Show FAMED MONT SAINT FRENCH SHRINE threatened BY EROSION OF SEA mecca of P and tourists arad bally ng under the heavy wash of the lwft tide the paris papers are alarmed over the safety of mont saint michel that norman shrine 0 pilgrims and tour ests and the center of mediaeval trag edy and romance which peers across the english channel towards the cornish coast attention was first directed towards this place by the excitement over the desperate state of certain parts of the english coast and which led to invests gallons as to the conditions on the french side of the channel it Is not view of mont saint M chel showing crumbling cliff on right generally appreciated that after sub under the ice ot the glacial period england was not an island but formed portion of a large plateau ex tending out to what is now the fathom line since this period the sea has carved its way through the chan nel until england presents its exist ing appearance the north sea is merely a plain covered by shallow wa ter from which the remains of mam moths and other animals are ered by trawlers beyond the fathom line ocean depths are rapidly reached the cause ot the erosion at mont saint michel is said to be the cause way built 20 years ago to connect the island rock with the mainland it stops the flo v 0 the tide which cornea racing into the bay ot bancale cancale as fast as a horse can trot the flood in tead 0 passing freely around the island spends its curbed force in a work of destruction the kings tower the bastion which comes down to the sea at the head of the cause way is already undermined and doomed this causeway was never really necessary nobody ever got caught in the crossing to the island unless they wandered foolhardily away from the track and it has taken away bait the charm of mont saint michel not only is the island no long er an island but it has been vulgar iced turned into the commonest of objects of a days excursion drags and automobiles cumber the cause way and eating house keepers touts badger one with loud voiced becom ions of their master s tare in the old days mout saint michel was unsophisticated confiding and hospitable Poul ardes restaurant was one of the best and cheapest in france it was a privilege to know madame the hostess and to be al lowed to watch her 1 an in a gargantuan sancel an over an am mense wood fire in her tiny kitchen her visitors book then was filled with well known names sketches by ta artists and eulogistic verse by real poets the only drawbacks tc the serene of mont saint micael in those days was that one had tc remember everything that one ate or drank because Pou larde apparently never booked anything he trusted tc his guests they were guests not cus bomers telling him what they owed A second danger also threatens mont saint michel not from the sea this time but from the land it ha been found that the immense sandy foreshore ct bancale cancale bay le claimed from the sea and fertilized with sea weed grows excellent vegetables which are ready for the london mar ket even beffie the produce of jersey and the polders ot the thrifty nor man gardeners are every year nar rowing the space between mont saint michel and the mainland threatening in time to change its setting of yellow sand and blue into a green girdle of vegetables |