Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1925-01-08


prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. d. CD
Corsica, the scented isle just south
of the Riviera, is, like every other
country, a land of contrasts. But
more than most, 1t Is the land of para
dox. Behind the striking beauty of
the island concealed beneath the COM
monplace exteriors of the people, there
is mystery, contrary quality which
first escapes observation and later In
trudes everywhere. Probably nowhere
Is generalization more likely to be
true and false at the same time.
One goes to Corsica, as did Boswell's
friend, expecting to find every bandit
menace. He remains to find the
tic of mortals. Melodrama heroes
have accomplished more with the gilt
ter OF a silver spoon held revolver
wise than the most Tartarinesque Of
Corsicans attempt when loaded to the
belt. Yet personal encounter between
natives is still commonplace.
Corsica, where women go safely
alone by night and gendarmes travel
In pairs by day, where there are hun
dreds OF bridges and no rivers, where
every one expects the visitor to pay
verbal . tribute to "Kalliste" Most
Beautifully and few can name the
mountains in whose shadow they we're
born
Banditry is still byword and thiev-
cry is abhorred. The innkeepers
boast of what grand things they would
do IL there were more tourists, and
neglect the few they have. The sun
gives the land Its charm and the
snow. its beauty and health. The
roads are blocked by horses, mules
and donkeys, few of them laden. and
the automobile, even for the single
traveller offers the cheapest means of
transportation. The perfume of the
maquis and the smells of the streets
are alike indescribabIe
Animals, made roommates, are treat
ed cruelty, and children, seldom at
home, are generally allowed to do as
they please.
Life Is somber and death Is still
the supreme event to those whose
monotonous days are as tenaciously
chung to as In happier and less lovely
lands.
The mountain sides are terraced
with infinite labor and the most fer
tile plains are left untitled. The sea
Is all around and mariners are few.
Bad sailors that they are, the Cor
sicans claim kinship with Columbus,
and, indomitable fighters, they ignore
Napoleon. Sacred personages, pic
tured on many walls. are profaned on
most male lips.
The donkeys and pigs feed on chest
nuts of such quality that few in rich
er lands could afford, and every third
child seems underfed.
Life Is Lived There.
But ms one looks back on Corsica
from the confetti-strewn Cors0 in
Nice, he longs for the simple, I'M
spoiled, paradoxical paradise to the
south, so comfortless, yet so compel
ling in its charm. With however little
earnestness life in Corsica seems to
be conducted. 1t is real. In Nice, life
is acted; In Corsica 1t is lived-and
lost.
In postwar Europe the interest in
Corsica is almost unique. Life has I'M
dergone comparatively slight changes.
No new boundary touches the people,
nor any change of governmental con-
troll or nationality Corsican mountain
lads fought splendidly on the fields of
France and 10000 Of them, out of
population Of less than 100000. gave
their lives for "la belle patrie"; but
no treaty resulting from the war af-
fected the inner life of the Corsican
people. An excess-profits tax is I'M
known to the thousands who. always
living with minimum of effort. have
never known what capital and surplus
are
The movement toward the cities, so
striking elsewhere, has affected Cor
siea little. The largest of its indus
tries hires but a handful of men. Be
yond the coasts there are only three
towns that save population OF more
than 5000 and the thousand or so In
habitants credited by the census to