Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-21
CENSUS ALARMS.
HOW THEY TAKE THE CENSUS N
FRANCE,
And the Row the Prying into Family
Closets Has Raised There-Ths
Troubles of an Actress.
PARIS, December 25. 1881


the new census of the entire population,
for on this occasion the Government has
proved more curious than in former years,
and has penetrated into the sanctity of
family and individual affairs. Impertinent
questions have been asked, which can
scarcely be said to be the Governments or
anybody's business, and half the popula-
sion manifested its intention of giving no
answer whatever, or of rendering the an
swers as ridiculous as the questions war.
ranted. First was asked your name, your
family name, your sex, your age, II born
in France or foreign country, whether OF
French parents or foreigners, your profes-
sion. etc. In former times the recenseur
called at each dwelling and inscribed the
answers to verbal questions but on this
occasion it was decided 10 have the ques-
tions printed and delivered by the con-
cierges. who would later collect them and
deliver them all at one time into the hands
of the Government employe. This infor-
nation provoked general cry Of
ALARM AND INDIGNATIoN,
For if Parisian has horror of anything
in this world, it is that his concierge should
learn anything more of his private affairs
than he generally acquires through his re-
peated observations and the gossip of the
servants, who it seems are never able to
resist the influence and fascination of these
officious porsers. These creatures seem to
lo,hIa ai nhf and vvith ona Of thoir
glances can look you through, way back to
your grandfather, as well as any political
reporter can man who runs for Office
They in short time know more of your
history than you do yourself, and incidents
in your existence which escape your OBJ
servation are noted and magnified by them
to an extent that you think they must
concern some hero of the Arabian Nights
tales. They have remarkable affinity for
all the bonaeS OF the entire building who,
howsoever honest and regular in their re-
ligious devotions, consider it duty and
pleasure to contribute to the comfort and
happiness of Monsieur lie Concierge by fur
nishing him with delicacies secretly alb
stracsed from their masters pantries and
with wines as mysteriously removed from
their cellars. The concierge is the Cerbere
of the Parisian's existence, and the gateau
de miel must be constantly renewed, else
he is made to feel
THE SHARP TEETH
OF viciousness and i'll will. True, there
are exceptions to the rule, and there are
concierges who do not answer to this de-
scription, yet they are few in number, and
do not count many years of service, for the
very occupation engenders the very in.
conveniences above mentioned. There
fore the sincerity of apprehension and
indignation with regard to the census was
not to be doubted, and so much was
said on the subject, and so much noise
made over it, that the Government ordered
envelopes sent with the printed papers, in
which these last could be placed and sealed
before being handed to the concierge. The
project was certainly charitable and ap-
parently a feasible one, and the unsuspi-
cious confded to ink and paper every
minute detail of their existence but i'm
agine the horror and confusion experienced
when it became known that the Govern
ment officials took upon themselves to open
these same envelopes in the presence of the
concierges, and read the contents aloud to
them, thus conforming to the letter, if not
the spirit, of the law. That such did take
place was no idle rumor, but fact demon.
strated by reliable informants before the
municipal council, when it was learned that
the employees guilty of the imputed pro.
ceedings had been discharged, but
ALAS TOO LATE
For the interested parties. What woman
cared to have all the reighbors of the same
house know her exact age, particularly
after having passed the tender years of
youth, and having still pretensions to the
admiration of the opposite sex ? Then the
principal reason for desiring sealed en-
velopes is the fact that about eighteen
Thousand people exist at Paris, of whom the
man and wife have never been legally mar
ried. Many of them have grand children,
and the majority live the most regular of
lives, esteemed by all who know them, that
it hardly seemed worth while to place in
the hands of the concierge a dangerous
weapon, which would not fail to produce
an unlimited amount of unhappiness and
discomfort. The subject of the census
proved matter of much merriment for the
comic journals and illustrations, and it
must be confessed that great amount of
wit was expended upon it, the answers to
some of the questions given rise to insinu-
atoms and sous-entendats, which would not
fail to prove shocking to Auglo Saxon
ideas of propriety. The answers to ques-
tions put to persons of note and celebrity
were given, according to the fancy of differ.
ent writers, who, while at times witty and
interesting, provedi as often
INSIGNIFICANT AND INCoMPREHENsIBLE
For instance Gambetta answers to the
question if he has any children that he has
only aunts, thus making allusion to an
event in his political or private career.
Even Schneider came in for her share of
public notice on the occasion, and the in
situations and illusions INDUCED IN, proved
now much her recent marriage has occupied
the public mind. 1t is probably remem-
bered that Schneider is the actress who
created nearly all the roles of Jacques Of
fenbach's operas bouffes, principally that of
the ''Grand Duchesse, and that she was
one of the most notorious of the femTpeS
galantes under the second empire. Al
though no longer young or handsome, yet
possessing a handsome fortune, she has
found an Italian prince to marry her. 1t
seems that princes, dukes and counts, and
titled creatures generally, are growing
dreadfully out of fashion and find nothing
better to do than to marry some notorious
actress for her money, whose compromised
social standing and reputation make it
worth while to them to purchase little re-
spectability in the shape of husband.
The list of actresses who in their advanced
years have married titled men is very long,
and it is consolation to these last that
there remains to them that resort of unit
ing their destiny with one who can bring
them money to guarantee them against an
INDECENT old age, no matter from what
source the money be derived.
OTHER ACTRESSES
OF more modern reputation and greater
pretentions to beauty and talent have be-
come jealous of Schneider, while they are
at the same time anxious to initiate her
examnle that it Ia said the beautiful