THE ROUTE TO TOULOUSE--GREAT MACHINES ON THE ROADS OF
FRANCE--DELIGHTS OF AN AUTO--TOULOUSE--ITS UNIVERSITY--THE CHÂTEAU
DE ST. ELIX
There is nothing of interest between Carcassonne and Toulouse and so we
speed along at thirty-six miles an hour on the wide highways reaching
Toulouse at eleven o'clock A.M.; seventy-five miles in just two hours
is quite fast enough, for the wings again come out and the sensation
is therefore as near angelic as mortal man is permitted to enjoy. The
projection of our hood prevents that incurling of dust, which is the
curse of autos without these tops, and I find that my linen keeps
remarkably clean. I could have gotten along with much less clothing,
and I have only a shirt case full as it is. A dress-suit case with
perhaps the addition of a hand-bag, will hold all that a man needs.
Such a ride as that of to-day demonstrates one of the many advantages
of an auto over a carriage and horses. One can loiter when desirable,
but one can also pass quickly over the tedious stretches which
must occur in all journeys. To-day, for instance, we covered the
seventy-five miles with actual pleasure, while the journey in a
carriage would have taken two long, hot dusty days of absolutely no
interest.
An auto is also cheaper than a team. I could not have hired any sort of
horses and a comfortable trap for less than ten dollars a day and could
use the team certainly not longer than ten hours per day, whereas this
machine, a 25-horse-power, at twenty dollars per day, costs me less
than a dollar an hour and can be used every hour of the twenty-four.
So that ride of seventy-five miles, all expenses included, cost about
two dollars. Of course, the expense of renting an auto by the month
counts in the possible delays by sickness, or otherwise, but I have so
far had none of these occur, and if I may be allowed to anticipate,
can state that in the three months' tour covering nearly five thousand
miles, I was never laid up save when I so desired. If I had owned the
machine, my expenses would have been enormous. Mr. B. of New York,
whose auto (a new one) met him at Naples, told me that he had spent
one thousand dollars in tires between that city and Paris. I have paid
my twenty dollars per day, and no extras save the board and lodging
of my chauffeur. If I lived in Paris I should own an auto, but under
no other circumstances. It is always cheaper and more satisfactory to
rent than to own. This holds good with electrics as well as gasoline.
For three seasons I rented an electric in Newport. It was brought in
the morning and taken away at any hour I desired, late or early, and
all expenses were covered by the two hundred dollars per month. For two
seasons there I owned an electric which cost me certainly one hundred
dollars per month and I had it barely half the time and was never sure
of it. It ended by my giving it to my brother-in-law, who has scarcely
spoken to me since. If you own, your chauffeur, like your butler,
is forced to be in league with the tradesman. If you rent, he makes
nothing by accident or delay and runs the risk of being dismissed by
_his_ employer if the car meets with accidents or delay through his
fault. Of course, the pleasure, and a great one, of running the car
is lost. I have not and shall not attempt that at all, as I well know
that if I ran it but ten feet and all went well, any accident which
occurred during the after time would be attributed to that ten feet.
I should certainly wish to feel very sure of myself before running a
great car on these roads where those of tremendous speed are constantly
passing me. The slightest nervousness or error as to handle bars would
mean death to all. I neglected to add that owners of cars must insure
against all accidents, and also insure the life of the driver, whereas
renting, as I did, from a responsible party, all that was upon his
shoulders, not mine. If the car had been wrecked past repair and the
chauffeur killed, in fact, from every sort of accident, I was held
blameless.
When I dismissed it at Geneva, I asked George whether it would be of
service for another long tour. "Certainly, sir. It would be well to
expend about one hundred dollars on it, but it would go all right
without even that. We have covered nearly five thousand miles and it
is in very good condition. Also we have met with no losses, save a few
pneumatics." But I anticipate--
I noticed at Montpellier, when Jean thought a new envelope was
necessary for one of the rear wheels, he telegraphed to the owner at
Nice before he bought it.
Toulouse, a city of 150,000 people, is one of the most prosperous in
France, but it is not a place of interest for the tourist, and if the
automobilist finds dusty, disagreeable roads anywhere in France it will
be around this city of the Southwest, because of the very high winds
prevailing in this section. Its past dates back some centuries before
its capture by the Romans, and around and in it history has been made
hard and fast throughout all these passing years until the present,
when it is happy, contented, and prosperous, even if commonplace. It
possesses probably the oldest literary institution in Europe, dating
from 1300, and one which observes the singular custom of distributing
flowers of gold and silver to its laureates; all of its prizes take the
form of different flowers in gold or silver.
