48 GOLDEN DAYS 



It is as well to ask permission when- 

 ever there is any doubt as to the fishing 

 rights on certain waters. Good manners 

 are always worth while. Civility and 

 a handshake will find a ready response in 

 Brittany. 



May I here be allowed, very tentatively, 

 to suggest a useful phrase, which may, 

 perhaps, be more helpful than the " Merci, 

 tres-bien " that the foreigner so often 

 adopts in this country ? It is this : Je 

 suis enchante. Its Breton equivalent 

 being, Me a zo gwell gontant. 



Of course, we know that the average 

 Englishman is never enchanted, and even 

 if he were he would not like it known. 

 Still, this idiom pleases the Breton, so we 

 need not take it too literally. We must 

 also realise that we English have some- 

 thing to live down in Brittany. In the 

 past our countrymen have not always been 

 remarkable for tact or even politeness. 

 Those of them who persist in regarding 

 the Bretons as " a dirty, drunken, and 

 immoral peasantry," I would implore to 

 keep away. 



A half-truth must always sting more 



