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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



In the center of the huge courtyard I 

 gather them all about me and give a 

 short, a very short, description of the 

 palace. Every one listens carefully and 

 the intelligent ones ask questions. When 

 I call their attention to the original cob- 

 blestones some one remarks, "I'd like to 

 meet the gink that invented them. Bet 

 he never had to wear ten pounds of iron 

 in his boots." When I say that the palace 

 cost four million pounds I hear, "Wrap 

 it up." And when I say slowly and dis- 

 tinctly that there are rooms for ten thou- 

 sand guests, I hear a sigh and "I'd like 

 to stay here for duration." 



We go into the Salle de Congres and 

 I tell the story of how it was built and 

 ab-so-lute-ly finished in three months, 

 and I hear a grunt of disbelief and a 

 bass voice saying, "It takes a Frenchy 

 that long to cook a steak." When I an- 

 nounce that the guide is a veteran of the 

 Franco-Prussian War, as they can see by 

 his military medal and his empty sleeve, 

 one generous fellow yells, "Every fellow 

 hand him a franc." But I object vigor- 

 ously and tell them that that would never 

 do ; it would be establishing another pre- 

 cedent, and goodness knows enough have 

 already been established here for the man 

 in khaki ; at which the wit of the crowd 

 pipes, "At least you'll let me kiss him." 



Now, thanks to the kindness of the 

 French Government, the chateau is opened 

 to my thirty-two. We enter into all the 

 magnificence that was Louis's through 

 the great wide doors, not, however, wide 

 enough to accommodate the eager troop 

 of veritable children, who crowd and push 

 and joke and swear. 



MR. ATKINS STUDIES ART 



We halt a second before the big pic- 

 ture of Louis XIV, because several want 

 to take "a peek at the 'kink' who was 

 responsible." And as all of Versailles is 

 essentially Louis, after awhile it gets to 

 be a game, this hunting for and finding 

 of Louis in bronze, marble, and oil in all 

 sorts of poses and costumes ; so much so 

 that one day when one of my guests took 

 some snap-shots of the party, another 

 said, "We mustn't tell Looey; he'd hate 

 so to be out of it." 



We ascend the gorgeous marble stair- 

 case, the favorite one of Marie Antoi- 

 nette, and I try not to smile when a miner 

 from the Yukon refers to her as "Marie 

 Antonio." Lord love him, he's going to 

 see everything and know who's who and 

 why. At least that's what he tells me. 

 An Australian mutters that his favorite 

 staircase is the one that leads off the boat 

 at Sydney, and a second, and a third, and 

 a fourth agree with enthusiasm. 



We wander slowly and awesomely 

 through the grandeur of the gallery of 

 battle pictures. We examine attentively 

 the picture depicting one of the first 

 victories of France, in the year 496. I 

 never forget to point out the trench hel- 

 met, so like the one in use now, and em- 

 ployed, as another picture proves, early 

 in the thirteenth century. I always re- 

 member to halt the entire company be- 

 fore the battle of Lens, which took place 

 in 1648, on the 20th of August. The 

 date and month are of importance, be- 

 cause it was on almost that very same 

 date and month of this year that Canada 

 started to get back Lens. 



STEALING SHY GLANCES AT THEMSELVES 

 IN THE BALLROOM MIRRORS 



And when I ask mischievously, "Boys, 

 are we or are we not going to do it?" 

 well, I'll venture to say that the great 

 room in which we stand never echoed to 

 deeper or sincerer emotion than during 

 the second when positive voices shout, 

 "We are !" 



We are taken through many of the 

 private rooms of the court. We see 

 Louis's bedroom. It's a funny, flat bed, 

 and one fellow says that "if Looey had 

 one drink he couldn't get onto it, and that 

 if he took two he couldn't stay on." 



I point out the little balcony leading 

 from this room, where Marie Antoinette 

 addressed the Parisian mob, and I tell 

 them that in answer to their cries for 

 bread she asked them why they didn't eat 

 cake. This always brings a laugh, just 

 as does the story that in the beginning of 

 this war the Kaiser said Versailles was 

 to be the summer hqme of the Crown 

 Prince. Here I refrain from repeating 

 the remarks. 



