The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-13

with their rer makes them be-
proof that he is goo' At, Besides the best
to all the artists plo;s man Is '1at & ne PS.sS
more in T. o his portrait dozen times or
It whe- le present salon. You look out tor
Of a you 60 there; rather q melancholy sort
400 ook-reddish- brown hair, aud very neatly
trimmed beard. When you see him knesling
down with great cross upon his shoulder, he
is the very image of our Saviour, assure
you" The landlord also told me that nearly
all the able-bodied men that come to France
run away from their own country to escape
being shot or hung as bdgands, or to evade
serving in the army after having
drawn an unlucky number. They
usually come by a sailing vessel from
some Italian port to Marseilles and many
of them tramp it up to Paris. Very few, If
any, of them go back to their own country,
unless they are sent there as vagrants by the
police.
In the apartment we are in there are two
mattresses spread on the floor at opposite cor
ners, on one of which lies little baby, per-
feotly naked, save a slight covering thrown
over it, with gold chain, to which gold
cross and heart-shaped locket attached,
suspended round its neck. All the chill
dren have necklaces and long earrings,
and the mother abounds with iewelry
The room contains a couple of chairs,
but neither table, wash-stand, chest of
drawers, nor cupboard. 1t is, moreover,
lighted and ventilated by merely single win
dow, which is closely fastened and curtained
over, rendering the air of the apartment,
which is only some twelve feet by eight posi-
lively sitting, and yet the children have all
the look of perfect health. Over the mantel-
pioce hangs a gold watch, in all likelihood
another souvenir of happy brigand days, with
numerous little pictures and images of saints,
a crucifiX, and few simple cooking utensils.
Around the room all kinds of rude musical
instruments, high-crowned hats, sbeep-skn
jackets, and other garments, are hanging.
In another chamber we find a couple OF
families living; two married sisters, both young
and rather pretty, with their husbands-big
black bearded, rufianly y-looking sort of fellows
whom at a glance you would set down as bri-
gands-and be mistaken; for neither had fol-
lowed this amiable procession. They have four
little children They were better off than
their neighbors as regarded furniture, bat
vastly behind them in the matter of iewelry;
PROBABLY because the husbands had not the
same opportunities of overhauling other
peoples jewel-cases. Other rooms we visited
were simply repetitions of the preceding with
some unimportant variations. In one particu-
lar chamber, stretched out on a mattress lying
in the middle of the room, were a couple of
tootsore, weary travellers, young lads arrived
that day on foot from Italy, after having been
six weeks on the road and who had flung
themselves on this to them welcome couch
in their soiled and dusty garments, and were
soundly sleeping with their bagpipes beside
them.
On returning to the wine-shop, we noticed
that not single Italian was prinking there;
the company was for the most part composed
of French workmen, with sprinkling OF
worse characters. Nevertheless, one middle
aged, ragged-looking Italian, who was smok-
ing his pipe on the doorstep, on being appealed
to by the landlord to give change for fifty
franc note, produced from his belt a leathern
bag, in which smaller bags were packed, con-
tanning various coins wrapped up in pieces OF
rag or paper. Several of these he deliberately
unfolded, and taking couple of napoleons
! from one, gold fve-franc piece from another,
! and some silver from third, carefully counted
out the requisite change, and then, folding up
the note, slowed it away in the particular re-
! ceptacle which he devoted to his paper money,
! as til ough not in the least afraid of exhibiting
his wealth before such doubtful company.
A drive of few minutes now conducts us
to the Bal du VieuX Chene in the narroWest
part of the Rue de Moufetard, possibly the
most notorious among entertainments OF ill
repute il all Paris. 1t is one OF the first places
a police agent visits to endeavor to pick up
information respecting any great robbery, or
to ascertain the whereabouts of any we'll
known criminal. Every night there are one
or more police agents here in disguise. The
entertainment here has gone on for two hun
dred years-as long, in fact, as the street in
which it is held has existed, to share its own
indifferent reputation. In front of the en-
trance, which is brilliantly lighted up, and
decorated with tricOlored flags, we find con
siderable crowd collected, and among them a
tolerable sprinkling of policemen. Six sous
are demanded for admission, and you have to
surrender up your walking stick before you
are permitted to enter. The "salle du BAL -
long, narrow apartment, aTordIng dancing
accommodations to very nearly a hundred
couples, is lighted by at least fifty gas-burners,
and has rows of tables and benches, shut of
by open barriers, ranged up either side.
Heathen gods and goddesses line the walls.
| The ceiling is extremely low; nevertheless the
room is admirably ventilated, an unquestion-
! able advantage il only because it renders the
! strong odor of garlic a trhe less insupport-
able. The orchestra numbers ten performers,
of whom several belong to military bands.
! Amongthe male habtues of the establishment
are individuals of various conditions, ranging
from the well-to-do skilled workman and the
youth in some fourth rate commercial house,
wearing frock-coats and bily-cock hats to the
laboring man in blue blouse and trousers, and
the suspicious character in garments of great
variety, usually so many disguises. Respect
ability does not appear much at the "VieuX
Chene," the bulk OF the male portion of the
company being common laboring men, who
largely patronized the last nine days Parsian
wonder-the straw hat at three sous, which is
Just now selling over here by tens of thousands.
| Our guides point out TO us several notOriously
bad characters, known in slang phraseolOgy
as "flous," who will rob you in a crowd o.
your watch or your scarf pin; "tireurs," oI
pickpockets; 'camhrioeuTs" and "vauter
niers," equivalent to London area sneaks