The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-01-25

Allies, erected q circle Of Notifications around
Paris at an average distance of q mile beyond
fore stated. another system of works was com
menced in 1S4l, about O mile still farther ont,
which yet stand, while those of 1914 were lev
elled, and u great circular street established on
the space occupied by them. This second cir
Gle Ia called the Boulevards Exteriur," while
the other one is called the Interieur" and
the outer walls are called the Fertilization
Boulevards, on the inside of which is o wide
roadway encrcling the present city, twenty
one miles in length; and few hundred yards
inside of that is a military railroad, also en-
circling the city, and intended to hand Q troops
aud munitions with celebrity in time of sege
From the centre of the city irradiate irregu
larry other wide streets called boulevards, like
the spokcs of II wheel from it's hub to its tire
Qhe tire representing the aforesaid line of for.
tifications). The general appearance of Paris
on II map is that of spiders web; but it's
streets, other than the bonlevards and few
wide "rues," are n tangled maze of iucompre-
hensible narrow lanes and alleys, which only
the ca bmen are supposed to know under
stand whence they come or whittier they so.
At hundreds of points six or eight of those
streets converge and end. Where they go from
those points of intersection, mo fellow can
find out" for there is not straight line in
any direction but for short distance. Follow
to q " fork of the roads," Take either hand,
and you come to another fork, several of
them, or suddenly reach blind wall, and are
out of street Then undertake to retrace your
steps, aud, III a few hundred yards travel, You
are in some other street not seen before. Fol
low that in any direction, and it brings you
speedily to focus of half a dozen streets.
Then take your choice and start ahead, and
you are lost, no matter which enc you select.
The finest thing in the street system oil Paris,
to my eye. are the two magnificent roadways
along the Seine, on either side thereof The
river makes grand curve through the city for
distance of eight or nine miles. The road
ways laid out on either bank average $50 feet
in width, and are planted with trees. The
masonry from the bottom to the top, a height
of perhaps forty feet-for the whole distance,
except the upper part of the river, where land
ings or levees have been graded and paved for
the reception OF the commerce of the river,
consisting of wood, stone, brick, sand, gravel,
hay and other country produce.
There can be no more beautiful drive mag
Unable than on one of those river-bank road
public buildings in Paris on the other hand
is the cnrving river as it sweeps through the
city, with half dozen magnificent arched
bridges spanning the Seine always in sight
On tho opposite shore is the other great drive
way, lined with splendid buildings and beau
tifui gardens; while floating up and down the
river itself is flotilla of"steam omnibus
which carry passengers from ono
landing to any other within the walls for three
cents per passenger.
The streets of Paris are all paved, and kept
clean continually. Such q nuisance as street
dust whisking about into shops and dwellings,
and binding the eyes of pedestrians, is I'M
known IN Paris. Every day the streets are
sprinkled and swept, and those which ara
swept, and kept as fright and clean as the
marble floor of the Grand Pacific hotel. The
usual pavement material is composed of a hard,
compact sandstone of blue color. nearly as du-
rable as granite. 1t is prepared in cubes of
about six to eight inches in diameter, and laid
SO as to present level surface. It lasts long
time, but is hard on horses, and very noisy un-
der street traffic. The length of paved streets
in Paris is about GOO miles, of which not far
from 100 miles are asphalt, which seems to be
quite durable and more popular than stone.
block pavement. But there are serious objec-
tions to it; one of which is, that it affords no
hold for horses feet, and, where it has been
laid down on streets having any grade or ac-
clivity, horses can draw but little load up the
incline, but slip and fall, and having fallen.
can rise again with great difficulty. On level
streets 1T does very well, but the surface must
be nearly flat; for if crowned moro than few
inches, the horses, in wet weather, slip and fall
and ruin themselves in efforts to rise.
l observed the same objection was made to
the use of the asphalt-pavement in London,
where there is perhaps twenty miles of it.
or two feet in one hundred, the horses could
not hold their footing with any greater load
than q cab and two or three persons in it. On
a wet day one might see dozen horses down
in the distance of half o dozen squares, with
gaping crowds standing around each watching
the struggles of the poor brute to arise with
the help of the driver and several policemen
The cabmen of London recently held great
meeting, at which they passed resolutions
the asphalt pavement, opposing
the laying down of any more, and demanding
its removal from oil streets that were not al
most level.
In both Paris and London, asphalt is coming
into general use for sidewalks. For this part
of the street nothing has been found
equal to it, and it is destined to supersede
every other material for that purpose in Euro
pean cities
The city government of Paris pay the
100000 q year for keeping the
streets Clean removing all garbage and dirt,
and 81 aping the streets daily throu ghout the |
year. The contractors deliver this rubbish TO |
other parties outside of the walls for which |
they receive about 100000. The purchasers
of it, after having rotted it In pits, sell it to
the farmers and gardeners at from sixty cents |
to one dollar per cubic yard, and realize there
from $4,000 to 100000 per annum. The |
number of scavongers in the city employed in |
cleaning the streets oud carting off the accu-
mutations average 6000, divided into several
legiops and companies, each having its own |
district of territory to clean. The wages
paid to the scavengers-a large number of
whom are women, and the rest old men and |
boys-range from to cents per hour, or so |
to 80 cents per day. But what q contrast be- |
t ween the street-cleanliness of Paris and that