Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-08-29
Correspondence of the New York Express.
HOW SOME PEOPLE LIVE IN PARIS

Another Bohemian of letters. another Gerard
de Nerval or Edgar Poe was carried on Friday
to his long home, by few friends belonging
10 MS profession, who from their own meaere
purses gave him Christian burial. l mean
Privat PAnglemont. This poor fellow. gifted
with an intellect OF no common order, an orig.
inal and entertaining writer, died in absolute
poverty Seeing i'll the daily papers the an
nouncement of his death, coupled with the
usual amount of eulogium bestowed upon
genius when genius is no more, reminded me
of an odd little volume which | bought some
four years ago, at the open-air curiosity shop
OF secondhand dealer on the quai d'Orsay.
not far from the Institute of France. The an
thor OF this little book was d'AngIemont II
was collection of articles contributed by him
IN the teuilleton FORM to one of the Paris Jour
nals-l think the Steele, contained some very
curious details of the unknown industries of
the metropolis. Who, indeed, was CAPABLE of
giving more truthful descriptions tnan ne of
the devices of poverty to drive hunger from
the door? He had often only to draw from
the stores of his own experience, to write with
startling reality
''The short and simple annals of the poorn
Among other things 'Augemont informs us
how people may live in Paris one of the most
expensive cities in the world for the modest
sum of eight sous dqy,-ess than thirty dol.
lars year! Here are the details:
harlequin (miXture of scraps of meat
vegetables, and other ingredients two sous.
A small glass of violet colored fluid called
wine, two sous.
Bread, or potatoes boiled in their skins, two
sous.
Lodgings in cellar, upon three-foot elder
down straw two sous.
Certainly, material existence can scarcely
be reduced to less proportions than these, and
nj bnt bad
not add how long a man can live after this fash
ion, though it was often his own ordinary, and
he barely reached forty years of age. 1t is
settled then that this terrible economy costs
yeryEdear in the end.
The habit of living in this way seems to
have stifed in d'Anglemont every sentiment Of
disgust. He himself fed upon the viands he
describes and grew accustomed to them
He makes frequent mention of the word
harlequin which, indeed, is similarly sup
piled by Eugene Sue, in his famous "Mys-
teries of Paris" The name is given to a
certain dish, in consequence of it being
composed of odds and ends assembled to-
gether at hazard like harIequins jacket.
One of the most celebrated dealers in this in
viting compound was, and perhaps still is, the
Mere Maillard, of whom poor dAngemont
speaks as having regular treat with the soul
lions of all the principal Partisan restaurants
about twenty-five francs q month, earn ten
times that sum by the sale of the leavings,
which fall to their share. These leavings are
gathered together, pell-mell, and sold by the
pail-fuIl. Madame Maillard is the purchaser,
paying three francs pail and of the contents
she tabrieates her "harlequins." In the mass
is found little of everything, from trufed
chicken and spiced game down to beef and
cabbage. The whole is assorted, as far as pos
o;bl fbo fIor, al
to the people in easy circumstances for their
dogs, cats, &C., and to the poor for their own
nourishment. Is it not true that one half the
world knows not how the other half lives!
Nor does this horrible commerce stop here.
Between creatures of the type of the mere
Maard and certain class of cheap restau-
rants, there is constant exchange of all sorts
of rubbish. If people, who possess the means
of living WELL but who patronize third or
fourth rate eating houses from motives OF
economy, only knew What they eat their hor-
ror and disgust would prevent them from ever
again crossing the thresholds of such places.
The proprietors of these gargottes, as they
are called in Partisan parlance, purchase the
choice morsels from the Mere Maillard, to be
served up as fresh to their own customers
from Papa Deshaies they obtain, newly milk
ed and skinned, their supply of bush cells, which
are palmed off as having been caught in the
Seine; from Madame Vanard they buy the
lemon peel used in various meat sauces, and
picked up no one knows where. AS for the
rarebits which figure in the tempting potpies
Of these establishments, man is hired to
hunt them in the pcrious warrens, bordering
the roofs of Paris. If the hint be sufficient.
refer your readers to the following lines, leav
ing them to translate for themselves -
Solvent dams une hotellerie,
On leur fat passer lie govt de pain,
Et qui fut chat toute sa vie,
Apres mort devient lapin.n