The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-31 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NE I VS.

CFrom the Anglo-American Times.)
PARIS, Dec. 26, 1867.
In the midst of a clear bright frost, hard as
horn, and clear as the diamond, Old Father Christ-
mas took up his head-quarters in Paris, on the
25th, inaugurating by his arrival the Foire des
Etrennes, to last without intermission from that
period to the 6th day of the New Year. The Fair
of New Year's Gifts which extends over every part
of the city, whilst establishing its head-quarters
along the line of the principal boulevards from the
Madeleine to the Chateau d'Eau is a singular insti-
tution, and forms a most thrilling illustration of the
manner in which fetes and fairs, allowed in other
countries to degenerate into grossness and vulgarity,
are, under the enlightened patronage of the Go-
vernment, made conducive not only to the legiti-
mate enjoyment of the people, but to the profit of
all classes. One is at first astonished at seeing the

little square wooden houses rising all along the
main street of Paris, and that too directly in face of
the most brilliant shops separated from them only
by the breadth of the Trottoir, for the main street
is of course
_left unencumbered, but the wonder
ceases when upon the Jour de Noel the disclosure
of their multifarious contents and merchandise, the
bulk of which generally consists of clever imitations
of more valuable goods, shows that there is room
for all, and that whilst the Fair of:New Year's Gifts
belongs more exclusively to the poorer classes and
to the children, the luxuriously appointed shops of
the Boulevards furnish nevertheless many a rich
New-year's gift for those whose generosity of dis-
position finds no drawback in a proportionate
lightness of purse. Do you feel inclined and able
to purchase a watch which for French or Swiss
workmanship shall be unrivalled ? Enter respec-
tively the dwelling of Brequet or Henry Capt, and
you have nothing left to wish for. Do you want an
imitation neatly executed, even down t/) the cost of
100., chain and chatelaine included, you will find
one in any scale, at any price, in the Fair of the
New-year's Gifts. For the juvenile purchaser there
has yet a more extensive field to choose from, and lost

in asea of fusils d'aiguille, fusils de chassepots, revol-
vers of Liege, there are drums, swords, and mirlitons
on every scale, and at every price. The dispos-.1 of
grandpapa's Christmas box takes the dimensions of
a commercial undertaking of the most complicated
kind. Considerable brilliancy has been added to
the fair of the present year by the removal of

the ancient wooden stalls, and by replacing
them with the eight hundred new and ele-
gantly decorated ones, recently built on the occa-
sion of the Emperor's fete, and exhibited in the
Trocadero in the vicinity of the Exposition Univer-
selle. Each of these buildings has cost the Ville de
Paris the sum of 500 francs, and are let to the oc-
cupier for fourteen days at the rate of a franc per
day. They are built of white ash, covered with a
waterproof canvass and elegantly painted upon a
striped pattern. They are perfectly floored, and
capable of being divided into two compartments, of
being safely closed at night, and to crown all may
be taken to pieces and put together in an incredibly
short space of time. As the perfection to which
these useful little buildings have been brought is
immediately attributable to the system at present in
use in the French army, it may not be unintcrest-

ing to the general reader to receive some little in-
formation upon a point not generally known. The
contributions forwarded to the American section of
the Exposition by the Surgeon-General of the

United States, J. K. Baines, Washington, as well
as by Major-General Rucker, Washington, proved
to be a most interesting study, and excited uni-
versal attention. Yet they simply consisted of
ambulances, army waggons, hospital tents and
furniture, and presented new and most interesting
features to those who certainly expected little or
nothing from an :every-day programme of ordinary
subjects; and in like manner though the ordinary
newspaper reader learns from time to time that a
French army is encamped at Chalons, he does not
entertain even the faintest idea of the itnprdved
and excellent plan upon which that encampment is
carried out at present. On the occasion of the
inauguratiou of the camp in the year 1857 all the
army was under canvass, but after various experi-
ments, since the period of 1863, the whole of the
second division is what is called baraqued, a word
which corresponds, although it does not possess en-
tirely the same signification to the English word
barracks. The camp, then, at pres ant, is di-
vided into two entirely distinct parts the
baraques, or wooden buildings occupying the
centre ; the tents, arranged so as to form
wings or extremities. The baraques are arranged
in almost similar form to that presented by a regi-
ment when drawn up in order of review ; that is to
say, in double rows, separated at intervals by those
appointed for the subaltern and other officers, those
in the centre being usually occupied by the officers
of higher rank. it is said that the first introduc-
tion of this species of building was in mak-
ing at Paris a portable baraque entirely of
iron, which was forwarded to Boulogne-sur-tiler for
the use of Napoleon the First, then First Consul,
and in which the future Emperor slept in the midst
of his army. The first regularly established camp
of this kind is said to have been erected in the
Dunes, Calais, 1794.

The Emperor is keeping Christmas with his
people, the Imperial Family having come back to
the Tuileries. It is reported that the recompences
_ _ •

and prizes due to the Agricultural and llorticul-
tural exhibitors at the Universal Exhibition will be
distributed by his Majesty in person at the Palais
de 'lndustrie, on the 30t!1 of the present month.
The first grand ball has taken place at the opera,
the receipts amounting to no less a sum than
16,486 f. A rather ludicrous event occurring in
connection with ir, seems to give one an idea of
how little time is lost by the escroes of Paris, on the
least opportunity being afforded them. A worthy
tradesman and his wife, inhabiting the Rue Mon-
treuil, were desirous of witnessing the entrée of the
various historical and other characters, and in pur-
suance of their harmless and inexpensive plan of
amusement, stationed themselves at the entrance,
where they spent a considerable portion of their
evening. They were sauntering peaceably back,
when at a little distance from their domicile,
Monsieur M. discovered that he no longer pos-
sessed that domestic talisman, his latchkey. This un-
expected discovery had at once the effect of making
the worthy couple take up " the double," the dame