Morris tribune., 1906-02-03

ings. We certainly have seen nothing
which even approaches this is beauty
and magnifceuce. Queen Victoria is
reported to have remarked that YER
sailles was fine but that one room of
Fontainebleau was worth it all. Here
there are tapestries of fabulous values
and paintings by great artists. Here
Leonardo da Vinci spent some of the
best years of his life and here
| he died in the arms of the
king. Here Pope Plus was held a
prisoner for over two years. But
from the style of the apartments, one
wonders whether it was sin durance
vile" Here the infamous de Medicis
and others of their ilk plotted and
| murdered and caused untold misery.
Here much of the awful history of
France was enacted.
The president of the French repub-
| lie has apartments here but the pre-
sent incumbent does not care to re-
side amid SO much luxury. After
wandering through the palace with
open eyes and mouths. we had lunch
in the village and later took a drive
in the forests of Fontainebleau. The
| forest covers an area of 43, 500 acres
and is a vast and beautiful natural
park. Here we saw deer running
| wild, here were trees over twelve
hundred years old. Looking out from
a cliff formed of glacial rocks we saw
a valley where three thousand Ger
man soldiers were slaughtered while
seeking to reach Paris. At one cross
roads there is erected cross and the
legend is that here Charles TX met
the devil one night. Whether he met
the devil there or not may be open to
question but that he was intimately
acquainted with devilish habits, no
one can doubt.
And so have mentioned just few
of our experiences in the gay but
artistic Paris. We have met many
Americans, many of whom are doing
good work in various lines of study.
In the Latin quarter we saw the peo-
pie who are genuinely serious and to
whom Paris is fountain of inspira-
ton. There are over fifteen thousand
Americans in Paris and they are not
all, by any means, looking for mere
pleasure and excitement.
We had some great drives in the
Bots de Bologne and on the Champs
Elysee, where all Paris takes it's air.
ing. Here Present Loubet drives his
team every day. Here are many of
the homes of the wealthy. IF one
takes the view from the Arch of
Triumph to the Louvre for standard
of comparison, he must look long and
far to find its equal, have not men
toned the bridges of the Seine which
are works of art in themselves; or the
tower of Eifel, the highest tower Or
structure ever build by man, or the
Gobelin tapestry works, famous
Throughout the world for so many CEN
turtles, or the til ousand and one other
places and incidents which are inter-
esting and which go to tell the tale of
Paris greatn ess and the charm which
it holds for the visitor. We were ex-
tremely loath to leave but times and
seasons waits for no ira vellers and we
had to go.
We reached Nice two days before
Christmas and here we spent out first
Christmas day outside of America.
If we had searched we could not have
found more delightful place. One
must pinch oneself though to believe
that December 25th was in truth |
Christmas day. Palm trees, orange
groves with trees laden with ripe
fruit, wild flowers, straw hats, sun
shade and spring suits do not COM
port with our idea of what Christmas
day should bring. These things [ am
sure do not flourish in Morris on that
day. And yet here they are in Nice, |
which is as far north | believe, as
Morris. We shall spend two or three
weeks here and then go on thru Italy
and Egypt.
With hearty greetings for the holi-
day time,
Very sincerely yours,
FRED. B. HILL.