The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-07-06

~ TANCY, the former capital of
I Lorraine, which was left to
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
Nine. 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 a 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 a tri-
umphant entry. But he had reckoned
without the defense of the Grand
Couronne, and above all without the
indomitable will of q nation.
AS l write 1 see once again before
me the panorama l know so well. From
the Plateau Haye there lies before me
a view of a 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 its churches
and public monuments. The ducal
chapel, n 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 n 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 n of elegance, and become
the intellectual brain and the center of
spiritual influence Of eastern France.
Its 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 a 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-
Der as a small child during the siege
OF ~Strasbourg playing sometimes In
the sheltered garden Of a brewer at
Schlltigheim, and was much pleased to
find, twenty years or more later. that
he had installed a brewery at Nancy
on a really gigantic scale. Cabbage
picked in salt, which is a national
dish Of the Alsatians, is fabricated
here for the whole Of Alsace and Is
sent all over Europe.
Noted for Many Arts and Crafts.
Embroidery and the making Of boots
and straw hats keep thousands Of
hands busy In Nancy, which central