BASSWOOD 



619 



BASTILLE 



BASSWOOD, BASS or LINDEN, a large, 

 handsome tree found east of Montana through- 

 out the United States and Canada, in Europe 

 and Northern Asia. In dense forests it grows 

 straight, but in open places is a spreading tree, 

 giving plenty of shade and shelter with its 

 large, oval, tooth-edged leaves. The yellow 

 flower-clusters, fragrant and rich in honey, fur- 

 nish an oil used in perfumes. The American 



LEAF AND FLOWER OF BASSWOOD 



basswood grows to a height of eighty feet or 

 more, with a diameter of four feet. It lives 

 hundreds of years, and it takes centuries for it 

 to reach its full height. 



n trees bear a berry-like, gray-green fruit 

 the size of a pea, the seeds of which have a 

 sail-like leaflet. When the pods are ripe and 

 burst open, the little seeds sail away on the 

 breezes. The timber of the linden is called 

 11 hittwood, and is used for carriages, furniture. 

 boats, honey-boxes and the tones from the 

 piano conn from basswood sounding boards. 

 Tin inner bark is used for mats, fish net, cord 

 ami coarse cloth, limit made charcoal is also 

 obtained from basswood. 



In 1 1. T|I n, Germany, there is a wide street 

 nearly a mil*- l"im, lined with linden and chest- 

 nut trees, beunim the name "Untcr den Lin- 

 It 1- described in the artielo RERUN. 



BASTIEN- LEPAGE, bastyaN' lepazh', 

 JULES (1848-1884), a French portrait and land- 

 scape painter, whose work had a simplicity and 

 naturalness that has brought hun repute a* the 

 f a new school of art He studied at 

 m and at tli- School of Fine Arts in Paris, 

 and tir-t \\..n attention in 1874 by his Song of 

 ng, the picture of a peasant girl looking 

 down up. .n ,i \ ill., i- hil- 



ite.I his I'ortrait of My Grandfather, showing 

 tin subject in the act of taking a pinch of 

 snuff; this canvas was so unconventional as to 



be considered a new departure in portrait paint- 

 ing. Bastien-Lepage won the Cross of the 

 Legion of Honor through his Portrait of 

 Madame Bcrnhardt, but failed in his efforts to 

 obtain the coveted "Prize of Rome." His most 

 important landscape painting, The Hayfiild, 

 now in the Luxembourg Gallery, is regarded as 

 a fine example of realistic art. 



BASTILLE, basted', the famous Parisian 

 prison whose destruction on July 14, 1789, is 

 celebrated as a national holiday of France. 

 In the French language bastille means any 

 strongly-fortified structure. The Bastille of 

 Paris, built by Charles V about the year 1370 

 as a citadel, became a place of confinement for 

 those who had displeased the king or his court, 

 and to the people it became a hated symbol of 

 oppression. 



The storming of the Bastille by the Parisian 

 mob as the protest of the common people 

 against the centuries-long oppression of the 

 ruling classes was the first act in the French 

 Revolution (which see). After the mob's 

 demands had been refused by the governor, 

 Delaunay, its members assaulted the fortress. 

 After hours of fighting they had only effected 

 an entrance into the outer court, but the 

 arrival of a few pieces of artillery of the Royal 



Tin: BASTILLE 



Guard forced Delaunay to lower the second 

 drawbridge. The p>\< inor was seized, and on 

 tin- way to the (own hall was put to d ath. 

 On the following day the raxing of the Bas- 



Illle eoiuim -lie, d The k- \ \\.iS SCttt 8S I 



t nt to George Washington in America. To-day 

 a bron/e column marks the spot where the iu>t 

 struggle for French liberty took place. 



