 ever saw on land or
sea- over the mountains and the great, un-
quiet Atlantic; and St Jean de Luz, which
we came to In no time, as it seemed, was
another charming little watering place for
us to come and live if you get poor.
good many English people do live there all
the year round. and whom do you think Is
one of them? George Gissing. You know
how | made you read his books. and you
said they seemed so real that you felt you
had got into the peoples houses by mis-
take and ought to say, Excuse me-? Well
he has come to live in st. Jean de Luz. the
all-knowing Brown tells me. His master
admires Mr.. Gissing very much. so the
Honorable John must be nice and clever
man.
AS for history, Brown is an inexhaust
ible mine. l simply put in my thumb ant
pull out a plum" But ! forgot-ther'
aren't usually plums in mines, are there
except in the prospectuses? Anyhow, 4
was Brown who made me realize what ire
mendously interesting things frontiers are
That imaginary line. and then-people
language, costumes and customs changing
as if a fairy had waved wand. The from
tier between France and Spain is a great
wide river-on purpose TO give us anothe
bridge. Doesn't the name. Bidassoa,
suggest a broad. flowing current running
swiftly to the sea?
This time we would have none of TIT
bridge. II was too much bother payihi
duty on the car and having lot or rex
tape about getting it back again In an hou
or two; so we left BalZac, as i have named
1t. at the last French town ana rowe'
across on past the first spanish town
Irun to "A much older, more PICTURESQUE
one-Fuenterrabia. A particularly hand
some boatman wanted to row us, ou
Brown would do it himself, either TO snow
how well he can manage the oars OF els
because the boatman had abnormally lon'
eyelashes, and Brown is rather sick of eye
lashes
Even crossing the river and going dow
toward the mouth of the stream with
huge old ruined castle towering up I
mark Fuenterrabia) WAS quite thrilling
because of the things in history that nav
happened all around. The estuary run
dowr to the sea between mountains o
wild and awesome shapes. One of them l
named after Wellington, because II Is SUP
posed to look like his prohle lying do"t
and the other mountains hao ch'thSe
see his real profile many times, thouen
he hound his enemies never saw his baci
He fought among them-both mountain
and enemies and the latter were some G
Nanoleons smartest marshais. tie TOOK
wbnle army across the ford in the Bidas
soa attacked SouIt and chased him all IN
way up the mountains to the very SUNNI
of La Rhune, great. conicai peak hisn
in the sky Another thing was the Isl
dos Eaisans right in the middle or IN
river. where Philippe and Louis the -Four
teenth fixed everything up ABOUT Loul
Spanish bride. It's the smallest isiaho yo
ever saw; you wouldn't think there won
he room for a whole King OF spain ana
King of France to stand on II at the sam
time much less sign contracts
When our boat touched Spanish SOIL o
the beach below Fuenterrabia two ratht
ferocious looking Spanards In uncomfort;
BILE uniforms were waiting for us TheS ma
the air of demanding your money OF yo'
life" but after all 1t was only the extrs
ordinarily high. ugly collars of their owe
coats which gave them such formidab
appearance. They were custom-house on
GERS guarding the coast, though how the
see over those collars to find out what
going on under their noses l don't know
Brown says that soldiers at Madrid have
dress like that In winter to protect then
selves from the terrible icy winds, and
Madrid sets the fashion for everything
Spafn the provincial soldiers have to chol
themselves in the same way.
1t did seem to me that the very air
Spain was different from across the river
France 1t was richer and heavier. like i
cense. Ii is nice to have an imaginatio
Isn't 1t. instead of having to potter abo
leading facts by O string, as IL they we