The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-02

lRegul ! Z ccO,rrssspI,conl den )

-s-- We goI -, PARIS, Sept, 10, 1878.
The elements Of glory cOmprissa in the
festivities of,ths Bal MabilIe, do not per-
hsps amount to much. but, such as they
are, it may not be cut of place to enumer7
ate them here for the benefit Of the post
natl, for this is an age Of change. Time,
the great suctioneer, is indefatigably busy
in his rostrum, and, well nigh without sur
cease, his ivory. hammer, systematically
turned from dead mans bone, comes in
sharp contact with the ledge of his pulpit;
as he cries, Going, going, Goneln have
seen, spectaeularly, the dissipation of my
time, and its most typical smblems seem,
to me mainly to have disappeared. Paris,
assuredly is regenerated; but I fail to see
that the new birth Is ethnically considered
in any way preferable to the old one. All
the booths in variety fairs--sadly Knocked
about by visissitudes OF seige and civil war |
have been Fe-paiHted and re-plastered,
gilt, swept and garnished; but it would be
rash hastily to assume that the spirits that
inhabit the restored edifice are in any way
cleanlier than those which abode ia il OF
old. heard that tbs JarCttn Mdbitte was
doing tremendous business, and that the
Cancan was nocturnally extant in ats mild
est exuberauce IN the Armida's Garden
in the Champs Elysees. So we made up
b party to visit Mabiile. / put on pair
of square toed shoes and the most moral
looking hat / could find, 80 as to warn off
any Roscamboles or Cascadettes who
might seek to tempt me to Join in the
may dance, Did not the Heather man of
old stop his ears against the wantons of the
sea? And the lady Of our party dOnned
no less than three vaIls, one over the other,
the last a thick awning of blue silk, the eff
feet of which was certainly TO prevent any
one at the Mabille from seeing her face;
while, on the other hand, the three walls so
effectuAily excluded the outward atInos-
phere as to impel her eventually to raise
the triple barrier, Rasping in tho throes
of semi-sufocation, and impetuously to de.
mand iced lemonade. They charge you
one franc Twenty-Five centimes) for glass
of lemonade at Mabille. The beverage in
the United States would certainly be
thought dear at 10 cents, .,a/ ~.
Happy for you if you make one OF q
party at Mabille. Under these eircum-
stances you can laugh and talk and wonder
that people can be found night after night
W PAl = AOAAoA fOA 0hO PAANnCko "a A0oPOOS-
ing this barren sham; but should you be
alone your life will be made burdensOme
10 you by the incessant opportunities OF
the thousand daughters Of the Horseback,
all, SO FAR rs their plastered faces go, SC
many whited sepulchres Poor creatures.
They do not even 20 so far as to paint
themselves, Rouge is apparently too dear
but they lay on the pearl POWDER the
white lead, the arsenic, the pulverized
chalk and whatever the stuff may be-
then, with voices hOarse as those
of night cabmen With exposure to che
night air and continuous concentrations"
they poster yon 10 treat them. 1 shrink
from surmising that they drink u 1.-THE o.
the beverages to which they are some
times treated. Did they do so they
would surely be tipsy before shutting up
time. | suppose that they receive n com
mission from the administration, or from
the walters, on the Refreshments which
are the cause of ordering.
The dancing is mere hollow imposture
Nineteen -twentieths of the poor women
who come to Mabille would rs soon think
of disporting themselves on the dancing
platform as of earning an honest liyeli
hood. But to keep mp the delnsion tina
Mabille is the faVorite home of Terp
CiJuOEOg AnD huuluAblEAuOn ulIG u lev
couples of semi professional dancers tenth
rate coryphees from the smaller theatres
habitues Of an acrobatic turn of mind
These posture masters aud mistresses finn
their limbs about 10 the music of q tOler
able baud At stated intervals during tn,
evening. At no period, on Thursday, diC
notice more than Eve sets of posture ma
ksrs going through their uninterestinl
gambadoes. They danced in isolated
groups, and each group was surrounded
By serried circle of Gobemouche specta
tors whose presence thus entirely de
stroyed the availability Of the plat
form for general dancing pur
poses. The attitudes INDUCED il
by the hired fandago-dancers were olHre
and uncouth enough; bat they In no wa,
slnned against decency. unless studied vul
garity can be considered an indelicate ex
hibitiOD. On the whole am inclined q
think that the entertainment for which W,
had paid i've francs o head would hav,
been dear ut ten cents. There was plent,
OF gas to be sure, but that and the whitet
sepulchres / can see on the boulevard
any night for nothing. The most irritat
ing thing connected with the entire mock
cry, delusion and snare, is that j am NOR
ally certain that by far the greater portion
of the patrons of the Jardin Mabille d.
not pay i've trancs-if they pay aDythin,
at all-for admission. The whited sepui
chres are presumably on the free list, ant
the menfolk. apart from o multitude o
middleclass Englishmen, Americans, an(
Germans, are mostly composed of poo
little paleHtaced, whipper-snappers in pluI
hats and slop-shop clothes, to any one o
whom. TO all seeming, it would have BEEF
an net of charity to give couple of franc
TO ges some supper WithaL If they nav
FIVE francs a head. l am prepared to re
nounce my nationality. Its the foreign
or who pays for all. ,atraM m