International studio (56.1915)

Impressions of Brittany in IBar Time

temporary casernes. Poilus encircling lavoirs
where they hammer and punch and pound their
personal belongings in imitation—and a good one
too—of the energetic Breton blanchisseuses. They
seem to wash everything they possess, in a perfect
frenzy of cleanliness, decorating the surrounding
bushes with every imaginable article of wearing
apparel, from scarlet cloth trousers to variegated
socks. And this
is now “ Peaceful
Brittany.”
Quimperteems
with military life.
Smart staff officers
take their coffee
on the terrasse of
the Hotel de
l’Epee where, on
the walls of the
big dining-room,
Le mordant’s
paintings of Big-
ouden life used
to be the load¬
stone of tourists.
But there are no
tourists now—I
almost selfishly
wrote “Thank
heaven ” — and,
indeed, one can¬
not help feeling
that France is
more French than
it has been for a
long, long time
and France
undiluted by
tourists is a new
country.
Little Pont
Aven, la coquette
de Finistere, is
positively in the sulks because Concarneau
has been favoured with soldiers and she has
not. Indeed, the rivalry that exists among the
different villages as to which shall have the
greatest number of “Piou-Pious” to house and
look after would be ludicrous if it were not so
sad.
Throughout the department of Finistere the
peasant women by common consent have adopted
universal mourning. One no longer sees gay cap
ribbons or coloured tabliers. And these women

of Brittany have taken on an air of greater dignity
in their sombre black garments. What matter if
they personally have not lost their loved ones :
they put on mourning out of respect to the heroes
who have so bravely given their lives “ pour la
Patrie.” Fete days and Pardons, it is all the same ;
the costumes of the Breton women form a sombre
black background to the gay toile of the fishermen
which is kept bril-
liant by frequent
dippings in dyes
ofdazzlingyellow
ochres and burnt
siennas.
Pont l’Abbe,
being so near
Quimper, is par-
ti cularlyfavoured
in the way of
troops. Thegreat
convent is full of
invalids, housed
and cared for by
the Religieuses
—but all the con-
vents of France
seem given up to
the care of the
wounded—and
these Religie-
uses, shrouded in
their picturesque
habits, add
greatly to the
beauty of the
wonderful scene
as they glide
through the
streets on their
quiet visits of
mercy.
Even the re-
fined beauty of
Quimperle has taken on a military aspect.
“ Les blesses ” seek the refreshing shadows of
the thick, beautifully clipped trees that make
such deliciously shaded alleys around the old
square.
But of all the towns of Finistere Douarnenez
strikes us as being most rampantly, what Americans
call “ It.” And to add another Americanism, it’s all
that and “ some more too.” Douarnenez is wonder-
ful ; it is so strong, so vibrant, so rich in vitality
that it acts upon one like a tonic. It makes one


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