Evening star., 1922-09-24
BY STERLING HEILIG.
Paris, September II.

of the American ex-
peditionary force. at home.
on your civilian jobs. in plain
clothes. have you any idea of
the things that you have changed,
jstopped, started?
| In the palace Of the old kings at Ver-
sailles (you know IT'D there hung,
zoo years ago, map from France to
California. IT showed New France ex-
tending west to Minnesota and New
Louisiana embracing Montana. Then
came a blank space (still French)
to the vermilion sea-and California
as an island!
This map royal. dedicated ito the
royal children" was accurate enough.
Waldo Leland. in his report l92D
to the Library of Congress "On Tran
scriptions from French Archives"
says that "for $50 years territory
now falling within more than twenty
states of the Union was under French
!rule"-from Quebec, Atlantic port.
and New Orleans, on the gulf. In the
| old map royal there is perfect clear
ness. From Montana-Louisiana you
skirt New Granada, swim the YER
million sea, and walk across the Isle
of California always on French soiD
to Inspiration point. in Lincoln Park
which overlooks the Pacific Ocean
and the Golden Gate.
Old stuff, you say. What have we to
lido with it?
Why, this. In the year 1922 (when
la broad motor car driveway across
the American continent has its west
ern terminus in Lincoln Park) the
old map royal has been dug up for
exhibition in the proudest spot of re-
publican France-the palace of the
Legion of Honor. Paris!
And why is the old map interesting
to the Order of the Legion Of Honor
Because a duplicate or reconstitu-
tion of its palace in Paris is being
erected on American soil-as q monu-
ment to our soldier dead and to- the
American expeditionary force in
igeneral-at this same Inspiration
point. overlooking the Pacific.
III
At the Paris chancellery Of the or
der, they are full OF activity about it.
Nowhere else did they have a house.
iNowhere outside France did an organ
ism bear their name!
The Californian palace Of the Legion
of Honor Is, by the mere fact of its
existence. a kind Of decorating of
the entire American people!
The cause is the American expedi-
jtionary force and French gratitude.
Away back, alsoy is the old French
feeling for America, the land which
France opened up SO much by her
old explorers, trappers, voyageurs, set
tiers and administrators.
But the instrument is a woman.
* ~
TT happened this way. Mrs. Adolph
r. Spreckles of San Francisco was
horn a LIE Normand de Bretteville. IL
ia a family of French origin, tracing
itself back to the crusades and Gill
bert de Bretteville> among the Nor
man followers Of william the Con-
queror. Mrs. Spreckles' great-great-
grandfather, the Marquis Claude Nes-
tor de Bretteville, was an emigre in
the French revolution but returned
to France after twenty-five years.
The interim was spent in Denmark.
where he was knighted by the Dam
ish king of the time and where some
of his children and their descendants
remained, while others went to Nor
way Belgium and Austria, and some
returned to France. Most kept touch
with the main branch in Paris. where
Mrs, Spreckles' great-uncle. the Mar
ouis Pierre Alexandra. became general
OF division and grand ofiicer Of the
I,exion of Honor under Napoleon III.