Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-01-20
LIEUT.. HAMILTON
TELLS OF SCENES
THROUGH FRANCE
Roads, Houses and Other
Landmarks Of Country
Make Impression
on 0mahan.

First Lieut., Warren H. Hamilton,
in France with the Three hundred
sixteenth field artillery has written
his father, Ed o. Hamilton, a de-
scriutive letter of the beauties of the
little country which so bravely
withstood all the horrors of war.
Am still at school taking a course
IN line of my studies as first Iieuten-
ant. Have at last been able to jour
ney away a little on week-ends and
since writing last have taken trip
to a good sized city.
81 believe I've written since went
to the source of a river which pour
ed out of a rock cavern. A tremen-
dous amount of water poured out of
a cavern perhaps SO feet across and
went tumbling down the canyon as
those mountain streams of Colora-
do. At the source a large mill four
and half stories to the caves had
been grinding grain for thousand
years. You see the grain was grown
on the table lands above the river
valley.
"A beautiful road wound along the
steep sides of this canyon, some
times through tunnels. Walked
down the road to a town on a hill
side so steep-that the foundations of
one house would be on the level of
the roof Of the one below it.
Elaborate FURNISHINGS
an this town Wilson Dalton and
myself were entertained in the after
noon at a counts villa. The house
was quite remarkable on account of
its woodwork inside. The stairs
were of oak, scrubbed white; on the
second floor the living room, dining
room, etc, opened into one another
no Railways connecting as we us
ually build. These people are great
for panelled walls. The furniture
was of about Louis XVI or XIII
time, so of course is much the same
as we are used to and you can easily
imagine the interiors from formal
rooms we know. The gardens were
what | little expected on that hill
side. Behind the house was simple
court, but the fence and stone gate
posts about IS feet high were quite
elaborate. This divided the court
from the flower garden and orchard.
Just below the garden was a terrace
down about eight steps affording
promenade with view of the
town below and the opposite canyon
wall. Trees grow in profusion and
one sees grass or vineyards where
trees aren't growing, except a few
sheer rock precipices. Dates on the
houses from 1900 up. Some of the
houses of 1900 and 1000 look like
the newest-in fact, at the source of
the river / saw remains of Roman
reservoir.
"These towns are about four miles
apart at most and roads are excel
tent.
Tells of Citadel.
yesterday we visited city near
by. There they have a citadel built
in the fourteenth century on
mountain overlooking the city and
forts of medieval times on all the
hills around. The entrance we
came into the city with was carved
through narrow part of cliff and
was an archway with double iron
gates. 1t was dominated by tower
with loophoIes 100 feet above the
road. THE citadel looked impreg-
nable for the days it was built An
area twice as large as the High
school grounds in Omaha was ell
closed in walls 80 feet high at the
crown of the hill and perhaps 700
feet high, On the slope of the hill,
about 80 degrees slope being the
easiest ascent, was a moat 100 feet
to the bottom from the top of the
walls. Across the moat were some
more works and in all outside the
stronghold were four tiers of de-
tense which were walls with faces to
the outside not less than 40 feet and
one more moat.
"These ruins date back to 200 b.
C. A place there underground had
distributing basin for the Roman
water works. The early christians
were baptised in this basin; about 20
feet further was a subterranean
lions den where christians were
thrown. The den was scarcely wide
enough for a lion, so evidently the
lion had to eat the christian to keep
from being crowded.
'The city was burned by the Huns
in 1866"