The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-09-25
From Our Regular Correspondent.
CUR PARIS LETTER.
PAnls. Sept. II. 1878

Paris, and attii5nting the supposed
increase 10 the influences Of Protestant
missionaries This il an impression
OF superficial observers, who jump a
ihe conclusion because less msnus
labor IS done on Sunday, ard many
more hops and warehouses are closed
than was formerly the case. Blu.
these appearances have nothing, savs
in the rsrest and most isolated cases
to DO with the religious sentiments o
the people. ! an told thst Protest
ant missionary work ia going on if
snudry Districts Of Paris, but the re
suits Of these well meant attempts
can only be as q drop in the vas
ocean of the Partisan Sunday. The
coifeur has in his shaving saloon 4
neat little plaeard with the informa
tio1 that his establishment will bt
closed on Sundays end fete DAYS at
O'Clock p. NJ. Bat his polite assistant
when | went 10 get shaved this
morning, was busy over his own am
brosial locks with a pair of curling
tcngs, and his young aud buxom cou.
sort had her hair in papers; these
were not, however, preparations fol
church, or chapel, or Sunday school
In France. they are more suggestive
Of the m%addening wine cup, or coGe,
cuo, and The msddening dance later
in the afternoon. There are plenty
81 jewelers. and linen drapers' anC
taller shops-shops which, it appear:
to me are quite needlessly kept open
which do rot close their doors on
Sunday here but, on the other hand
especially on the Rue de la Paix, The
Rue Scribe and thu Avenue de Pop.
era, there are lsrge numbers of copl
mereial establishments which are as
Theoretically sealed as the banks ard
public Offices. But he would be O
bluckhead who would assume, ald 9
hypoCrite who should maintain. that
an Increase of religious f%ervcr, rs we
understand it, is at the bottom of this
partial abstinence from Sunday labor
The smaller money changers shops
are all wide open 81 are the TOW
shops, and the confectioners, and pas.
try cooks, because foreigners want Ia
change money, and French people
are in the habit Of buying playthings
aud sugar plums, and twenty five
ceut telephones, for their children on
Sunday; but, in the majority Of in
stances, it is not on that day that
the public require to purchase velvets,
ard s%stins, AnbusSon carpets, carved
oak furniture, embossed paper hang
ings, Medapalam c~alicoes, or the new
"Cestus of Agle' ~corsets. For lack
of custom many of the ma9dzias shut
up, and those that continue open do
so mere from habit than from the ex-
p~ectation of selling anything. Does
anyone suppose ttat the male aud fe-
male employees of these closed es.ab-
lishments utilize their holiday, by
going to church or sitting at home
reading good books? They will
rather poar on to :he Boulevards, to
the gardens, and to the Great Expo
sitiou, to ill the cabs, cafes, ~circuses,
and concert gardens to chatter and
laugh and g~esticulate, to eat, drink
aud be merry to dance and go to
the play at night.
| was not consulted when Paris
was built or when the Frenchman,
that combination of a monkey and a
tiger" was formed aud fashioned; |
describe only what | see, aud this is
Sunday ia Paris as | have found it.
No one need expect to see such q
Sunday prevalent in New York, or
Philadelphia, or any American town
Bat the difference, | thiLk, cannot be
wholly accounted for on tho score of
religion or irreligion. Our observ-
ance of the Sabbath may be suscepti-
BILE Of modification in a tolerant, lib
erGl sense, but there is more than one
good reason why the Continental
Sunday"as typically presented in Par
is, is a thing to be deprecated in the
United States. In the first place, the
decent classes among Us are quiet
people, with comfortable homes, from
which they rarely stir on the Sab
bath whereas the Parisians as O
class have no homes at all that can
be called comfortable, and are al ex-
cessiyely noisy, restless, and inconse-
quential race, who can only fad hap
piness, ike children, out Of doors. In
the second, and much more important
we drink stronger liquors than
are drunk in Paris, and the classes
among US who are not decent, are in
the habit of getting drunk and fight
ing after the name of wild beasts,
when they get q chance, and our
Of public resort are not usually,
as in Paris, made TO supplement con
.racted uncomfortable homes, but are
merely places where the largest mum
Der of sots can get tipsy in the short
8. space Of time. And Sunday in
America, with all the public houses.
all the theatres, all the music halls.
unr~esiriesedly open, from
morning till night. would exhibit the
most horrible sa'u ualia that eye
bebeld, that the ear ever heard,
Or lhe heart ever siekened AT.
The Exhibition authorities have
decided mol to publish the list Of
Awards until the 2ist Of October, the
day fixed for their distribution. 1t ia
probable that the Exhibition will be
prolonged twenty days, and that dur
ing the last Ten days each exhibitor
will have the privilege Of di-posing Of
his gonh-; this latter question will be
decided on Saturday, the TN inst.
TIE delay in making known the pri-
ges j. causing great dissatisfaction,
for il is often a source ot ,ss TO the
exhibitors, evea from q peculiarly
point of view. la fact a great part
Of the benefit which a medal is likely
to confer, is los; if the exhibitor can
not pa, on bis show case tie magic
"Goid Medal SILVER
Ct some minor b ,nnr The
Is sill further a~ggrava'td fy
The fact that a large number ofrxhib
TORS know that they have ob-nined
bat as their iuf,rmai ru is un-
Official they are unable to make use
of il. Fcom what | hear nf The uum-
Der Of copies which have {, b. made
o. the various lis.s, sdded to u g prov
et bal con pl cations and delays Of
Freaeh Bureaucratic organizations, it