The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

THE PRESENT STATE OF PARIS.

The Special Correepondent of the Dail!, News, with
the Heal.quartera of the Crown Prince of Prussia,
writing lrose Paris, on the 13th met., gays
The bread Istria, for all to buy who choose—for all who sr
furnished with money— which leaves a sad mar4in of want
and distress at this time In Paris. But still the bread Is
free. The bakers shops are no longer guarded by armed
men, or watched by hungry customers with tickets of ad-
mission Large loaves and small loaves, rolls and cakes,
may be purchased, regardless of everything but expense.
have been through the markets this morning, and seen
large quantities of meat and vegetables exposed for sale ;
the meat still guarded by tickets of admission, the
V. getables free to all to bay. There is ahundauco of Oh
In the better clbss restsurants ; and game and poultry
are not much dearer thin they wore, for example, In the
Exhibition season three years ago. We could trot have a
greater Instance of the wonderful facilities afforded by rail-
ways and telegraphs for revictualling • starved-rut city than
tho way In which Paris has been sna.ched fr n laureation,
as though by a miracle, In little more than a week's work, iu
which surplies have been sent for to great distances, and
broLght up to the scene of action with unerring ceitaluty.
About 56(6) tons of flour, 450 tons at rice, and 9,0 tons of
blectilt were brought into Paris between the bed and 10th
lost., together with 36) tons of fish, 3,705 tons of fuel, and
nearly 7.1.40 head of live stock You moat add to this list
about 2,, 00 tons of ether supplies brought hither within the
tame period, and you will perceive that the rallwa3s have
not been Idle.

It woo the great merit of our English gift for the relief of
the city that it arrived so early lu the day, when the Parisians
were in their utmost need. Since then there has been such
a steady stream of supply from the French in ovlnces and
hoot Belgium that no private charity could rival what tne
French Government on its own account, and a host of private
traders in their own account, have collectively accomplished.
What our help has been, and will be ablo to do, is to seek out
cases of distress beyond the Immediate reach of public whole-
sale revlctnalllng ; and to bring some comfort to the
thousands who cannot enter the market, because their means
have failed. Among the emplo)Cs of all kinds there has been
even more distress in proportion than among the working
class ; and If we advance from the point of merely feeding
people fir the moment to that more effective charity which
would give them a start In life again, there will be • vast
ameunt of work to do round Paris to help the owners of the
ruined cottages in the suburb, to refit and refurnish before
another cold winter IS upon them

