far-off blue mountains, in striking contrast.

The sloping green banks, starred with the grass of Parnassus, and musical
with a dozen streams, the pastoral dwellings, each with its patch of
flower garden and croft; the glades, dells and natural terraces are all
sunny and gracious as can be; but round about and high above frown
inaccessible granite peaks, and pitchy-black forest summits, impenetrable
even at this time of the year. As we look down we see that roads have
been cut round the mountain sides, and that tiny homesteads are perched
wherever vantage ground is to be had, yet the impression is one of
isolation and wildness. The town lies in no narrow cleft, as is the case
with many little manufacturing towns in the Jura, but in a vast opening
and falling back of the meeting hills and mountain tops, so that it is
seen from far and wide, and long before it is approached. We had made the
first part of our journey at a snail's pace. No sooner were we on the
verge of the hills looking down upon La Bresse, than we set off at a
desperate rate, spinning breathlessly round one mountain spur after
another, till we were suddenly landed in the village street, dropped, as
it seemed, from a balloon.

A curious feature to be noted in all the places I have mentioned is the
outer wooden casing of the houses. This is done as a protection against
the cold, the Vosges possessing, with the Auvergne and the Limousin, the
severest climate in France. La Bresse, like Gerardmer and other sweet
valleys of these regions, is disfigured by huge factories, yet none can
regret the fact, seeing what well-being these industries bring to the
people. Beggars are numerous, but we are told they are strangers, who
merely invade these regions during the tourist season.

Remiremont, our next halting-place, may be reached by a pleasant carriage