Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-12-30
THE CONDITIOE OF THINGS IN
PARIS.


A correspondent of the Cincinnati GA
sette writes to that paper under date Of
Nov. 10:
The aristocracy of Paris are as igno-
rant of books as the Partisan Democracy
is of sobriety. AFrench author furn-
ishes what l have no doubt is a speci-
men of French aristocrat. Here she
is THAT pretty wearied face, that wife
of a Duke in short. Hers was a vapOr-
Gus, ethereal nature, lost in a cloud Of
muslin She lived between heaven and
earth, walked hardly an hour a day, and
did so with languishing undulation Of
the body and the graceful awlZwardness
of a swan upon land. The rest of the
time she reclined in an Asiatic attitude,
with her head on her elbow, and dream
ed. And what she dreamed the star re-
peated to the rose. Well, this elegant
patrician, who, with her ermine delicacy
and sensitive epidermis, would have
shuddered at the thought Of receiving
anything otherwise than on a silver
waiter, and from a gloVed hand. Of her
major domo, busily turned over with her
sylph-like fingers the pages Of a hired
romance, still impregnated with all the
perfumes Of the masked ball, and an
notated by drunken hands in the style Of
the guard room. And she did not do
so through meanness, for she thought
nothing Of spending a banknote on a
new dress.
The most obscenely gross and grossly
obscene books are exposed upon the
boulevards for sale, and cried by women
and children on the streets. may not
even give the title of these vile publica-
tons but they can not be left without
mention by any one who cares to be
faithful chronicler of the crisis and its
causes. And I will say that in the con
coction Of some of these caricatures and
pamphlets, the author has descended to
the very lowest depth of loathsome in
decency. ] have seen caricatures Of the
Empress to-day, which am sure would
not be tolerated on the streets of any city
of Turkey or Hindostan. In the smut
tiest shop window of the most unfre
quented streets of the most icentiou5
cities of Italy or Spain, you viii see
nothing so loathsome, vile and brutal as
the pictures I saw, one hour ago, dealt
out to merry purchasers, on the boule-
ward, by an equally merry young woman
Of about eighteen years, and of a pretty
and unblushing face. / am determined
to believe that English speaking Christ
strumpet who could hand such a picture
as that to a man without recOn Of ma
ture or a change of complexion.
And this is not an exceptional sPecta-
Gle. II is to be seen from one end TO
the other Of the boulevards, and Of q
dozen other of the most frequented thor
oughfares. The best dressed men and
women join the crowd that presses up to /
gaze long and with an admiring relish
upon these filthy caricatures.
Books make their appearance in the i
shop windows which heretofore were
concealed under the shop counters, and
engraVings which formerly were only
shown to the initiated are now within
reach of the lads and lasses that accom-
pany their mamma or the servant A
very respectable O shopkeeper said to
me, Let me show you how rapidly we
are progressing, and pulling out a cart |
s2c zESlfe he said Look on the back Of /
it That is the name of the most fastid- !
ious Photographic establishment in the |
city. Before the war they would pros
ecute the man who charged them with |
publishing such picture, and even upon /
ca1EeS of the most ordinary departures |
from decorum they would not put their /
name. Then, as to selling, any shop /
that should be caught selling such a pic I
ture as this would have been closed, and /
its proprietor punished" "
This shop is one Of many. Vice. un- 4
der the empire, could go just so far and \
no further. Now 1t goes its utmost /
lengths. It seeks cut many inyenuons. !
1t is served up in plaster statueues, and /
hawked about the streets. It taxes all /
the powers Of Prurient ingenuity. In /
short, it would seem that all the lasciY-
ious machination for which this people 1
are distinguished have come into play
under the genial warmth Of the blood
less revolution.
l saw Paris when it was a whited
sepulcher. see it now, when the
sepulcher is open to the eye and nose.
If it was always vile. although under re-
straint it is now utterly blatant, insolent
and hilarious in its Vileness. And as
vice is promoted by publicity, it is grow
ing apace in Paris. Private vices IN
crease with indulgence, but public vices
have a fearful power Of selt-mulhplica-
ton
And these caricatures, whether in pic
ture or print, are without single re-
deeming feature. They are not clever
they are not funny they are only dirty,
filthy. The dirtier they are the better
they sell, - woman at the kiosk tells
me. They are as destitute Of wit as they
are Of decency.