New-York tribune., 1910-06-19

Life in a Riviera villa, with an autoIno-
| bile in which to go dashing off for a week
tnr a fortnight when the villa becomes mo-
uetonous-could anything be more delight
ful? 4 party Of three women and an
a1T1or-chauffeur man. brother OF one of
Tho swonen, asked themselves this question
IN ualy last year. and the unanimous
enswe- was Nothing could" They had
knowra the Riviera in a desulrory tourist
way fta several years: they had learned
that FORA up-to-dateness Riviera hotels are
nowhere "A aexcelled;~ but up-to-dateness was
not what \they wanted. They sighed for
villa
wen dA It," said the artist, who was
Young and enthusiastic. Wen hire little
box within Insight of the Mediterranean.
from which We can make little Journeys
into the Bassees Alps. and up and down the
coast; and wtstu steep ourselves in the
charms of the ts5te d'Azur. A bas hotel
life for ust' =
Cheerful1y theyA set about finding the
little box Then practical person. who.
though no older than the artist, was a
widow, and therefore entitled to take the
lead, wrote TO three Il ouse agents, one in
Toulon. one in Hyeres s7nd one in Cannes
They wanted, she saids, a simple, modest
villa Of the bungalow o. bastide-cabanon
order. That was in AuElst of last year
Days passed; no answerss came The man
Of the party went out to ofinvestigate. and
discovered that the house agents had bat
tened up their doors and gone travelling
for their health In those parts there is
little business done in August The quar-
tet sat tight and waited. Thea short story
writer wanted to pitch teut on some
rocky pronnontory above the sea, but the
NO housekeeping in a tent fortrne," said
the practical person. Wait
They waited In the course of sixs weeks
replies began to come in from the house
agents. When the quartet had finished
reading them they began to fear thatSiIIas
were for persons with pots of money. The
villas offered were establishments of TWEEN
ty-four rooms or therea bouts with ser
wants quarters. electric light plants ard
private fire brigades. The smallest tlinE
suggested was a villa of eight rooms. with
a garden and a, coach house.
"And we asked for a bungalow said
the man. well, we'lI start out ourselves.
The way to find thing is to look for it,
The man cranked up the machine, and the
quartet slipped from Martigues to Toulon
and plunged over the,boundary of the De
partment du Var, the beginning of
where. on the road and off, down beyond
the marshes on the coast or clinging to the |
fanks Of the foothills, but grand and spa
cious villas every one-nothing that looked |
within the limits OF a modest purse. They
had a fine ride. certainly, for the French
Riviera is dreaulland for the notorist. They |
took the famous Cote de fEsterel, between
Fnejus and Cannes. twenty kilometres up |
hiIi at top speed. and the man who drove !
wa stso exlilarated that he said, why look |
for avilla any, more? Why not motor for |
ever?
''ThisAland is adjusted TO the srnotorist,"
he said Every roadside cabaret sells gas |
slene: places twhere you can find nothing |
1an bread anfswine for the humanSappetite |
,res pEeparedsto feed automobiles"
Life in AM automobile, however. didn't /
appeal to- thewonen, and the search for a I
yills, conttnued.-The party next sailed forth |
rom, ,Marseilles. climbed the gray fanks Of /
Mont Gtneete and slid down the opposite |
slope to-. explore Cassis- Here were villas |
ainging to\. the rocky slopes around the
title port-rNot spacious villas. but quite |
mere shacks for the Marseilles
ok, TO picniogin and eat bouillabaisse on !
Sundays.
''Everything's stoo large or too SMALL
sighed the artist,Nas they pushed on
La Ciotat, though, set on a beautiful bay. |
offered nothing but farmhouses in the way
If villas, and a Pro~encal farmhouse wasn't
what the quartet wanted. The frequency
Ind gorgeousness oftRiviera villas increases
Is Marseilles is leftNbehind. and the Italian
frontier approached, and at Bandol, dozen
kilometres beyond La Ciotat, the motorists
began to see numbers of them. A panied
expression appeared on the face OF the
artist as she surveyed the villas OF Bandol !
Bizarre is weak word for them One was
/ Chalet des Ruines,'' built to initiate
ruined castle. with rats. bats, lizards and
bugs reproduced in plaster and clinging 70
The ecses OF the artificial cracks in the
walls
anyhow" unused the chauffeur, as thev