New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-05-05
THE BAL MAsQUE AT MI-CAREME.
a "Reminiscences Of Paris in the Spring of
1870. =. =


/ am one of chose lucky individuals whOr
chance led to Paris in the spring of 1870
] saw her then in the very acme of he
glory. Never had there been warmer O
finer season. Never had the vivacity of tn
most vivaciOus of the citizens reached
greater height. Never was the carnival s.
merrily kept In the midst of plenty. sur
rounded by pure, untainted air, not
thought of famine, pestilence, or the eneml
without the gate, disturbed their hilarity
The only use of the paraded troops of sol
diery was tor reviews on the fete days a
AaJngchamps, or for the execution of ma
neuvres to the music of inspiriting tunes il
The gardens of the Tuieries All was tran
gull, and though the excitement of the pie
biscite seemed at one time likely to swell
into tunult, yet in reality it did nothing
more than add piquancy to the daily rou
tine.
1t is not my intention to dilate on the con
trast presented TO me as | walked through
the principal boUlevards and Champs ElV
sees quite recently, but merely to give a
"Reminiscences of my former visit, and de-
scriptOn of a national Orgie which Is not
likely to be celebrated with equal magnit-
oence and abandon for one OF Two years to
come.
The Mi-Careme-or the day on which
Lent divides-is, as l suppose most of my
readers already know, great festival IN
France, a sort of halfway house" of enter
taInment on that six-Weeks' pilgrimage of
our annual life in which good Catholics are
supposed to fast.
Experience has, no doubt, proved that
nation OF so eXuberant temperament as
the French is unable to exist for forty CON
secutive days without an interval in which
ut may iegitimately quench its thirst for ex-
CIbement, in which it may WOO its darling
IerpsichOre without scruples of conscience
and IN which it may act up to its motto,
= peUe la JOte," without visit of confession
to its priests. The dissipation at Mi Careme
eiseven greater, and, certainly, more reIished
by the vOtaries of pleasure, than the Carni-
val ITSELF for at the latter the people join
an the festivities with the delight of a well
led gOurmand at one OF series of recherche
dinners, while at the former they indulge in
the revels with the same keen appetite with
which a gourmet would relish feast at the
IrOis FreUes PrOVenceauX after dining for
three weeks at a Bouillon for fifty confines.
had the good luck, as / have said, to be
IN Paris at this season, with two friends
who, my juniors by three or of four wears,
and fresh from college, were eager to be
witnesses and more eager still to be par
takers of every prank and adventure that
fortune might happen to throw IN our way. |
viii call them NJ and N, and beg |
70 introduce myself to the reader by the |
name of the unknown K
We were first apprised that Mi-Careme |
was no ordinary day by the sound of |
trumpet, by means of which a man in bal |
oOnyy opposite TO the room where we were |
breaktastlng, was making morning hideOuR
and we deputed N (Ihe youngest of our
party to obtain full particulars of the
events of the day at the Bureau" This task
" was by no means reluctant to under
take, for must tell you that at the bureau
was stationed young lady, youthful in
years and prepOssessing in appearance
who fhnnuh cunnpaad m ho |
an immense hook of figures, which was laid
out OstentatiOusly before her, was not 10th
to snatch few moments from her calcuIa-
tiOns to talk with either M or N.
who in their turn we're equally pleased to
'aiT' their French in such pleasant society.
disappearing in the streets during the
uaY, and the ball at the opera house at !
night were the pith of Ms report, and
alter dSeuner Second dgelaper, of Counsel
or at about haltpast one, We sailed forth |
from our hotel to see what was to be seen.
We passed down the avenue of the
Champs Elysees, which was already
crowded. All Paris was ont of doors and
with eyes turned toward the street. seemed
sxpectaut OF some great sight. We waited q
Wlth the multitude for some time, but after c
watching rather poor procession of people
dressed up IN grOtesque costumes we made q
Tor the boulevards, where as N had '
oeen instructed, was the grand rendezvous 7
"a" et~NtAN CNNAA 1oulbu mousse on ~
men with faces purple, and ewes watari6G l.
with their eXerilOn, we're GLOWING mn the v
trumpet IN the new NOON" as NJ ev fl
pressed 1t. From the Madelaine tn +ka b
Chateau d'Eau, every balcony that CON "
manded view of the street was tbronoed
the cafes crammed, and the foot maths fl
DhOked by the ''many headed" all WAITING 4
10 see the fun. The fun appeared to us ey s
small, and totally Inadequate to I,
the number Of persons assembled to wit
ness it, a mere repetition of what we had h
seen already. Occasionally, carriages con Il
tanning sorle young people in tights, and Y
men in masked costume, and now and n
then, a car on which deities were persona e
with a painted face, and We Ii
aus, with some children carrying silver
paper bows and arrOws) tor Cupids, being e
the favOrites, drove slowly past. and then s
the crush would be made on all sides to C
catch glimpse of them, and murmur of d
applause would run through the crowd. Il
But small amount of sightseeing goes a &
Ong way in Paris, as any one who has no. {
iced the immense cOncOurse which Punch p
md Judy show will draw together Will ad- v
nit. Il
At five o'clock, finding that the gayety of Il
he scene did not compensate for the an p
lOyance of the crowd, we took a cah and | CT
eturned with the string of carria ges, at ii
uneral pace to our hotel. We there found | ic
DUr friend still busily employed blowing
I'D the trumpet in the new moon" He had n,
lot changed his position in the balcony. and II
he tune-a sort of combination of a bugIe b,
all and the ending bar of a Gregorian OF
hant--had not varied. l have not much al
of wind instruments, but if the al
xertion Of blowing bears any sort of pro III
,Ortion to the effect produced, his exhaus- OF
ion by this time must have been tremen- "
GUS. I suppose it does not, for he was 81
ute at his ease, and appeared to have only Ia
OF his second wind. In
But that / may not weary the reader u
rith uninterestng details, let me at once la
roceed to the grand business of the day al
be- bal masQue M asserted his right 81
t turn TO make a visit of inquiry to the bu. dl
Eau. and was informed by the agreeable @
Dung lady that to night the whole Of Paris tu
Ould be dancing somewhere; that there 81
ere private ordinary balls, as distinguish ci
from bal Mosques private bal Mosques re
ld public bal Iuasques for the entertain pa
tent Of the aristOcraoy, the middle classes, al
TO-, while the lower order would dis al
Drt themselves at such places as Irivoli-
Jauxhail, or gardens, which correspond to to
lr Crcmorne. She further told hum that y
Tds for n private ball had been left for us SIC
7 our neighbOrs at the table d'hOte. M, hl
,wever, replied that We had set our hearts as
J the grand public ball ct the opera house.