Evening star., 1924-12-08
GASCONY IS LAND
OF DASH|NG HEROES
City of Auch to MemoriaIize
Quality by Statue Of
D'Artagnan.

Auch is erecting statue to its
most famous countryman. D'Artagnan.
A swashbuckling statue it will be
with plumed hat, rapier at belt, and
boots like bold Puss wore in the
fairy story. Thus Auch will have
such a courageous figure as Cham
plains on Dufferin Terrace. Quebec,
or Chevalier Maisonneuve's, before
Notre Dame in Montreal.
AuCh is capital of Gascony-capi-
tai of courage, too. For that variety
of courage known as dashing Gas
cony has grown so famous that it
imbeds itself in our language with
he word. "gasconade." The statue
TO D'Artagnan as a memorial to Gas
Conys greatest quality is in part
tribute to those other noted sons of
the Southern French province, Cyrano
de Bergerac, and Marshals Joffre and
Foch.
Although every French schoolboy
knows where Gascony is, just as an
American schoolboy knows where
Americas South is, Gascony, like our
South, seldom appears as a map
LABEL says bulletin of the National
Geographic Society.
This is for the best. 4 land of
courage should not be marked off with
boundary posts. Like the kingdom of
King Arthur, Gascony never knew
the surveyors rod. When Southern
France finally crystallized out into
definite political units, Gascony was
left to name a. point of view instead
of place. AS near as any one would
wish to fix it, Gascony includes the
departments of Gers and parts of
Hautes-Pynenees, Haute. Garonne.
JandeS and Lot-et-Garonne. French
departments are not so important as
American States, but they are more
important than American counties.
Auch is the county seat of Gers. but
is also. despite its scanty population.
the residence of the archbishop
whose territory is much larger than
Gers. The archbishopric comedies
more nearly with the romantically
indefinite borders of old Gascony
midway between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean. Upon the arch
biShopric rests Auch's claim as capi-
tai of GaScony.
Breed Varying Types.
ID DArtagnan. as every one knows.
was captain-lieutenant of the Kings
muSketeerS. Dumas wove his adven-
lures with warp of actual facts from
q story by a comparative unknown,
CourtilZ de Sandras. This writer
compiled the biography of a Count
of Artagnan. scion of house of Fezen-
sac, born near Afghan, not more than
10 miles from Auch. Cyrano de Ber-
Gerac, another captain of the Guards
and here of Edmond Rostand's play,
was also a flesh and blood gallant
The town of Bergerac still grows sun
sweetened grapes beside the Dor
dogne.
Provinces in France are noted for
the special quality of manhood and
womanhood they feed into Paris
just as they are noted for the indi-
Viduality of their wines Celtic
Brittany is famed for the depth of
Its religious thought, Renan and
many religious writers coming from
its soil. Normandy. with its Morse
stock, has the flavor of the North
and its contribution to Paris are
thrifty folk and progressive, solid
leaders. The Auvergne central high
lands stock is made the butt of Pa
risian jokes on slow-thinking people.
Savoyard is said to monopolize the
supply of chimney-sweeps and hurdy
surdles. Gascony once kept the
Kings guards recruited. Twentieth
century Paris, however, has no job
for DArtagnan and his staggering
swordsmen, but it has made good use
of Foch and Joffre. The surplus
Gascon stock today is said to find it's
way into politics, where the lyrics of
Cyrano and the fine phrases D'Artag-
nan are redistilled into fiery speeches
poured into the Chamber of Deputies
'Gascon' is believed to come indi-
rectly from Basque, the name of that
remnant Pyrennes tribe who still fur
nish question mark for students of
race origins. The 'G' was once a
W, which, according to earlier pro-
nunciation, must have given Was
COMA. The Basques, who are said to
resemble strangely the ancient Egyp-
tians with their broad shoulders,
slim waists, wide foreheads and
pointed chins, have left their mark
on the Gascons. Blood of Romans,
Visigoths and Iberians also flows in
Sascon veins, making them predom-
inantly Mediterranean people in
contrast to natives of Northern
France, who spring from Normans,
Gauls and Franks. Now and then in
Auch or Tarbes one sees women and
men thin-faced, with olive skin and
intensely black hair and eyes, a feet
ing memory ofsthe Moorish invasion.
which reached high tide in Gascony.'