A GROUP OP NORMANDY WOMEN AND BOYS 



Upon such as these fall the burdens of watching and waiting, hoping and despairing, during 

 the awful days of war in which France fights as never nation fought before 



manufactured products at a lower rate 

 than the swifter railroad trains could 

 possibly make. 



PEW PAKPS AND SEAPORTS 



Curiously enough, France has neither 

 many lakes nor any important ones. 

 Lake Geneva, which for more than 30 

 miles forms a part of the French border, 

 is Swiss. Really, the only large lake in 

 all France is Grand-Lieu, just south of 

 Nantes, in Brittany, and it measures only 

 17,300 acres in extent. Another curious 

 geographical feature is that, the length 

 of coast considered, France is inade- 

 quately supplied with true seaports or 

 harbors capable of receiving and shelter- 

 ing large vessels. But the river ports 

 make good that deficiency to a consider- 

 able degree, and not only serve invaluably 

 thereby, but add greatly to the pictur- 

 esqueness of the country. 



We do not usually associate railroads 

 with anything except utility. But the 

 mesh of steel that so comprehensively 

 covers the land from end to end, and side 

 to side, is often a very striking element of 

 beauty. The shining metals bore through 

 the mountains and skim across crooked 

 gorges, parallel the great rivers and wind 

 among the splendidly cultivated farms. 

 Little toy locomotives, with shiny brass 

 bodies, pulling local trains, have all the 

 seeming of strays, as they amble at a 

 snail's pace among the fields or rumble 

 along the roads beside flocks of sheep, 

 through dusty little towns half asleep 

 and totally indifferent. 



Some of the lines, especially in the 

 south and southeast, have been built al- 

 most in defiance of Nature. Throughout 

 several of the mountainous provinces the 

 engineering difficulties have been enor- 

 mous ; but with tunnel and culvert, via- 



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