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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Calais to Bayonne, and by increasing 

 thousands to Great Britain. Reduced 

 fares for more than one traveHng on a 

 ticket favors family parties. Pilgrim- 

 ages to Lourdes, to Rome, etc., are made 

 by tens of thousands where formerly 

 there were hundreds. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS OPLN 



The prevision of the government and 

 the generosity of patriotic Frenchmen 

 have thrown open to the public many his- 

 toric buildings. An extraordinary inter- 

 est in the chateaux of Touraine has 

 turned French travel to these noble 

 structures, among which Amboise and 

 Blois are strikingly preeminent. 



The immense front of Blois, uplifted 

 in part by its wondrous spiral staircase, 

 is surmounted by grinning gargoyles of 

 fascinating hideousness. Beautified to 

 the eye by a bewildering wealth of orna- 

 mentation, Blois remains attainted in 

 memory by the atrocious assassination 

 therein of the Duke of Guise. Grandi- 

 ose Amboise rises out of the golden 

 sands of the blue Loire, with its gem-like 

 chapel decorated with artistic traceries, 

 wrought out like fretted lacework in the 

 soft stone. If its annals are glorified by 

 the pact of religious tolerance here 

 signed in the sixteenth century, it too has 

 its blot of blood, since from its most 

 commanding gallery a decadent king, 

 with the fairest-faced of queens, looked 

 down one religious holiday on the worst 

 spectacle seen in France for ages — the 

 massacre of scores of the noblest of the 

 land. 



Where kings and dukes inspired terror 

 by slaughter, now the people come in 

 peace to enjoy. 



LITLRATURL 



French thought has contributed price- 

 less treasures to the knowledge and schol- 

 arship, to the pleasure and profit of the 

 intellectual world, with no signs of de- 

 cadence apparent. 



As to books for the people, it may be 

 proper to state that America falls far be- 

 hind. In 1910 (with more published 

 books than in 191 1 in America) our rec- 

 ord was one new work for each 7,295 



persons, while France published nearly 

 twice the percentage, one for each 3,809. 

 Comparisons as to paper, type, illustra- 

 tions, bindings, and price are not unfa- 

 vorable to France. 



Their love of good books is evident to 

 any observer, and the passion for collect- 

 ing is pronounced. In visiting the house 

 of a professor, there were visible books 

 numbering thousands, though he was not 

 rich. Prince Roland Bonaparte in show- 

 ing me his library did not inform me, 

 until I asked, that he had 250,000 titles 

 and a herbarium with more than a mil- 

 lion mounted and labeled specimens. 

 Both collections were models of that sys- 

 tem so dear to typical Frenchmen. 



Some erroneously associate French 

 literature with pornographic works, 

 against which, greatly to its credit, 

 France has lately waged a vigorous war- 

 fare. 



THRIFT AND COMFORT 



Thrift, almost to penuriousness, is a 

 proverbial characteristic of the French 

 peasant. Discussing changes with an 

 alien of very long residence in France, 

 he said that the most marked change in 

 late years was the continuance of thrift 

 with increase of comfort, especially as to 

 table. Statistics confirm his judgment, 

 as in late years the amount of meat has 

 increased nearly one-half, while coffee, 

 sugar, and tea are used to double or 

 triple quantities. 



General prosperity is best shown by 

 the caisses d'epargne (petty banks), 

 which, numbering 2,400, receive only 

 limited sums from its clientele — wage- 

 earners, petty tradesmen, etc. The de- 

 positors annually increase, in, 1911 being 

 21.7 of the population. Despite the ris- 

 ing standard of living, the accumulations 

 in these small banks had reached $774,- 

 405,000, averaging $19.55 to each man, 

 woman, and child in France. 



A recent essay by Dr. H. S. Williams 

 treats of the savings of the four leading 

 commercial countries. He says : "France 

 has the lowest wage-scale and the highest 

 percentage of savings-bank depositors, 

 3*4.6. America has by far the highest 

 wage-scale and by far the lowest savings- 

 bank depositors, 9.9." 



