Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-11

| black With age, passages leading into
little courts and showing a vista OF
stone stairs fairly followed out by the
steps of many centuries. One feels
| indeed ephemeral and feeting when
| gazing upon these tokens of the ages
Let us climb up the somewhat steep
| slope, rising Immediately above the
| Roman theatre q height the southern
| side of which was utilized in the con-
struction of the amphitheatre proper
| (the ''collines of st. Eutrope') some
250 feet above the great plain of
Nancluse. There are some new
olive plantations on the southern
part of this stony plateau.
Prospect From the Plateau.
Up to 1860 A. ID. here stood the
great castle of the house of Orange
tNassau- Dietz line). 1t must, in
deed, have been a stout stronghold.
In the year named. Louis XIV an
nexed the county. and was not con-
tent with less than demolshing with
gunpowder the entire castle. The
stones have long been sold to private
builders below. but the vastness of
the ground-plan may still be traced
one coherent mass or fragment still
ltilldliS. Il IUuifdtu diiSle Ol Il DdS-
ton, facing eastward. One thinks of
the castle of Heidelberg. where the
hand of Louis has left similar traces
This solitary ruin, then, of spot
which was the cradle of the house OF
Nassau-a house which gave two
great statesmen to Europe-is called
by the people of Orange Creve
Occur. All. lie "Roi Soleil"i The
French glory no more in him. In
Lyon, there is still standing a fine
equestrian statue of Louis XIV But
the only inscription is this: THE
chief work of the Lyonnaise Sculptor
Lemot" That is the saving consid-
Grafton.
But to return: A little above the
Creve Occur. on the higher points of
the plateau. there may be enjoyed a
prospect which l believe is one of the
finest in Europe. A plain spreads at
our feet, rich and perfectly cultivated.
where hemesteads nestle amid EN-
towering trees where groves and
fields. and vineyards and poplar
lined highways say that man has
gained, and does gain. all that
Kindly sky and the old earth will be
pro- consuls. Burgundian kings. the
houses of Nassau and Bourbon-all
have passed away, but the smiling
earth gives up her annual treasure as
of yore. Westward we see some of
the slopes of the southern Cevennes;
eastward are the mountains of Pal
issy. and. rising beyond and above
them all-with gently ascending con-
tours, the monarch of the East Rhone
OF France Mont Ventoux Mons Ven
tosus), 5000 feet high. A more
gracefully tapering mountain l have
never seen.
The Roman theatre and triumpha,l
arch might tempt to technical digres
sion but | forbear. The vastness of
the former is doubly emphasized by
the narroNness of the medieval lanes
Immediately adjoining. The rear OF
the Proseenium, then front of RED
sandstone. now dark with age and
time, 120 feet high, and some 800 feet
long. towers above the lawn. The
substrueture ON the east side. with
its ponderous rows of massive arch
es. carries one Immediately back u
Coliseum and Palatine in Rome.
northern chaussar once. doubtless, a
older "Provincia" with the newer con-
quests-the Italian provinces. Careful
study shows that this monument was not
due to any single achievement. 1t was.
indeed. a collective memorial. While
erected in the 18th year of the tribunan
power of Augustus, it recorded the con-
quest (sic) of Germany and the settle
. -, =.
did more; large part of the symbolical
relief deals with a naval battle (realy
almost one-half of the whole ON the
tackle, rows of oars,
prows, and poops are quite distinctly
preserved. Clearly, it means Actium
(31 b. c.. The whole was a collective
memorial of Rome's irresistible proves.
and an impressive warning to all the
west and northwest of the Empire.
Market Day in the Town.
a different scene: On a Wednesday
morning | arose. 1t was market day,
and the sight was mostly lively and va
ried. Hundreds of farmers, helped by.
wives and daughters. had driven in from
the surrounding country. Their two
wheeled market wagons were packed on
Tire SUES VI tHc DfOdu oiJhCcS,ftl pitIiita
with isycamoEes and plane trees, where
the market is held, There were for sale
young ,donkeys and colts sheep and
lambs Especially surrounded with tenn
porary folds); eggs mot eheap-butter I
saw not at alb, turkeys, chickens, ducks,
geese, and pigeons, a great number of
rabbits, flung about by the ears in a very
way. Also, there were for
sale nlberts, green almonds. potatoes.
cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, white
grapes, eggplant, plums, pears. and
peaches. The whole, an ideal mode of
subsistence, for the original producer
sells directly to the ultimate consumer.
L learn that the farmers as rule own
the soil which they till, vast element
of advantage over Italian conditions.
On holidays or in the evenings all the
male urban population dt seems sits in
front of the cafes, drinking absinthe.
Orange is small, but there is posted in
the windows of banking institutions
daily quotation of current securities.
They al IN inv