"REASONS FOR FRANCE"

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20950, 1 November 1939, Page 10

"REASONS FOR FRANCE"

STORY OF THE REPUBLIC MOULDING CHARACTER John Brangwyn has done a fine service to democracy by “Reasons for France,” an intriguing, scholarly, picturesque, and gossipy story of the Republic which midst political maelstroms remains calm and selfpossessed in the core of her being. He links ancient customs and habits with modern activities, and reveals what the inroads of Romans, Germanic, Frank, and Gothic influences did to mould the national character with its simplicity and purity of theories, and the mystery and complexities of its politics. It is not a hedonic country. Montmartre is an artificial creation in Paris to cater for the tourists’ avid pursuit of Rabelasian cafes and dance halls. The Parisian himself is a steadfast family man, and the greatest honour that can be extended to a traveller is to be invited to enter his home. City artisan or country peasant, each is rooted to his country with the tenacity and fierce affection of the Englishman. The Supreme Realist The supreme realist of the Continent, the average Frenchman does not play with morality. He just hunts temptation. For excitement is the breath of life to him. History bred in his bone this love of adventure, and the map discloses why Napoleon said, “It is not of fine buildings that the Empire has need, but of many canals and navigable rivers.” To-day she has them, and is amazingly well equipped for peaceful trade or the tumult of war. France was a tremendous thoroughfare for a thousand years. Four Roman Emperors were born in the Palaces of Lyons, while Nero rebuilt it when burnt to the ground the year that St. Paul journeyed from I Macedonia into Jerusalem. And ' where the globe-trotting Australian sees the Church of Notre Dame in Marseilles, the Temple of Diana formerly stood when the Phocians introduced the sensual and materialist worship of nature.