FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  
rced by the two villages they passed through. We waited for them in the gallery--doors and windows open. They played the spirited French march "Sambre et Meuse" as they came up the avenue. It sounded quite fine in the open air. They halted and saluted quite in military style as soon as they came in front of the gallery--stopped their march and began immediately the Russian Hymn, playing it very well. They were much applauded, we in the gallery giving the signal and their friends on the lawn joining in enthusiastically. They were a motley crowd--over a hundred I should think--ranging from the municipal councillor of La Ferte, in his high hat and black cloth Sunday coat, to the humpbacked daughter of the village carpenter and the idiot boy who lived in a cave on the road and frightened the children out of their wits by running out and making faces at them whenever they passed. They played three or four times, then W. called up one or two of the principal performers and presented them to the Staals. Mme. de Staal spoke to them very prettily, thanked them for playing the Russian Hymn and said she would like to hear the "Sambre et Meuse" again. That, of course, delighted them and they marched off to the strains of their favourite tune. About half-way down the avenue we heard a few cries of "Vive la Russie," and then came a burst of cheers. Our dinner was rather pleasant that evening. We had the Prefet, M. Sebline; Senator of the Aisne, Jusserand, present Ambassador to Washington; Mme. Thenard, of the Comedie Francaise, and several young people. Jusserand is always a brilliant talker--so easy--no pose of any kind, and Sebline was interesting, telling about all sorts of old customs in the country. Though we were so near Paris, hardly two hours by the express, the people had remained extraordinarily primitive. There were no manufacturing towns anywhere near us, nothing but big farms, forests and small far-apart villages. The modern socialist-radical ideas were penetrating very slowly into the heads of the people--they were quite content to be humble tillers of the soil, as their fathers had been before them. The men had worked all their lives on the farms, the women too; beginning quite young, taking care of cows and geese, picking beet-root, etc. What absolutely changed the men was the three years military service. After knocking about in garrison towns, living with a great many people always, having all sorts of amus
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

people

 

gallery

 

Russian

 
playing
 
Sebline
 

Sambre

 
played
 

Jusserand

 

military

 

villages


avenue
 

passed

 

telling

 

extraordinarily

 

remained

 
customs
 

interesting

 

country

 

express

 
Though

Francaise

 
Senator
 

present

 

Prefet

 

evening

 

dinner

 

pleasant

 
Ambassador
 

Washington

 

talker


brilliant

 

Thenard

 

Comedie

 

primitive

 

picking

 

beginning

 

taking

 

absolutely

 

living

 

garrison


changed

 

service

 

knocking

 

worked

 

modern

 

socialist

 
forests
 

manufacturing

 

radical

 

tillers