The daily gazette., 1878-10-26
0UR-PARIs LETTER.
THROUGH THE PASSAGES,
G Correspondence.l ll |

AXIS, Oct. 4, 1878.
cannot help suspecting that the cham.
bermaid attached TO the hotel meu,le
where l am now residing, was. in early
life, heavy dragoon. Most Frencbnen
have served, at one time or another. with
the colors and the attendant-be 10 six
feet high, and wears full moustacbe-
who makes the beds and "fixes up' the
apartments generally at my hotel has an
Enthusiastically martial air about him. He
brings up the cafe au lait and the news
papers every morning with unvarvinp
military punctuality and receives with a
salute worthy in its stiff courtesy of Cor
poral Trim, his modest weekly gratuity.
hear him at the end of the corridor in
which my apartment is situated, whist
ling as he cleans my boots, and utterino
Missing sound as he brushes my coat,
both being distinctly evident of military
habits and the manner In which he oc-
casionally mathematics the ALWAYS
tardy washerwoman is yet more strongly
suggestive Of the "Long sword, saddle.
bride, o." of the bold dragoon. He is
withal a patient, willing, good-humored
fellow, who works cheerfully early and
late, tolls unmurmuringly up and down
stairs, under the weight of fardels in the
way OF luggage which would alright a
German hdusknecht and well nigh take
the wind out of a Turkish hammal and
leads uncomplainingly that which-but
for an occasional popping around the
corner to wine shop In the Rue du
Faubourg Montmarte and the nocturnal
pufflng OF his cigarette at the hotel door
when things are pretty quiet, when the
pdtronnt is satiated with scolding and the
guests are weary of ringing the bell
would be dogs life.
| The chambermaid whom | fancy to
have been a dragoon has only one fault,
and that may not be all his own perhaps.
60 out to breakfast at twelve, and be-
tween twelve and one p. M, my domi-
cile should be properly "fixed up" by
Baptiste. But, alas! how can Baptiste
fix 1t up when, from twenty minutes past
twelve to ten minutes past one, he and
his colleagues Paul and Louis and An
toine have been increasingly occupied in
conveying up stairs the luggage of travel
ers who have just arrived, and ca, rying
down stairs the impedimertd of travellers
who are going away? These many
weeks past the hotel has been turning
away from its portals, for lack of space,
at least fifty guests day. From all quar-
tiers of the globe, and from all countries
and cities on the face of it, do they come,
these unfortunates. At the railway sta
| tion they engage cabs by the hour and
wander about from hotel to hotel seek
| ing for beds in Paris, which is so fond of
boosting of her hospitality TO strangers,
but which | am afraid is even stonier-
hearted stepmother than De Quincy
found Oxford street. But still there are
travellers who-their desire being salts
fled or their money xhausted-probably
| the latter-leave Paris the hospitable, in
which case other travellers, with desires
TO satisfy and money to spend-it will
not last long, my friends !-instantane-
ously spring, like lions on their prey, on
the vacated apartments. 1t is these con-
tinuous departures that force Baptiste,
my chambermaid-dragoo to be by times,
unpunctual in "fxing up" my habita-
ton.
What am TO do have a letter TO
write to-day, and cannot write while
Baptiste is pottering about with brooms
and water-cans. / must spare time TO 60
to the Exhibition.
I am MOI nnita Qoy.f in xuhafhar ha
Exhibition itselfis not--I meau OF course
in the forenoon-One OF, the most tran
quill places in Paris. In parts Its is noisy !;
out IL has Its sequestered hooks, it re-
tired corners into which you can quietly
creep and wander up and down, far from
the roaring looms of the machinery de-
partment, the horrible jangling of the
section devoted TO the Swiss bells, far
from the cvercrowded restaurants and
the brabbling brGsseries. Such haven
OF repose find In the great hd,lgdrs de-
voted to agricultural machinery which
is not ! rejoice TO say, in motion. l
always feel the more soothed and placid
when wander up and down in this
particular shed, because know absolu-
tely nothing about agricultural machin-
cry. am not an agricultural. am
not mechanic. You did not send me
here to be genealogical, or indeed, "olo-
gical" from any point OF view, else l
would have read up agriculture" and
"machinery" in the "Encyelopedia
Britannica" and continued the two," as
the gentleman did IN the celebrated case
of Chinese Metaphysics. You only
told me to gossip, and that is what l
have been trying to do since the begin
ming of August. l could gossip to a
considerable extent about steam ploughs,
the threshing machines, the hemp and
mangold wurzel cutters the patent now
ers and dibbiers, and SO forth only l
should be sure to make some fatal mis-
take about wheels or cogs or plnions, and
should at one expose myself to the AMI
mad version OF those who love to sit in
the seat of the scorner.
Here howevers towed away In q cor
ner where its merits have had no very
great chance of being recognised as they
should be, is machince about which l
do know something, and which is to
my thinking, of equal interest tosforeign-
ers and to Americans. This is the
patent steam tea and coffee filter of Mr..
Robert Etzenberser, the manager Of the
Midland Grand Hotel, st. Pancras