Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-08-04
DAILY EVENING STAR.
PARIS A GREAT PLACE.

No one questions that Paris is a ''great
place." The man who hasn't been there
has yet "treat to come" The yery
clever correspondent of the Evening
Gazette, "Augueeheek," has the follow
ing:
"Paris is world in itself. Here may
the Yankee find his pumkin pie and sher-
~ cobblers, the Englishman his rosbif,
the German his sauerkraut, the Italian
his macaroni-here may the lover of dra-
matte art choose his performance among
thirty theatres, and he who, with Mr..
Swiveller, loves ''the may" will find at
the "Jardin Mabille" bower shaded for
him. Here the bookworm can mouse
about, in more than twenty large public
Libraries, and spend weeks in the delight
ful exploration Of countless bookstalls.
Here the student of art can read the his.
tory of France on the wells of Versailles,
or, revelling in the opulence of the Louvre,
forget his studies, his technicalities, his
criticisms, in contemplation of the ma
jestic loyeliness of Murillo's "sinless
mother of the sinless child" Here NAV
"fireside philanthropists, great at the
pen." compare their magnificent theories
with the work of delicate ladies who have
left the wealth they possessed and the
society they adorned for the humble garb
of the sister of charity and laborious
ministry to the poor, the diseased, and
the intim;-and mediate in the Quad.
rangles of hospitals and benevolent insti-
tutions, founded by saints, and preserved
in their integrity by the piety of their
disciples. Here may the man who wishes
to look beyond this brilliant world, find
churches ever open, inviting to prayer
and meditation, where he may be carried
beyond himself by the choicest strains of
haydn and the solemn grandeur of the
Gregorlan chant-Or may be thrilled by
the eloquent periods Of Ravignad or La.
cordaire, until the unseen eternal fills his
whole soul, and the visible temporal
glories of the gay capital seem to him the
transient vanities they really are.
"Parls presents most extraordinary
spectacle at the present time. From the
activity, and the amount of building now
going on here, | should think that / was
in a western city, rather than in one
which dates its foundation from the ages
of the Caesars. The extension of the
Rue Rivoli from the Tuilleries to the Hotel
de Vile is work worthy of the name of
Napoleon. 1t is now going on with won
derful expedition. The walls of the nor
thern wing of Louvre, connecting with
the Tuilleries are about completed, and it
will be rooted very soon. It is to be en-.
tirely finished in season for the opening
of the great industrial exhibition next
year. But it is not in this single quarter
alone that improvements are making.
There is hardly street of any impor.
tance, or boulevard which is not OBJ
structed by stagings and mortar beds.
And not only are all the public improve
ments to be done by next spring; but,
not long since, an imperial order was is
sued commanding theproprietors of build
ings IN all the principal streets to have
their premises put in perfect repair, and
to have the fronts of their houses scraped
and cleaned before the first of next March
so that Paris may be in condition to
receive company. And the work has al. |
ready commenced. The great western
doorway of Nortre Dame, with its statues
and elaborately carved work, is now in
process of restoration and not only that, |
but all the other churches seem to be
brushing up-even to the replacement of
a finger or toe on some statue exposed to
the weather."