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Chateau and Country Life in France
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1908
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November 16, 2016
In 1874 Mary Alsop King of the United States married William Waddington of France. He was Prime Minister from February to December of 1879, and was the French Ambassador to England from 1883 to 1893. W, as he is referred to in this volume, died in 1894, and in the early years of the 1900's Mary wrote two books telling of her life as the wife of a diplomat. Then in 1909 she published Chateau And Country Life in France, which describes her experiences living in and visiting various chateaux throughout France.
One of the large country estates belonged to her husband's extended family: her first experience in this world was at the house of the parents of W's first wife, who had died of untold causes. Now, Mary was brought up as part of elite society, but I cannot imagine how it must have felt to spend time in this large isolated house out in the French countryside, with only your husband's former in-laws for companions. But she managed quite well.
"It was a curious atmosphere. I can't say dull exactly, for both M. and Mme. A. were clever, and the discussions over books, politics, and life generally, were interesting, but it was serious, no vitality, nothing gay, no power of enjoyment. They had had a great grief in their lives in the loss of an only daughter, which had left permanent traces. They were very kind and did their best to make me feel at home, and after the first few evenings I didn't mind."
Throughout eleven chapters Mary tells of visiting various chateaux (with one entire chapter devoted to The Home of Lafayette), Christmas celebrations, the countryside in winter, local festivals, celebrating the 200th death anniversary of Racine in the village where the great poet was born, traveling through Normandy. The later chapters read as if they were lifted directly from her diary, but the earlier ones feel smoother and are frankly more interesting.
Being an ambassador's wife and part of 'the quality', she was very aware of her station in life, as well as of current events of her day, which she mentions mostly in passing, just enough to make me curious but not enough to explain anything. She seemed to try to help the peasants of the area as best she could, or at least as best W allowed her to do, but she was always very clear that she felt herself of a different (better?) level of society. One entire chapter was devoted to a Christmas celebration she put on in the years when Christmas trees were just beginning to become fashionable. She wanted to give a show for the children and the people, who had never seen decorated trees. Her husband tried to talk her out of it, saying 'they' would not appreciate the effort, but she went ahead anyway and arranged everything from a church service to gifts for the school children to the tree itself, set up in the village school.
And while the chapter describing the preparations and the party was charming, she ruined it all for me with this final paragraph: "We were quite glad to get back to our big drawing-room with the fire and the tea-table; for of course the drawback to our entertainment was the stuffiness (not to say bad smell) of the little room. When all the children and grown people got in-most of them with damp clothes and shoes-the odour was something awful. Of course no window could be opened on account of the candles, and the atmosphere was terrible. At the end, when it was complicated with wine and cake and all the little ones' faces smeared with chocolate and "dragées," I really don't know how we stood it.
She was obviously so much happier in her huge house, with all of her comforts, and was glad to believe that 'they' were just as happy in their tiny houses with barely enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear in winter.
This book was a glimpse at a world of haves and have nots, and I could not keep from being more than a little disappointed in her acceptance of conditions. So much easier to adapt to Old World thinking than to be a force of change, even if it would have been only on her own estate.
But I am looking back at a world that was disappearing even in her day. I was also reading a book about WWI while reading this book, and I could not help but wonder how the different chateaux she spent time in managed during that conflict and WWII besides. I had the feeling of reading about a ghost world, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on whether you lived in the grand house or in the hovel.
The most disappointing thing about the edition of this book at Gutenberg was that there were no pictures shown, only the captions for them. This is not the first time such things have happened at Gutenberg, but it was especially frustrating here because I would have loved to see the illustrations. I could not always find the proper chateau by Googling, so had to build my castles just from Mary's words. She did describe them very nicely, but still, those pictures would have been very much appreciated.
One of the large country estates belonged to her husband's extended family: her first experience in this world was at the house of the parents of W's first wife, who had died of untold causes. Now, Mary was brought up as part of elite society, but I cannot imagine how it must have felt to spend time in this large isolated house out in the French countryside, with only your husband's former in-laws for companions. But she managed quite well.
