Bedless Autonomists

The Bretons are a race who live in the northwestern part of France. They are considered serious. Parisians, on the other hand, are generally said to be gay.

Last week, with frown and earnest speech, a group of Bretons foregathered in Chateaulin,* Brittany. Their purpose, characteristic, was serious. But Paris giggled.

The group were separatists. Hopelessly in the minority, the separatists are remnants of a band which started agitation for independence during the sixteenth century when Brittany was formally annexed to France by Franc,ois I. They were meeting at Chateaulin to conduct the annual Congress for Autonomous Brittany.

But the French Government cared not for the Congress. Accordingly, the Bretons discovered that all the Chateaulin hotels had been occupied by gendarmes. Bedless, therefore, the autonomists slept on lawns, and the cool night air of Brittany did the rest.

* Chateaulin has no chateau.