In the foreground
to the north, at the foot of the hill, are the roofs of two little
hamlets,--Joncheroy and Voisins,--and beyond them the trees that border
the canal.
On the other side of the Marne the undulating hill, with its wide
stretch of fields, is dotted with little villages that peep out of the
trees or are silhouetted against the sky-line,--Vignely, Trilbardou,
Penchard, Monthyon, Neufmortier, Chauconin, and in the foreground to
the north, in the valley, just halfway between me and Meaux, lies
Mareuil-on-the-Marne, with its red roofs, gray walls, and church spire.
With a glass I can find where Chambry and Barcy are, on the slope behind
Meaux, even if the trees conceal them.
But these are all little villages of which you may never have heard. No
guidebook celebrates them. No railroad approaches them. On clear days
I can see the square tower of the cathedral at Meaux, and I have only to
walk a short distance on the route nationale,--which runs from Paris,
across the top of my hill a little to the east, and thence to Meaux and
on to the frontier,--to get a profile view of it standing up above the
town, quite detached, from foundation to clock-tower.
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