Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-12-13
PARIS.
what Paris is-A Partisan cold
snap-Paris at Night,

|
by Lortng OF Boston
Paris is the heart Of France-the cen
ter Of the world. By-and-by New YorI
will usurp It's functions. To-day !
stands pre-eminsnt Germans an,
Americans call it the unique city O
pleasure the Prussian admits that it i
paradise; the Russian finds it his edu
Gator; the Turk his puzzle; th,
Japanese mystery; the Egyptians
thing to be worshipped. The Psrisian
born find it impossible to shake of tn,
Influence. Even in the pleasant avenue
Of Saint German, under the leaves a
Meudon, BY the river at Passy, or on th,
towers top at Vihcennes, he feels him
self desolate. Outside the eity's WALL
ne feels among strangers. Paris il
France, but France is not Paris. The
Partisan is Frenehman, but only two
millions Of Frenchmen are Parisians
Nous somaes d'aceord, my concierge and
myself, that Paris is puzzle. Just that
Let US call it a puzEle-a labyrinth,
with the army for its Minotaur. You
understand that perfectly, old fellow
Yes, for you have been bit busy with
books in your day. Modern Lutetia il
infinite in variety, in virtue, in vice, in
magnifcence, in wretchadness. It Is the
city Of contrasts. Here a new pleasure
ia born daily, and Paris tastes it, eulo-
gizes it, and dismisses it before sunset.
Here is charming domestic life, aud ut
ter lack of it. Here, side BY side, are
wonders of science and ignorance Of the
common details Of education. Here. on
the Madeleines marble floor, kneel to-
gether Marie the eoeotto, and Marie the
pure bride. At one end of the city
stand the Tuileries at the other lie
hidden the "quarries," where nightly
scores of vagabonds find rest on damp
earth. Here tbs comfortable forever
jostles the miserable; here all human
cries SO blend together, that only one
p1an Of harmony seems to be heard.
For what harmony ever went. wandering
starward, which had not IN it concord
and discord wondrously blended, the
massive minors of misery giving under
tone grand and pathetic, to the enehant-
ing whole
Suddenly there came a sound as of
in the distance, or no, like the
grating Of innumerable saw teeth on
iron, and then such a Gathering of
wooden shoes as one hears only IN Bou-
logue. Here, in the frosty weather were
dozens Of old women, with dirty hand
kerchiefs wrapped around their heads,
with short skirts disclosing skinny
ankles, and for stockings straw stuffed in
the wooden shoes, They ranged them
selves in rows about our baggage, and
hen came the descent Of the harpies.
No one could understand them who
understood French even passabIy well
or they talked most horrible patois.
They seized and bore away our effects.
md we we're anxious enough to follow.
10 Ve passed up in single fIs, each de-
ilarings his nationality as he Landed. I !
vent to the eustam-heuse, where the
MY things in my baggage which the !
iticial seemed to be frightened at we're |
small brush broom and Bible both |
Fere supremely beyond his comgrehen- /
ian.
II was sold-but there was not even
lind enough stirring to mar the beauty
f the long festoons of milky white, the
rapery Of the snow, which hung upon
be branches in the little parks, or we're
pendant from the shrubs in
he boxes along the pavement. 1t was
0 cold that the sergent-de-ville per-
1rmed his favorite gestures Of shrug-
ing his shoulders up above his ears,
ending his moustachs up to protect his
ose, eoncealing bis hands IL the aow-
~ sleeves af his oFerooat, and knock
lg his neatly booted feet energetieally
,gether The carmen from the country,
over on the backs of their great white
orses, aud covered in huge black caps
le city workmeR, hurrying to and fro
ith their queer eOmforters stuffed into
lie necks Of their blouses, and their
lazed caps pulled frantically over their
rows, the cabman with their red waist
,ats hidden under mountains of frieze
ID warm wooden and there an old
-iest with his robe tapping insecurely
ouRd his doublY swathed legs-aIl
sti6ed that it was bitter cold.
Paris Is magic by night. The day
kes somewhat of this romance away II
1t in the evening son the asphalte
o smooth pavements Of the grand
in the quiet shades of !
incennes on the crowded Rue Royale,
seme erammed passage all aglow with (
ops and costumes, or on the banks of
9 Seine, in whose bosom are reflected I
9 million lights Of the great city, from !
-acadero to Aotre Dame; on the broad
enue of the Champs Elysees, where
shion and vice dazzle and tempt, and 9
lere nature weoes her sweetest, too
on soane long stretch of path in the =
Dis de Roulogne, where the moon I
rows strange shadows upon stranger Il
owds, all Paris is beautiful By night.
le theaters pour in their crowds at six, Z
d pour them out at twelve the bril- :,
ut cafes show glittering groups for =
les along the great thoroughfares u
} wine shops send out their rollicking ?
lbs of blue bloused workmen, whose Z
stumes are picturesque in the glare of u
. gas the hundreds Of petty mer- "
ants stalk up aud down, with their Il
npting displays Of mock wares, seek n
; whom they may deyour the gren- u
ers in their gay blue and white tilt p
it, jingling the metal Of their scab- u u
IDS on the clean pave; the policemen y !.
inter by with their hats cooked II
owingly on one side, and hands held 81
fgood naturedly, half menacingly, on o.
J hits Of their long rapiers the II
itical spy stalks unknown among the u u
aud opens his thievish e
$ and draws quick breath through his &C
picious lips when he thinks he is pl
e of his prey, the vagrant skulks a W
ie in the shadow of the carriage at u
curbstone, and when he sees mad IN
oisells the rich, the favored of the co
li-moAds pass by her whom perhaps IN
can remember TO have seen in equal In
ery with himself, for Paris has its 10 70
nance Of uprisal and downfall, be "a a
eits aims and gets it, yes--and there, ~
sing under the cafe awning, with the i:I nI
lliancy of mellow light flooding a ii1
} which now only belongs to dark ~.
s and sorrow, stands she whom Paris ~
I6inlieQ Hka anar-cua uhorn fha