On Wednesday, September 27th, at seven in the morning, we left Grenoble for the French Alps. We had as a guide John Steel, an American who had been in France for fifteen years and had become a French citizen. He gave us much valuable information. He said, among other things, that when the railroads in France take freight they guarantee the time of delivery, if desired, and include an extra charge in the rate. On this trip we passed three companies of mounted guns, the technical name being mountain artillery. This was an interesting sight. A portion consisted of donkeys with all the paraphernalia of a soldier strapped to their backs, together with rapid firing mitrailleuses. The soldiers were unusually fine looking men from the Alpine district, a portion of France near the Swiss border. [Illustration: Types from French Provinces.] We visited a paper mill where the entire product was cardboard. We passed the "Escole de Garcons," otherwise a school for teaching waiters. We were told by Mr. Steel that in the valley adjoining that in which we were driving anthracite coal exists in abundance but has not been worked to any great extent. We passed mountain villages and noticed the cultivation of the sides of mountains almost perpendicular. It was a wonderful ride, amid splendid scenery, with numerous waterfalls, snow and glaciers in great abundance; in other words, we were going through the Switzerland of France. We passed a flock of sheep, more than five thousand in number, cared for by a head shepherdess, with several assistants and a number of dogs. We had luncheon at the Grand Hotel Bourg D'Oison and stopped briefly at the hotel de La Meige. On our return down the mountain we visited an electric manufacturing plant, the products being aluminum, magnesium, sodium, peroxide, sodium, oxolyte, calcium, and hydrated calcium. In this factory one of the commissioners had a narrow escape from certain injury, if not death, by attempting to taste the chemicals. He was stopped just in time. We then visited the Chateau Vizille, built in the seventeenth century and at one time occupied by Casimer de Perier, President of France. Vizille was one of the three great marshalls of France, and the chateau is called the "Cradle of Liberty". The first French Revolutionary meeting was held here. The castle contained old cannon and splendid old furniture, while the surrounding grounds were beautiful.