The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-06-08
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. d. Cd

Society. Washington. D. CO.
TTHE early history of Normandy,
even taking it only from the
l. reign of Richard the Fearless
900, explains in itself why to-
day, to those who look below the sur
face, Normandy seems in many ways
q separate land from France. The 80
years of English occupation under
Henry V left their lasting impress,
though it's natural position demands
that it should be an integral part of
France.
That Norman power of adaptation
to circumstance was the fatal gift"
SO apparent in it's Sicilian conquest,
which has destroyed the Norman as a
separate race. 1t has been said that
"the finished historian must be a trav-
eler," but one who possesses to the full
the instincts of the traveller must know
his history as he knows with his own
eyes the true look Of a wide land.
Picture follows picture in the radi-
ant Normandy landscape; the limpid
light is at once brilliant and tender,
and the eye feasts always on a BAN
Quet Of color. Between Sits of cliff
are bits of sea, poplars shiver in the
sun, meadows slope from height to
ocean, longing for the sea, and the
green roadway threads its path through
all. 1t is not strange that Isabey and
Daubigny found beauty here. In fancy
Richard Sans Peur and ale Hellequin"
still ride through the forests, and leg
ends people every ruin. Less in the
present than in the past, me dwellS
much on the stirring times when Nor
mandy had a life Of its W and the
Norman name was famous from Scot
land to Sicily.
Honfleur is a quaint port, with its
famous Saint GATHERINGS belfry-
house, shop, warehouse all in one,
while a delicately modelled spfre
crowns the whole. Villas line the
hills, old gates and watchtowers yet
remain of the Honfleur of great days.
Beyond the quay bristle a hundred
masts, sails drip with color, and the
water is Nile green-a bit Of Cairo in
the north of France. Along the water
front the same old houses which near
ly 300 years ago were brave in their
brand-new carvings, as they looked
out to see the high-decked Spanish
ships ride in, dipping their flags to the
fieur-de-lis Of France. Then Havre
was only a strip Of yellow PLACE, be-
fnro Tho fhrno taninr con6 hnr Stp1p
Honf1eur's harbor inch by inch.
Reminders of the conqueror.
Lisieux is one of the charming cor
ners where something still remains of
the Middle ages, and in the church are
windows depicting the marriage of
Henry II and Queen Eleanor, and
Thomas a Beckett in his Norman exile.
The most personal beginning Of the
Norman conquest was at FalaiSe.
There from a window of the lofty cas-
tle-keep Robert, count of Hiesnes
Cater Rober. the Magnificent and Rob-
ert lie Diable), saw Arlette, the tan
ner's pretty daughter, washing clothes
at the riverside. With all the settings
of romantic legend she became the
mother of that king whose bar sinister
was blotted out in ConQueror.
At Caen one is in his footsteps.
Saint Etienne contains his tomb, and
has an interior remarkable for strength
and solidity-a perfect example of
the acknowledgements, adorned"
though it now is by "a glass chan
deliers of the Nineteenth c%entury'S
most lurid pattern. The Hotel de la
Monnaie is a splendid house, built by
a princely merchant, Etienne du Val,
Sieur de Mondrainville, the man whose
great wealth enabled him TO get suf-
ficient supplies into Metz for it to
withstand it's siege in 1858.
There is an atmosphere of heroes
and kings in Caen. One e e the
tomb of the COnquerOr and the house
where Beau Brummel died. He sees
the ruined castle where "le jeune ct
beau Dunois" performed prodigies of
valor.
Many French artists, Psychologists
and men of letters are alarmed at the
lack of consideration manifested by
the state for the national monuments,
which are being allowed either to fall
into decay or to be restored with in
discretion. The great master Rodin
was deeply concerned with this ques-
ton, and in his desire to awaken pub
lie interest wrote a series of essays
on the Cathedrals Of France, the
study of which was his favorite pas
time.
The walls that William built and
Froissart writes about are a girdle
that is lost today. The Conqueror's
VOW is brought to mind as one looks