A Journey Through France in War TimeButler, Joseph G. (Joseph Green)
History
A Journey Through France in War Time
Butler, Joseph G. (Joseph Green)
France -- Description and travel; World War, 1914-1918
The Carthusian order of Monks established themselves at Grenoble,
France, in 1132. The original receipe for the famous cordial was given
them in 1602 by Marshall d'Estress. Friar Jerome Maubec arranged the
present formula in 1755, and it remained unchanged until their expulsion
by the French Government, July 2nd, 1901. More than two hundred
ingredients go to make up Chartreuse, and nowhere else in the world can
this cordial be manufactured. Chartreuse is the unsolved enigma of
French compounders of liqueurs. Its manufacture has ceased. It is quite
true that at Tarragona, Spain, the monks still continue to make cordial
under the name of "Peres Chartreux", but it is generally agreed that,
owing to the change of locality and climate, the "Peres Chartreux" now
made there is not equal to the old Chartreuse. There are a number of
people in Grenoble who make imitation Chartreuse, but it is not so good
as the real thing.
The monastery library contained twenty-two thousand volumes. These monks
were also known as the Chartreusers, or Carthusian Monks. This was the
head monastery, but there were branches in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
The fathers lived on a simple diet and no meat was allowed. They were
not allowed to speak to each other except twice a week, on Sunday and
Thursday. This old monastery is now used as a hospital for
convalescents.
After this most interesting visit we were taken to luncheon at the Hotel
du Grand Som, and later for a ride of one hundred miles in the military
automobiles, through a mountainous country.
We arrived at Annecy at 8 P. M. and stopped at the Imperial Palace
Hotel. This is one of the finest watering places in France. A beautiful
lake surrounds the hotel, with mountains in the distance.
The next morning we called upon the Mayor and went through the usual
speeches. We were given a boat ride on the lake. Then we visited an old
castle. The coast looked very much like the coast of Maine between Bath
and Squirrel Island. We were taken by boat from Annecy to Menthon and
had luncheon at the Palace Hotel. Here Mr. Damour made his first speech,
which was received so enthusiastically that he was kissed by nearly all
the Frenchmen present.
We then visited an electric steel plant at Acierils, the French name
being the "Electriques of Ugine". We were greeted by, among other
things, a couple of American flags, but they were upside down.
We left Annecy at 5 P. M. for Lyons and stopped at the Terminus Hotel.
We saw a number of tattooed soldiers, that is tattooed with powder
marks, they having seen service.
On Sunday, October 1st, at 8 A. M. we left Lyons for Le Creusot, where
the great French steel plant is located. A serious discussion was held
on the train about going to the front and the dangers were depicted
quite vividly. We stopped at Chagny, after passing a very old church
dating back to the Tenth century. We saw, as we passed along, droves of
beautiful white cows, with not a speck of color.
X.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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