The daily gazette., 1881-05-17
OUR PARIS LETTER
AT VERSAILLES

| s..... .e.. PARIS. April 4, 1881.
Correspondence OF Gazette,
AS the time draws near for taking a.
nal leave of Paris, we learn The neces-
slty for increa ased industry In sight-see-
ing, II we wish to see the numberless at
tractive objects in aud around the city
Many casual visitors see Paris in weel
or fortnight. Seven months of inces.
SAINT activity have not sufticed for us Il
see all the interesting sights. Yester-
day was spelt In q visit to Versailles
about fourteen miles from Paris. We
went out by the tramway, which runs
along the Seine nearly all the way through
gardens and villages and towns. We re-
turned by the Railroad,t ,throngh orchards
and vineyards and other towns and vii
lagos, amongst which were Bologne neal
the famous Bois.de Bologne and Seyrei
where are the. famous porcelain manu-
factories, and the vast caverns in the
limestone hills where are stored mil
lions Of gallons Of wine. We also pass
ed St. Cloud, and saw again the Napo-
leon Palace In RUNS.
About two hundred years ago the spot
where Versailles stands was q swamp,
overgrown with bushes and TIMBER
One Of the French kings built a huAt-
ing cabin there, and oecasiO nally came
out from Paris with bis court for q days
sport. Later, another king, weary OF
the luxury and the licentiousness OF
81. German, resolved to smuse himself
| by the transformation OF the unhealthy
swamp into Fairyland. His soldiers
were set 10 work 10 dig lakes and throw
up embankments, and artifcsrs and
planters and builders--in all 10 the num-
Der OF forty thousand men, worked
steadily for twenty Ave years, at O cost
of two hundred million dollars, before
| the present Chateau and Its ornamental
grounds were ready for occupation by
the royal family.
The prodigal Louis XVI and his queen
Marie Aptoinetts, had only, settled in
their magnificent palace when the peo-
pie arose in rebellion, In consequence OF
the oppressive taxes, and drove them
out OF their splending apartments, which
remained unoccupled until Louis Phil
llpe conceived the idea of converting IL
into National Museum that should i'll
ustrate the greatness and the glory of
France.
Approaching within mile of Yer.
sailles, we enter the historical avenue
of elms, of which we had, in child
hood, read wi b wide eyed wonder.
We expected to see trees of giant
growth, with their branches welded
over the wide roadway leading up to
the palace. But we are always disap.
pointed in the size of the trees in
France and in Europe, so far as we have
seen. The oaks of St, afford cannot
compare with the leafy gian,s that -four
ish on the Brandywine, and the elms
of Versailles are pigmies in compa-i-
son. Yet they are beautiful in the
uniformity of their size and shape.
Every tree is twin brother to its
neghbor, and picture of one tree ia
picture of thousand. 20
By this embroidered avenue we ap-
prOach the Chateau, which stands on
an eminence surrounded by heroes of
France in marble. To say the exterier
of the Chateau is neither grand nor
particularly striking, except as TO its
size, is not 10 say much. But should
we attempt to describe its priceless
art treasures within, we should begin
task too great for us and too tiresome
AOh buC ECduOls Ab9 GOuAb1 uIO phNCu
with marble, its stairways are stone
work, one of them peculiarly beautiful
is said to be the finest in France. The
rooms are numerous, and some Of
them of great size and beauty. One is
three hundred and twenty nine feet by
forty feet, and several others are nearly
as large. The Chapel in which Louis
XVI. and Marie Antoinette were mar
ried has o floor of marble wrought in
rich mosaic, and it's gilded and painted
ceiling is eighty-six feet in height.
The walls of all the rooms are covered
with paintings by the great masters,
illustrating the history of France from
the reign of Clovis. The portraits of
the Soyereigns and their families, of
the generals and statesmen and the
Marshals of France and the beautiful
and other ladies of the court are
countless, and might be measured by
the mile. Any one of the thousands
of pictures is a gem, and some of the
battle pieces are so large that few
rooms could be found in our country
of sufficient size to hang them.
Weary with lO0kiDgthrough the grand
apartments, we turn to the private
! ooms of the royal family that seem so
small and cramped after seeing the 9TH
er parts of the palace. They remain
just as they were lett by the Queen when
she escaped from the mob who sought
TO murder her on the 9th of Oct. 1889.
We saw the corridor by which Marie
Antoinette reached freedom and safety
for tine time, evea while the mob were
beating down her door, The furniture
Is rich and comfortable and looks as
though the QueeD had just stepped out
this morning. a
After hasty glance at the fine pic
lures of the battles Of the Crusaders,
which fill five great rooms, and the rich
ly carved cedar doorssl formerly belong
ing to the knights Of Rhodes in these
same rooms, We pass through to tho OPP
polite side of the Palace, whence we
look out upon vista unequalled in Eu-
rope. ss GlEsf#a
An emerald plain stretches OUT before
us, level as the Sahara, and bounded at
the farther end by the blue sky or by
tho sea--so 1t seems, though we are told
1t is a lake into which We look. On two
sides are The green walls Of what seem
to be interminable forests. The mo
netony of the green plain is broken here
by lake. here by q sparkling fountain
with Its carved deities around about il
and everywhere by marble statutes and
evergreens trained and pruned in all ca
PRECIOUS shapes that ar evergreen tree
can nnsaihlu ho fOrfurad tn asa,,n,a "a