The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837
Various
Periodicals
This is the second of 'Le Trois Jours,' and the tri-colored flags
are displayed from every house in town, giving the streets a gay and
lively face. This is a remarkably clean and orderly place, and in
this respect forms a strong contrast to its rival, Calais. It is a
famous sea-bathing place, and during the summer, English residents
and visitors form one third of the whole population. Indeed, the town
is very _à la Anglaise_--more so, they say, than any other in France.
But still there is enough to remind a novice that he is really in
another country, in the old world. The military on the docks and in
every street; the poor women, bare-footed and bare-headed, performing
the labor of beasts of burthen, being in fact the public porters,
and thankful for the chance of carrying your luggage for a few sous;
the incessant jabbering in a strange tongue, (strange, alas! to me,)
'for even the children here,' as one sagely remarked, 'talk very good
French;' the streets without side-walks, and the picturesque figures
in them; the immense clumsy diligences, arriving and setting off in
cautious pace; the street harpists and music-grinders, (of which we
have abundant specimens,) etc. The hotels form about one-fourth of
all the buildings of the town, and are all crowded. Mine host has a
summer pavilion on the banks of the sea, commanding an extensive view
of the English coast, etc., and very similar to that at Rockaway,
(L. I.,) and to this we are sent in a barouche to dine at the _table
d'hôte_, in a large airy hall, which accommodates one hundred or
more. The company, being mostly English, seemed rather awkward in
this novel mode of dining; and there was no general conversation at
the table. My neighbour stared with astonishment when he found I was
not English, and still more so that I was an American, 'the first
he had ever seen;' and he looked as tickled as if he had seen an
ourang-outang. The shore before the pavilion is covered with little
bathing-cars, which are drawn into the water by horses, and there
is a handsome assembly-hall near by, for the bathers. After dinner,
walked up to the 'barriers,' or ramparts, which surround an elevated
part of the city, and serve both for fortification and a public
promenade. The view from them is very fine.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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