Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-07-16
STREE 7 SCHEMERS.
Plans Concocted by Parisians to
Get a Living.
Tho "CommlssiOnalro" and Ills Cute Poodle
Hidden Curiositics-Jugglcrs, Cigar
Stump Collectors, Vagabonds
Flower Girls and Gamlns.

Ill IiTls tncrc are sald 10 be seventy
five thousand persons who wake in the
morning without knowing whether
they will have any thing to eat during
the day. But they must all eat, and
they find their food, although their ex-
istcncc is cphemeral, and truly from
hand TO mouth. The lazzarone of Ma
pies, when he has earned the ten cents
which are sufficient for his daily bread,
remains carelcssly lying on the stairs
OF some palace or gazing across the
glistcning sea at Capri or the small
smokc-Ciad peak of Vcsuvius, and will
not bestow n glance on stranger, who
wishes to give him a chance of earning
something. The Partisan lazzarone,
his civilized brother, has similar man.
ners and inclinations, except that he
must earn more than ten cents, for his
wants rs a citizen of the French Capi-
tai are greater. But in return he is a
tax-paying citizen of the empire, and
able to vote If not TO be elected
begin my account with the COM
missionaire, WHO is in reality only a
shocblack, but in addition he is every
thing possible, and performs commits
sions Of every description, as his name
indicates, He is crafty, clever and dis
erect, and, at the same time honest, so
far rs such q man can be honest. The
commissiopaircs form separate carte,
one inscribed at the Mayor Office, and
each has his number, which he must
wear very ostensibly on a small brass
plate. There are about six thousand in
Parls, who, however, are divided into
numerous classes. The commission
airc of the inner boulevard stands at
the head, and those stationed ut the
boulevard des ltalens. and about the
Grand Opera are fine fellows who read
their paper in the morning and smoke
their cigar and live more at the wine
shop opposite than at their corner of
the street. For two cents every COM
msSionaire will clean. our boots, and
tell us, while brushing, the latest oc-
currcnces of his quarter; there. a gas
explosion, or an omnibus upset; here Il
fire or an arrest; he has seen it all, and
ON each occasion was the principal act
ing person. A Partisan commission
afro never has any small change, like
tho coachman. This is princi-
pie. and the trick succeeds with
many persons, especially stran-
gers. They leave the poor devil
the ten cent piece in order not to wait.
for he inquiries at three or four places
for copper money and, strange to say,
can not obtain it anywhere, as he as
surcs us, with the most serious face in
the world.
The story of the black poodle on the
boulevard Montmartre, though many
years old, is still told in substance.
This black poodle always kept faith
fully by his masters side and paid
great attention to the passers-by. If a
handsomely-dressed dandy came along
the poodle thrust its forepaws in the
gutter and ran off to place them ON the
dandy's boots. The natural result was
that the gentleman must have them
cleaned by the nearest shoeback, and
this happened to be the poodles mas
ter. When the trick was known all
Paris wished to see the clever dog in
order to have their boots dirted by the
poodle and cleaned by its master. The
latter then appointed his four children
as aids, as he could not himself satisfy
all his customers, and in the course of
a few months he saved up small cap
ital with which to establish himself
elsewhere. The clever poodle was
kept till its death as tho benefactor of
the whole family, and held in high
honor. But the commissionaire is a
man of rank among the Parisian
ephcmerel, and hence has no poetical
side. He Is, with few exceptions, the
prose Of the boulevard.
Our boots are bright, and with the
hundred thousand other people we
stroll along the boulevards, and have
offered our arm to lady relation. A
lady is indispensable, or else the new
knight of industry l am about to intro
duce could not succeed; man is too
hard-hearted and might laugh at him.
The fellow comes close up to us, hold
ing in his hand a small cage filled with
sparrows and swallows, and says with
a trembling voice as he points to the
captives: "See, how cruel to imprison
the poor little creatures! Be merciful,
madame; they are only five cents
apiece; give one of them its liberty. 3"
A heart of stone would almost be
touched by this--how much more, then,
female heart; hence, you choose a
bird which, when set at liberty, flies to
the nearest tree and twitters its thanks.
The man pockets his five cents, bows
politely and then assails the next lady
who arrives.
Others have small tables on which
they display their goods, stand behind
them and then invite passers by to lis
ten to them for little moment. The
talking is tho main point, and many
have attained such pitch in their ora
tory that hundreds will stop to listen,
not troubling themselves about what
the chatterer has to sell, especially as he
wanders to thousand subjects, which
arc miles away from his trade articles.
But this is right and proper, and the
1