The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-07-16
Paris Letter.

mans, gorgeous morning wrapper an
smoking cap; Amedeus, ExKing o
t. Spain; and other royal personages. To
day President M. Grevey has the plac
Of honor and other royalties SURROUND
him. Frenchmen and Frenchwomel
enjoy the race just the same, no matter
: whether a Republican or Imperialis
President occupies the purple pavilion
Gay, enthusiastic, art loving, excitemen
craving, sublime, selfish, grandly con
temptible French peoplc To see them
and to know them is to cpau an entirely
new volume of human nature.
1t may be well to remind your reader,
that the Grand PfE1 dates only from 1853.
Before that time foreign horses could
not compete for prizes in France, OF
rather they could not carry of any prize.
When the Jockey club was applied to on
the subject they declared that their
statutes forbade them to let a sixpence
be diverted from their funds in favor Of
a foreign horse. The difdculty was
turned by NJ. de Morny, who contrived
that the Grand Prize of 100, 600 frances
should be given half by the City of Paris
and the other half by the five principal
railway companies. The idea was just,
no less than ingenious, seeing that the
city and the railways both gain by the
influx of visitors. The first Grand Prize
was won by an English horse-Ranger-
and great outcry was made on the score
that the good people of Paris were simp-
ly making present of several thousand
pounds year to per1ide A5ioH. But the
second years prize was carried off by
II. Delamorre's Vermouth, and of the
sixteen that have been run for, up to and
including to-day, nine have been won
by French animals.
To come to the event of the day, and
to begin with the weather, which has so
immense an effect on such meetings. It
looked black and threatening all the
morning, and at half.past one, just the
hour when the majority of visitors were
preparing to start, there came on a sud-
den and violent storm. The weather
then remained fair till some time after
the Grand Prize had been run, and it
was only those who waited to see the
racing out who were caught in a second
dOwnpour as violent as the first. The
course was unusually well-filled to-day,
and l fancy there were more drags on
the hill than are generally to be seen.
As to the Grand Stand it could not haYe
held more people. Not only were all
the tribunes densely packed, but the
entire space was occupied by compact
throng, and half the numbers in the
weighing-grOund can have seen no more
of the great race than if they had re-
mained in Paris. The Presidents tri-
bune was thoroughly well filled. NJ.
Grevey sat in the middle of the front row,
looking, it must be confessed, as if he
did not at all like his prominent position,
and as though he did not care the least
in the world about what was going ong
Madame and Mdlle. Grevey were Of
course, there, together with the 'dadies
OF several Ministers, and also remark
ed the presence of Count Beust, Prince
Orloff, and several other ambassadors.
As it is certain to be stated that the
Prince of Wales was there, it is well to
note that, if his Royal Highness was
conspicuous at the LOngchamps race
course to-day, it was by his absence. Il
ia known, of course, that the Prince
never attends Sunday races, but some of
the French papers give such circumstan-
tial accounts of the disposal of his time
when he is in Paris, that, If he manages
to be in all the places he is supposed to
attend, he must, indeed, have the gift
of ubiquity. The bell rang at the ap
pointed time, and the course was speedily
cleared, but long delay occurred be-
fore the horses came one by one on the
course. After the canter the animals
walked past the tribunes in Indian file.
and, having reached the starting-place,
to the right of the weighing ground, the
start was at once given. All round the
course, up the hill, and down again as
far as the straight run home, the run
ming was made by Jourangelle, the sta
BILE companion Of Nubienne, followed
closely by M. Fould's AYermes. but
when they reached the level the pack
was so close together that they might,
to use the expression phrase heard ut
tered on all sides, could have been GOV.
cred with q handkerchief The colors
of Lagrange, Blanc, and Fould were
then seen to the fore, and Flaws II.
SaltiadOr and Nubienne came on so
closely together that the issue seemed |
doubtful in the extreme. The struggle
indeed was remarkably hard, but Nu- |
bienne succeeded in passing Saltiador |
by neck, Flaws III following scarcely |
a head behind. Seldom has a race been |
more hotly contested, and, although the |
result disappointed the expectations of |
the majority of spectators, the entrance |
of Nubienne into the weighing ground |
was greeted by warm applause At all |
events, the English horse has not car
ried off the prize, and this was great |
consolation to French losers. NOs that |
Nubienne had not been backed; M. |
Blanc, his owner, has been so lucky of |
late that many had faith in his star.
The other races had little comparative |
interest, and Immediately after the /
Grand Prize had been run began the |
gradual return homeward To those
who left the course it seemed as Though
all Paris had come out TO meet them.
All through the Bois aud all the way up
the avenue deP Imperatrice one was
met by an unbroken line of vehicles,
private carriages, with ladies who had
been afraid of the weather, being in the
majority AS to the champs Elysees, /
the sight there was really remarkable,
each side of the pathway being oceupi-
ed by people who sat and stood in rows
eight or ten deep. There they sat and
st0od patiently for hours, and until the
storm sent all but the bravest flying, %
watch the retoar dee oOttraes aud am not
sure that they had not the best Of ii.
The B0uleVards are naturally crowded
t0-night by a throng Of loungers, who
scarcely know where TO pass the first
summer night Of the season, and for
whom the exceptional gaieties of Mabille
will doubtless prove a potent attraction,