St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-04-10

man. 1he posturer laughs condescend
lngly, and simply repeats: Forty
cents, gentlemen, and you will see :
When the money is subscribed he gets
INTO the box, gamin jumps on the lid
and ne is really in it. This posturemar
daily shows this trick ten or twelve
tunes IN Paris, and so earns about four
dollars.
Let US 60 into the cafes-that IL &c
say, sit down outside in the shade OF
the awning, if a place is to be had.
Inc large cafes on the boulevards are
| filled from eight o'clock in the morn
ing till midnight or past. On the in
ner boulevards there are at least one
hundred cafes, which all do roaring
trade. We have secured table and a
couple OF chairs and survey the heav-
ing mass, but have not been seated five
minutes ere we are laid under contri-
button. The flower girls, of whom
there must be legions in Paris, are the
hrst. When sent away they lay small
bouquet on the table and 90 aside The
stranger or novice who is not up to the
trick probably takes up the bouquet
and smells 1t; at once the girl is back
and asks for two cents. She will say
quite boldly: You have accepted it
and you must keep it, sir What
can You do, surrounded as you are by a
hundred ladies and gentlemen, and in
all public localities in Paris YOU must
be very careful not to make yourself
ridiculous.
A man approaches our table with
"nEf ,foh Ia L Il
and dumb. He hands us small
printed paper, on which which we find
the sign language of the deaf and dumb;
above it is the motto: Have pity for a
poor deaf and dumb Although we
are beginning to feel annoyed at being
so necessarily pestered, still the woe
BECOME face of the man in the midst of
this merry, rejoicing world moves US.
We give the man ten cents, but he has
hardly taken it ere a sergeant de vile
seizes him rather roughly and leads
him off with the words: Have l caught
you again, you vagabond?' We dis
tlnctly hear the deaf and dumb man
imploring to be let go this time, but the
man in uniform is inexorable Ere
now fear has been known to restore
speech is the consolation we adopt for
having been swindled We light a
second cigar and naturally throw the
glowing stump on the ground. But at
the same instant an old mans greedy
hand is stretched out to it, and he puts
it in bag. The cigar stump collectors
are nearly all old people, who have
selected this wretched trade as a last
fn cto
For these poor fellows are hungry
-wice day regularly, but they are sat
SIZED if they get something to eat once
A day. But can it be believed that the |
cigar stumps form considerable |
article of trade at the great Halle? Yet
such seems to be the case. The market |
gardeners make out of them fluid to !
Kill the insects and grubs on the vege-
ablcs growing on the immense plain
If st. Denis, and the smokers of the
capital supply the necessary material
or the sprinkling.
A little boy is crying at the corner
II a street-of course on one of the
ratings of the sewers. The poor boy
las evidently lost something; in few
econds fifty curious people have gath
red around him, and we hear the sad
tory. His father, a harsh, severe man
1t is often, too, a sick mother), half
ent him to the bakers with a dollas
iece; at the corner he was thrust or
he pavement by the crowd, fell and
1st the coin in his fall, which slipped
trough the grating and was, conse-
uently, hopelessly lost. Is not this a
ad story! If the boy plays his part
leverly, if he bowls, and cries and
ears his hair. swears that he dare not
enture home for fear of his father, who
ill beat him to death, or because his
ok mother will now have nothing to
at, as it was her last money, he would
)oner throw himself into the Seine
nd so on, compassionate gentleman ,
ives him a ten cent piece, others follow :
he liberal example, and the lost dollar
thus easily made up. The whole :
ling, however, is only trick, in which
vo or three are generally engaged, :
nd hundred steps further on the ac- :
omplice awaits the fortunate result. :
:, as at times will occur, the police =
terfere, the father himself comes up =
I'd confirms his sons statement; but y
ore often the unhappy boy bolts on !
re appearance of the sergeant de :
lie. The Parisians are we'll aware of y
ese tricks, but this does not prevent =
em from being taken in again and =
gain; but foreigners are the principal :
,rsons on whose purses the swindlers, =
eat and small, speculate. Thus, -"
me years ago, man went from hotel {
hotel in the Faubourg St. Honore,
ho knocked at every door and begged
r aims, $50 that he could bury his
lly son, who had died yesterday"
ne man, though he wore a blouse, p
oked perfectly respectable and hon. y
+. he want hitter faarS at tho Coma v