. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. r this halt wras easy and pleasantenough, and we could afford to look with a superiorair on those ill-advised travellers who had firststayed to breakfast below, and were now toilingupward in the heat of the day, hot and dispirited. Is it much higher? they asked of us, as wejauntily skipped down, and we were bound to shakeour heads solemnly and answer in the every turn we were obliged to pause and admirethe delicate beauty of the mountain sides, velvetygreen, and fringed with the loveliest crimson androse-coloured pinks, filling t
. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. r this halt wras easy and pleasantenough, and we could afford to look with a superiorair on those ill-advised travellers who had firststayed to breakfast below, and were now toilingupward in the heat of the day, hot and dispirited. Is it much higher? they asked of us, as wejauntily skipped down, and we were bound to shakeour heads solemnly and answer in the every turn we were obliged to pause and admirethe delicate beauty of the mountain sides, velvetygreen, and fringed with the loveliest crimson androse-coloured pinks, filling the air writh fragrance. On our arrival at the starting-place we foundmany family groups breakfasting under the ascent was evidently a favourite excursion, notonly to the rich, but of all classes, some making itbravely on foot from Clermont. I do not know why the Puy de Dome should be myfavourite mountain, but so it is. Never did it looklovelier than when ten years later I looked backfrom the train on my way to Lyons, as with its sister. a Qa ft. ROUND CLERMONT-FERRAND 165 volcanoes, pyramid upon pyramid of warm purple,it towered above the green Limagne; gradually thelower heights receded from view, at last nothing wasleft but that solitary dome of amethyst under thegolden heaven. Thiers, the Vitle Noire of George Sands perfectlittle novel so called, should be visited by allsojourners at Clermont-Ferrand. The railway takesyou thither in an hour and a half, and you comeupon it suddenly at the last. Never surely was alittle town of knife-grinders and scissors-makers sosuperbly situated ! Its site is worthy of a Granadaor at least of a cathedral city. Instead, however,of cresting spires and noble towers, these grandheights, commanding the vast Limagne, are crownedwith modest cottage ornes of retired or flourishingartisans; whilst sheer below—you might almost dropa plummet line from the upper town to the lower—are massed together busy workshops beside a rockyravine, am
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectfranced, bookyear1910
