The Coolidge examiner., 1932-05-06

Count Thevenard, Frances first
cannon founder, and even Benjamin
Franklin, whose thrift struck a re-
sponsive Malouin chord.
The stone CroiX du Fief, now
over street corner, marked the
spot on the original ramparts where
the bishops feudal estate started
outside the walls. Its fountain is
a city water hydrant, but the old
shrine to the Virgin is in the wall.
Croix du Fief Still There.
st. Thomas Gate takes it's name
from a chapel. The Breton sailor,
when not pirating, loved to pray.
and st. Thomas was his favorite
saint The gate was endowed with
it's original shrine by crew who
told their credulous fellow towns
men how the patron had saved them
from an octopus that had wrapped
its arms about their craft.
The grOg was strong in those
days and the tale was vivid. When
the shrine was built, however, the
sailors divided ST. Thomas glory,
adding to his statue a painting of
themselves shooting the octopus
from a yardarm.
Through the city gate from the
beach, across the Chateaubriand
square and few steps up the street
of the same name, the Venelle aux
Chiens Galley of Dogs) branches off
to the left. 1t is so straight and
narrow that it might be mistaken
for a hallway. In 1855. when st.
Malo was comparatively young, "a
watchdogs were purchased in Eng
land to guard the corsairs' beach,
and it was from these dogs that the
street took its name.
In those days ST. MalO did not
have its inner harbOr, where the
tides are cheated by locks; its tidal
harbor. where 300-ton steamers tie
up to the pier and gradually settle
down on dry land until the water
returns to float them off, or the
other works of granite which now
make it a port. Tides were the
same, and the wooden ships lolled
on their sides on the beach while
crews made merry within the walls.
Each night at ten, when the great
bell rang the "cover fire." the dogs
were unleashed on the beach as a
menace to thieves and warning
to moist but honest sailors against
overstaying shore leave.
Founded by Welshman.
The modern st. Malo was only
three years old when the dogs were
purchased. but the city was ancient
even then. In the Sixth century,
hermit named Aaron had a hut of
stone on the rock opposite, where
formerly had stood the Gallo-Roman
city of AIeth, now st. Servan. One
day a holy man called Malo, Mac
low. Maclou. Machut, or Maclovius
came over the waves from Wales in
a homemade stone dugout. Accord
ing to his memory, he had been
born in 500 With the hermit Aaron
as an audience, the visitor held re-
ligiOus services on the back of a
complaisant whale. The taciturn
Malouin has neither sagas nor script
and may have confused his patron
with Jonah.
Malo from Wales built a hut of
his own and started to perform mir
acles. By $50. he had been canon
lied. and his skull and an arm bone
were brought back. Charlemagne's
warriors destroyed church and city
in 81. and CharIemagne restored
them. otherwise early life in st.
Malo was uneventful.
In 1906 was born Jean de Chatil-
lon, better known to Malouins as
Jean de la Grille, from the iron lat
ticework put over his tomb to pre-
vent pious souvenir hunters from
carrying off his body piecemeal. He
was the founder of the st. Malo that
stands today.
In 1855 he started the walls that
still form the sea face of the ram
parts. So we'll were they built that
they withstOod enemy cannon fire
and the pound of angry waves
throughout the centuries. Jean was
both temporal and spiritual ruler.
| In his time immense establishments
of the church and holy orders in the
little city elbOwed merchant cor
sairs' imposing storehouses and
mansions with double floors and two
story cellars cut into the rock 70
hide sea booty from tax collectors.
Belted by its ramparts, st. Malo
had no room, to grow. Its gray
stone houses were built high and
close, and cellars were deep.
The voyages of st. Malo husbands
were long The population in
creased o-.y 132 a year for 20
years.
Today q rustic policeman stlnds
inside st. Vincent's Gate, stopping
automobilists from driving up the
crowded main street and advising
them to leave their cars outside the
walls, as the little city can be