Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-06

waste even, that flows around you at home
liberal as the day, as contrasted with the petty
mcanness, the want that lives threadbare here
proves how we have been sandered. mer-
chant with US is gentleman here he is
| cheat You cannot enter store IN Paris
and not have two prices asked for any article
you wish to purchase and when you rem0n-
strate ut such impudent exaetion, the scamp
Invariably asks, "What will madame give y
There is not a certain price carrying a fair
pr fit upon any article in all Paris This ia 80
positively the fact that you frequently see the
sign Price fxed,o above the door Of the es-
adjustment, as an acknowledgment Of the
truth and where this little notice makes its
appearance, you must expect to meet the great
est rogues. No such hotels as the st. Niche
las or the Astor are to be met with in Paris !;
and for what you pay $3.50 there here could
be had, if at all, at about ten dollars per day
You have the opera in New York--that last
reach Of civilized enjoyment--as they cannot
have it here. They have the name alone, and
ON this account o great singer remains here
long enough to win u name, and then flies to
London, st. Petersburgh, or New York, for
living Rachel, the great tragic actress, who
il to France what Siddons was to England,
and Cushman is to us has sold her iairy-like
residence, and left for st. petersburgh, never
~ return The next greatest was about fol-
lowing her example, when it is said that Ma
Tolcon considered it sufficient matter Of i'm
portance to send for the discontented actor
and demonstrate. The appeal to his patriot
ism was Of no avail, and nothing but III in
crease OF salary retained him.
All this sounds probably very sweeping;
and yet contend this is not only true, but
tic natural result Of society organized as this;
where one class, holding unlimited sway and
followed and apcd by oil, looks upon such
honorable pursuits as merchandising and mo-
chanics as dishonorable, such pursuits become
Of course dishonest All this is a fair warning
TO me to be careful of first impressions. | said
as | thought, in a former letter, that there was
more genuine democracy in the social life here
than at home. nj. the great democrat first
called my attention to the cause Of the low
tone of morals in the business community.
The persons comprising this--much the larger
number--arc not considered, and do not feel
themselves, respectable. He says this is the
source Of all the failures to establish repub-
lie, and that Marat was right when he pro
posed setting up six hundred blocks, and two
thousand executioners, to work night and day
until the aristocrats were swept off. Not that
Marat or the men of that time, had any pecu-
liar hatred for the mobiles they were then,
as now, dull, helpless set; but the Jacobins
sought to break up idols-thc things of ribbon
and paint, stuffed with bran, to which the peO-
pie were forever making burnt offerings of
their dearest rights
lam becoming quite political, and talking
very gibly upon things know little of, and,
quite far from what ! took my pen to write
about d., with his PECULIAR notions aud feel
ings, has made the acquaintance of all the
democratic Frenchmen, refugee Hungarians,
and restless spirits permitted now to remain in
France. They gather round, and l. much
against my will, am forced to hear all about
the political state of Europe, and the prcba-
bic results of this and that move, all concur
ring in the fact, that moves are being made
and events progressing to crisis. feel moro
interest in Kossnth's children, now here at
school, who are sometimes brought to see us.
Beautiful little innocents, they are genuine
children, and all unconscious Of having the
name that once made the world thrill These
Hungarians are well educated and intelligent,
and bear their reverses with much dignity and
patience. Taking them as specimens of the
people, the HuDgarians are by far the great
people of Europe
Lucy and take much pleasure in visiting
the markets-almost as much as seeing the
galleries of paintings in the Louvre and Lux
embourg. You pass through long aisles, with
stalls on either side, occupied by women, mostly
old, who sit with feet upon chayfe pieds, and
salute you with shrill cries, setting forth your
wants and their ability to supply them. You
are struck with the neatness and cleanliness
Of every vegetables piled up in
the most artistic manner But, as | said be-
fore, you miss the abundance one is 80 accus-
toned to at home-heaps of everything roll
ing and tumbling about silken corn and
golden apples snn-colored peaches and purple
grapes with huge Strawberries, all poured
carclcssly out, as if good Dame Nature had
abundance for all How this contrasts with
the neat little piles where every leaf is counted
and every stem worth q sous--where the small
est pear cannot be had for less than three
sous, good apples for no money--where you see
"bonnes with little baskets, which would not
serve school girl for picnic, carrying away
the provisions for whole family, and poor
women higgling with the dealers over NOR
sci that seems to you not worth accepting rs
present.
When to this scarcity you add the universal
dishonesty, you may appreciate the troubles
foreigners have TO encounter. You take apart
ments, furnished, in your careless Western way,
make u verbal agreement; at the end Of the
month you find very misty recollection ON
the part Of your landlady and her prime min
lister the contierge, and twice as much to pay
as you consented You now reduce all TO
writing call in everybody to witness the sol
emn agreement. You will pay sixty dollars
per month for four little apartments, furnished
comfortably, on court, and on the Sd story
in fashionable quarter--ths without inclu-
ding lights and fires. When you come TO pay,
a host Of unexpected items are presented You
suppose, for instance, that in the sixty dollars
is included the ordinary use OF the furniture
not 80. The concierge goes through careful
investigation, and even the slightest evidence Of
wear has 10 be paid for, at rate which, at
the end Of SIX mouths, makes almost the value
OF the furniture DIR. Bob has discovered an
ink spot on a writing table, which has been
paid for six times in less than year
nearly twice the value OF the article itself
You provide your domestic with money TO pur-