Meade County news., 1917-01-25
IFE on the Riviera In war
days!" You would say,
on first thoughts, that

u on first thoughts, that
there could be no such
life: the Riviera must be dead-wiped
off the map. Yet life, strange, new,
burning with interest and romance,
was born in the French Riviera Au-
gust 2, 1914, writes G. N. and A. M.
Williamson in the London Graphic.
OF course, the Riviera was struck
the same sweeping blow that struck all
France across her brave, astonished
face. At the clang of the tocsin, the
men of the Midi ran out into the
streets of picturesque rock villages
among the hills and tourist towns
along the sea, as the men of the North
were doing. But the Riviera thrilled
under the menace of a peril all her
own. Just across the beautiful Gorge
of st. Louis lived a friend who might
in an hour become an enemy. Italy
was there, with her mountain forts
looking towards the forts of France.
Lazy, summertime Mentone and
Monte Carlo and Nice, with nothing
doing" except for bathers and baskers
on the beach, or faithful lovers of
quiet game of roulette, walked up with
a Mortified start. Would Italian guns
begin battering the Cote d'Azur? Of
ficers motOred secretly by night up to
the quadrilateral of forts in the noun
tains, taking ammunition in automobile
vans commandeered from the big
shops of Nice, those charming shops
where any thought of tragedy would
have seemed ridiculously out Of place.
French and English and American
owners of villas rushed off some elder
ly members of the family past fighting
age to pack away valued possessions,
in case the gay, beloved pink-and-
white houses were blown down, or oc-
cupied by "the enemy"
Flight of the Working-Folk.
Panic-stricken, the Italian working
folk settled along the coast from Men,
tone to Marseilles started to scuttle
across the frontier. They feared in
ternment and hundred vague hor-
rors. Under the binding sun Of Au-
gust, along the dazzling roads of Up
per and Lower Corniche, marched an
endless procession, and those who can
imagine only professions of smart au-
tomobiles between Mentone and
Cannes would have thought themselves
dreaming that long black line. 1t was
line of men and women, old and
young, tottering children and babies in
arms-in arms because the perambu-
latOrs were piled with the family bag
gage. And there were donkey-cartS,
wheelbarrows, caravans, every sort of
vehicle.
Despite the tragedies of the march
(children dying on the way) it had its
humorous side, because, as it turned
out, the whole business was unneces-
sary. The next phase through which
the Riviera passed, however, was far
from funny. She doesn't really fall as
fast asleep in summertime as those
who know her only in winter seem to
think. There is always the wonderful
"Passion Play" at Roquebrune. There
is always a delightful bathing season,
and in August the Azure Beauty is qui-
city, almost stealthily, busy in planning
her winter campaign. In that historic
August of 1914 the landlords and shop
keepers and amusement caterers of ev-
cry sort were improving their proper
ties, arranging their advertisements
and preparing for another season of
peace and plenty. Then suddenly came
the crash, and for them it looked the
end Of the world when, on August 5,
the Monte Carlo casino closed Its doors.