Pere Lachaise, once an old Jesuit stronghold, is now the largest cemetery in Paris. It is said that there are more than eighteen thousand monuments here. The older part is much crowded, and we find here famous names connected with every age and profession.
Here is a granite pyramid, here one of white marble, and here the love of a nation commemorates with flowers the grave of a man whose resting-place no lofty monument marks, but who “lives forever in the hearts of the French people.” Here a monument whose sides exhibit bas-reliefs of the fable of the fox and stork, and the wolf and lamb, is surmounted by the figure of a fox carved in black marble. This is the tomb of Lafontaine. The little Gothic chapel yonder is the tomb of Abelard, whose effigy lies upon the sarcophagus within, and beside it is that of Heloise. This double monument is very lovely, although the signs of neglect and decay are plainly visible.
The military chiefs of Napoleon’s day sleep in this cemetery, and here lie the mortal remains of St. Pierre, the author of Paul and Virginia, of the great painter, David, of Pradier, the sculptor, the actress Rachel, and hundreds of others with whose names we are all familiar. The grounds are picturesque with winding paths, and cypress groves, and wreaths and flowers everywhere testify to the loving remembrance in which the dead are held by the living. The elevated position of Pere Lachaise gives one a fine view of the city. The grounds when first laid out in 1804, covered upward of forty acres; they now extend over more than two hundred acres, and it is said that $25,000,000 have been expended in monuments since this cemetery was opened.
Antwerp and the City of Windmills.
Antwerp and the City of Windmills.
From Paris to Antwerp—Along the Route—Thrifty Farmers—Antwerp—Dogs in Harness—The River—Old Churches—Chimes—An Inappreciative Listener—Steen Museum—Instruments of Torture—Lace Industry—Living Expenses—Hospitality—The City of Windmills—Watery Highways—A City of Canals—The Maas River—The Houses on the Canals—Travel by Boats—Novel Scenes—Costly Headgear—Dutch Costumes—Powerful Draught Horses—No Bonbons—Chocolate Candy—In the Market-Place—The Belle of the Market—Photographs—Wooden Shoes—Drawbridges—Blowing the Horn—Ancient Relics—The Sword of Columbus.