There are so many poor temllies returning to the abatis
dotted villages round Paris, and so ninny returning to homes
more or less desolate within the city wails, that one con-
stantly meets parties of women and children on the move,
with truckloads of f orulture and baskets of provision.. The
mere ebb and flow of the human tide in the Parisian f au.
bourse which have been tudier bombardment has been very
great. Thousands who fled for a time and found what
shelter they could elsewhere have returned home since
the beginning of the armistice. But they had news of
their dangeroux dwellings even whilst they were
absent ; Paris waa keenly alive to all that went forward
within the walls ; and they could reconnoitre the
neighbourhood as often as they pleased. It was among
the outlying villagers and the people of the Imme-
diate scene of hostilities that the dreary blank of the siege
time was most oppressive. When I travelled on an omnibus
to Pout du Jour the other morning I saw myself surrounded
by returning refugees. They were bound to their home in
Billancourt, of which they had heard nothing for so long
that they feared it must be In ruins. But the husband had
been out to look for the house as soon as It was possible to
visit the outposta, and he had come back to tell them that
the damage was not very great. The windows and doors
were broken, and one shell had gone through the root. Ex.
cept that, all was in good order. "And where was the
husband now / " I asked; for the party round me, shivering
with cold and laughing with joy, on the top of the omnibus,
consisted ef two women and half-a-dozen children.
"Oh ! he Is gone with our goods, Monsieur; he has hired
a little cart, and he and Adolphe are taking tile furniture
home" Adolphe is a rudely strong boy, well able to help,
and the women laugh at the thought of this rude strength in
an urchin of eleven. One woman Is the mother, or rather
the grandmothtr, though her first character la constantly
brought forward by the married daughter who Invariably
calls her mere. "Now, then, ma mbre, hold Josephine tight.
She will let the basket fall; her finger, are so cold. Do you
see the cart, mother? We shall pass it soon. Bow hard
they push it. That boy is almost as strong as his father" and
we catch a glimpse of, bright young face looking up from the
side of an auxiona haggard man who can scarcely
"tackle" the weight of his household goods, small as they are,
Ihe children all look back with envy at the proud position
of Master Adolphe, and an elder sister just aaaaa the
youngest boy from pitching off the omnibus in 11111 excite-
ment. As to little Josephine, she is caught up and hugged
by that feeble-minded, hard-handed old grandmother, who
chuckles with delight at seeing the furniture so well
advanced on its way. I hear no complaints against the
Government, or the weather. "00 to, then," !lays one
woman, "it is net gay to ride on the top of the omnibus
with so many children." "But they cannot wall so far,"
replies another, " for we shall have yet a long way
wnen we pass the ramparts, and if there are no
places inside, what can we do but ride on the
top?" I watch tnem alighting with no little amusement
for everyone who la bigger and stronger than anyone elm
take care of that person. The elder sister, and the small
brother, help to hand down little Jomplfine ; the grand-,
mu her takes care of all the bundles until I have passed them
down for her. Then the column of march la formed, and
often looking back to see whether papa is behind them, they
set forward toward• the abandoned hme. Only doors and
lelneows broken," ones the g,and'mere. " W hy, It is not so
very cold new; and we shall have them mended before the
whiter, and the house might have been burned."

HATBAND MOI RNERS. —A fire burned down same
business premises In Sydney, and amongst others the shop of
a man who was so well covered by huntresses that the com-
pany disputed his claim, Amongst the stock &ileum( to be
lost were 10,000 mourning hatbandu The commel for the
company cross examined the sail erer by Bre about these hat-
bande—wasn't it an extraordinary large number What pro-
bability was there of deaths creating • demand In a stogie
shop for 10,000 hatbands t Replied the witness, "1 did not
Mop the hatoanda for those who grieve for the death of their
Mends ; hut for Shoes who go into moundug kie the pew
OS their bath" tie hot I* Imam* sow.

A GERMAN APPEAL TO GERMAN
SOLDIERS.

The well-known German writer Gustav Freytag
publishes in his new paper, Jot Neuen Reich, a long
appeal to the German troops, urging them to abstain
from plundering the inhabitants of the villages in the
vicinity of Paris :
.otheers and soldiers," he says, "have bees living for
months under the bream clocks, marble table', damask
hangings, artistic furniture, ofl-paintings, and costly engrav-
ings of Parisian industry. The musketeers of Posen and
Silesia broke up the velvet sofa@ to make soft beds, destroyed
the richly inlaid tables, and took the books out of the book-
cues for fuel In the cold winter evenings.... It was
lamentable to see the beautiful picture of • celebrated
painter smeared overly our soldiers with coal dust, • Robe
with her arms knocked off, • priceless Buddhist manuscript
lying torn in the chimney grate.. • . Then people be-
gan to think It would be • good thing to obtain such
beautiful and taateiul articles for one. friend. A system
of salvage ' was thus introduced, which it is said even
eminent and distinguished men in the army winked at.
Soldiers bargained for them with the Jews and hucksters who
swarm at Versailles ; officers thought of the adornment of
their own b 005..; and such things as could be easily packrd,
suck as engravings and oil paintings, were In danger of being
cut out of their frames and rolled up for home consumptl
Herr Frey tag then points out that them articles are private
property, end that the ellicers and soldiers had no right to
appropriate them to their own use. "We are proud and
happy," he concludes. addressing them, " at your warlike
deeds; behave worthily and honourably ad, oas men. Come
back to es from this terrible war with pens consciences and
clean hands."