The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-11-07
PRIVATE R. P. BELLINCER WRITES OF
FRANCE AND His EXPERIENCES THERE

human nature, for if the customer
should be inclined to do so he could
of course get what he wished and
make his getaway before the store
keeper shall not say merchant
ever arrived on the scene of action.
Places which sell anything at all
usually keep wines and liquors with
their other scant lines Nearly all
buildings are low hutty affairs, gen.
orally one or two stories, scarcely
ever more than three, and there are
no skyscrapers even in the larger
cities. The buildings are all built
of stone and apparently have been
standing here for centuries just as
the are now.
l found the people in the little
town clever and cordial, the girls
friendly and congenial. And singu
lar enough I dined several times in
French homes and immensely en-
joyed the occasions. Water is not
served with the meals, but one may
have it upon request. Wine is al
ways the substitute, and even the
tiny tots nine or ten years old i'm
bibe freely. l quickly learned to
speak a few French words and ex-
pressions and managed to make my
wants known usually, and with the
aid of signs could understand the
people fairly we'll, although I should
not dare try to rattle it off as fast as
they for, fear of tying my tongue in
knot and contracting lock jaw.
The crops, principally wheat, oats,
grapes and truck, are abundant. All
farming is done with horses and one
never sees mule. But a family
must be extremely poverty stricken
not ito possess herd of from four
to a dozen milk cows. That may
sound unreasonable, but they nearly
all have them just the same. 1 know
you wonder how big families get to be
in France, but they are not of. f.excep-
tional size or numbers. And yellow
jackets are thicker than the Ger
mans on the Hindenburg line and
nearly as big nuisance. Farm labor
as well as all other business continues
on Sunday just the same as in the
week. All through France the roads
are simply marvellous, absolutely per-
feet. And yet there is apparently
slight need for them, as one scarce
" ever sees an automobile except
American army cars; there are no
|, bnggies, carriages or stages, and
aside from an occasional cart or
wagon, bicycles are the only other
vehicles seen on the magnificent
highways. The cycles are quite COM
mon, people riding them about from
town to town. There are no farm
houses whatever, but everybody lives
in the villages. This custom was be-
gun hundreds of years ago before
France progressed from an empire
to republic, and was done with the
idea of holding the people together
for the sake of protection from out
side tribesmen. The custom has
been followed to this day, and there
fore the little towns are naturally
located very close together, and from
almost any village person can get a
view of several others nearby.
So much for the rural communi-
ties; let us now take little trip to a
French city of 10000 people not
very far from this place. A descrip-
tion of it will give an idea of all
the cities of like size, but OF course
the larger ones are further advanced.
There are innumerable hotels. There
are no theatres, no hacks or trans
fers, no electric trolley cars, no paid
organized fire department such as our
American cities enjoy, only Catholic
churches and scarcely more than a
dozen automobiles. The streets are
very narrow and remind one little
of Charleston, though not even as
wide as those of our own "City by the
Sea-" A visit to French barber
shop-I think curiosity shop would
be a more appropriate name-is in
teresting, not to say amusing. There
are no reclining chairs, but patron
sits absolutely erect and in the same
position for shave as for hair cut.
Here also one has the exquisite
pleasure of washing his own face af-
ter a shave, as that is evidently be-
meath the BARRIERS dignity, so he
makes you do it yourself. 1 purchased
a shave, hair cut, shampoo and tonic
all for the modest sum Of thirty-six
cents. A hair cut alone costs twelve
cents. But 'tis not so with eatables,
even though many varieties and ar