Tower Stairs To The Vosges.

on the Sou-west angle , and bringing the outlines , especially of the magnificent west front , into splendid relief . However , I could only stay a few days this time , and had a little difficulty in getting away , for a firm of bankers ( Jews ) declined to cash my cheque on London in less than four days , although they were assured of my identity , so T found myself with exactly my railway fare to Nancy , and 4 pennige

( id . ) over for incidentals—saying to myself " here show do you do ;' a " happy thought struck me — went to the Fnglisher Hof ( I'hotel d"Ang leterre ) inside of which I had never been before , ordered a little dinner , was not satisfied with the expensive wines on the ' carte , " so the head waiter got me just what I wanted , some good country wine , called for my bill and handed him my cheque , for which they

at once gave me change , so I must ever say a word against the grand hotels again , and it was not that I gave an extensive order . 1 have the bill before me , 2 marks , 60 pf . all told ; I could then afford a cigarette , and walked out , the money market , much easier , in fact , not at all tig ht . Rail to Nancy next day , over and through the Vosges Mountains , how cold it got about Saverne , but very

bracing . At d'Avricourt wc found ourselves once more in France , and nig ht fell upon us before we reached Nancy . The Hotel d'Alsace having been recommended to me , I found it a plain but very good house ; nice bed-room , 2 francs , dejeuner and dinner of four or five courses , dessert , and abundance of excellent red wine , 2 francs each , and cafe coraplet , served in your room in the

morning , b'Oe . —total , 5 s . 3 M . per diem , no extras and capital cooking . Nancy was quite deserted , everyone away for the summer , so , reading in my paper one morning ( see the value of advertising ) that op em and opera bonffe were being given at Gerardmer , away up in the Vosges , I cashed a cheque at the Credit Lyonnais—without

any difficulty , though they did not know me—and found myself there in time for dinner . It is one of the deli ghts of travelling not to know one day where you will be the next , never to have a cut and dried plan , therefore avoid booking by tourist agents ; if you can ' t book yourself , as you go on , far better stay at home .

Gerardmer is beautifully situated in the midst of the glorious p ine forests of the Vosges—oh ! the perfume of them and the purity of the air—the very place for a convalescent to go to , and full of cliarm for the robust and vigorous . It was the height of their short season of three months or so and there was plenty of

amusement ( it is a fatal thing to go to a dull p lace ) , the theatre at the Casino , and a fete going on , the inauguration of a memorial to the soldiers who fell in 1870-71 , yet at the ' ¦' hotel des Vosges" the charges were just the same as at Nancy—except that dinner was 3 f ., and the accommodation was excellent .

The table d'hote was enlivened by the presence of fair—and some dark—Nanceiennes and others , while all the fun of the fair was going on in the crowded street ; then for quiet enjoyment you had a beautiful lake to boat on or walk round , and others as lovely , quite near , Longemer and Retournemer .

A very pleasant way to reach Gerardmer from Strasbourg is to take the train to Colmar and Minister , old Alsacian cities , and walk up from the latter by the tunnel route . Of course , if von have not time to loiter , vou can book at Charing Cross

or Paris , by the chemins de fer de VEst , via Nancy and Epinal . The company should g ive more than two days ( three , if Sunday happeus in ) on the return ticket from Nancy—it was not enough for me , but the manager of the line at Paris kindly returned me the excess fare I was obliged to pay .

There was a fine regiment , the l . V 2 nd of the line ( three battalions ) at Gerardmer , and their commandant , Lieut .-Col . Didio , was very courteous , mats , ca va sans dire ; they are smart , well dressed , and turn out nice and clean .

C . \ E AI . 3 . UIE . NNK . STATIK OK . IEANXE II ARC . Back again to Nancy , just ir . time to see the reception by the entire garrison of the newly-appointed general of the llth division , and to hear a splendid military band performance at the pare de la Pepiniere , on the fete day of one of the regiments , it was descriptive of a day of battle and victory , and a final assembly and march past of the army .

Nancy , the heart of Lorraine , is a famous old city , with the Scotch thistle in her armorial bearings , and her motto " A e my tuques , ilpoind , in modern French , " N ' y touche : pus , il pique , " or " Xul tie s ' y frotte" she is called Nancy la coquette , I would venture to add Muiu ' zelle Nitouche . Departing by rail for Motz , where I had only time to visit the cathedral and get some dinner , 1 booked oi > to Treves—a very slow

train , three hours—arriving when it was getting dusk , so I could see but little of the wonderful Roman remains of this , the oldest city of the German empire ; said , indeed , according to local tradition , to have been built before Rome itself existed . It would take a good week to see Treves and its surroundings , and I hope to be able to give it move time at my next visit . There was just light enough to

,, METZ—INTERIOR OF THE CATHEIlRAl ,. see the Porta Nigra , one of the gates of the old city wall , dating from earl y in the fourth century . Ascertaining thai my boat for Coblentz would sail at ( 5 . 30 a . m . ' instead of seven , I was up before five next morning , and was in the celebrated cathedral before six .

It was a change from the Gothic I had lately seen so much of to the very earliest Romanesque , and , in contrast to it the adjoining Liebfrauenkirche is a beautiful example of pure Gothic . Getting down to the steamboat oflice to have my ticket rise , a man came in as I was leaving and said to the clerk ( without salutation of any kind )

, " Can you speak English '( " in stentorian tones , followed by , " Be-cause I left my port-mim-teau at the ho-tel . " The clerk seemed taken aback ; I fancy he only understood German and French , and fear he must have thought the Englishman rather boorish . He was one of a party of four or five , quite exclusive and

all that sort of thing , and they did not appear to enjoy themselves one little bit all day . We need not have sailed before seven after all , as there was a slight fog on the rivet , which obliged us to anchor soon after we had started , but it was a splendid day afterwards . The Mosel is not as well known as it deserves , and the extraordinary

TREVES—I'ORTA NIGRA . windings of the river give a rapid succession of new and beautiful views ; sometimes the boat comes back again to within a mile or so of some place she had passed an hour and a half before , and when she stops , say at Piesport , Berncastel , Zeltingen and Trabeu , you may have time just to sample the Moselwein .

At Cochem , my friend Capitan Weyor ( retired German navy ) director of the line , came on board , with his charming wife , who is proud of her Scottish descent , their fine boy , andsome friends ; from that