My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879Waddington, Mary King
History
My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879
Waddington, Mary King
France -- History -- Third Republic, 1870-1940; France -- Social life and customs
W. got home on the 17th, and was so busy the first days, with his
colleagues and political friends that I didn't see much more of him than
if he had been in Berlin. He was rather disgusted and discouraged at the
view his colleagues of the cabinet and his friends took of France's
attitude at the Congress. The only man who seemed to be able to look
ahead a little and understand what a future there might be for France in
Tunis was Gambetta. I remember quite well his telling of an interesting
conversation with him. Gambetta was very keen about foreign affairs,
very patriotic, and not at all willing that France should remain
indefinitely a weakened power, still suffering from the defeat of 1870.
There were many fêtes and reunions of all kinds, all through the summer
months, as people had flocked to Paris for the exposition. We remained
in town until the first days of August, then W. went to his
Conseil-Général in the Department of the Aisne, and I went down to
Deauville. He joined me there, and we had a pleasant month--bathing,
driving, and seeing a great many people. We had taken Sir Joseph
Oliffe's villa, one of the best in Deauville. Oliffe, an Englishman, was
one of Emperor Napoleon's physicians, and he and the Duc de Morny were
the founders of Deauville, which was very fashionable as long as Morny
lived and the Empire lasted, but it lost its vogue for some years after
the Franco-German War--fashion and society generally congregating at
Trouville. There were not many villas then, and one rather bad hotel,
but the sea was nearer than it is now and people all went to the beach
in the morning, and fished for shrimps in the afternoon, and led a quiet
out-of-doors life. There was no polo nor golf nor automobiles--not many
carriages, a good tennis-court, where W. played regularly, and races
every Sunday in August, which brought naturally a gay young crowd of all
the sporting world. The train des maris that left Paris every Saturday
evening, brought a great many men. It was quite different from the
Deauville of to-day, which is charming, with quantities of pretty villas
and gardens and sports of all kinds, but the sea is so far off one has
to take quite a long walk to get to it, and the mornings on the beach
and the expeditions to Trouville in the afternoon across the ferry, to
do a little shopping in the rue de Paris, are things of the past.
Curiously enough while I was looking over my notes the other day, I had
a visit from an old friend, the Duc de M., who was one of the inner
circle of the imperial household of the Emperor Napoleon III, and took
an active part in all that went on at court. He had just been hearing
from a friend of the very brilliant season at Deauville this year, and
the streams of gold that flowed into the caisse of the management of the
new hotel and casino. Every possible luxury and every inducement to
spend money, racing, gambling, pretty women of all nationalities and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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