The daily gazette., 1880-11-23
PARIS LITTER

WHEN FOUNDED D-ENLAhtED-
ITS sToREs-ITs BoULEvARDs-
PLACE DE LA CoNCoRDE-ITs
WINE THE CAUSE OF EXCESS.
Special correspondence of the Gazette.
PARIS, Nov. Sth, 1880.
What shall we say of Paris that is
not already known by all who read?
Shall we say that the city Is different
from any other we know, IN color,
being white instead of the red brick
color of the model city? We have
vet to see the first brick house or
brick pavement. The houses are
built almost universally of a creamy
white stone, cut in large blocks and
laid in single wall, with ornamented
jams and windows o: ARE coated with
stucco of the same color laid out IN
squares so nicely that it require
close examination to tell the differ
ence. The roadways are of the same
stone, and the sidewalks are of con-
crete, or large square stones.
All are familiar through history,
with the grand churches Of Palis its
magnificent palaces, its sparkling
fountains, its beautiful gardens and
its almost countless statues.
History also teaches us that in the
time of julius Cesar there was g
small collection of mud huts on 6
small island in the river Seine, bull
by rude and barbarous people, who
gave their name TO the village, and
that this village has grown into one
of the largest and the most beauti'
full cities on the earth.
The ocean once spread over the
ground on which it stands, and the
plaster of Paris that lies in beds ol
great thickness under, the foundation
of its houses was formed from the
cretaceous animal life that there ex'
listed when the spot was submerged
In about the yeer A. D., 500, Clo'
Wis was made king, and his wife who
was a christian woman, set about
the improvement Of the minds OF
their subjects and the adornment Of
the city until subjects and city as
sumed Importance in the eyes of the
nations. Soon afterward the first
walls were built around it.
Like most of the grand edifces on
the Continent, many of the finest
churches and other notable buildings
in Paris, have been centuries in their
construction, and some that had their
foundations laid before America was
discovered, have only received the fin
ishing touches quite recently.
Paris, as a whole, has been more
beautiful than nov. 1t contains an
uneasy element in its population whose
tendencies are ever in the direction of
murder and ruin. The Communists
are in France the hidden fires Of the
social volcano that makes no show of
eruption before the cities are in
flames and discord and murder ram
pant.
We stood, to-day, on that charm
ing spot by the river made fairy-land
by flowers and lamps and statues and
the "PIace de la ConcOrd6,"
where, one hundred years ago, the
people met to celebrate the marriage
of two Of their royal persouages. In
their Joyous demonstrationsa rush was
made by which were trampled to death
tsseloe hundred of the people and two
thousand more were seriously wound
cd. Twenty years afterward, this
royal pair, so joyously welcomed, were
brought here to be beheaded by these
same people aud their children. A
few years later the same people met
in the same place to proclaim France
a Republic, and then not long AFTER
ward, to plant here the guillotine,
from which flowed some of the best
blood OF France down through this
lovely promenade into the Seine, until
its whole waters seemed changed to
blood
Now, as though to cleanse the spot
of all stain and all memory OF the fear
full past, grand fountains rain down,
through all the Summer long, the
plenteous moi. ture that keeps the
grass green and the flowers in bloom
and freshness, whilst the majestic obe-
lisk that stood before Thebes fifteen
hundred years before Christ came into