Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-10-25
Paris Letter.
Especial Correspondence of The rHoxr1.I
SALLIE JOY WHITE.

Especial Correspondence Of The PH0NI1.l
PARIS, Sept. 18th, 1878.
The curiosities of the Rue Drouot are, first,
the Hotel Drouot itself; next, the ''Installa-
tion," or offices of the Figure newspaper;
and finally the brio bra, shops. Let us take
the Figaro first Respecting the politics of
this remarkable daily jounal-certainly the
most distinguished specimen of the daily
press published on the continent, but on the
whole about as unlike an American newspa-
per as Partisan restauraat is unlike the As
tor House-I am not called upon to say any
thing. The Figaro may be, for aught |
know, Legitimist Clerical, Bonapartist, Or
leanist, Conservative, or Ultra Radical Repub-
lican its politics may be "a kind of plaid,
or as we Americans say, "a little mixed, or
finally, the Figaro may have no politics at all
1t did not occur to me to ask the courteous
Secretdire de Ia Reduction what his convic-
tions as to public affairs might be, nor did he
make any inquiries as to my personal opin-
ions on the Eastern question. We met on
common and remarkably pleasant ground,
when an equally courteous gentleman to
whom he introduced me conveyed to me an
invitation to breakfast and the offer of II box
Mt the Grand Opera had however, IA great
deal to see at the Figaro before l could de-
vote myself to pleasure. have seen many
curious newspaper offices in my time but
more eccentric installation" than that of the
FigarO l have never behed. All comparisons
with establishments of the same kind in my
own country | Danish, of course, at once
from my mind. The secrets of my own pris-
on house | would not dare TO reveal, but
have been permitted to peep behind the
scenes of the Nao Fork HeraH, Of the Le-
rant Herald in the Grande Rue de Pera, of
the Ntue Freie Presse at Vienna, of the Epoca
at Madrid and of the J0urHdi do SO. Peters
5OHrg. Each and every one of these offices
presented peculiar aud characteristic cdchet,
but the Figaro is confessedly sui gcneriS as a
newspaper Office. Everything that can pos
sibly please the eye and tickle the fancy of
the subscriber is liberally provided at the 6u-
redu1 of this essentially smart publication /;
but there is another eye, invisible to some,
but very firmly fixed in the very centre of the
facade of the building-an eye beneath which
might be inscribed the motto, "NuRqudn,
dOrmio'-an eye which, with the constancy of
the needle to the pole, is directed to the main
chance. Long ago it was said of the French
man that ''ne maER il iarentd Ie rouderHIe, ."
but the proprietary body of the Figaro has
invented the art of holding an unprecedented
number Of thousands of G5OHaeS, or subscrib-
ers with that glittering eye. I visited the
offices of the Figaro in the first instance as a
bold stranger. / had heard that its Sale des
Depeches was open to the public both day and
night so, as one of the public, / proceeded
to the Rue Drouot to participate in a wholly
gratuitous entertainment. There are so very
few places in Paris, apart from the public
museums and picture galleries, which can be
seen for nothing and with regard to the es-
tablishment above the portals of which entree
A6re is written, might counsel you to bear
in mind the wise maxim which bids us to be-
ware of the Greeks and of the gifts which
they give. To be admitted ostensbly free,
gratis, and for nothing to 2. Champs Elysees
concert, to be privileged to listen to bad in
strumental music and worse singing and to
be called upon to pay three francs fifty CEN
times for a glass of sour beer, or a cup of
ohicory coffee may be humorous from the
proprietors point of view, but is scarcely a
comic transaction so far as you are concerned.
rejoice, however, to remark that ia con-
sOnmGtiOR" was not obligatory in the Sale
des Depeches in the Rue Drouot. No waiter
importuned me to give my orders nor did
anybody ask me to buy anything, although
there were good many articles on the walls
which might have purchased, such as pic
lures and water color drawings sent here for
for sale. Telegraphic dispatches from all of
the world are here duly displayed, and you
may learn the latest dews from Bosnia and
Herzegovina, from China and Peru, from
Chapel Court and from Grim Tartary. The