. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. Cler-mont-Ferrand below, and dozens of townlets andvillages scattered amid the cornfields and vine-yards, we may take any one of the score of littlestreets, steep as ladders placed against a wall, tothe Ville Noire below. Each and every one ofthese precipitous descents conduct us from the openheavens and broad landscape warm with sunshineto subterranean, almost preternatural darkness, ani-mated with the sound of a thousand hammers andmill-wheels. Only on the topmost storeys of thesegloomy factories are seen scarlet-runners and ivy,in sunny open
. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. Cler-mont-Ferrand below, and dozens of townlets andvillages scattered amid the cornfields and vine-yards, we may take any one of the score of littlestreets, steep as ladders placed against a wall, tothe Ville Noire below. Each and every one ofthese precipitous descents conduct us from the openheavens and broad landscape warm with sunshineto subterranean, almost preternatural darkness, ani-mated with the sound of a thousand hammers andmill-wheels. Only on the topmost storeys of thesegloomy factories are seen scarlet-runners and ivy,in sunny openings even roses and geraniums,pathetic bits of window gardening. Immediately bordering the dwarf and foamy Tar-tarus we see more caverns, picturesque in effect, thefunereal background relieved by the glow of thesmithy. Here all day long sit men and womenpolishing knife- and scissor-blades, wearing a strangelook of dignity and patience. Outside the townare pleasant open spaces where the aged sun them-selves and the bantlings play amid flowers and. ^N ^^ ^ ^ w x ROUND CLERMONT-FERRAND 167 trees. As elsewhere throughout France, toil hashere a cheerful side. Another ancient little town is Mont-Ferrand, soimposingly crowned by its fine church that from therailway it might be taken for some small cathedralcity. Like Clermont, it is lava-built and sombre tothe eye. Formerly a rival of Clermont itself,relics of its vanished splendour still remain tocharm the sketcher—rich old Renaissance hotels,dilapidated it may be, yet both within and withoutabounding in massive sculptures and elaboratedecorations; inner courts with winding stone stair-cases, having open embrasures, carved portals andpinnacles, each decayed dwelling-place still bearingits owners arms and heraldic decorations over theprincipal entrance. These are now let off in tene-ments to the very poorest, and as you wanderthrough the streets of Mont-Ferrand, do not fail tofollow the first witchlike-lookine old woman whobeckons y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectfranced, bookyear1910
