The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-06-07


markable one; noticeable for two
things: First, in contrast to Germany,
the iveliness of interest in our exhi.
bition, and second, the avowed and tu-
multuous sympathy with the American
republic. An extraordinary thing, it
seems to me, when we consider the
nearly universal sympathy of our PEG.
pie with the German side of the late
war.
1t is not only in the industries that I
believe France will lead in the exhi.
bition of 1878, but incontrovertibly in
the fine arts. 1t is in these as clearly
as anywhere that France exhibits her
|lndiminished vigor and creative ener-
gy. Alike under the patronage of the
empire and the stimulus of a larger
freedom in the republic, the arts of
painting, sculpture, and architecture
1.-THE music, with some exceptions, has
the touch of that dissoluteness which
is charged to society here,) flourish as
in no other European soil. Paris is
the home of about ten thousand artists
OF various sorts, and one needs only to
contrast the production here, in the
salon and out of it, with that of Ger
many, Italy, or England, to be con-
WINGED of its superior vigor. original
grace, and power. You soon will aban-
don the error of judging what is called
the French school and it's tendency by
specimens you see of your side of the
| Atlantic, and acknowledge it's infinite
variety and superabundant life in every
| department and direction. It is the
! French who are the masters of draw
ing and of color.
The position of France to-day among
the people of Europe is another evil
dence of anything except degeneration.
1t is the most prosperous, you might
almost say it is the only. No econo-
mist would have predicted that the
fine of two millards of francs which
the conquered nation paid the conquer
Ors would have proved curse to those
who received it, and it's loss no seri-
GUS blow to those who paid it. But
you have only to cross the border to-
realize wonder, Germany complains
OF hard times and stagnant business
as you do, groans under enormous tax
es which are eaten up in military
preparations, and helplessly sees thy
cost Of living. In France taxes are
high and living has indeed advanced.
but these are little felt in the general
activity of business life, the revenue
exceeds the estimates of expense, and
you notice buoyant feeling which is
based upon an active and rewarded in
dustry. France is, we are accustomed
to say, the richest country in the
world, because its people are the most
Industrious, and the most economical;
whatever their earnings they always
save something. But you would not
say, at least here in Paris, that the
people generally live meanly or deny
themselves amusements. have been
inside no theater that was not filled,
and the prices of places are considera-
bly, higher than in New York. Strang.
ers add greatly to the opera and thea.
tire audiences but the bulk of the audi
ences seem to be Parisians. This of
course has nothing to do with the
poorer masses, whose amusements, if
they afford any, are of cheaper and
humber sort, but it forms a feature
in the present prosperous appearance
of Paris.
For myself, I can see small dimin-
ution in the gayety and attractiveness
of Paris since the empire. It is still
the bright, the surprisingly clean, the
entertaining city. In no other will
the stranger feel less lonesome, for he
has only to step into the street to be
amused, or at least diverted, by a
thousand novelties and elegancies. 1t
is true that the gaping ruin of the
Tuilleries confronts him, and it is with
a singular sensation that he reads,
chiseled upon it's blackened tortering
west portal, the hooking legend Lib
erie, Egalite, Fraternite. It is true
that the gendarme is not dressed so
trigly and smartly as he used to be,
but he is just as courteous and atten-
tive, and of all policemen the least
violent and the best preserver of
order. It is true that the American
may miss certain imperial flavor and
gloss-very dear to the republican
mind-in the absence from the Champs
Elysees OF those dashing equipages
which We'd with the turn-outs of their
majesties, and he may be conscious of
the lack Of a certain underlined expec-
tation of excitement which the pres.
ence of the court gave to Paris but
otherwise the city goes on as before,
and offers to native and foreigner the
same almost perfect protection of life
and property, the same ease of living,
the same choice of a dinner for two
francs or Il couple of Napoleons. Per-
haps you are conscious of little more
freedom in the air and in the press
certainly, where the writer's are no
longer required to sign their names to