The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-05-09
PORTLAND TUESDAY MORNING,
PORTLAND.
TUESDAY, MAY, o, 1871.
How Amsricans Live i. p..;-


PARIS, April Fl, 1871.
In a moment like this, the most dangerous
to human life in Paris since the reign of ter
ror, 1t is interesting to look up the American
colony and see what 1t is doing. Blessed
Americans! suppose the lessons of apart.
ments think and the maitres dhotel believe
that we citizens of the United States are the
most charming people. You can tell by the
bad French and the martyred garcons that
we, OF foreign residence, are almost entirely
alone under the jurisdiction of the Commune.
Inc Americans are not in enormous numbers
mere, out we have the cream, and the iolly
haunts OF Uncle Sam are visited by the same
class as during tae siege, save, OF course, with
tnose lew additions who have come "to see
tne iun. After breakfast, even before break.
Iast, o.en take 2 strell down the boulevard,
now desolate, and nearly blank. / am on,
posite to Peters.
"Halloa! There's the gentleman from
North Carolina"
"What's the news ?r he demands.
Gall quiet on the Seinep
Every one knows - and be Is a man
worth knowing; for besides his good common
sense and knowledge of the void be is ac-
quainted with the most beautiful and artistic
OF Parislan women. Then, as matter of
course, l must do all the morning salutatiops
But who comes next? Dr. N, of Cali
fornia, who has lived twelve years In Paris.
and who Is famed for the elegance and purity
OF his conversation and his admiration for the
courage and heroism of the French people
have sat often for hours and listened to the
Doctor, when in one of his chaste moods
He would relate curious incidents in the lives
OF New England clergynen visiting Europe
on the plea OF having bad case of bron.
chitis. He Is one Of the soul inspirers of the
American colony, and, aside from q hand.
some face and An imposing figure, is filed
with vast and various erudition. "When
Greek meets Greek" there is, in the popular
mind, something OF mind, and the Doctor
last night, in his holy admiration for Byron,
burst into thousand scintilating words
which provoked happy rejoinder from cit
izen OF that tattered State. Life would be
incomplete without seeing the Doctor once a
day.
get up to 60. must see what Is going
on in the Kue Scribe, for there we find
Thorpe, Wells and Hill, all claiming to be
American boys. "Give me cocktail, colonel"
hear in the most elegant of the establish
ments, fitted up in green velvet, mahogony
and massive bas. reliefs.
"All right, STRIP and the glasses jingle and
the ice breaks, and then the straw begins to
draw. A lively chat; discussion of the Jour-
nal Ofciel our own war, the draft riots of
New York In 1853, and parallels between the
ward politics of the American metropolis and
the statesmrnship Of the Commune, are all
daily discussed, as one after another, the
American gentlemen du monde drop in. At
the Grand Cafe and at the Cafe de Ia Paix we
have similar scenes, until, at two p. ~, some
one calls out: n.
Let us 60 to the fiontp
"Not for me, says one, "there is no glory
in dying for the Commune, and then to have
"But there is no danger"
"Of course you would say so; when you go
out you get In the cellar of some house and
come back and swear you have been all but
riddled to DEATH"
"Who's going?" A dozen respond and the
carriages are ordered and the party rolls up to
the Champs Elysees, toward the Porte Maillot
and perchance you might hear, "We're COM
ing Father Abraham, 300, 900 strong" or some
other melody to the accompaniment of me-
tralileuses, Chassepots and Kissing shells.
Maybe the party divides, for at this moment
the interest is directed at Neuilly, the Porte
des Ternes and Levallois Pierret. But men
-Amer:cans-are not the only curiosity
seekers about the arch. Some of the iairest
Of our American bellies are out in pretty cos.
TUNES, the most cunning little hats, locking
at the bOmbardmeDt not from afar of, but
right in the midst of where the shells fall.
All about the arch you will see five Ameri.
can flags to one OF any other nationality, for
the richest propretors of this splendid quar-.
ter rejoice in floating the Stars and Stripes.
l often think that shall ldesert the Herald and
60 into the real estate business; forby paying
an insignificant sum one can become an own
er OF fine mansion Ton the Avenue Impera-
tice; but the fear that between Valerien and
the Commune might have legacy OF ashes
deters me from playing the prince.
There is cry for light-sgive me cigar !;
this is getting hot" and projectile expl0des
and the ieces rolfat our feet, and the cocher
proposes an amendment to the roote. 1t is
unanimously voted down on pain Of forfeiting
all pay.
asata asat 8 glass of beer; hOws shats
And we descend for the beer just in time
to see an aeed Turk closing his window be-
fore fragment lodges in his shutters. Posi-.
bly, the most gratifying feeling In the world is
that which comes from the knowledge that
people are trying to kill you, shooting at you,
terrifying you, and yet unable to injure the
minutest hair ofyour head. Thus we remain
and laugh with Parisians at Versailles and
Valerein and the battles of Courbevoie, won
dering and tying to anticipate the end of this
triangular force between two mad Frenchmen
aud one grlnnlng, happy German. A month
| of such diversion makes 1t monotOnous, and
then we sally forth to Asmeres to look at a
closer, bloodier combat. Like diana In the
second act, we have more sanguinary scenes
| men on their stomachs, fat behind barrl-
cades, delivering coup after coup from their
Chaassepotson the Versailles scouts.
"Who are you?" demanded rouge.
"Oh we are Americans"
"Yes," says an officer, "they're from the
land OF liberty"-and then long talk about
independence, a republic, municipal rights
expressions of the poor, indulgenccs OF the
rich and the fall of tyrants. But men die vic
lent deaths every minute and this takes away
the ludicrous and jovial, and we become Sc
rious and regretinl. Shattered houses. house
hold debris, fires, and then the town in flames
and. near enough to eternity, we drive back
This has been the daily lite of the last week
"When will it end ?' the ladies ask
"It has just begun" We who think we are
| wiser than the rest, respond. When Paris
was in mourning over "the black death" de-
scribed by Eugene Sue and Louis Blanc, dc
| not believe there was as much terror as now
Then people could leave town; now they can.
not, save with great trouble, and in weel
probably not at all.
THE DELIRIUM TREMENs DEMOCRACY
The attempt of respectable and wise por.