The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-01-05

1
at work-piercing clothes with long needles.
knocking at the furniture, pounding on the
walls, and rafting at locks. Should Monsieur,
the suspected, return unexpectedly, the con-
cierge keeps him in conversation on some
trivial pretence, until the agents escape. F. P,
our friend who took so active part under the
Republic, and is now in consequence an exile,
said the Provisional Government made some
amusing discoveries-and he, to his astonish-
ment, found even copies of his love letters on
file. What was remarkable under Louis Phil
ippe, is twice so under the present Emperor.
! have blamed myself for not writing you,
since | first took to ink the thousand and one
things q woman observes which almost every
one wishes to know-the little matters which
are generally considered beneath the dignity
of foreign correspondent, but which are so
useful and in most instances, pleasant How
do you live, and what is the cost of living
are the two questions most frequently asked by
Americans, and 80 rarely answered satisfacto-
rily. To the first answer, that much depends
upon the purpose with which you come to
Paris--if for that of study, it certainly offers
advantages not met with probably anywhere
else. The grand old cathedrals, palaces, paint
| ings statuary-the vast libraries-the schools
established and supported by Government-the
many places covered with historical associa-
tons, offer advantages of such character that
one can undergo many privations for the pur-
pose of enjoying them. But if comfort or en-
joyment is the object, Paris is the last place to
seek Tor a residence. Comfort is cut Of the
question, and the enjoyments are traditions.
what can one think of people without the
word "home" in their language-without a
chimney, in an immense city, that smokes at
the right end; of people who sell wood and
coal by the weight and burn them in homeo-
pathic doses? Why, a Frenchman never thinks
| OF making FIRE, if he can look from his room
across the street In at his neighbours. What
Is to be thought of a people whose circulating
medium is copper, and counted by centimesa
| We have been called money-making peo-
pie, as compared to the French it is a vile
Islander. To come from New York to this
place ID to leave generous, impulsive people,
tor narrow aVariciouS crowd, that come so
unexpectedly upon you that you are astOund-
ed, and hesitate about expressing the fact.
You leave great heart of a great country
throbbing with the tremendous currents of a
worldwide commerce, and moving with the
dignity of a nation possessed Of destiny, for
country of trades people without trade, and
avaricious without money. The profusion, the
waste even, that flows around you at home
liberal as the day. as cOntrasted with the petty
meanness, the want that lives threadbare here
| proves how we have been slandered 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 remon-
strate at such impudent exaetion, the scamp
invariably asks, "What will madame give 4"
There IS not certain price carrying fair
profit upon any article in all Paris This is so
positively the fact, that you frequently see the
sign " Price fixed" above the door of the es-
Establishment, as an acknowledgment of the
truth; and where this little notice makes it's
appearance, you must expect to meet the great
est rogues. No such hotels as the st. Ncho-
las or the AstOr are to be met with in Paris :;
and for what you pay $3.50 there, here could
be had, II 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 1T here. They have tie name alone, and
on this account a great singer remains here
long enough to win name and then flies to
London st. Petersburgh, or New York, for
living. Rachel, the great tragic actress, who
Is to France what Siddons was to England,
and Cushman is to u.s. has sold her fairy-like
residence, and left for St Petersburgh, never
to return The next greatest was about fol-
lowing her example, when it is said that Ma
pOleOn considered it sufficient matter of i'm
|
and demonstrate. The appeal to his patriot
SIN was Of no avail and nothing but an in
! yease Of salary retained him. Y
! All this sounds probably very sweeping;
(, and yet | contend this is not onIy true, but
the natural result Of society organized as this;
where one class, holding unlimited sway, and
followed and aped by all, looks upon such
honorable pursuits as merchandising and me-
chanics as dshonorabe, such pursuits become
of course dishonest. All this is a fair warning
to me to be careful of first impressions. said
as | thought, in former letter, that there was
more genuine democracy in the social life here
than at home. M. 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-are not considered and do not feel
themselves, respectable. He says this is the
source of all the failures to establish repub-
lic 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 aristOcraas 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, q 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"
am becoming quite political, and talking
very glibly upon things | know little Of, and,
| quite far from what | took my pen to write
| about d., with his peculiar notions and 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 J. much
against my will, am forced to hear all about
the political state of Europe, and the proba-
bic results Of this and that move, all concur
ring IN the fact that moves are being made
and events progressing to crisis. | feel more
interest in Kossuth'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 rcvcrses with much dignity and
patience Taking then as specimens of the
people, the Hungarians 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 chaufe pieds, and
salute you with shriH cries, setting forth your
wants, and their ability to supply them. You
are struck with the neatness and cleanliness
of every ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS piled up in
the most artistic manner. But, as l said be-
fore, you miss TIE abundance one is so accus-
toned to at hOnle-heaps of everything roll
ing and tumbling about, silken corn and
golden apples, sln-colored peaches and purple
grapes, with huge strawberries, all poured
carelessly out as if good Dame Nature had