TWO LA FOLLETTES VACATIONING IN PARIS
Follette, Fola La & Follette, Phil La
Two La Follettes Vacationing in Paris Beautiful Account of Visit to Historic Napoleon Landmarks; Chartres Cathedral With Its Wonderful Tower Described. By FOLA LA FOLLETTE By PHIL LA FOLLETTE At...
...The apartment is a charming place, looking out over the roofs of Paris and down into an old garden, part of which was once Racine's...
...It vibrates the tower, so much so that it scared me half to death—I was sure the whole tower was caving in...
...Triomphe to see the parade of the French veterans to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to rectify the profanation of the Communist demonstration at the time of the Sacco-Vanzetti demonstrations...
...have my sea legs by thirty-six hours...
...Then we went to the Arc de...
...The feet and hands are not perfect but are satisfactory...
...September 12 We are finishing up the odds and ends preparatory to my departure tomorrow morning...
...HIS BOAT is just the sort to come over on — everything spick and span...
...The passengers seem like a very nice lot...
...the mystery of beauty unified the past and the present...
...Sometime I should like to visit the country and see something of Darby O'Gill's land and people...
...It did give me a real impression of the night-life of the Parisian...
...With the whole statue cut in stone, my judgment would be that it will be a great piece of work and one we will all take great satisfaction in...
...You have been there and know what we saw...
...It was a thrill I shall always remember...
...It was Phil's first visit to the continent, and I rediscovered the beauty of this fascinating old city through his eyes...
...It is equipped with mechanical bicycles, electric horses (a la Coolidge), rowing, etc...
...I forgot in my latest letter to tell of my visit to Jo Davidson yesterday...
...Eustace...
...September 5. Saturday morning we got up and had a French breakfast, my first, and then took the train from the Gare des Invalides for Versailles...
...At noon he guided us up the winding stairs of the North tower to see and hear the-ringing of the bell...
...The face in plaster I cannot judge, but he is cutting a face in stone which brings out the lines, as plaster does not, and the face in stone is great...
...Arrived at 10 and stayed until 7:15 p. m. It is a great experience to see her...
...September 8. Yesterday we spent at Malmai-son...
...When he appeared (somewhat anxious at the ringing of the bell at that hour of the day), I said "La Follette" and wiggled my thumb indicating (?) whether someone of that name lived there, and he immediately replied in the affirmative...
...We spent enchanting days at Versailles, Fontainbieau and Chantilly, and went to mass one-Sunday morning in the cathedral of Notre Dame...
...We had a beautiful sunny day...
...the senses of sight and sound were enthralled...
...Another interesting person is a German doctor, a specialist in tuberculosis...
...my deck seat mate is a Russian engineer in business in London...
...The organ is deep and very moving...
...Monsieur Etienne Houvet, who has made a life study of these supreme examples of an art which has never reached such perfection as in the twelfth century glass of Chartres, took us about, explaining with loving devotion the legends and the wonders of thnr workmanship...
...then to a somewhat smaller joint where we (Jo and I) danced with Fola...
...I-azaro to rue Jacob takes one across the Seine through the Tuil-leries gardens, past the Louvre, the Place de la Concorde where one gets the sweep up and down the Champs Elysees...
...We went there for lunch and to see the statue...
...I am rather glad to have at least a sight of Ireland...
...all the comforts and luxuries one could want without the fuss and feathers of higher toned ones...
...The town certainly has a charm which is most individual...
...The drifting clouds lifted and the brilliant autumn sun flooded the jewelled windows...
...August 25, 1927...
...The way from St...
...He is a scholar and a mystic whose life has been devoted to the worship and interpretation of this earthly home of the blessed virgin...
...The afternoon we passed watching the changing light on the wonderful stained glass windows...
...The house is some 300 years old, with the quaint charm one would expect...
...As we traversed the imposing Place de la Concorde, I related to Phil Jo Davidson's account of how father had looked out on that beautiful vista with tears in his eyes, saying: "It is wicked to have lived so many years without seeing all this beauty...
...Phil was at home in this old world, and it was almost impossible to believe that he was making his first visit to this ancient city...
...Here I really feel in another world...
...There was a long and breathless pause...
...As I wrote you, I deeply enjoyed the ocean voyage, but when I got into that taxi and started out, I got a thrill...
