, 1878-07-11
Opening the Paris Show.

Not many minutes later a retrea, fro,,
the tribune and commoti0n in ,ho m a
!ery announced the forming and st,rs;ns
OF the procession. Iii luck awaitad \
and attended l.. Scarcely had tho M..
ahal put his foot on the path when . crosh
shower came pouring down The p,;nSn
of Wa'es, VINO was near him, looked m
and looked back, rs if nor olit. ny
whether he would go on ur nor. But th~
stout old Marshal had no notion of n;n '
ing in; he marched straight through th.
raln, needless of the drenching he 90, w
The Prince, with English practical Srn Su,'
dence, spread his umbrella. The arcS
bishop of Paris fairly tucked up bis nm,
pie petticoats over his arm and strna.
through the mud with much the sams
gait you have seen in the heroine Of ,h.
burIesque when the heroine i, man
Not far behind, the Chinese ambassador
waddIed painfully along in his Queer
junk shoes. Senators and scarfed DEM
ties were abreast of the Marshal. and
ought to have been mentioned with him.
for you are to remark that the Legislative
bodies had insisted on their equal prece.
dence with the executive, apd had de.
clined to appear on the scene as guests
preierring to play the part of hosts cor,
jointly with the president of the republic
The president of the Senate, Due d'Audif
tert Pasquier, hated of the Bonnpartists
and the presidentof the chamber Of depp.
ties, M. Grevy, once Of the predestined
successors of Marshal Mcmahon in the
chair of the republic, each at the head of
bis colleagues, marched sturdjly forward
on line with the MARSHAL The police
scattered about outside had thus far made
teint OF keeping the public on the saths
and off the turf, but curiosity broke all
bounds as soon as this cortege appeared,
and men and women rushed UP TO the
very bayonet3 of the troops, who formed
the two walls of the aisle along which
this motley throng Of great men ad.
vauced.
For while, perhaps, till they had got
half way down the hill, some sort of or.
der WAS kept in the official array. Not
for long, however. The foothold was
insecure beneath; the rain above was
pitlless, and soon the column began to
show gaps here and there; stretching out
into parti- -colored line one moment, and
the next all huddled into groups and
patches of men. 1t had no more sem.
blance of order than the exhibition il
was on its way to open. II became
scramble. The cheers Of the people,
which were not very hearty or loud, could
not inspirit it, and the members of it
who were not in uniform, but wore only
the swsllow-tail and white tie of the ci.
william, began to stray away from the hles
and to mingle with the crowd, the sol.
diers readily opening their ranks to make
way for the fugtives. BY tho time it
had reached the bridge it had lost half
its strength. On the bridge it wavered
10 and fro. A strip of red cloth divided
the floor of this structure, but oddly
enough the Marshal would not walk on
it, lie walked on one side of it, and some
of his train on either side, as if it were
too sacred to be trodden by human feet.
Soon the procession and the people be-
came confused and intermingled You
could no longer distinguish from the
heights in the rear even the line of red
trousers, and once in the Champ de Mars
all effort to keep order was abandoned,
for time at least. Here it was that the
reporters broke in. Here also the police
made desperate effort to rc-arrange mat
ters, succeeding only in shutting out
numbers of official people and shutting
in numbers of the public, who enjoyed
the joke. And in that mixed and humili
ating state the Marshal and his retinue
passed out of the sight of those who
were standing, as was, on the slopes Of
the Trocadero Hill.-G. W. SmaLIey, in
the N. Y. Tribune.