The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-08-17
BROADBRIM'S LETTER FROM PARIS.
THE LATIN QUARTER.

/ irown down upon the Seine, is 4 network
| OF little narrow streets and lanes which
have remained unaltered for ages. The
/ lconoclast has been at work all around
them; grand boulcyards have been laid out
1 IN their vicinity; stately buildings have
been erected on every side: all Paris has
experienced more or less the rage OF public
Improvements: but, in the section Of which
speak, things remain Substantially as
they were hundreds of years ago. Many
of the streets are so narrow that the sun
never shines in them even at high noon.
All the doors are clampcd and boted with
| iron, and he windows are heavily barred
In the narrow streets the air is damp and
humid and smells musty aud clammy, as if
you were entering a sepulcher. 1t is not
! pleasant place to wander in after nightfall,
I for most of the streets are destitute Of
lamps and this quarter is the paradise OF
thieves and receivers of stolen goods All
the houses have high pointed roofs with
deep overhansiug gables which from the
dIngy little shops beneath, almost shut out
the light Of day. Candy looking ball
dresses aud articles OF faded iinery hang
for sale Al many OF the doors, and watches,
rings and brcastpins, the proceeds Of many
robbery, are temptingly displayed in the
windows Sistterny looking women and
/ fierce looking men of no particular &C.
cupation, sit along 4 narrow sidewalks, =
conversiug in patOis scarcely understood
! SIl,a I..f limit If
and discussing with evident relish their sour
wine and black bread, gaTaished with gar
lies and Swiss cheese. From many of the
windows weak little vines and clusters of
sickly flowers look imploringly up towards
the sun. The casual visitor making his
rounds in broad daylight is curIously
scanned and cautiously watched Us If he
were an intruder. Historically the place is
beyond all estimate interesting. Only
little distance of is the Conciergerie, the
terrible prison of the Revolution. from
which SO many gallant and noble men and
women were carried to the guHiefine upon
the Place de ia Coucorde. Close by is st.
German des Pres, the oldest church in
Paris. Among its csumbling towers lies
the dus; of more than eight hundred years,
and beneath its time worn roof are the
ashes OF James, the Great Duke Of Doug
lass and Caslmir, the pricstly King of
Poland who rcuounced a crown for n
cloister, and many others whose names will
be remembered in history till time shall be
no more. THIS may be called the picket
line Of the Latin Quarter. Within sight.
on the opposite side of the river is the
church of st. German l. Auxcrrois, from
the little belfry OF which the fatal signal
was given for the dreadful massacre of the
| lluguenots on the night Of the 23rG of
August, $40. Within rifle shot is tho
College of France in whose time-worn
chapel rcposes all that is mortal of tho
great Armand, due de Richelieu; and a
little beyond rises the mighty dome OF the
Pantheon, where, in The days OF the Revo-
luton, 4 naked courtisaHc was worshipped
as goddess The jIsrelicf above the door
was the work of the great sculptor David,
who set president of the Convention
which sent Leuis the Sixteenth To the
scaifJld; Mirabeau and Marat were buried
here, and monuments were erected 10 Vol
tairc and Jean jacques Rousseau. 1t is
only thirty years ago last June since its
porch were covered with blood, and that
the great square around it was filled with
the circasSes of the slain.
On every side are dusty book stores and
cheap stands, where second hand literature
IS rctaled and where the seeker after
knowledge may find anything suited to his
needs. from translation of the Illiad to
Fasqueiies' French grammar. 1t is in this
quarter that the students dwell, ami those
having sons To educate would do well to
see how they live. They come here from
every quarter OF the world the booer who
has been lucky IN the diamond fields of
South Africa sends lis son here. The
planter of Cuba, the Grandec of Spain. the
fortunate miner OF California The idea
has been iuduStriously circulated that the
schools OF Paris are 50 superior that like
advantages cannot be found elsewhere.
Perhaps this is so. The measureless power
of the nation which mas enriched the worlds
treasury with the marvellous knowledge Of
Arago, LeyerIier, Gay LuSsac Cuvicr and
thousands upon thousands Of others cannot
be over estimated; but in ninety nine eases
ont Of hundred, it is purchased at 4 price
that no father or mother would be willing
60 pay. Science is here, deep and pro-
found. Here. in the late hours of the
night. from the little narrow windows
lights may he ilickcring where stu
dents are striving TO unravel the most u-
tricatc of natures mysteries Your sons
may come back 10 you able to WELD a
steady knife where the nerves CULVER and
the life goes out: every fibre of the human
frame may lay before him ike a map; he
may unfold the wonderful history Of the
stars: all the hidden secrets of nature NAV
be known to him; he may be able to tell
You how layer after layer was piled upon
this ponderous globe fror:i the time that it
was shot a molten mass from its parent sun
10 the instant when God said: Let there
hc light" All knowledge in the heavens
above, or in the earth beneath. or in the
waters that are under the earth may be his,
but he will come back 10 you heariicss.
saullesS, Goddess, doubting the honesty of
his own father and the viriuc of his mother,
and the chastity of his wife ana his sister.
Here, among the ciuisterS Of knowledge, is
All atmosphere of rottcnuess and liccn-
ti"usness scarcely conceivable by those who
have not witnessed it. In this quarter is
the infamous Closcrie dcs Lias, where the
students hold their weekly balls; women
destitute OF shame, covered with gcw gaws,
painted. bcdizrned ami powered. lure the
poor lilies to the broad highway of ruin.
Phryncs driven out from the more respect
able associations of their class here find
refuge and companionship. On a fashion,
able night carriages may be seen rolling up
he:c from every quarter. \ long line of
pedestrians hold the sidewalk gradually
inc thair a.,