The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-09-06
Old and New Paris.

way for new streets and bOulevards has
swept away nearly all our traditional
land marks. The Faubourg Saint Ger
main has not escaped the hand of demol'
iSSeur. Some say that the majority OF
the Paris Municipal Council, acting on
the advice of one of its members, NJ
Nadaud, large contractor, has made
up its mind to equalize everything in
the building world, destroying the cry
ing reproach to the money-grubbing
house-owners i'm new Paris, who allow
no more space for the five rooms en-
suite which compose our modern apart
ments than used formerly to be re-
served for one of the smaller saloons in
the family mansions of the old fau-
bOurg. Baron Haussmann, who knew
few scruples where his improvements
were concerned, conceived the plan OF
the Boulevard Saint Germain. He COM
menced at both ends, meeting with
very little resistance until he began to
trench on the family estates of those
who, 'sulking under the Empire and
absent, had still influence enough to
preserve their property from the ruth
less pick-aXe of the demolisSer. Tables
of compensation were drawn up by the
municipal authorities, a jury was
| formed, and arbitration settled every
clam, until at last the Latin quarter
was traversed by the new boulevard,
Baron Haussmann resting on his laurels
and declining the onus of an attack on
the privileges of the dncienae nobleSSe.
The colleagues of NJ. Nadaud have,
however, carried out the project. The
machinery of the law has been set in
motion, lawyers clerks have been busy
serving writs ofejectment at the houses
of men whose ancestors would have
considered that parchment was an eX-
cellent addition to the digestive organs
of the unfortunate scribes. The Hotel
de Luignes and other family mansions
have been pulled down, and in time we
shall find the ground on which they
stood occupied by cafes and restaurants
where the Auvergnat and the Savoyard
will hold their wedding feasts and
dance their bourree, that national jig
which reminds one of the bear on hot
bricks.
The next generation will know moth
ing of old Paris, and the descriptions
they will find in books will be hardly
credited by those who find themselves
surrounded by palaces. The ground is
being turned over, deep foundations
are being dug, and the secrets of the
past century unveiled as traces of our
contemporaneOus history are being
hidden from view, living only in the
memory of the few. L'Abbaye, that
| sinister prisOn-house, formerly a por-
ton of the Monastery Of st. Germain
des Pres, where the prisoners of the
Revolution were massacred by the
bands of Marat and RObespierre, is no
| more: the house where Marat lived
until Charlotte COrday purged the
earth of monster has been leveled to
the ground, and nothing remains to
mark the spot where the blood-thirsty
tyrant once entertained his friends.
All kinds of discoveries are being made.
The contractor who has undertaken to
clear away the houses and watch over
the digging of the foundations has had
| to establish an office where treasure
trove can be stored. Old coin are being
found, fragments of china, medals and
repOuSse work. When the Commune in
1871, searched every religious house in
the hope of finding treasures Of gold
and silver, great noise was made about
some human remains discovered under
the earth in the cellars of the Convent
of Picpus. There were skeletons of
children and adults, and grave charges
were brought against the sisterhood.
The accusations became, in public Opin-
ion, even more serious, owing to the
discovery of some instruments OF tor
ture. A regular pilgrimage was made
to the convent, where the bones, and
rusted iron thumbscrews, and boots
were ostentatiously displayed. Public
Indignation was great, and no one
would listen to any explanation until
documents were produced showing that
within twenty years the convent had
been transformed into an intirmafy for
women and children, special attention
being paid to OrthopGdic cases. The
tempest in tie teapot was speedily at an
end, and the orthoppdical instruments
were hidden away.
Like the streets of Pompeii, the sub
terranean passages Of Paris are being
laid bare. In clearing away some
houses between the Rue de Rennes and
the Rue de Bac, some strange discove-
ries have been made, Digging out some
old foundations the workmen came
across a vault, which at one time had
been used as an ossuary. In one cor
ner was found "vault of penitencc," "
like that in which Constance de Bever-
ley was immured "for broken vows
and convent fled" A hollow stone
pillar, over what had evidently been a
deep well, was joined on to raised
coflin-lke niche, in which the victim
was placed, the only means of exit
being the one short step leading to the
well. Some surmise that, owing to the
niche being raised above the level of
the ground, fire was placed under II
and the luckless wretch had to choose
between being slowly roasted alive OF
voluntary death by drowning in the