The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-01-09
Private R. Pmckuey Bellinger
Writes of Sunny France

l arrived there 1 learned definitely
that it's inhabitants numbered 22,-
600, another striking example of the
usual good judgment of New York
er away from his home town. Be it
said in his defense, however, that
Vichy is a place in which stranger
with a much clearer vision than the
average New Yorker would probably
form the idea that it is a city of 40,-
900 inhabitants.
have a souvenir book of postcard
views of Vichy in which is printed a
brief description o. the city in
French, which, when translated into
English would be as follows: "Vichy,
the queen of water cities, an agree
able and charming place of $4,000
inhabitants, is one of the most i'm
portant bathing resorts of the entire
world. With it's broad avenues, it's
beautiful monuments and it's great
parks Vichy is growing each year by
thousands of strangers coming to
spend their vacations in its even eli
mate, among the distractions of all
nature and with appreciation of the
miraculous qualities of it's waters.
The principal springs are: The
Grande Grille, Cho1nel, Lucas, Mes
danes; these four particular ones lie
under a magnificent balcony which
together form the Palace of Springs.
Other springs are: The Hospital, Lar
baud, the Celestins, the Pare, etc. "
To this description l will add some
of my personal experiences and i'm
pressions along with a few things
which I learned from conversations
with citizens of that place. To begin
with, Vichy is to France exactly what
Hot Springs, Ark, is to America. The
wealthy classes of French people
spend much time there, and I might
also say much money, unless they
happen to be lawyers or soldiers, in
which case they don't come in the
class mentioned, and consequently
haven't the money to spend. The first
thing that impressed me was the spot
less cleanliness of the place, and
venture 10 say that there Is not city,
town or hamlet of the United States
with such clean appearance. Frank
ly, Vichy is unquestionably one of
the most beautiful and decidedly the
most interesting city of it's size that
have ever visited. Although possess
ing population of 5000 less than
Nevers, it is far and away ahead of
that place in business and everything
else, is far more progressive, and is,
in fact, the only European place in
which l have been with the least
semblance of an air Of the hustle
characteristic of American cities. Its
people are friendly, thrifty along
some lines such as dainties, deli
cattessens and the care Of their parks,
springs, streets, and buildings; they
are painfully slow in business and de-
lightfully fast socially. Through my
New York associate who had previ-
ously met her, was invited to dinner
with an elegant married lady and
her daughter of that city, but as my
time was limited I declined. A con-
servative estimate of the number of
hotels there would be $50, many of
which would do credit to any Ameri-
can city. However, the majority OF
them have now been placed at the
disposal of the American government
for use as hospitals for wounded
soldiers. While there I saw 1,15O
Americans come in from German
prison camps. Although 1 did not
get an opportunity to talk to any of
them their appearance did not in
dicate any former suffering and one
woud not take kindly to the idea Of
any scarcity of food in Germany. My
room at the hotel cost me five francs,
approximately 80 cents) and it was
an excellent corner room on the Sec
ond floor of one of the best hotels
now in operation in that city, elab-
orately furnished, with running wa
ter, hardwood floors and a glorious
bed, more comfortable than any 1
have ever seen in the States, and l
don't think ever did sink to the bot
tom of it; French beds are better
than ours, and every now and then
I'D pinch myself for fear 1 might go
to sleep and lose some of the enjoy
ment of it. However, French hotels
do not issue soap to their guests, and
50 in the morning rang for the maid
and asked for some soap. She was
very clever about it and brought me
a cake of her personal soap, exclaim-
ing as she did so: "C'est moi sayon;
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