The Belding banner-news., 1919-07-02

over to get all the news. he was
from Baltimore and was a member
Of the company that was headlining
the bill at that time. The outlay OF
eats, that afternoon was so far above
the average, he said that he would
have to go and get his dancing part
ner, who had weakness for good
chow. When they came in a few
minutes later / knew that as far as /
was concerned the tea had changed
from an episode TO an event. The
dancing partner" was the celebrated
Gaby who put the skids under the
throne of Portugal. / found her a
very vivacions conversationalist and
she relieved me of an entire boz
of my cigarettes without shedding a
drop cf blood
Early next morning / went on to
Nice by a vefy slow and crowded
train. The way is chiefly along the
shores Of the Mediterranean, through
orange and olive groves and passed
countless villas. There were eleven
of us i'm an eight seat compartment
but we took turns standing up. The
line passes through Toulon the French
Mediterranean naval base, Hyerss,
Frejus, a former Roman seaport of
considerable Importance but now an
inland town, Cannes, Of which more
later, and finally Nice, at about four
o'clock. And here | found myself in
difficulties. Although there is a rail-
way from Nice back up in the hills to
Grasse where | was headed for, II
appears that there is also line up
from Cannes and since the latter was
| he h. L.. a. NJ
seilles, the American r. T.. O. Grail
way Traffic Officer) insisted that l
would have to &C back to Cannes and
go up that way In other words /
had no papers that called for stay in
Nice so / would have to get out of
town by the first train, which for
tunately was not due fer about three
hours, giving me some chance to look
around.
The season was in full swing and
the streets were crowded, so also the
hotels. The city had been recently
opened as a leave area for American
troops and the Y. M. c. A. had
taken over a big Casino for a canteen
and recreation center and had also
absorbed most of the best hotels.
The soldier with the proper furlough
papers, which he is supposed to OBJ
tain every four months is entitled
to seven day stay at cne of these
hotels without cost to himself and
also is free to join a large number of
excursions to near by places either
free or at very low cost. One of the
trips is to Mcnte-Carlo which no
one misses. One M. p. told me that
besides several thousand enlisted men
there were fully three thousand
officers in town. | could well believe
1T, for my arm was sore fer a week
from the saluting / did in less than
two hours.
| returned to Cannes that night and
went up tc Grasse the next morning.
The Marotime Alps come down very
close to the sea in this neighborhood
and Grasse stands we'll up on the
shoulder of very rugged mountain.
The place is very old and has a me-
dival quarter that is extremely inter-
esting for its narrow winding streets
and quaint cid stone buildings. / was
the only American soldier billited
there at the time and was consider
able of a curiosity myself. Here is
the native habit of the Chasseur d.
Alpine or "Blue Devil. The Caserne
contained battalion of them and I
frequently saw them coming back or
setting out for a hike in the noun
tains, spiked sticks, dark blue bar
cites and heb nailed boots, that for
weight and strength made our army
hobs look like dancing pumps.
The town is chiefly a perfume CEN
ter. The factories vary in size from
family affairs employing only score
of hands to several having payrolls
of half thousand names. Altogeth-
er there are said tc be some sixty
perfumeries. / visited four and in
each one before leaving | was sprayed
with essence from atomiZers so that
for weeks afterward any one stand
ing to the leeward of me could well
believe that | usually slept on a bed
of flowers. The chief virtue of these
perfumes is that they are not made
! from chemicals but are pure flower
essence and the claim is made that
eighty per cent of the worlds per-
fumes of that type are made here.
One Mademoiselle who has been rails
ed in the business and is now the man.
ager of one of the largest factories
told me that Grasse excells in all the
varities except that of roses. She
added that there was even some doubt
about this one. claims being made
beth WAYS, but in her opinion they all
still had to hand it TO Germanv's for
mer ally and the famous Bulgarian
rose.
On my second day in the city / met
Polish soldier and even if | do not
admit that we at once embraced and
wept for joy on each others shoulder
at least the meeting was mutually
gratifying when all explanations had
been made Up to this time l had
rather prided myself on being able to
identify practically all of the various
uniforms one sees in France and by
\ that do not claim that | could al
ways name regiments and ranks off
hand but could at least state the
nationality of the wearer and usually
the branch Of service whether infant
ry, artillery, etc. and could even give
a good guess if he were enlisted or
commissioned. But when came onto
my polish friend / was s;umped. With