But this does not interest the ordinary mortal and as we roll into the
city over her rough pavements, I feel ordinary,--the high, hot winds
irritate, and I am glad, after a very comfortable luncheon at a very
good hotel to start forth towards Pau.
The people of Toulouse have evidently never seen a Japanese before and
I feel sorry for Yama, so great is the crowd around us at all times,
but if he objects to the scrutiny his stolid, expressionless face gives
no sign thereof.
The day becomes hot as we turn southward toward St. Gaudens. About
an hour and a half out, an ancient château, evidently unpolluted by
restoration, is seen on the right. I hesitate as to whether I shall
stop, but it is hot and we are moving so well that I give up the idea,
when, _pop!_ a tire is torn wide open. Now we must stop and not three
hundred yards from the château, which an old peasant, washing clothes
in a brook, tells me is well worth a visit, and the lord of the manor
willing to allow one. In the meantime poor Jean is down in the dust
and when he pulls out the pneumatic finds a hole as large as a dime.
Heat is the worst enemy of these pneumatics as the delicate rubber will
not stand it. However, the work is finally done and we move off to the
entrance of the Château de St. Elix. It is surrounded by its village
and one approaches through an avenue guarded by stately gates. A wide
moat in which water still flows is crossed by an ancient bridge, and
beyond rises a structure of the date of Francis I. A central portion
with an enormously high mansard roof is supported by two huge round
towers, one on either side, crowned by cone-shaped tops. A winding step
leads to the main portal, where a servant stands awaiting my approach.
"I am a traveller, will it be permitted to inspect the château? I am
told it is of great interest." I hand in my card which is carried
to the master off somewhere in the out-buildings, which on one side
appear to be stables, on the other, gardener's cottages and hot-houses.
When he comes I meet a pleasant-faced young Frenchman, who smilingly
conducts me to the house, his home, to which he seems much attached,
and to me it proved most interesting.
A long wide hall leads straight from the front door out upon a rear
terrace which overlooks a great square garden holding many rows of
cedar trees cut in all sorts of fantastic shapes, no two alike. One
represents a huge bird upon its nest, another a layer of mushrooms,
while a third is round as a ball, and a fourth square as a box. "They
have been trimmed that way for centuries and would not know how to grow
otherwise."
But to return to the house. We enter a vast apartment with heavy
rafters gilded, and in blue. Its walls are hung in ancient Flemish
tapestry and a huge fire-place occupies one end. There are many curious
pictures and ancient objects of art. Evidently the place has remained
unchanged for centuries. What a sense of repose these places afford
one, how far off the bustle of the world seems! I mention this to
mine host, but he shakes his head replying, "There is little peace in
France." In one of the great round towers is a library, and behind the
salon a wide drawing-room where things are of the fashion of the great
Louis, and where that monarch would not feel the lapse of years or out
of place if he could return. Crimson damask, fast going to tatters,
cover the walls, from which ladies in high wigs and gentlemen in court
dresses question "your presence here in such a costume." The Grand
Mademoiselle is in great array, but Marie Antoinette knows the vanity
and sorrow of all things and smiles sadly at you. Here I discover
that the present family have owned the château for only one century.
The portraits are all of the ancient race who died out long ago. That
painting under the groined roof of the great hall is of the last of
that line, the Baron de St. Elix, who died childless and so the house
passed to strangers. Whether the Terror was the cause of his death or
not, I could not discover, but that man in the hall would have gone
to the guillotine with dignity, of that I am sure. If his shade ever
returns, he must feel grieved at the sadness of these old towers of his
race. Some of that same sadness is reflected in the face of the present
owner as he watches us speed away into the greater world of which he
knows so little and which means life and progress to him. The sunlight
strikes athwart the ancient portal and the stately towers, turning the
garden into green and gold, lighting the village and its ancient dames
in a sad sort of fashion, emphasizing the silence which is a part of it
all.
A turn in the long avenue and we are off and away down the dusty
highway, leaving the Château de St. Elix to its dull repose.