r him in
his tent in the evening, and waited upon him at the table with his own
hands. The Black Prince and the captive king rode through London
together, the former in great pomp, and the latter on a cream-colored
pony by his side. All of these things read prettily in history, but
one is glad that the time is past when war was the game of kings, and
armies were used as their playthings.

A series of easy rides near the cool sea brought the Class to the old
fishing village of Etretat, now a fashionable summer resort for French
artists, and a popular bathing-place for those desiring seclusion amid
the coast scenery. It is situated amid rocks which the sea has
excavated into arches, aiguilles, and other fantastic recesses and
caverns. Its pretty chalets and villas on the hills, its gayly-dressed
summer idlers, its groups of fishermen who are to be seen in all
weathers, its handsome fisher girls bronzed by the sun who lead a free
life by the sea, its bathers in brilliant dresses of blue serge and
bright trimmings, its bracing air and usually fine weather, make it
one of the quaintest and most restful nooks in France.

There are the remains of a Norman church near the sea. It is said to
occupy the spot where the people watched the great flotilla of William
the Conqueror drift to St. Valery, there to take the Norman army to
England.

A French watering-place is quite different from an American seaside
resort. You have your board and sleeping-room in one of the hotels,
but your parlors, piazzas, and places of recreation are in an elegant
pleasure house, called the _Casino_. For the privileges of the Casino
you pay a small sum; at Etretat it amounts to about ten dollars a
month. The billiard-rooms, ball-room, and the rooms for general
conversation are in the Casino.

Every one bathes in the sea at Etretat, women and children, whole
families together, and most of the girls are expert swimmers. It is
delightful to sit upon the _shingle_, as the pebbly beach is called,
and watch the sport in the sun-bright mornings or golden and dreamy
afternoons. The costumes of the bathers are so pretty that the scene
seems like a ball in the sea. Bathing men are stationed here and there
to render any needed assistance.

The great caverns which the sea has worn in the rocks at Etretat
remind one of the ruins of immense cathedrals, and are grand indeed in
the light of the full summer moon.

The place abounds with story-telling fishermen.