River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-07-04

IA ~ANCY. the former capital or
EA Lorraine, which was left to
"a France by the Treaty of
Frankfort In 1871. and the
chief city behind the sector which the
American troops took over from the
French, Is of historical interest, writes
Mime. Marie de Perrott in the New
York Tribune Illustrious at the time
of the dukes of Burgundy, their last
scion, Charles the Bold, came to mis-
cradle end there. Thence the three
last Roman emperOrs" went to be
crowned In Vienna. In 1914 another
German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II,
believed that Nancy would fall three
days after the hostilities began and,
according to his habit, was already
dressed for the part-had his face
made up, like the actor he is, for tri-
umphant entry. But he had reckoned
without the defense of the Grand
Couronne, and above all without the
indOmitable will of a nation.
AS I write 1 sec once again before
me the panorama know SO well. From
the Plateau Haye there lies before me
a,vieW of q long stretch of close roofs,
towers, spires, churches, high iron
frameworks. This is Nancy itself,
united to its suburbs by secluded,
shaded avenues. In the distance
sparkles the lake of the Seille, which
forms a boundary, for it is German
today. To my right glides softly the
Moselle, no longer dashing impetuous-
ly through rough mountains and thick
woods, but as far as Metz and Co
blenZ bOrdered by vineyards, already
so famous in the Rome of old, where
big clusters of purple or golden grapes
reflect in the water their color and
light. Close by the small River Anne
zule, a tributary Of the Meurthe, is
dominated by the abrupt hill of
Amance and the woods of Champenoux,
where so many of our brave dead are
lying, for this was the theater of the
first German attack in 1914.
Burial Place Of Dukes.
All those who have visited Nancy
before 1914 will remember it's churches
and public monuments. The ducal
chapel, one of the gems of the worlds
architecture, has been, ever since the
eleventh century, the burial place OF
those proud rivals of the kings of
France, the dukes of Burgundy, whose
great ambition was to become rulers
themselves and make of France and
Belgium one kingdom. The great
French revolution dragged their bodies
from their leaden collins to put them
into the graveyard. but the restoration
of 1914 gave them back their legiti-
mate place.
The last 40 years and the annexa-
ton of Alsace-LOrraine by Germany
have bestowed upon Nancy, which was
left to us, great Importance. 1t has
taken moreover a literary cachet, as
we'll as one of elegance, and become
the intellectual brain and the center of
spiritual influence of eastern France.
It's faculties, grouped in independent
bodies, deserve their honorary title
and are real universities, attracting
students from all parts of the world.
AS to the professors, their renown far
surpasses the narrow boundaries of a
provincial town, la province, as we dis
painfully call all that does not belong
to Paris.
Its industries also. until the great
war, were in b most fiourishing state !;
most of the manufacturers and work
men of Metz and Strasbourg took up
their abode here after 1871, proudly
styling themselves emigres, to show
that they had left their homes TO avoid
German rule, bringing with their skill
and activity great prosperity to the
former capital of Lorraine. remem-