The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-03-22
A Letter from the Juniors
Friend in France
Nancy, France,
February "a, 1919

tEt ancient Capital Oh lne DuCHV Oi
Lorraine, and will tell you many
interesting things of the history of
this old city. Up until a few weeks
ago the Yanks could take a tour
through many of the historical
places of several centuries ago, but
at present, this town is closed
Nancy is city of 10000 inhab-
itants, and dates back into the
eleventh century. At present it is
one of the most modern cities in
France, with street car service,
electric lights, large department
stores and manufacturing city
of most all kinds of industry The
iron and salt mines lead-the man
ufacture of fancy glass pottery
comes next.
The city up until 1888 was known
as Ville-Vieille told city, and at
that time Duke Charles III under
took to build a Vile Neuve new
city,. These two cities remained
separated by high wall until aft
er the annexation of Lorraine by
the French in the last half of the
eighteenth century, when the walls
were destroyed by Duke Stanislas
to construct square now known
as the Place Stanislas. The large
arches or gates remain to the pres
ent day. The arches are called
Porte st. Georges, Arch de Trium-
phe, Port de la Giraffe and Port de
la Citadella. The walls that sep
arated old and new Nancy were at
tached to these arches, and | could
see where old walls were torn
apart.
The most celebrated dukes of
Lorraine were Rene II, Charles III,
founder of the new city; Charles
~, an adventurous; warrior
Charles V, conqueror of the Turks,
and Leopold the Wise, a peace
lover. Their successor, Francois
II, coded Lorraine in 1877 to
France in exchange for the duke
dom of Toscane, whereupon the
king Of France, Louis XIV, granted
it to Stanislas Leszczynski, his
father-in-law, who had just lost the
crown to Poland. His death in
1866 brought about the definite an
nexation Of Lorraine to France.
Nancy was captured by the Ger
mans in 1871, and was evacuated
in 1873 by the Germans. At this
time the whole of Alsace and part !
of the Lorraine were torn away /,
from France by Germany A statue |
called Mother and daughter" rep
resenting Nancy and Metz, is to be
seen in Place st. John, which |
shows the mother bidding her !
daughter goodbye when Alsace
and Lorraine were separated by
the Germans.
The Hotel de Vile.
In English one might think Ho-
tel de Vile meant a place to stay,
but is the city hall in French. 1t
occupies the entire side of Stanis-
las Place, with large town clock
In The center, with the Polish
eagles encircling it, and the Nancy
coat-of-arms above. Under the
clock is a statue of Wisdom and
Justice.
Several torpedoes, shells and i'm
plements of warfare are in the lob
by--and to the right is the mayors
Office where at certain times in the
day a line of civilians can be seen
waiting for bread checks.
The Lorraine Cross.
The Cross of the Lorraine is the
national emblem of the old Duchy
of Lorraine, known now as the Lor-
raine. 1t has double cross-beams,
the upper bar recalling the inscrip-
ton on the cross of Jesus Christ.
The selection of the emblem ap-
peared in Lorraine as the cross of
Anjou and Hungary during the
reign of Rene / Of Anjou, who be-
came duke of the Lorraine by his
marriage to Isabelle, the heiress of
the duchy in 1881. 1t became the
national emblem, however, and
dates from the time when the duke
Rene II, who was heir to Godefroy
de Bouillon, king OF Jerusalem,
adopted it
The Nancy thistle, which was
the personal emblem Of Rene IL,
cvmhnlized his victorious resist