Alfred Krupp lived to see Essen, his native village, grow from a population of 4,000 to a busy city of 70,000, where annually hundreds of engines and steam hammers produce thousands of tons of steel castings and forgings.  Alfred Krupp built his own monument in the vast mills and benevolences of Essen, a monument more useful and enduring than marble or bronze.  His son Frederick Alfred Krupp, his successor, married the beautiful Baroness Margarette von Ende.  Colonel Harris and George visited other great works in Europe, and finally started to rejoin their friends in Paris.

CHAPTER XVII

THE HARRIS PARTY VISITS PARIS

The distance is two hours from London to Dover.  Half-way is Gad’s Hill, famous as the residence of the late Charles Dickens.  Further on is Canterbury, which is celebrated as the stronghold of Kentishmen and the first English Christian city.  Its prime attraction of course is its fine cathedral, which in 1170 was the scene of Becket’s murder.

Dover on the English Channel lies in a deep valley surrounded by high chalk hills.  On one of these, which is strongly fortified, may be seen evidences of Norman, Saxon, and Roman works.

Every morning and evening the royal mail steamers leave Dover for Calais.  The channel ride of twenty-one miles was made by the Harrises without the dreaded mal de mer.  In the railway restaurant at Calais, Lucille volunteered to order for the party, but she soon learned, much to the amusement of her friends, that the French learned in Boston is not successful at first in France.

The express to Paris is through Boulogne, an important sea town of fifty-thousand inhabitants, which combines much English comfort with French taste.  From there hundreds of fishing boats extend their voyages every season to the Scotch coast and even to far-off Iceland.

The scenery in the fertile valley of the Somme is beautiful.  The route lies through Amiens, a large city of textile industries, thence across the Arve; the Harrises reached the station of the Northern Railway, in the Place Roubaix, in northern Paris as the sun faded in the west.

Carriages were taken for the Grand Hotel, Boulevard des Capucines, near the new opera house, which is centrally located, and offers to travelers every comfort.  The carriages enter a court, made inviting by fountains, flowers, and electric light.

The first day or evening in Paris is bewildering.  Early in the morning the Harrises drove along the inner and the outer boulevards that encircle Paris.  Many miles of fine boulevards were built under Napoleon III.  Most from the Madeleine to the July Column are flanked with massive limestone buildings, palatial mansions, and glittering shops, the architecture of which is often uniform, and balconies are frequently built with each story.  Early every morning the asphalt and other pavements are washed.  At midday a busy throng crowds all the main streets.