THE SEINE

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13645, 31 January 1910, Page 7

THE SEINE

A BEAUTIFUL AN T D HISTORIC RIVER.

Writing of the Seine in 'Harper's Magazine," Miss Marie Van Vorsfc. says:— j "Prom its birth, eighteen miies above [ Dijon, as far as the sea, there is no suggestion at any time of a wilderness; thrfro is no wild note to infract upon its harmony; not once does the tone of accomplishment and finish fail to sound out: and< although there is nothing of either adventure or excitement to the tiaveller journeying alongside the tranquil river, whose current is never aggressive, there is -with every mile a i scuw of grace and finish, and the pleasure one must indubitably take in flw contemplation of a tasteful, highly lovely setting. The- Seine is born, as it | were, in a discreet, finished,'and perloctly decorous fashion. There is even something of coquetry in its cnviroun.cnt. As the traveller picks his path through the muddy marshes in the country of the province or,Burgogne he sees, wrapped in the solitude of a few pine trees, a shaded grotto, whose cosl remoteness secludes the mystery properly surrounding the birth of a great river. The Seine journeys through mtnicroua littio towns, whose picturesque stores, almost falling into the river, date back to tb© thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Mussy snr iSeine, Bur sur Seine settling contentedly down in ilic fragrant valleys surrounded by plenty and peace. The churches in these -*hcse hamlets are Tvell worth the finding, ana full of interest as relics of feudal, and Roman times. There are other rivers whose pleasant streams intersect

CABLE NEWS.

tho country in these regions—the Beuuce, tho exquisite little Yoniie — and thero is so nnieli refreshment to the country that there is rarcJr tiny drought) here, where the* white grapes hipKow, where tha famous buncftro of globules grow red aud warm to the wim? harvests, white houeca nud old churches lio in the green of environing lields and , hiks. and tiu? towers of ail old abbey or Gothic spires of c precious cathedral blot against the sky. lioman or Norman gateways,- with pointed tcuvera and sharp gables, flank toino little township, or face, like the eyes of n, venerable sage, meadows v;h:re harvests have been reaped from Char's time to the present; or the walls of a Roman ruin will rise up on the Burguudian plain, or the old walls will eat their way around a tumbiedown medern village. Ever more and iuor>) complete in conception and workmanship i≤ the tide of architectural creation progressive towards Rouon and Paris, the buttresses of cathedral or church towers lose themselves in the distance cr perceptible shadows in the- «niinmer atmosphere.

'"Ways vl wood and meadow are now exchanged for the suburbs, and the crude ugliness of factories and seething little towns crowd to the hanks, and as it comes to Paris the Seine makes nc triumphal entry. Gray and turbid, it steals and flows into the city, whose laughter nnd whose sighs, whose traced ice and tears, whose gaiety and ' whose pleasures, ivbase arts and whose commerce, have made it bright with all the luminance ot a star, :;nd unique among tho capitals—the first eight of the city, whose thirty-one bridges wait to cross the seven mile How ot the Seine, in the round of. the nave of Notr? Dame, and the painted towere of Par s. Along its shores many cargoes lie of stone and brick and marble; the trafF.c on barges and canal boats is important, transportation is easy along the swift current, and up and down, from the quays of the city, from suburbs anil environs, past the lie Saint Louis am: the lie -ie la Cite, rush and push the 'bateaux mouches,' light and agile as the flight of the insects for which they were named. Tho river can sp'ro.td cairn on a tide, tideless as a basin here in midsummer, end then is the time to lenn over the bridges to see Notre Dame, white as a ghost, rise against the sky; to see the straight, "brave course the stream takes through the city; to see the vistas that the avenues make on either bank.; to see the boat lights and the shore lights shine out like stars of yellow, green, and red; to see rows upon rows of city Limps with their lemon-coloured brilliance —the high dark lines of turrets and gables and roofs of the harmonious buildings. The waters are unruffled by any breeze, and along their surface lie the reflections of the myriad lights, a singular fringe multi-coloured, that trembles and dips and quivers, shakes like the tongues of coloured bells, like weird seaweed lying all along the Seine. There are many beautifu , . bridges, and their arches and statues mark "the triumph of kings and emperors. There Z.TP others who:se names eelebrrsto victories and battle. There is the river bridge marking the alliance of Russia and France; and underneath them, and the scenes of warfare that Austerlitz, Jena and Alma suggest, the Seine flows swiftly.