In the Heart of the Vosges | Page 9

the places I have mentioned are too unobtrusive ever
to become popular. "Nothing to see here, and nothing to do," would
surely be the verdict of most globe-trotters even on sweet Gérardmer
itself!

II
THE CHARM OF ALSACE
The notion of here reprinting my notes of Alsatian travel was suggested
by a recent French work--_À travers l'Alsace en flânant_, from the pen
of M. André Hallays. This delightful writer had already published
several volumes dealing with various French provinces, more
especially from an archaeological point of view. In his latest and not
least fascinating _flânerie_ he gives the experiences of several holiday
tours in Germanized France.
My own sojourns, made at intervals among French friends, _annexés_
both of Alsace and Lorraine, were chiefly undertaken in order to realize
the condition of the German Emperor's French subjects. But I naturally
visited many picturesque sites and historic monuments in both, the
forfeited territories being especially rich. Whilst volume after volume
of late years have appeared devoted to French travel, holiday tourists
innumerable jotting their brief experiences of well-known regions,
strangely enough no English writer has followed my own example. No
work has here appeared upon Alsace and Lorraine. On the other side of
the Channel a vast literature on the subject has sprung up. Novels,
travels, reminiscences, pamphlets on political and economic questions,
one and all breathing the same spirit, continue to appear in
undiminished numbers.
Ardent spirits still fan the flame of revolt. The burning thirst for
re-integration remains unquenched. Garbed in crape, the marble figure
of Strasburg still holds her place on the Place de la Concorde. The
French language, although rigidly prohibited throughout Germanized
France, is studied and upheld more sedulously than before Sedan. And

after the lapse of forty years a German minister lately averred that
French Alsatians were more French than ever. _Les Noëllets_ of René
Bazin, M. Maurice Barrès' impassioned series, _Les Bastions de l'Est_,
enjoy immense popularity, and within the last few months have
appeared two volumes which fully confirm the views of their
forerunners--M. Hallays' impressions of many wayfarings and _Après
quarante ans_ by M. Jules Claretie, the versatile, brilliant and much
respected administrator-general of the Comédie Française.
Whilst in these days of peace and arbitration propaganda the crime of
enforced denationalization seems more heinous than ever, there appears
little likelihood of the country conquered by Louis XIV., and
re-conquered by German arms a century and a half later, again waving
the Tricolour.
Let us hope, however, that some via media may be found, and that if
not recovering its lost privilege, the passionately coveted French name,
as a federal state Alsace and Lorraine may become independent and
prosperous.
For a comprehensive study of Alsace and its characteristics, alike social,
artistic and intellectual, readers must go to M. Hallays' volume. In
every development this writer shows that a special stamp may be found.
Neither Teutonic nor Gallic, art and handicrafts reveal indigenous
growth, and the same feature may be studied in town and village, in
palace, cathedral and cottage.
We must remember that we are here dealing with a region of very
ancient civilization. Taste has been slowly developed, artistic culture is
of no mushroom growth. Alsace formed the highroad between Italy and
Flanders. In M. Hallays' words, already during the Renaissance,
aesthetic Alsace blended the lessons of north and south, her genius was
a product of good sense, experience and a feeling of proportion. And he
points out how in the eighteenth century French taste influenced
Alsatian faïence, woven stuffs, ironwork, sculpture, wood-carving and
furniture, even peasant interiors being thereby modified. "Alsace," he
writes, "holds us spell-bound by the originality of culture and
temperament found among her inhabitants. It has generally been taken
for granted that native genius is here a mere blend of French and
German character, that Alsatian sentiment appertains to the latter stock,
intellectual development to the former, that the inhabitants think in

French and imagine in German. There is a certain leaven of truth in
these assumptions, but when we hold continued intercourse with all
classes, listen to their speech, familiarize ourselves with their modes of
life and mental outlook, we arrive again and again at one conclusion:
we say to ourselves, here is an element which is neither Teutonic nor
Gallic. I cannot undertake to particularize, I only note in my pages
those instances that occur by the way. And the conviction that we are
here penetrating a little world hitherto unknown to us, such novelty
being revealed in every stroll and chat, lends extraordinary interest to
our peregrination."
It is especially an artistic Alsace that M. Hallays reveals to us. Instead
of visiting battlefields, he shows us that English travellers may find
ample interest of other kind. The artist, the ecclesiologist, the art-loving
have here a storehouse of