19133 En Route for Picardy 



Alsace after the Treaty of Frankfort in 1871. During 

 the Franco-Prussian war its citadel had resisted cap- 

 ture, and Bismarck discreetly let it alone. Hatred of 

 Prussia was still intense in Belfort. The delightful 

 books of "Oncle Hansi," with others as bitter but 

 less artistic, were on evidence in every bookshop, and 

 in a place of honor stands one of the finest statues in 

 Europe. Bearing the legend "Quand Meme," "Even 

 if," it represents a young Alsatian girl in provincial Meme 

 costume l supporting a dying French soldier whose 

 rifle she upholds. "Quand Meme" is a work of 

 genuine feeling, far more touching than the Greek- 

 featured statue of Strasbourg in the Place de la 

 Concorde, which for nearly half a century the people 

 of Paris hung with black wreaths. 



On my further way to Le Touquet I found in the 

 compartment a copy of Theodore Boutroux' charming 

 poem, "Mireille." This tells of a Breton sailor who 

 meets at Toulon a dainty and lively "brown cricket" 

 of the south named Marie, "Mireille" in Provencal. 

 But remembering his gray-eyed, placid Marie of the 

 north, he will not be false to her: 



Allais-je tromper, moi, Breton, 

 Deux fillettes du meme nom? 2 



So he frankly explains to Mireille that he must in 

 honor return to the faithful Marie. 



Among those present at Le Touquet were Jacques 

 Dumas, 3 Jules Prudhommeaux on the staff of La 

 Paix par le Droit, Dr. A. A. Warden, a Scotch physi- 



1 The marked feature of this attire consists of two huge black velvet bows 

 worn as headdress. 



2 "Shall I deceive, I, a Breton, 



Two girls of the same name?" 

 * See Chapter xxxvn, page 322. 



C 5i3 3 



