Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-10-25
PARIS LETTER.

of the brilliantly lighted facade of the Of
fee Of newspaper thatis known by name
or namesake in every part Of the civilized
world. and I entered the ante-chamber
which is always open to the public.
The Figaro contains on most days of the
week a number Of advertisements printed
in very small type and in the most abbrevi-
ated form that is practical. Some Of these
are trade announcements, Others are Of the
nature of those classed as personal" in
the New York Herald. Thus Iresd,in the
FIGARO of Monday: ''Prince Authentique
.-Eoous dem on veuve." This means that
a gentlemen bearing the title Of Prince,
and about the sutbenticityof whose rank
there cannot be any doubt, is willing to
enter into a matrimonial alliance with q
spinster or a widow lady who would like
to be Princess. Sometimes to these Gu
riously candid offers is appended the re-
minder ''Serieax, which reminds me Of
an addendum 1 once read in the Herald
from lady who wished to marry an eld-
erly and afauent widower, slightlyIaf1icted
with the gout. Gentlemen who wish to
make fun need not apply; concluded the
fair ineognits. The above advertisement
to which have referred in the Figaro are
STYLED petites annOces, and are received
and paid for over the counter in the Rue
Drouot; but the great mass of trade no
tees come through the ComPaynie Generate
des announces, a body who are farmers,
general of advertisements in all the great
newspapers Of Paris. The advertisers, con-
sequently, rarely makes his presence felt
at the Figaro offices; his place is supplied
by the Iodd-voieed and determined-Yisaged
abonne or subscriber. But ere quit the
ante-chamber leading to the hall overlook
ing the covered courtyard, must bestow a
glance on the numbers of curious people
waiting patiently in hopes, 1 presume, OF
seeing the editor or manager OF the journal.
There is Zouave; what on earth can he
want? There is a widow in deep mourn
ing with three little children. There are q
brace of joYial priests in black soutanes
and shovel hats, who, as they lounge on
one of the divans, whisper to each other so
eOnfdentially and exchange such hilarious
ehuckles that fancy a 'bonne historic"
is in the course of recital. Or, it may be,
these estimable ecclesisstics are conFersing
about the 0rphelinat at Auteuil, in which
NJ. Saint Genest, the military ridacteur of
the Figaro has taken so laudable an inter
est, and in aid Of the funds of which ex-
cellent institution the readers of the Figaro
subscribed in the course Of few days
something like 800, 900 franc. The fact is all
the more worth mentioning, when it is re-
membered that the French, although boun-
tiful in private almsgiving, have hitherto
been slow in responding to appeals for
public subscriptions. That wonderful
system Of ours Of voluntary contributions
is virtually in its infancy among our
French cousins, simply for the reason that
they have hitherto been accustomed to
look in times Of pressure to the State, and
to the State alone.
I could very well understand why
ehAsseur in a plumed chappeau, holding
pink note in his buck-gloTed hand, should
have been cooling his heels in the ante
chamber. Madame la Marquise de Grand
Gomme had some request, no doubt, to
make. There was an old gentleman,
again, in black skull cap, very comfort
ably bestowed in corner, where he was
sleeping the sleep of the just. Sleep on,
harmless ehucklehesd, have met you be-
fore-the whole world oFer-in omnibusses,
on board steamboats,, at chureh-there is
always the man who goes to sleep. He is
the lineal descendent of Eutychus. He is
the living and snoring type Of the obese
Roman Senator who indulged in forty
Winks while Messrs. Brutus, Cassius, Casea,
& Co. were stabbing Caesar to death at the
base Of POmpey's statue. While I glance
not unsympathizingly on the slumbering
veteran-it is so nice to be asleep and to
forget the world and other voorhees, Turk
came in-the regular modern Turk, the
battle Of Bordeaux, 0ttoman-his closely
buttonei black surtout figuring the body
of the bottle and his fez the red-sealed cork
thereof. He puzzled me even more than
the Zouave had done. 1 could not refrain
from asking my courteous guide whether
they were troubled with any mad folks who
came that way. Yes, he remarked, the
average was about half lunatic. The
Archangel Gabriel generally calls on Men
day. Wednesday is the day for the gentle
man in straw hat with blue ribbon who
has discovered the perpetual motion; and
he is followed on Fridays by hump-back-
ed man in cloak who has found out the
feasibility of erial navigation. The great
great grandson of the Man with the Iron
Mask, only calls occasionally to ask for the
address Of the son of the Dauphin Lopis
XVII; and since the collapse Of the Compte
de Chambord's candidature nothing has
been heard Of the lady who declares she is
Joan Of Arc, and that she was burned but
got over it by means of eIectro-galvanism
and the Eau de Sourdes. Ny hosts would |
not suffer me to go away without showing
me the composing rooms of the Figaro, of
which I need only say that they intimately |
resembled some other eomposing-rooms
which 1 have seen in the course of the last |
quarter of century, and then, with great
fear and trembling I peeped into some |
rooms where number Of gentlemen were
busily employed in writing. They we're
the Cyolops forging the bolts of Jove. For
aught 1 could tell l had been gazing mo-
mentarily on the profound J. Mystere; the
inscrutable Ignatus; the inetfable Diplom. |
ate and the unapproachable Monsieur de |
Orchestra, of this cunningly contrived and
extremely clever paper.
I was hidden in departing to look on a
portrait of his Royal Highness the Prince |
Of Wales-an excellent likeness superbly
framed in the Hispero Moresque patio. In |
the tapestry-hung chamber took place the |
famous nocturnal concert and BANQUET con-
eerning which so many absurd stories have
been told. The Prince simply wished to
see the steam printing machinery of the
Figaro, and that machinery was not to be |
seen in full action until long past midnight.
The ridaetiOn of the Figaro, like. true |