"It was a curious atmosphere. I can't say dull exactly, for both M. and Mme. A. were clever, and the discussions over books, politics, and life generally, were interesting, but it was serious, no vitality, nothing gay, no power of enjoyment. They had had a great grief in their lives in the loss of an only daughter, which had left permanent traces. They were very kind and did their best to make me feel at home, and after the first few evenings I didn't mind."
Throughout eleven chapters Mary tells of visiting various chateaux (with one entire chapter devoted to The Home of Lafayette), Christmas celebrations, the countryside in winter, local festivals, celebrating the 200th death anniversary of Racine in the village where the great poet was born, traveling through Normandy. The later chapters read as if they were lifted directly from her diary, but the earlier ones feel smoother and are frankly more interesting.
Being an ambassador's wife and part of 'the quality', she was very aware of her station in life, as well as of current events of her day, which she mentions mostly in passing, just enough to make me curious but not enough to explain anything. She seemed to try to help the peasants of the area as best she could, or at least as best W allowed her to do, but she was always very clear that she felt herself of a different (better?) level of society. One entire chapter was devoted to a Christmas celebration she put on in the years when Christmas trees were just beginning to become fashionable. She wanted to give a show for the children and the people, who had never seen decorated trees. Her husband tried to talk her out of it, saying 'they' would not appreciate the effort, but she went ahead anyway and arranged everything from a church service to gifts for the school children to the tree itself, set up in the village school.
And while the chapter describing the preparations and the party was charming, she ruined it all for me with this final paragraph: "We were quite glad to get back to our big drawing-room with the fire and the tea-table; for of course the drawback to our entertainment was the stuffiness (not to say bad smell) of the little room. When all the children and grown people got in-most of them with damp clothes and shoes-the odour was something awful. Of course no window could be opened on account of the candles, and the atmosphere was terrible. At the end, when it was complicated with wine and cake and all the little ones' faces smeared with chocolate and "dragées," I really don't know how we stood it.
She was obviously so much happier in her huge house, with all of her comforts, and was glad to believe that 'they' were just as happy in their tiny houses with barely enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear in winter.
This book was a glimpse at a world of haves and have nots, and I could not keep from being more than a little disappointed in her acceptance of conditions. So much easier to adapt to Old World thinking than to be a force of change, even if it would have been only on her own estate.
But I am looking back at a world that was disappearing even in her day. I was also reading a book about WWI while reading this book, and I could not help but wonder how the different chateaux she spent time in managed during that conflict and WWII besides. I had the feeling of reading about a ghost world, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on whether you lived in the grand house or in the hovel.
The most disappointing thing about the edition of this book at Gutenberg was that there were no pictures shown, only the captions for them. This is not the first time such things have happened at Gutenberg, but it was especially frustrating here because I would have loved to see the illustrations. I could not always find the proper chateau by Googling, so had to build my castles just from Mary's words. She did describe them very nicely, but still, those pictures would have been very much appreciated.
February 11, 2021
This is an easy-going read. Although not engrossing, it is engaging in the most part, with the author revealing events in her life, and that of others in her social orbit, during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
I’ve never previously heard of Mary. My impressions of this upper class lady are good. She cared about those who were less fortunate that her and did much to help the poor.
I particularly admire her after reading the account of her efforts to give the local children a joyful Christmas. Many of the French children had never seen a Christmas tree before, and it made a great impression on them.
I’ve never previously heard of Mary. My impressions of this upper class lady are good. She cared about those who were less fortunate that her and did much to help the poor.
I particularly admire her after reading the account of her efforts to give the local children a joyful Christmas. Many of the French children had never seen a Christmas tree before, and it made a great impression on them.
March 28, 2021
If I had one phrase with which to describe this book, it would be 'comfort book.' Waddington describes a slow, peaceful way of life at the end of 19th-century France, and it can make you very nostalgic for a place and time you never lived in.
Available at Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL25520...
Available at Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL25520...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews