Chateau and Country Life in FranceWaddington, Mary King
General
Chateau and Country Life in France
Waddington, Mary King
France -- Social life and customs
All this part of the country teems with legends of the great warrior.
Years ago, when we were at Deauville, we drove over to Dives to
breakfast--one gets a very good breakfast at the little hotel. We
wandered about afterward down to the sea (William the Conqueror is said
to have sailed from Dives), and into the little church where the names
of all the barons who accompanied him to England are written on tablets
on the walls. We saw various relics and places associated with him and
talked naturally a great deal about the Conqueror. On the way home (we
were a large party in a brake) one of our compatriots, a nice young
fellow whose early education had evidently not been very comprehensive,
turned to me, saying; "Do tell me, what did that fellow conquer?" I
could hardly believe my own ears, but unfortunately for him, just at
that moment we were walking up a steep hill and everybody in the
carriage overheard his remark. It was received with such shouts of
laughter that any explanation was difficult, and one may imagine the
jokes, and the numerous and fabulous conquests that were instantly put
down to the great duke's account. The poor fellow was quite bewildered.
However, I don't know if an American is bound to know any history but
that of his own country. I am quite sure that many people in the
carriage didn't know whom Pocahontas married, nor what part she played
in the early days of America. But it was funny all the same.
We have been out again this afternoon in Monsieur R.'s auto--a charming
turn. We started out by the Étoile, as Monsieur R. wanted to show it to
some gentlemen who were with us. The drive, if anything, was more lovely
than the first time, the slanting rays of the sun were so beautiful
shining through the rich green foliage, making patterns upon the hard,
white road. We raced all over the country, through countless little
villages, all exactly alike, sometimes flying past a stately old brick
château just seen at the end of a long, beech avenue, sometimes past an
old church standing high, its gray stone steeple showing well against
the bright, cloudless sky, and a little graveyard stretching along the
hillside, the roads bordered on each side with high green banks and
hedges, the orchards full of apple-trees, and the whole active
population of the village in the fields. It is a beautiful month to be
in Normandy, for one must have sun in these parts. As soon as it rains
everything is gray and cold and melancholy, the forest looks like a
great high black wall, the meadows are shrouded in mist, and the damp
strikes through one. Now it is smiling, sunny, peaceful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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