The Tomahawk., 1917-08-02

II II is often to some fortunate dCCl-
dent that we owe the preser-
walton of an ancient town house,
u such as the Slackening or arrest
at some period Of the towns prosper
ity, or the acquisition Of the building
for the purposes Of some society or IN
btitutiOn more permanent In It's nature
than the family. It is largely owing
to causes such as these that the
French city of Bourges is still so rich
In buildings Of the medieval ana
Renaissance periods, says a writer in
Country Life.
Bourges proclaims by it's name the
antiquity Of it's Importance. 1t Is one
Of those tribal capitals so numerous
in France, which still preserve the
name of an otherwise forgotten peo-
pie, while the title it bore in the days
of the Roman empire has long ago
passed out of use. The circumstance
is all the more remarkable in this case,
that it was no indistnctive Augusta"
"Caesarea" or "COlOnia," but the Gel
tic Avarich''-Latinised "Avaricum"
that was superseded by the designa-
ton of the Bituriges, which likewise
survives, still further corrupted in the
form Berry" The province of that
name, occupying as it does the very
center of the realm of France, has
been described as constituting COM
pendulum or epitome of the whole by
the varied nature of it's conformation
and produce. Within it's boundaries
are to be found rocky hills and heaths,
woodland and marsh, upland and low
land pastures and well-watered plains,
with soils and aspects favorable for
viticulture and corn growing, for the
orchard, the market garden and the
rearing of cattle, sheep and poultry.
In addition to it's yield of timber, wool,
hides, hemp and all manner Of food
stuffs, Berry is not lacking in iron ore,
easily got. Thus provided with all the
staple needs of civilization, it formed
in early times self-supporting unit,
which, moreover, was largely isolated
from surrounding districts by an all
impenetrable fence Of forest and
swamp,
Once Leaders In Gaul.
If the true heart of France has had
it's seat rather in the lie de France
and Paris than in Berry and BOurges,
there have been times when the latter,
too, have formed determining factor
in the national destinics. When the
jurisdiction Of Rome hardly extended
beyond her walls, the Bituriges held
the hegemony of Gaul, and in Caesars
day their power proved one of the
hardest nuts he had to crack before
his conquest could be completed, while
the wealth they had amassed through
their position on the direct route from
Italy to the ocean was an object of de-
sire. The town, situated on rising
ground surrounded at all points but
one by belt of swamp, was strongly
defended by walls and towers of tim
Der and stone, on whose imposing and
not unpleasing mien Caesar comments.
But neither natural nor artificial de-
lenses served to avert capture and
subsequent sack and destruction.
Avaricum, however, rapidly regained
her prosperity under Roman rule, and
abundant if fragmentary remains
prove her Importance as center or
art and civilization, an Importance
which she never wholly lost in the
dark ages which followed.
In the later middle ages Bourges
tlossomed again into rich crop of ar
tistic production, including the noble
Cathedral of st. Etienne and also the
great Palace of John, duke of Berry,
the luxurious and art-lOving uncle of
the mad King Charles vi, which, with
his scighboring castle of Mehun-sur-
Yevre, were reckoned the wonders of
the age, but have both disappeared
Win the exception of unimportant