The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-01-28
How some People Live in Paris.

A gossiping correspondent of the New York
Daily Times gives us the following insight to
certain classes in Partisan life:
The Walkers or Wakeresses-for none but wo-
men follow this prOfessiOn-are individuals
whose occupation it is to rouse from sleep at an
early hour such persons as have business at the
market, and must he there betimes. Their
wages are two sous morning for each subscr-
Der reused 1t seems strange that profession
like this should require any particular aptitude
or capability, but it has been found that one
woman will wake her customers in just half the
time required by another In times gone by,
when the market people lived huddlcd together
in the immediate vicinity Of the Halles, good
rereiiieure would wait upon fifteen or twenty
subscribers every morning, and thus earn thirty
or forty sous before daybreak. But ROW that
the new Rue de Rivoli has pierced the quarter,
its dcniZcns have been dispersed, and the wa
keresses find it impossible to serve more than
half dozen customers day. The trade is fal-
ling into disusc.
The Eye Witness is man who lives by crime
NOT by that which he commits himself but by
that perpctrated by others. The moment he
hears of a murder. or any other catastrophe of
that SORT he Immediately repairs to the scene
of the affair, says he knows all about it. picks up
all the details he can find, adds TO them, re-
counts ii over dozen times, gets sort Of no.
tOricty as the individual g. that was there when
it happened, leaves his name and address at
the nearest wine shop, and awaits the effect
The examining Judge hears of this wtl-inform-
ell gentleman. and in view to clucidate the case,
has him at once sent for. He comes. and is
sworn. ana makes total irrelevant deposition;
he tells what somebody else gaid he thought
third person had imagined, and what he guess
ed was the motive of the quarrel. Beyond that
he can throw no light OH the affair. But he has
earned his two francs-the wages of every wit
ness summoned to testfy--and by his earnings
in this way he lives.
The Second Hand Witness hangs about the
palace of justice, and as gentlemen who have
testified, comes from the various audience
rooms, he asks them if they mean to draw their
two francs if they do not. he suppiicatcs them.
Tor the love Of God, and for sympathy with a
wife and the usual number o: children. TO pass
over to him the paper emitting the bearer TO
the two francs in question. The second hand
witness makes hap-hazard money enough in
this way to live precariously and die in the
hospital.
The Guardian Angel is man whose duty it
Is to frequent the drinking shops an the mo-
mehl man gels tlpsy to take him home and
put him TO bed. The individuals practising this
profession arc picked mcn--mcn who never
drink Reconsideration have the necessary
moral authority TO force obedience from the
drunken creature they are conveying home
VINO can defend him against attack. and moro
than all, who can prevent him from drinking in
the shops on their way. The price for this is
ten sous and there is not an instance on req
ord of an individual thus protected home. and
put to bed having failed to discharge this debt
OF honor. 1t is q rule at the drinking slops.
when man cannot stand, he must he taken off.
and the Angels are kindly treated by the shop
keepers, whose interest it is that no one IF his
customers comes to harm They receive tho
odds and ends of tie dinner, and are rccom-
mcnded to the neghbors, when a reliable man
for some confidential erraEd is wanted. Their
honesty is provcrvial, and a Bacclanalian with
a hundred francs in his pocket who is confdcd
TO their charge. is morally sure of finding his
hundred francs where he left them, when he
wakes the next morning
y rich tipplcr, lately deceased. who snont
the last year of his life, in drinking blue wine
at the barrier, left in his will a thousand francs
TO each OF the Guardian Angels who alternate
y conducted him home, after his nightly pota-
tions at the Watering Pot of Montmartre.
IL may safely be said that no one person ont
VI huhdred OF the inhabitants of Paris is aware
OF the existence 'of such modes of obtaining
a living. The writer of the Feuillcton have
abridged, says that he has learned to be sur
prised at nothing. and that if he were told that
mere are people who earn their bread by max
ing toothplcks out of old moons. he should ac-
cept the narrative with cquanm;tv. and be-
iIcvc it with fanaticism.
Inc i'reiect OF Police has forbidden wine SCI
lers to have Voltaic piles upon their counters
Tor the amusement of their customers. as one
accident has already happened and as others
would likely follow, were the practice contin-
ued.