Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-08-29
A Sunday in Paris.

| A Sunday in Paris is as thoroughly
/ unlike a Sunday in this country as It is
possible to be. Work goes on here the
same as on a week day; the shops are
almost all open; the wagons, laden with
goods, 90 about the streets; people at
tend to nearly all their avocatiols, and
until noon they work just the same as if
it we're a week day. After midday,
however, everything closes except the
| cafes and the newspaper Otices-for the
| evening papers all come out on Sunday
with their raciest editiOns-and the city
takes a holiday. I suppose that some
! of the Parisians 90 to-church on Sunday,
| but it really seems as if churCh-gOing
was the least matter thought of by most
people. They have their horse races
and their elections on Sunday; their
! theatres and operas give the best per-
| formances in the evening; and the Ex
position on Sunday draws its largest
| crowds. In fact, the day is treated as a
day for extraordinary merry making.
and as a holiday which is to be made
the most of for the public amusement.
This is the French idea of Sunday,
and assuredly it is as entirely unlike
our idea as two dissimilar things can
possibly be. All the great French festi-
walls are celebrated on Sunday and it is
the day when the largest crowds can be
attracted, and when the public, by turn
ing out in the largest numbers, make
those great displays for which Paris is
famous.
All the shops being open on Sunday
morning in Paris, this peculiar people,
who only live from hand to mouth, first
bought their breakfasts, and then started
out to buy their dinners. They first in
vested in a little bunch of kindling wood
to start the fire with, and then in a little
bag of charcoal to keep it going. The
person who bought more than day or
tWo's supply of fuel, would be looked
upon as a foe to the State, so fixed is the
public habit of buying only enough for
the day. The kindling wood and char
coal shops are as prominent and numeT-
Gus along the streets as any others, and
they display their goods in the windows
as attractively as possible, the kindling
wood neatly tied in small bundles sold
at q cents apiece, the coal in square
blocks, and the charcoal, in bags, varying
from 10 to so cents apiece. If frewoOd
is wanted by some aristocrat who is bold
enough to establish fireplace, he pays
for it at about the rate of two cents a
stick, and he buys just enough to last till
the dinner is over and the company bids
farewell in the evening. In food the
rage is somewhat restricted, the Partisan
buying almost everything by weight, at
so much for the kilogramme, which
corresponds to nearly q pounds. Re-
ducing the prices paid to American
money, and the purchases to pounds, it
is found that Parisians pay about ~
cents per pound for veal, 38 cents for
ordinary Tump steak, and 40 to so cents
for beef steak 30 to 40 cents for mutton
chops, 80 cents for leg of mutton, 81
cents for coffee, 81 to S1.20 for ordinary
tea, Al cents for bread, so cents for but
ter, As cents for ordinary ham, and 20
cents for boiled ham sold in slices at
the shops (the usual way in which it is
bought: 15 cents for loaf sugar, broken
into the accurately square Jumps univer-
sally used here; about cents quart
for milk, 4 cents each for tomatoes, and
u cents half peck for potatoes. These
are the usual prices paid for these arti-
cles, and though the list does not include
all, it shows the high prices at which
most articles of food are sold in Paris,
This is due not only TO the increased
charges consequent upon the Exposition,
but also in the "octorol," or city Gus
toms, Paris levying heavy duty upon
almost everything brought into the city,
in order to raise revenue. But, with
these very high prices, the Parisians
can still live more cheaply than in most
other places, owing to the small value
of the articles of food they subsist upon,
and the absence of wastefulness. I do
not suppose there was a dinner, outside
of a hotel, served in Paris yesterday
Sunday, Of which the food that com:
posed it was not bought at the shops
and markets on Sunday morning. The
important business over, the populace
started for the days amusement-to the
Exposition, to the theatres and cafes, to
the Boulevards or to Versailles. It
being the great fete day at Versailles,
the first Sunday in the month, at least
two hundred thonsand people directed
their steps to that famous city and
palace, but Paris could readily spare
them, for, including the strangers there
are probably 100000 population there
now.