The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-01


purposes they were meant TO server Why
should we be kept of the grass, limited TO
gravel walks, and forced TO sit on low stools,
as the only alternative Of keeping perpetually
on our feetP Much advanced as we are in
some respects beyond the communities Of the
Old World, they understand the art of living
vastly better than we do. The fact is, we do
not seem to value life at all, or at least very
little for its own sake. It apparently never
enters the heads OF the mass of Americans,
that their brief stay upon this globe has any
other proper end than to toll, to scheme, and
TO suffer, In order to amass money. Wealth
Is the object they are perpetually and eagerly
driving at, and yet when they have got II
they appear to have neither the disposition
nor the ability TO enjoy 1t philosophically. II
Is otherwise with the societies over the water,
or with the educated or better portion Of them.
To live-not exist physically merely--but
to make life a scene Of moral and intellectual
pleasure, sweetened by domestic comfort and
affection, endeared by personal friendship,
enlvened by social courtesies and sympathies,
embellished by elegant accomplishments and
tastes, and diversified by refined amrs Z ,.sts,
is the main-si-l OF aspiration and effort with
pn>-- sple on the other side Of the Atlantic.
|, ley labor, they struggle, and they plan and
plot as we do here, TO get riches, or rather
competency but they do not covet and grasp
at gold for the mere love Of gold, but simply
for the human and social, the sensual and
spiritual, enjoyment It can purchase. Life
with them has a positive worth Of Its own, to
which all laborious effort is made subservlent,
and It's ffuition Is infinitely varied and ex-
haustless.
They delight themselves in literature, in
painting, In music, in sculpture, in architec-
tural art, in fetes, in dramatic exhibitions, in
geological and botanic gardens, and all out
door and indoor hospitalities, pursuits, and
recreations. They work, but they do not
work perpetually. They give good part Of
their time and thoughts to those diversions,
without which the law Of labor would be in
deed an unmitlgated curse, and existence an
odious burden. Mrs. STOWE confirms us in
this view by the following description of
scene she witnessed in one of the popular
resorts in Paris. She says:-
"After visiting the Luxembourg, 1 resorted
to the gardens of the Tuileries. The ther-
mometer was about eighty degrees in the
shade. From the number of persons as
sembled, one would have thought, If II had
been in the United States, that some great
" mass convention was coming off, Under the
impenetrable screen of the trees, in the dark,
cool, refreshing shade, are thousands Of
chairs, for which one pays two cents piece.
Whole families come, locking up their door,
bringing the baby, work, dinner, or lunch,
"take a certain number of chairs, and spend
the day.
"As far as eye can reach you see a multi
tude seated, as il at church, with other null
titudes moving to and fro, while boys and
I" girls without number are froliclking, racing,
playing ball, driving hoop, etc., but contriv-
ing to do it without making hideous
racket. a.-
"How French children are taught to play
and enjoy themselves without disturbing
|" everybody else is mystery. 'Cest gentP
seems to be talismanic spell; and 'Ce nest
/" pas gentu ca is sufficient to check every
q rising irregularity. Oil that some savant
would write book and tell us how it is
donei / gazed for half an hour on the spec
tacle. A more charming sight my eyes
never beheld. There were grey-headed old
men and women, and invalids; there were
beautiful demOiSelles working In worsteds,
at embroidery, or sewing; men reading
papers, and in fact, people doing everything
sthey would do in their own parlors. And
all were graceful, kind and ooliging; not a
4" word or act of impoliteness or indecency.
I" No wonder the French adore Paris, thought
" 1; in no other city in the world is a scene
" like this possibleI No wonder that their
= hearts die within them at thoughts of exile
" in the fens of Cayenne"
How unlike anything OF the kind ever seen
in the United States is this charming picture
Of French freedom, sociability, and politeness
1t makes one wish that he could transplant
here something of that genial appreciation OF
the pleasurable uses of life, and the faculty OF
harmonizing an easy simplicity and frankness
of manners with the distinctions of rank and
worldly condition, which the French people
so beautifully exempliiy in their social
habitudes.
When shall we have garden of the Tuile-
ries, where all classes, the lofty and the hum
bic, the rich and the poor, the young and the
old, men, women, and children, will congregate
on a summers day, without incurrlng unamia-
bic remarks from any. without uncivil jostling,
without the least offensive impertlnence or
indecorum whatever, yet with the most agree
able unrestraint and naturalness?
We fear that this thing Is very, very remote
from realization In this country. There is a
hard shell of sordd utilitarianism, of practical
matter-Ofhctness, Of formal prudishness, OF
non-democratic jealousy and exclusiveness, In
our present character and habits, which forblds
any hope of our breaking through, very early
into that gay, butterfly joyousness, freedom
and comeliness of social demeanor and inter-
course which distinguish society on the Euro
pean continent. But let us, at any rate, make
the most of our privileges. Let the public
squares be kept open always, and let those
who will enjoy them TO their hearts content.
The bones of Dante having been begged
| from the city Of RaYenna, where he died, are 10
be sOemnly transferred TO Florence for renter
ment, as an stoLement by the present generation
for the wrongs done him by their ancestors.
The extensive hardware factory of the