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Matilda Betham-Edwards - Holidays in Eastern France
like this. Drink and debauchery fill the prisons, and the taint of immorality is not limited to one class
alone. How can it be otherwise? seeing that while the heads of families openly profess unbelief, and
deride their priests, they permit their wives and daughters to go to confession, and confide their children
to the spiritual teachers they profess to abhor? This point was clearly brought out by the Pere Hyacinthe
in one of his recent discourses in Paris, and his words struck home. Next to the celibate priesthood, it is
the army that brings about such a state of things. Householders in Lons-le-Saunier will tell you that, no
matter whether their female servants be young, middle-aged, or old, they have to bar and bolt their doors
at night as if against marauding Arabs in remote settlements of Algeria. Even when these precautions are
taken, the sound of whistling outside the kitchen door at nightfall will often indicate the presence of
loafers on their evil quest. In the rural districts domestic morality is at a very low ebb also, and on the
whole there is much to be done here by both reformer and educationalist.
I left Lons-le-Saunier early on a bright September morning, the children being lifted, still drowsy, out of
their little beds to bid their English friend good-bye. Several diligences start simultaneously from the
Bureau des Messageries here for different places in the heart of the Jura, so that tourists cannot do
better than make this a starting place. No matter what direction they take, they will find themselves
landed in the midst of glorious mountain scenery, and romantic little towns and valleys, unknown to the
majority of the travelling world. This is the charm of travelling in these parts. The tourist is breaking
virgin soil wherever he goes, and if he has to rough it at every stage, at least he receives substantial
reward. My route, marked out for me beforehand by experienced Jurassiens, lay by way of
Champagnole and Morez to St. Claude, the ancient little bishopric in the heart of the Jura highlands,
thence to Nantua, thus zig-zagging right through the country.
CHAPTER X. CHAMPAGNOLE AND MOREZ.
On quitting Lons-le-Saunier for Champagnole, our way led through rich tracts of vineyard; but no sooner
were we fairly among the mountains than the vine disappeared altogether, and scant culture and pastures
took its place. We also soon perceive the peculiar characteristics of the Jura range, which so essentially
distinguish it from the Alps. These mountains do not take abrupt shapes of cones and sugar-loaves, but
stretch out in vast sweeps with broad summits and lateral ridges, features readily seized, and lending to
the landscape its most salient characteristics. Not only are we entering the region of lofty mountains and
deep valleys, but of numerous industrial centres, also the land of mediaeval warfare and legend, whence
arose the popular saying:
"Comtois, rends-toi,
Nenni, ma foi."
Our journey, of four hours, takes us through a succession of grandiose and charming prospects, and
lonely little villages, at which we pick up letters, and drop numbers of Le Petit Journal, probably
all the literature they get. Gorge, crag, lake and ravine, valley, river, and cascade, pine forests crowning
sombre ridges, broad hill-sides alive with the tinkling of cattle bells, pastoral scenes separating frowning
peaks, all these we have to rejoice the eye and much more. The beautiful Lake of Challin, we only see in
the distance, though most enticingly inviting nearer inspection, and all this valley of the Ain might,
indeed, detain the tourist several days. The river Ain has its source near Champagnole, and flows through
a broad beautiful valley southwards, but the only way to get an idea of the geography of the place is to
climb a mountain, maps avail little.
On alighting at the Hotel Dumont, the sight of an elegant landlady, in spotless white morning gown, was
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