...I have it alone (it is fitted for three people), so you will understand how roomy everything must be...
...By FOLA LA FOLLETTE By PHIL LA FOLLETTE At Sea, September 24th...
...And then we went to the Hotel de Reservoire where we had tea (the hotel where Madame de Maintenan lived), and then by train back to Paris...
...Yesterday was a beautiful day and we left at 8:45 for Chartres...
...August 27...
...There is there now a special exhibition of relics-—the map of Waterloo he used, Saint Helena bed, and garments, etc...
...On the train to Cherbourg I went over again in memory our precious hours...
...I shall be glad to get off the boat tomorrow morning though I have enjoyed every minute of the voyage...
...The solemn organ tones resounded through the vast arches...
...One realised as one looked out over the plains of this fertile country what that signal must have meant when the entire life of the community was focused in this cathedral...
...I feel relaxed as I haven't in a long, long while...
...Somehow one gets in touch with the whole emotional past of the church in being there during a service (the same in form for the last hundreds of years...
...That organ—and those windows in the slowly gathering gloom...
...We started out with quite a little roll on the sea and I found myself not quite as steady as on the former trip...
...I got much more satisfaction out of it than the Invalides...
...time rolled back and we became as children of the middle ages...
...Never in sill my life have I seen such color and such optical illusions as one gets from these windows at Chartres...
...then to the Cafe Dome and Rotonde...
...We afterwards saw two more churches, but they left no such lasting impression as St...
...It :s filled, of course, with the over-polish and gilt of the First Empire, but through it all there pervades some sense of the young spirit of the Corsican...
...Yesterday I tried out the gymnasium for the first time...
...Then a taxi ride around the Louvre and back home for a delicious dinner...
...I had wired Fola of my train hut we missed each other at the station...
...Everywhere Phil's yivid and dramatic recalling of historical associations colorad and revivified my impressions...
...We went and examined the glass windows...
...From that tower, for centuries, the solemn tolling had signalled the individual and communal joys and tragedies of paupers, peasants and nobles...
...At six o'clock the doors of the cathedral were closed for the organ recital...
...It was a rare treat...
...Denis, we went to Chantilly with the old forest which we drove through in an old carriage for an hour or more...
...After St...
...I am confident I am going to get'a great rest...
...it has a movement and liveness that are very fine...
...Education is a subtle process...
...Every place we went the old French Johnnies who had known Jo from his student days and who had not seen him for years, rushed up to greet him...
...It was impressive of what sort of life the kings lived in from Louis quat-orze to Louis seize...
...dusk and the dying sunlight—I never expect to be nearer heaven by physical stimuli...
...which increased into a real crescendo as I saw the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe...
...When Fola arrived I was already shaving and in quite a settled state...
...I reached 20 rue Jacob, but the front looked like the shopping district, so I stopped the taxi and rang the concierge's bell...
...It is rung by jumping on a, cross bar at the top of bell and takes his whole weight swinging in rhythm to ring it...
...Yesterday morning Fola and I got up and went to High Mass at Notre Dame...
...So my introduction to Paris has been most thrilling...
...was formerly in the diplomatic service, a very delightful and charming fellow...
...An admission fee was charged and most of the visitors who had been moving through the aisles all day long vanished...
...The officials of the line and the officers were very nice to me from the time I arrived...
...After Fola and I had visited a bit we walked out to the bank of the Seine and to the Port Michel where we got a vista of Notre Dame, and then over to the front portico...
...September 1. This morning we saw land, and are now following the Irish coastline to Queenstown which we expect to reach in about three-quarters of an hour...
...It was a passage that father had often read aloud and held touching memories for us both...
...Then Fola and I had lunch together out in front of on* of the nearby restaurants on the banks of the Seine, looking at Notre Dame as we had our meal...
...The cathedral is, of course, an anti-climax to Chartres but is very interesting historically...
...Wise and sympathetic parents had encouraged a small boy's fancy for collecting autographed photographs of his childish heroes, and this early enthusiasm had made the more mature study of distant times and places vivid and living experiences...
...We paused, looked back, and spontaneously together voiced the same thought: "I wish we could have spent the night there enfolded in that peace and beauty like the pilgrims of old...
...I think I should folded us...
...I shall not try to describe it in detail but will give just an impression or two...
