Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-08-01
PARIS LETTER.
From our regular Correspondent
D.Bva In

From our regular Correspondent 2
PARIS, July 10, 1873. !
wish it were possible for words to de- t
scribe the greatest popular demonstra-
ton. of modern times, and the most splen-
did artificial illumination since the nat
Iasr of the Almighty. Paris surpassed it.
self on the occasion of the .fete to Peace
and Industry. The streets from Vim
cepnes to the Bois de BOlogne were gay
with flags and verdure in the daytime,
and resplendent with gas, lanterns, and
electric lights at night. Wires were
stretched across from window to window
and boughs, flowers and venetian lamps
were suspended from them. This was
all done spontaneously and in an out
burst of popular enthusiasm. NJ. Ed
ward About was chairman of a commit
tee for decorating the Rue de Douai, in
which he lives. He assembled the artists |
who live in that quarter, and most bril- |
liantly did they perform their self-impos-
ed task. Emisaries were dispatched by |
them to the forests of the state and they |
brought back whole trains laden with |
holly and evergreens. What American
Young ladies do for their churches on
Christmas, About and his friends did for
the Rue de Douai, and their example was
| initiated throughout entire districts by
rich and poor. The fete was everywhere.
not street was overcrowded, but there
was no street that was not crowded. Fire
works were sent up in different parts of
the city, and, at the Bois de Boulogne, the
lakes infinitely multiplied the lights that
were hung along their borders or sus-
pended from many boats that glided over
their waters. In the fullest sense the fete
was popular one got up of the people,
by the people, and for the people Early
in the morning statue of the Republic
unveiled in the Champ de Mars and ded-
icated with a few admirable words from
different Cabinet ministers. When the
Minister of the Interior gave the signal
for the veil to be removed, band that
had been masked behind a clump of trees
struck up the Marseillaise The soldier
president of the Republic was not present
at any point of the festivities, but, at
night, accompanied by Madame McMa-
hon and the Shah of Persia, he ascended
the Arch of Triumph and looked down up
on the radiant city. The populace were
wild with gaity; music and laughter re-
sounded in the streets from morning till
midnight. ':qEorie Ia France p bE,Yic-
tor Hugo, was first sung, but the ''Mar-
seillaise'' was always best reserved for
the last. Nothing will ever take the place
of that song in the hearts of the French
people. GunOd's "Vive la France is a
pedortic thing, Hugo's composition is
sublime, but funeral; Rouguet de Lisle's
burning hymn has fire enough in it to in
flame Europe a second time, and France
e { forty-second time.
t Thiers was not forgotten. A stream of
citizens poured continuously through the
place st. Georges. In front of the house
+, rendered celebrated by the venerable
! statesman, heads were reverentlv uncov-
!. cred. A large wreath of immortalles.
n dedicated to the memory of the ssabsent
o one" was suspended on the gate. Late
in the day a. Radical musical club as
sembled in the garden of the house now
occupied by the widow of M. Thiers
and serenaded her with patriotic airs
About midnight there were, in difFeren
+ parts of the city, "fambeaux retreats, ;
: cavalry soldiers, ten or twelve abreast
> bore lighted torches as they rode along
and mounted bands followed them play.
ing martial music.
1t is estimated that twenty-five thou
sand pairs of hands were kept busy in tht
u workshops for twelve days preceding tn,
= Jete, making flags and other decoration
= for private houses and public buildings
What was spent for the item of paper Ian
terms alone must have been immense
! Bonnets decorated with tricolored rib
lie bons, and flowers in artistic devices wer
t. worn for one day and cast aside the next
The patriotic bouquet, made of artificial
roses, was everywhere; it was worn b,
= young and old, rich and poor, boys, girls
u and babies. There were few houses
&c occupied by Orleanists or Imperialists
Sc that did not hang out flags or illuminate
but no menace was profered them; ther
ie seemed to be an entire absence of parti
zan feeling; this might not have been tn
case had the opposition been in a les
~ hopeless minority. Each was perfectly fre
to do as seemed good in his own ewes
~ provided he did not infringe on the right
ID of any body else. At the church of tn
'r Madeline there were under colonnad
70 imposing professions in celebration of tn
octave of the Corpus Christi. No attemt
ic ic was made by the skeptical passers-by t
pc throw contempt upon it. A militar
er band was present to enhance the pomp {
IN the religious ceremony, and take turn
with the grand organ in musical enter
y tainment. The Partisan is tolerent, we
:, bred, and thoroughly good-natured whe
he is bent on having holiday.
- These popular festivals nodoubt hav
a. a beneficial influence on social life an
: manners. One reason why SO man
Americans are loud hammered and dc
- fcient in good breeding is because the
lack the attrition which these people hay
in cafes, boulevards, and parks.
e. c. AS
to THERE was a communistic outbreak i
Washington d. G.. on Saturday. but th