The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-08-16
OUR PARISLETTER
The Photographic Display at the TX
hibitiOR-Nr. Shaa's Beard Bill-In
the Bowels OF the Earth-The Cata-
eOmbs-The Bones OF Three Million
Bodies-Eleyen Thousand Virgins no
More.
From our Regular Correspondent
HOTEL DU LOUVRE, }
PARIS, July 2G, 1878.

From our Regular Correspondent
HOTEL DU LOUVRE,
PARIS, July 2G, 1878.
The United States make Il very credi
table display of the products of photo
graphic art There are ten exhibits G
photographs and accessories of sucl
uniform excellence that it is hard f
choose between them. James Landy, @
Cincinnati, shows very fine portrait;
amongst which one representing Presi
dent Hayes, is as good a specimen o
photography as have seen. The re
markable feature of Mr. Landy's exhibi
is series of large photographs illustrat
ing Shakespear's seven ages of man. Th'
artistic grouping is only equalled by tn
wonderful execution. The first of tn,
series, the baby "muling and puking il
his nurses arms" is a masterpiece @
lifelike expression. Besides a good shoy
of photographs. Sarony, of New YorI
exhibits some capital specimens of char
coal drawings. Gutekunst, of Philadel
phia, also shows some very fine charcoa
and fusion portraits. Joshua Smith, o
Chicago, makes speciality of photo
graphing children, and the remarkable
collection of portraits ofbabies ofall sizes
ages, and descriptions, who shave come
all the way from Chicago" is & sufficien
proof that this artist has been thoroughly
successful in difficult branch of photo
graphy. ] Gurney, of New York, shows
some excellent specimens of his perme
mentsouvenirc colored photographs. The
colors are fixed and do not fade either
from time or exposure to the air. The
Centennial Photography Company ex
hibit some very large and excellent pho
tographs Of Philadelphia and of the
Centennial Exhibition. Inshort, whether
in portraiture, compassed subjects, OIL
landscapes, the American photographer;
have, think, shown themselves, as q
rule, far ahead Of their European com
petitors. The American photographs
are far superior to the general run ol
European portraits IN pose and expires
sion, point which depends entirely on
the artestic skill of the operator
The Shah of Persia, who has just left
Paris, recently, went to Fo1taine bleau
and his little bill has been published in
the papers. 1t amounted TO only Il, ,20C
fr., but after some expostulation in Pers
ian it was reduced to 10000 fr., or $1,000
In this bill the item "Flowers" figures al
$500, twenty fowls at $40, cigar one
dollar, four bed rooms at $40, two boxes
of cigarettes at so, twelve peaches $25
melon at S11, and three carriages al
S160. No wonder the Shah made clear
bolt oft.
The coolest place in Paris just now
is in the Catacombs, These subterran
can galleries which extend under great
part Of the city, have upwards of sixty
entrances in different suburbs. The
principal staircase which descends TO
them is in the Rue de Ia Tombe-Isoire.
Armed with candles and pasteboards of
authority from the Prefect of the Police
we we're admitted to these gloomy depths
The galleries and the different COM
partments are completely lined with
human bones, arranged with great care
and intermingled with rows of skulls.
The catacombs were formerly quarries,
worked as far back as the Roman Per
iod, yielding soft kind of limestone
which hardens ON the exposure to the
air-During the several Revolutions and
Reigns of Terror in France, immense
numbers of bodies and bones have been
brought here from various quarters and
thrown in confused masses into these
cavities bat in 1910 regular system
was organized for the more seemly dis
position of these remains, and the pres
ervation of their resting place-New
pillars have since been erected to sup
port the roof, excavations made to ad-
NIT more air, and channels dug to carry
off the water. Paris has more than three
times as many inhabitants underground
than overhead, still they come and the
number is continually increasing-This
reminds me ofmy recent visit to Cologne
where in the ancient church ofSt Ursula,
are displayed, IN about the same manner
of grouping as are the swords and bay
onets in the tower of London, the bones
of some 1900 virgins, who. ON q re-
turn from pilgrimage to Rome, were
mercilessly slain by the hordes Of Attila,
because they preferred being made an
gels rather than degenerate into a posi-
lion of life that would necessitate noe
turnal pilgrimages to some species of
Mabille that may at tha: time have had
an existence on the borders of the
Rhine in the vicinity of Colonia Agrip-
pima. However visionary it may appear
to some deep thinking minds that 1000
virgins could have been brought to-
gether ana made to travel on foot from
Cologne to the Holy City and back, yet
there are many who place implicit faith
in the story. Furthermore, the bones
can be viewed by any person on pay
ment of about twenty five cents, and
with the bones are shown the skulls of
the chief virgins arranged around in a
most artistic manner. Now if the 1000
(more or less) of hotel, pension, and res
taurant keepers could by some provi-
dental dispensation be induced to make
an early pilgrimage to Otaheiti, Unyany-
embi, the FIJI Island, or any place where
succulent human flesh is relished with a
keen appetite and just sense of appreci-
alton, Paris, by merely collecting their
bones, could procure an array Of skele-
ton substance that, so far as high moral
ideas, veracity, and pure unselfishness
are conveyed, would put to the blush the
virgins of Cologne. And as the grand
semi-circular colonnade Of the Palace of
the Trocadero is still adorned with its
promised sculptures, and likely to re
main so for an indefinite period, what an
appropriate place that would be to place
the skulls of these charitable people, ar
ranged so as to face the Exhibition
buildings on The Champ de Mars, so that
the people of all nations could yiew the
remains of this noble army Of martyrs to
conscience, and plainly discern in their
chronological formation how excessive
was their benevolence. But there is no
possibility Of such a collection being
made at present Most Of those who
would contribute to its formation insist
that they still owe an unseIfsh duty to
the mass of pilgrims visiting Paris and
the Exposition, in looking after their
welfare, and laboring indeftigably to
promote their comfort and happiness,