MARKET-PLACE IN PEACE TIMES : VERSAILLES, ERANCE 



It was the lavish hand of Louis XIV which made Versailles one of the famous show- 

 places of the world. It is of especial interest to Americans now fighting in France. When 

 granted occasional leave from the trenches they naturally go to Paris and flock to the great 

 chateau, which is said to have cost $100,000,000 apart from the forced labor exacted under 

 the old feudal system. Versailles before the outbreak of the war had a population of 60,000. 



AT THE GROTTO OF APOLLO 



From here I steer them in the general 

 direction of the Grotto of Apollo. I 

 announce our destination when a big, 

 breezy farmer from New Zealand ven- 

 tures : "Oh, yes, that's the place where 

 Louis is getting washed by those women." 

 And I pretend not to hear him nor the 

 "S-h-h-h-h-h" from every side. As we 

 approach the grotto, the guide, another 

 old soldier, still wearing his long sword, 

 comes up to us with a look of "come into 

 my parlor, said the spider to the fly." 



He, too, knows me now and is my 

 friend. So he unlocks the high bronze 

 gates while humming a naughty little 

 song, and we step from the brilliant sun- 

 shine of the open garden into a bit of 

 exquisite old forest, delightfully cool and 

 absolutely still. I hear a sighing, "Is this 

 really true?" and a cursing, "Oh, how 

 my feet hurt !" We come to the grotto, 

 and immediately my thirty-two weary 

 wanderers fall upon the grass in attitudes 

 of — I might almost say abandon. I reel 

 off the story of the pretty rocks, which, 



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