Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-07-08

middle age tnan any 0Lner CITY.
We take an auto and ride to Yer
sailles eleven miles out. This SUI
burban city was for a thousand years
the home of the royalty Of France,
and said to have been during that
time the handsomest city in the
world. We pass out through the
triumphe arch this arch, erected
by Napoleon, is $50 feet high and
100 feet wide and cost over $1,000
10000 1t was through this arch
that Won Molke entered Paris in
1870.
Just beyond this we PASS the home
of Anna Gould, once the home of the
fool Count from whom she is divorc-
ed 1t was a beautiful place, built
in the Louis the 18th style of pink
variegated marble. 1t seems pity
that two fools should have been
housed under such beautiful sur
roundings.
Farther on we enter that beautiful
park, the Bold De Boulogne. 1t was
in this park that took place that ter
rible battle before the Germans took
Paris in 1870. The timber was all
cut off at that time and all its beau
ty destroyed; since it has been fully
restored. We enter Versailles thru
beautiful avenues and are admitted
to that beautiful chateau, the pal
ace of the royalty of France. Perhaps
no other palace and grounds has ever
had expended upon it what this one
has. 1t is said that Louis the 18th
spent over $3.50, 100000 on it and
before that time it was thing of
beauty Louis the 18th and 10th con-
tinued this extravigance until the ma
tional resources were so depleted
that the people feared bankruptcy
and revolted. The main building is
fourteen hundred feet long, built
surrounding a beautiful court; back
of this are beautiful lakes, the water
for which is all pumped far back
from the Seine. The palace is all Of
pink marble. AS we pass through
we find it is now a museum contain
ing trophies of the victories Of
France. Here We see the apart
ments occupied by the Louises, their
belongings, their beds and other curl
ositieS. Here we see where Louis
the 18th came out to NEE the mob
that took him to the gulotine and
here where Marie Antoinette pied
Tor her life before execution. 1t
was in this palace that King Will
liam of Germany with his crown
prince came during the France
Prussian war and we are shown the
rooms they occupied. Here he was
crowned Emperor of all the German
state. From the middle of Septen-
Der 20 until the conclusion of peace
in II this was the center of all Ger
man operations and the headquarters
of General Macmbahon under the
new republic.
Near by stands the house which
Napoleon occupied, and by it the
stable in which we saw those car
riages that royalty rode in for gener-
atoms, in their time grand, but
crude for this age.
/ will not farther intrude on the
patience of the reader as to do justice
to Paris would require too much
space. / will only speak of its peo-
rle and then leave Paris to it's sure
fate
There is little honor among the
French nation. Since my return
read a description of its people in
the Saturday Evening Post which
described the tradesmen as spiders
with their net out for prey. On the
windows of most shops is written
English spoken" Enter and you are
confronted by the smo0thest shy
sters that live, honor is not known;
if they cannot beat you in one way
they will steal in another. In one
place, and one of their largest stores,
! bought three pairs of gloves, was
careful to pick Dents glove, the
name pressed in the fastener; they
were taken to the package counter
to be wrapped; when ] opened them,
after returning home, found two
pairs of cheap trash inside pair OF
Dents gloves This is the character
of the men, but oh those creatures,
shall we call them women? Come
with me at ten in the evening and
see these painted angels whose ways
take hold of hell
Shall we describe them? No, 1t Is
too nauseating. How long, oh how
long, can this Babalon exist with the
immoral condition, it must soon fall.
We are going over to London and
will give our impressions of London
in our next.