The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1918-07-25
A Little Town on a Hill Where
Yanks Made History

France as allies of the Catholics
Those were the days when Spanish
garrison held Paris, nor, for all his
seges, could the Protestant chieft in
Henry Of Navarro, enter it's gates till
he had marched throug crowds OF
Joyous people to the Church of Saint
Denis, and there, in the presence Ct
the prelates, asked to be received "into
the pale of the Catholic Apostolic and
Roman Church"
1t was in 1891 that the Spaniards
fell upon Chateau Thierry, but its
greatest battle was fought in that des-
perate February of 1914 when Eng
land, Prussia, the German states,
Spain, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and
AUSTRIA crushing alliance-joined
hands against Napoleon. From the
south and the east they invaded
France and, hemmed in on all sides,
the little emperor was forced for the
first time in his life to fight on the
defensive.
Fighting with only 10000 young and
untried conscripts, he fell upon and
smashed at Chateau Thierry an army
of $4,000 Russians and Prussians. 1t
was a final flash of the old success, a
shining victory in the midst of dis
astrous campaign, for on the last day
of March Napoleon's enemies entered
Paris, and before many weeks had
passed he had been exiled to Elba.
Chateau Thierry was taken and re-
taken in 1914. Just a hundred years
later its walls looked down upon the
retreat of the enemy before the victors
of the Marine.
Visiting there in the spring of this
year you would have found Chateau
Thierry a town set in a fair and peace
full countryside, proud of its sheep,
crowded pasturage and rich in its
vines and cherry trees-a little town
of seven thousand people, no larger
than Rochester, Mimi, or Red Bank,
N. j.
And this town is shrine for French
pilgrims, not because of the battles
fought in it's streets, but because it
was the home of the master of fables
La Fontaine. Very much as it was n
the 18th century, you can see TO-DAY
the house with its outside staircase
and its moss grown well where this
most beloved of French poets Vas
born.
Walk an hour or so up the roao that
leads to the northwest and you come
to La Ferte-M ilon, the home of Ra-
cine. Jean de la Fontaine and Jean
are the poets of that
region at the heart of the country
which is known as lie de France, the |
poets whose work, in its simplicity, |
is modesty, its eternal common sense,
gives to the French spirit its finest,
is purest expression.
The French of all ranks and ages
owe their poet of Chateau Thierry.
When in the early stages of the revo
ution, the Infatuated mob in Paris
rave themselves over to the Septem-
'er massacres of bloody memory and
thousands of prisoners were butch
red, one woman was spared for no
ther reason than because she was
he granddaughter of La Fontaine.
french children hear his fables in the
ursery and know them by heart;
heir fathers and mothers find sum-
ned up in them all their philosophy
f life.
1t was at Chateau Thierry that La
'ontaine was Master of the Waters
nd the Forests. 1t was there he
lade friends with the wandering dog,
ne toiling ant, the mounting lark
Il the animals of the countryside
no move in his fables. 1t was there
e wrote "The Wolves and the Eve"
t which the moral is the motto of his
eople in this year of trial:
1--WE can conclude from this that
ne must war continually with the
licked. Peace is all very well in it
slf, admit, but of what use is it
18th enemies who are faithless?"