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


lady is indispensable, or else the ne "
knight of industry / am about to intro
duce could not succeed; a 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
trembling voice as he points to the
captiyes: ''See, how cruel to imprison
the poor little creaturesi Be merciful,
madame; they are only five cents
apiece; give one of them its liberty. -
A heart of stone would almost be
touched by this-how much more, then,
a female heart; hence, YOU choose a
bird which. when set at liberty, flies to
the nearest tree and twitters it's 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 the 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
are miles away from his trade articles.
But this is right and proper, and the
more they patter the better the Partisan
likes it. Many sellers keep their tables
carefully covered SO that nothing is
visible, and then begin to talk about
the discovery of America, of Napoleon
the Great and the politics of the day.
OF course, you have not the rcmotest
conception what he means by all this
or what he has for sale; at last he raises
! the cover and produces either new
I backing paste or small instrument to
be used at once as toothpick, penholder,
lnkstand and eraser, and only costing
five cents, or so on. Still none of the
crowd are ready to buy the thing; but
this does not confuse our hero; he dis
tributes on all sides the tlacon, or
whatever it may be, and says: You
can pay me tomorrow, or when you
are passing" At length there is pur-
chaser, and directl Y after ten, as no one
wished to be first. At times it happens
that the improvised dealer suddenly |
breaks of in his speech, seizes his table |
and bolts with it, to the great surprise
of his hearers, who look after him, and |
OF whom only the initiated are aware
of the true reason of his hastv flight.
sergeant de vile has shown himself |
at the next corner, for whom all the
street sellers, who have no cards of
licenses, entertain great respect, as he
simply takes them by the collar and
leads them to the prefecture, aproceed-
ing which always ends badly We see
that the daily bread of these poor fell
lows is not lightly gained in Paris.
Further on stands another man, also
at small table, but he has no cause to
fear the police. He is an artist, as he
says, recognized by the Government,
and stands under the special protection
of the Minister. His Excellencv, he in
forms Us, has repeatedly offered him a
situation in the writing and reckoning
schools, but he declined it in order to
serve the public. At the same time he
is perfect artist with the pen: with
rapid, sure and graceful lines he draws
IN few lnstants an eagle with out
wings or a well executed like $
ness of some we'll known public char {
acter. He then offers them to the spec s
Fators gratis and merely for the honor
Of having his talent recognized s
by an amateur. At the same time ,
ne sells steel pens, which are good +
and cheap, and honestly declares that |
lis art is based on the pens, which per +
sons need only buy in order to draw {
md write like him. 1T only requires $
little practice" he adds, with know r
ng smile. +
A colleague on the other side of the '
boulevard loudly offers twenty dollars =
0 the man who can mend china better 6
han he. Twenty dollars-Heaven @
,nows where he got them from or if s
hey are realize on his table before q
llm and attract not few galnins 81 0
ould, he relates, ''long ago have been +
rich man if would have sold the Sc i.
ret OF my composition to the Govern Z
nent. The director of the great por- f
elain factory at Sevres would give a
alf his fortune for it; but then nv dis q
overt would only benefit the few, l
While now it is common property" il
nd so on. The bottle costs only ten a
ents. He then feels in heap of gay n
ieces of china, and very cleverly com Il
oses of the pieces of china plate or v
up, which he strikes in order to prove II
ne solidity of his composition, and Il
nally assures us that he once mended q
broken gun-barrel, with which its n
wner still goes out shooting. Really, q
lore can not be expected. s,
Wherever there is free spot on the tc
oulevards, formed by retreating houses y
nd broader trottoirs, it is at once occu- fe
led by singer, an acrobat or Jug OF
Ter; large circle is formed round the r
rtiste, who first harangues the specta- lc
rs in the usual way, and then displays es