The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-02-19

pie OF That Country Have Hard
Time. But Are Cheerful and Con-
tcntcd-Thc Bull Fight and the
Prize Fight.
copyrighted, 1906, by Il. T. Beaslcy)
Leaving Paris for Spain We passed
up the fertile valley of the Seine for
4 few miles. The valley is denSely
populated ana the villages are 50 thick
that i is almost one continuous town.
Leaving the Seine TO the left, the train
dashes across an undulated country
into the valley Of the Loire and fol-
lows it TO the old city Of Tours. The
Loire is one Of the many large rivers
which have done 50 much for France
l Is bed has been raised by alluViai
deposits Until the water is now higher
than the adjacent country and must
be kept in by large feVees or dykes.
Crossing another broad ridge OF roll
ing country we entered the valley Of
the Garonne, q river which is a mile
or more wide, upon which is situated
the commercial city of Bordeaux. All
this section is historical ground.
From the territory thus traVersed
came the HuguenOtS who migrated to
America upon the revocation oI ne
cdict of Nantes and who settled in nc
CarOlina5, Virginia and Maryland.
Their descendants are some OF the DcSt
citizens in our country. But before
that, it was in this territory nerr
POitiers that Charles Martel broke the
power % the NJ OoriSh invaders aud
perhaps saved Christianity from tot.I
annihilation by the MohammedanH. If
that left wing of religious fanatics
which entered Europe through Spain
could have met the right wing .y1i.1
entered through Turkey, they would
nave planted the crescent over the
of fnW X n +,
sreaking people visit this section Of
France although it belonged 20 En- =
land for 500 years at one time. and
the traveller experiences more dilii-
cu!tes in getting along. At Bordeaux
| wanted to get certain information,
tut they spoke French only. | know
a little French but / am sorry OF j..
1t has done me more harm than good.
Their way and my way Of pronouncin 3
the same words tire utterly different.
and they either talk too fast or / heir
too slowly. At any rate, [ see that
little learning is q dangerous thing ;
and that my French is no good. 1he
guide books did not give the location
Of the American consulate, but simply
stated that his name was "A. W. I'r'tr-
gee. Judge Tourgee once resided =.
my State and I l1aew tha, he had been
dead for quite awhile. As / "aS
aware Of no method by which I could
open up communication 18th him, ;tnl
could not locate his successor, / j ~
to go without the information desire /.
While strolling about the Bordeaux
harbor one day look ing at the SHIPS.
the dinner hour arrived and we en-
tered restaurant for lunch. i
gave oar orders in English, but II
vain. | tried my French again and
succeeded in making the good lady "f
the house understand the word beef.
L gave her enough money to pay tol'
two dinners, leaned back in my chair
and began bOasting to my wife about
my French scholarship. Meantime
our landlady had darted out the door
and UP the street. II q few moments
She placed in front OF me a piece OF
raw beef, big enough to feed a cage
of tigers The word beef was al she
had caught and she was filling my Or
der. | was sorry then that | had
boasted. | returned 20 the primitive
language Of man, blew in my hands
and rubbed them and at the same time
nodded at portion Of the raw beef
She understood that much better than
she could my French and soon had
before us some splendid steak