Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1920 — The Charm of Toulouse [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Charm of Toulouse

A WANDERER coming from Provence, westward, the historic capital of Languedoc, and looking for the first time"upon the ancient towers of Toulouse, may well wonder whether they are Indeed old, so modern Is the appearance of the red brick, after the gray-gold stones of the Roman Provence. Old, nevertheless, they are, though differing in style, as in color, from any thing to be seen in other parts of Paris. The Toulousaln gothic has a character all its own; for the true spirit of northern architecture —that of the soaring Une—never became indigenous here, says a writer in the Christian Science Monitor. These southerners accepted it only as a fashion of the day, to which concessions must be made; that granted, they proceeded at cnee 'to modify the style, to suit the local traditions of a people that at heart loved a horizontal line better than an aspiring bne. So they declined to build interior- vertical pillars—which, moreover, needed large stones and were very expensive—and Instead they threw great vaults over wide spaces, broke up- their towers into bays, z generally mingled. In « vefy curious fashion, the-spirit of the gothic and the Romanesque. These are points that strike one about the great cathedral of St Sernin in Toulouse, the largest and finest building of the southern style that is to be seen In France today.

Cathedral'of St, Bernln. As usual In churches hereabouts, the building Is dark, being lighted by windows behind the triforium, and not from a clerestory above. The Romanesaue manner did not relieve Its main walls by distributing part of the weight along flying buttresses to the aisles; therefore it dared not build them very high, nor weaken them by piercing large windows. Toulousaln congregations, however, never cared for much light within their churches. There was already more than enough, without ( , Very Interesting was my walk round the church, with the sacristan beside me, a handsome, kindly man, gentle and courteous, yet with a certain dignity In his manner, as of one who, though in a humble station, knew well how to command.. I liked the quiet firmness with which he rebuked the old women who would chatter too loudly In the transport As we did the round of the church .we talked together. He told me how deeply he cared for knowledge and learning, how much he regretted that such things meant so little to so many people of his country. “They are lizards who love to lie In the sun; and It is the sun we must blame”—be smiled at his jest—“if my fellowtownsmen are neither savants nor workers, and are too idle to follow up the idea that their minds seize upon so quickly. That is why when we have energy we do so well. I say often that some of our best presidents have come —Mr. Fallieres among them —from the left bank of the Garonne.” And with a bow the sacristan left me, to continue "my studies.” He was the most eloquent of the many who have deplored to me the meridional disinclination to hard work. There is a proverb extant: “The men of the Midi use what the men of the north produce." The men of the north, I suppose, produced that proverb. Houses are Fascinating. After the churches—perhaps even before the churches—her renaissance hotels are the greatest charm of Toulouse. Abd by "hotels" I mean houses, not hostela Certainly they are most fascinating, both as iiperi mens of architecture of their time, and as affording an idea of the magnificence in which the merchant princes of that day lived. Almost all styles of renaissance are to be Been, from that of the Hotel Barony—transi-

tional from Gothic to the lightest and most graceful designs of the new manner —to the Hotel d’Asseat, when the architects had already lost some of the first pure enthusiasm with which they ylewed Italian art in the days of Francis L and onward Into the less refined, though rich and luxuriant style of the Maison de Pierre, built in the days of Louis XIII. The Hotel %e Vieux Raisin, I think, gave me the greatest pleasure, so perfectly felicit.ous It is, as seen from the courtyard; The 1 little loggia, daintily (decorated, the windows all variously adorned, and showing upon every sill, pilaster, and headstohe, a new device of scroll, garland, or festoon; .Here two maidens, bearing proudly and gladly their light lintel border; here full-cheeked, soft-winged cherubs who have fluttered down, to rest awhile in these pleasant places. Beside them are baskets of fruit, hanging bunches of grapes and wreaths of flowers—frail and exquisite little fancies, carved like love-lyrics that nymphs of the fountain write- with milk-white fingers upon the walls of their watergrottoes. Elsewhere leaf-words are written In leaveh so naturelike as almost to tremble in the breeze, and to keep the courtyard fresh and cool beneath the torrid southern sun. Everywhere you will find in Toulouse, set down in stone among her palaces, such aery gossamer trifles as Joachim du Bellay and Remy de Belleau were fashionlng, during those same years, -in song. Sitting here I can look out upon the Place Lafayette, where—because it is raining heavily—-the cabmen sit, hunched upon the boxes of their blue cabs with bright red wheels. With heads sunk down into their shoulders, like? the anthropophagi of Othello’s story, these Jehus of TouiouSe sleep the Idle hours away. One of them has spread a great faded blue umbrella so far over himself and over his box that only 'his feet are visible. Those feet recall Tweedledum —or\Tweedledee, was It—sheltering from the storm; But there will be no need for long shelter, here. Before an hour has passed the sun will be warm again upon the shining pave.

In the Museum Courtyard, Toulouse.