New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-31

from the thousand boteIs>of Paris in search
OF amusement. 1t was the homo Oh the oance
az well as of song, and certain NUMBER Oh
evenings OF every season were oevoVeu ~
those marvelOusly elaborate combinations OF
dancing grouping and scenic effect. which,
accommodating all the traditions from the times
of tho kings Of Valois To the present, form the
modern ballet. The great hall was not gwen
I'D exclusively to professional dancing. The
bal de rop6ra with its furious can-caDs on the
stage and floor and it's mysterious promenades
of the foyer, furnishes as important page to
the average travellers note book as any evening
devoted TO the glory of Grisi, or Malibran, or
Nilsson. II was full of glamour for downy
voutb. but lost much Of its charm to habitual
visitors when one learned that the most joy
ous of the Mosques were paid three francs for
coming. and the piquant dominoes in the foyer,
WIN looked like princesses on a frolic, we're
merely shop girls in tho peaceful pursuit oil
supper.
Perhaps the most intensely dramatic expe-
rience of the late building was in that crazy
Summer of 1870, when the street was fuI OF
madmen shouting "A Berlin" to the tune Oh
"I,ampions.n and when the artists on their
wav 10 rehearsals were caught and forced 10
sing the Marsellaise to the crowd. IL often
happened to Marie Sass to be compelled 10
chant that deirious hymn of battle two or
three times between her house and the hue
LIE Pelletier. Everybody seemed equally IN
sane. The Emperor and his son trotting oil TO
the wars together, gay and confident, buzzing to
their ruin az cockchafers fly to torch; the
Ministry talking with light hearts to serVlle
legislature, sure of nothing but their own
vanity and subservience; and demoallzed
and undisciplined army, without instruction or
equipment, rafting over to the frontier 10 meet
chat overwhelming host Of soldiers IN spiked
helmets who knew how to obey, ana oihcers
in spectacles who knew how to command
The artists were as mad as any one, and II
was hard to resist the cOntagion when Faure
came forward to the footlights and sang that
exauisitcly insolent challenge OF Alfred de
Musset,
.Nous Pavons Gu votre Rhin Alemand
II a tenu dams nOtre yerre."
There has not been much in the old theater
worth remembering since those days, which,
by the way, no ono cares to remember now.
If the building had personality of its own
it would doubtless have chosen to disappear
In some ouCu lBODicuIdly Bhtio VI ii""i'0'
before the great marble palace which super
sedes it s completed. In its best days at
never could have competed with that
enormous pile whose proud facade dom
mates the Rue de Ia Paix and watches
the rebuilding of the Column of Fendome.
f. There are few more imposing structures i'll the
world than this lordly theater. where the mil
lions of the imperial budgets were squandered
| in colored marbles and statuary worthy OF the
great days of art. But it will be long before
the new palace RECEIVERS the gayety, the glitter,
and the pride which distinguished the art and
the public of the old theater. Paris always
will be Paris, the one imperial city of civili-
zaton for ages to come; but every sin brings
| it's chastisement, and her best lovers cannot
excuse those hours of folly when for the time
| she became loyal to the Emperor simply be-
cause he had made war upon Germany.