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New York Robert M. McBride & Company 1931
Copyright, 1920, by Robert M. McBride & Co.
Copyright, 1917, 1918, 1920, by Harper & Brothers
We wish to thank the editors of _Harper's Magazine_ for allowing the republication of articles and illustrations.
I. GRASSE II. CAGNES III. SAINT-PAUL-DU-VAR IV. VILLENEUVE-LOUBET V. VENCE VI. MENTON VII. MONTE CARLO VIII. VILLEFRANCHE IX. NICE X. ANTIBES XI. CANNES XII. MOUGINS XIII. FRÉJUS XIV. SAINT-RAPHÄEL XV. THÉOULE
"A grandfather omnibus, which dated from the Second Empire."
"The hill of Cagnes we could rave about."
"The houses in the courts were stables downstairs."
The river was swirling around willows and poplars.
"Down the broad road of red shale past meadows thick with violets."
Medieval streets and buildings have almost disappeared.
"The Old Town takes you far from the psychology of cosmopolitanism and the philosophy of hedonism."
"La Napoule, above whose tower on the sea rose a hill crowned with the ruins of a chapel. Behind were the Maritime Alps."
For several months I had been seeing Grasse every day. The atmosphere of the Midi is so clear that a city fifteen miles away seems right at hand. You can almost count the windows in the houses. Against the rising background of buildings every tower stands out, and you distinguish one roof from another. From my study window at Théoule, Grasse was as constant a temptation as the two islands in the Bay of Cannes. But the things at hand are the things that one is least liable to do. They are reserved for "some day" because they can be done "any day." Since first coming to Théoule, I had been a week's journey south of Cairo into the Sudan, and to Verdun in an opposite corner of France. Menton and St. Raphaël, the ends of the Riviera, had been visited. Grasse, two hours away, remained unexplored.