Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-12-08
IN THE sLUMs or PARIS.

visited Paris and gone the round Of all
the sights have no idea that the mod
ern BabyIon still possesses quarters and
streets such as those which have been
described by Eugene Sue in his "Mys-
teries Of Paris" Privat dAnglemont
has given many details as to the un-:
known professions followed by the
thousands who sleep out Of doors six
months in the year. and have been
driven to take shelter by the inclem-
ency Of the weather. 1t seems almost
impossible that in such center of civ.
Hilization as Paris the suburbs should be
quite as dangerous as the famous Forest
of Bondy, and that every now and then
some stranger is waylaid and murdered
in the wood Of Vincennes or along the
banks Of the Mssne for the sake Of the
money and val tables he may have about
him. Baron Haussmann's improve
ments cleared away rooksry after rook-
cry, and the old network of houses
round about the Louvre. the Centra
Market and the Latin Quarter were
pulled down to make room for mansions,
bordering splendid streets and bonle-
Yards. Each incident mentioned in the
"Mysteries of Paris" comes wildly be-
fore the mind Of the visitor who, under
escort, cares to plunge into the streets
surrounding the Place Manbert, which
is the grand center Of the sanctuary Of
ruffianism and fraud, getting support
from the other portion of the city. 1t
is the plague-spot Of the modern Baby
lon; but it stands-as did old White
friars, in the days Of King James-de-
flying the police and threatening those
who attempt to penetrate the mysteries
of its existence.
In the day time all the alleys and
narrow thoroughfares are silent as
death. During the morning when the
rest Of the city is busy, the Maubret
Quarter is sleeping off the effects of the
carouse, or resting from the fatigues OF
the night. The chiffonnier, or rag
picker, was the last to enter the sane
tuary, and the inhabitants will not give
any signs Of life until close on sunset.
There are very few children in the
street. No laughing, playing throng
Of lads and lassies occupy the pavement
or stretch their skipping-ropes across
the roadway. The shopkeepers gossip
with each other at the door of their es-
tablishments, for they are not required
to make any tempting show in their
windows, and nearly every one of them
can tell the visitor that the staple arti-
Gle in request is drink Of some kind or
another. Now and then. toward even
ing, a woman in tawdry fnery, bought
at the Temple, steadies herself as she
emerges from the doorway of her house,
and then, with tottering steps, makes
her way to the Wine-shop, or to one OF
the assommoirs patronized by this class
Of unfortunate creatures. The two po-
icemen who go their rounds together
take no notice of what is going on
about them. They are accustomed to
the scene and pass along. One by
one the inhabitants creep out and make
for the eating-houses and dram-shops
which abound. Now and then some
lads who have been thrown on the
streets by their patents and abandoned
to their fate have bsen adopted by the
Maubert Quarter. They may be seer
With pale and sickly faces, lounging
about with their hands in their pockets,
watching the wine their elders drink,
or going on errands for suci aguerdon
as hunch Of bread and glass OF
brandy. From time to Tins a murmur
is heard in the drinking shops and the
police are sent for. S5ae unfortunate
creature has shuf1ed of his mortal coil
in the very midst of the jewellers, to the
sound Of clinking glasses and ribald
songs. No notice is taken; the glasses
are not even removed from the table on
which the dead man has bowed his
head (; and when the police have salts
fed themselves that the death has
arisen from natural causes, and not
from any act Of violence, the body is
carried down to the Place Maubert and
tumbled into the cart sent by the
Morgue.
In the cabarets the conversation is
carried on in argot, or slang, and the
schemes which are invented to provide
drink are discussed. The inhabitants
of the Waubert Quarter come to drink
and smoke, and as long as they can in
dulge in iery alcohol, and the remnants
Of cigars and cigarettes, made up into
tobacco again by The mora industrious
among their colleagues, they require no
luxurious fare. The tobacco vendors
sell the little packets they make up for
half penny, but the fumes arising
from the weed are SO pungent that only
throat accustomed to absinshe and
vitriolic drinks could stand smoking it.
The average income Of those who con-
sent to work may be estimated at from
three to four francs day. The man
who can make his four francs in the
morning can Indulge in q carouse His
room, or rather his bed, costs him, in
cluding two matches to light him up
stairs. fourpence, and he can live at any
Of the restaurants in tue Quarter for
thirty sous, or one shilling threepence.