le little, puny, weak-eyed, pale children. The woman told me she
had six--all lived there--one man was sitting on the bed mending a net,
another on the floor drinking some black stuff out of a cup--I think
the baby was drinking the same--two or three children were stretching
big nets on the top of the cliff--they, too, looked miserable little
specimens of humanity, bare-legged, unkempt, trousers and jackets in
holes; however, the woman was quite cheerful--didn't complain nor ask
for money. The men accepted two francs to drink our health. One wonders
how children ever grow up in such an atmosphere without light or air or
decent food.

The drive home was beautiful--not nearly so lonely. Peasants and
fishermen were coming back from their work--women and children driving
the cows home. We noticed, too, a few little, low, whitewashed cottages
in the fields, almost hidden by the sand-hills, which we hadn't seen
coming out.

HARDELOT.

Hardelot was a great resource to us. It is a fine domain, beautiful pine
woods running down to the sea--a great stretch of green meadow and a
most picturesque old castle quite the type of the chateau-fort. The
castle has now been transformed into a country club with golf-links,
tennis, and well-kept lawns under big trees which give a splendid shade
and are most resting to the eye after the glare of the beach. There is
no view of the sea from the castle, but from the top of the towers on a
fine day one just sees a quiver of light beneath the sky-line which
might be the sea.

The chateau has had its history like all the old feudal castles on the
sea-board and has changed hands very often, being sometimes French and
sometimes English. It was strongly fortified and resisted many attacks
from the English before it actually came into their possession. Part of
the wall and a curious old gate-way are all that remain of the feudal
days. The castle is said to have been built by Charlemagne. Henry VIII
of England lived in it for some time, and the preliminaries of a treaty
of peace between that monarch and Francois I were signed there--the
French and English ambassadors arriving in great state--with an endless
army of retainers. One wonders where they all were lodged, as the castle
could never have been large--one sees that from the foundations; but I
fancy habits were very simple in those days, and the suites probably
slept on the floor in one of the halls with all their clothes on, the
troopers ke