Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-16
ODD FRsN0E.
STRING IN PARIs-DEsTH IN THE
RIVER.
The Political atmosphere Threatened by
Bandits Art Exh bitten
Some Pictures

sun seems to stir the dormant heart of man
to gentle deeds, just as it makes the sap of
trees push forth their leaves the air is
filled with the perfume of violets, and
the flower markets are gorgeous sight to
behold. Every other person or so has
flower pot in his hand containing flowers in
bloom or bright green plants which he car
ries to his home to constantly enjoy
little OF the spring time. In fact, every
body looks happy as though released from
bondage imposed by stern, cruel winter;
on their faces one can read faith in bright
future, and the very air seems filled with
was swollen with its own troubles and dis
| content, and threatened to drown the earth
with its tears, has settled down to its low,
peaceful margin, and now quietly bears
upon its bosom the different ferryboats
suggestive of gay picnics and pleasant
rambles through woods and over meadows
The Mail, that old institution, still jealous
of its past importance and reputation, per.
sistently clings to life and refuses to be
vanquished by steamboats, or railroads, and
as though having found fresh courage for
resistance, or as the spark, which burns
brightest before
GOING OUT FOREVER.
1t appears this year in all its glory. Never
have there been so many canal boats filled
with their rosy apples, russets and pippins,
stationed along the Seine there are as
many as twenty in a bunch, all hustled
close together, and which appear like a
little world of their own. Though rivals in
the apple market, the people seem friendly
and united and live like one family in all
of the boats at time They came from
their dear Normandy in the early fall. and
have remained on the border of the Seine
all through the winter and many of them
seemed to have nothing but the straw in
which were buried their apples to protect
them from the cold. When it would snow
in the night, the next morning the boats
would appear like one immense white sheet,
and the owners would be seen armed with
brooms, separately seeking an exit from
their temporary prisons; and when the
Seine submerged the land next them, they
seemed like islands afoat, and their only
means of gaining the shore were almost
perpendicular planks and strange, danger
ous-looking contrivances, so that no one
passed near without giving them thought
Of pity. At the end of each boat may be
discerned tiny stovepipe issuing from the
wee cabin, where by some miracle they
manage to eat and perhaps to sleep. They
seem little 10th to depart, and nothing
short of hot June sun will be able to
chase them to the shade of their own apple
trees.
THE PARTISAN OUT OF DOORS.
The Partisan is ever impatient of his out
door habits and rambles the sun had
hardly shown his determination to shine
away in frank manner, when the cafes
were moved on to the sidewalks, and all
Paris seemed to be taking their coffee in
the open air, and even cooling drinks are
slipped with the same relish as though sum-
mer had already arrived. In the woods,
under leahess trees, men may be seen with
their coats off, childishly believing they
may hasten the season in this manner, SO
impatient are they. A straw hat here and
there does not prove novelty, but merely
creates smile Of kind indulgence. The diff
ferent squares and gardens are already daily
filled with their habitues-women with
their work, who take up the thread of gos-
sip dropped six months before; the chill
dren with their hoops and playthings,
grown little taller since their last meet
ing old men who sun themselves on the
| benches, twisting their canes around be-
tween their fingers, while their thoughts
roll around the scenes of their youth. The
fishermen have increased their ranks, for,
like all veterans of warfare, they possess
lukewarm followers who hesitate and re-
treat before danger and are put to fight by
the furious elements now that the prize is
in store and no danger ahead, they have
come boldly forth, armed with hook and
rod. They are singular race, these fish,
ermen, and one incomprehensible to me
the concentration of attention seems to
metamorphose them or to carry them be-
yond human sympathy. During ali the
Commune, while terror was in every heart
and tears on every cheek; while bullets
whizzed around them, in the midst of the
groans of the wounded and dying these
fishermen stood impossible on the banks
of the Seine, their eyes bent upon their
line, while the hand which held the rod
never trembled. This | have been told by
several eye-witnesses OF the scene, and as
formal as may be their statements, | could
scarcely credit their words were it not that
my own experience has convinced me OF
the truth of their information. Two or
three Sundays ago, while passing on the
quay near the Louvre in company with
some friends, we observed
AN IMMENSE CROWD
Collected along the parapet looking down
on to the bank below. Mounting the
bridge and questioning the bystanders we
learned that three young men had gone
out for row on the Seine in small boat,
when they had been upset by the ferry
boat. The officers of the steamer, on learn
ing of the accident, stopped and lowered a
boat and sent men to the rescue. The
three Young men continued in the mean
time to swim around, but one of them,
weaker than the other two, or more sensi-
tive to the low temperature OF the water,
was carried away by the current, and two
only were saved. The body of the drowned
boy had Just been found and brought
ashore. 1t was carried into the little
house on the bank, such as are found all
along the river, and established for the
purpose of rendering assistance to the res
cucd from drowning. Officers stood in the
| doorway to prevent the few persons with
out from entering, while at the top of the
stone steps stood gardens de la paix, who
prevented the crowd from descending. All
Paris seemed to be looking down on the
exciting scene, while rejecting that an
other small lamp had gone out forever. and
yet. standing on the waters brink, his 1back
almost touching the house in which lay the
dead body, the terror-stricken friends
elbowing him, stood fisherman, impassi-
BILE and unconcerned as though what were
passing around him was an event taking
place in the moon, and we were told that
when the corpse was dragged ashore and
all hassened to gaze upon it he did not
even turn his head.
THE POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE
Seems charged with uneasiness the assas.
sination of the Car of Russia, the discov-
cry of wholesale murderous preparations
in the Russian capital, the attempt to blow
up the Lord Mayors palace at London,
and the constant precautions OF the Eng
lish Government in having the House of
Parliament guarded and the basement in
spected by troops-the Nihilists in Russia,
/ II