...start...
...I was constantly delighted and entertained by the rich and vivid historical associations that all our pilgrimages evoked...
...My cabin is on the boat deck, delightfully comfortable in every way...
...September 10 While Fola is getting ready to go out, I will write you another note...
...So your good husband creaked his terrible French into action, got a taxi, and told the driver very slowly "Vang-Ruc Ja-Kobe," and started on his way down tho streets of Paris...
...Eustace church which gets hold of you in a very extraordinary way...
...Lazare station at 5:30...
...This has been great, but I do want a sample of Germany and Austria...
...Together we wandered through the old irtreets, visiting Napoleon's tomb, where Phil repeated from memory Robert Ing-ersoll's prose poem inspired by the same scene on which we looked...
...In the days when educators were less given to emphasizing the importance of the child's own enthusiasm and interest Phil had spontaneously worked out a "project method" of his own which had its origin in the diversified interests of the friends who came to our home, and in the colorful contacts with individuals from many other countries which the Washington environment offered...
...After dinner 'about 10 p. m.) he suddenly said 1 ought to see Paris, so he, Fola and I started out in his car (a Peugot and very "magnifique") for a round of Paris...
...PILGRIMS A last look out over the ancient gray roofs of Paris and I said good bye to the old studio in the Latin quarter where Mid and I had lived during the two years of 1920 and 1921, and where I had passed most of this Summer...
...I was reminded again and again of how his childish interest in collecting autographed photographs of distinguished Europeans had stimulated and inspired his study of history...
...Then after an early tea we came back for the organ recital at 6. Not more than two or three besides us there in the whole cathedral...
...Denis where we saw the tombs of the old kings...
...a benediction of peace and calm enS. S. Munchen...
...There is only one other passenger on this deck, so it is very quiet and secluded...
...First to the Cafe de la Paix where we sat out on the curb and watched the people pass...
...We went through the Crypt and then accompanied the chap who has made a life-long study of the place...
...This morning we went to St...
...After lunch we went to St...
...Then into the chateau which has the marvelous exhibition of paintings...
...Fola has been a choice and rare guide and companion—I shall never forget all »h« has done for me on this trip...
...We climbed to the top of the towers, around the outside rim of the church, and watched the bell-ringer ring the gigantic bell...
...September 7. I was somewhat disappointed in the atmosphere of Napoleon's tomt>—too much noise on the part of the visitors and too much or-nateness on the part of the decorators...
...I renewed acquaintance with the sonneur who Conducted us all about the exterior, enthusiastically pointing out his most treasured views of the subtle beauties of construction...
...September 3. Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the St...
...Especially tb/jt wooded lane from the house to his little pavilion where he worked alone...
...We first went through the palace, and then took a horse and carriage and drove through the park, to the Grande and then the Petite Trianon...
...The body is excellent...
...So I climbed the six flights to the apartment and was admitted by the dear old Marie (who was with Fola so long...
...I rode 1 Vi miles ->n the bicycle, and a half-hour on ihe horse, and again this morning have had a workout...
...Jo Davidson came in for dinner, and he and I hit it off right from the...
...Even in plaster (which is difficult to get the proper light on), one gets a sense of Daddy that is deeply satisfying...
...It caught and holds some part of the personality of Napoleon...
...It is wonderful to see it for the first time, but there is an even subtler joy in the renewal of the experience through shaving one's most treasured haunts with a sympathetic comrade...
...An hour of magic, then silence, and quietly Phil and I passed through the little side door out into the wind swept town, down a winding old street leading to the station...
...Wandering about Paris with Phil deepened my reverence for the creative power of children's enthusiasms...
...The place had been doubly endeared to me by the ten happy days that I had just had there with Phil...
...Four silent and awed listeners remained in this vast temple whece ten or fifteen thousand had often gathered for worship...
...When I got to my room Fola had the N. Y. Times photo of the baby on my mirror, so I was really welcomed...
...We spent a day at Chartres, •wandering about that noble cathedral, which is one of the supremely beautiful architectural creations of all time...
...It was an impressive ceremony...
...I have a New York banker on one side at the table, a Chicago Italian banker (very- pro-Mussolini) on the other...
...I shall go to Vienna, via Strassburg and Munich...
Vol. 19 • October 1927 • No. 10
