The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-01-27
IN A FRENCH PAWNSHOP.
Going Through the Whole Experience OF
PIedging-Proving Ones Identity.

Going Through the Whole Experience of
PIedging-Proving Ones Identity.
A person curious to see something of
the working of the Paris Mont de Piete
can do so without pawning any of his
property. He can nlingle with the crowd
whom necessity or vice has brought there
without risk of. being questioned by Off
Gals or being stared at inquisitively, for
every one is too intent upon his own bust
ness to give any thought to others. But
to obtain a vivid impression of the differ
ent circles of this inferno it is necessary
to go through the whole experience of
pledging and redeeming. No one who
did this once could possibly wish to re-
peat the experiment The lazar house
or the prison can alone offer parallel to
the depressing influences of the Mont de
Piete.
We Will take for illustration the one in
the Rue Bonaparte, which is an Offshoot
to the parent house in the Rue dies Blancs-
Manteaux, but which is itself vast enough
to quarter a large body of soldiers. 1t
is entered from the street by an archway,
over which hangs a dirty tricolor. A
sentry is also posted as further token of
authority. The passage leads to a court
surrounded bv buildings which are the
offices and stOrehOuses of the Mont de
Piete. Those who come to pledge single
out the door on which the word En-
gagementS" is painted. 1t leads to low
room, so dimly lighted that on entering
the details cannot be distinctly seen. The
floor is paved with tiles and the walls and
ceiling are almost black with dirt. The
air is dense, sitting and malodOrOus.
There are twenty or thirty people waiting
here-sOme standing, others sitting upon
benches placed against the walls. All are
silent, or they speak under their breath.
At least half Of them belong to what
may be termed the respectable working
class; others wear all the signs of abiect
misery and vice; others, again, belong to
the impenetrable, well dressed class, re-
speeding whose position in life only gueSses
can be made.
At the opening through which comes
the glare of the lamp is a counter, toward
which people make their way as they en-
ter. On the other side of it a man i'm a
blouse appears every few minutes, takes
bundle or box that has been placed on
the counter, gives a metal number in ex-
change for it, and disappears. The per-
son who has given up the article he has
come TO pledge waits attentivelv until he
hears his number called out by somebody
whom he does not see, but who is on the
other side of a wooden partition that
serves for one of the walls of the room.
At the same time this official calls out the
amount which the Mont de Pete is pre-
pared to lend upon the article or articles
which correspond to the number. The
owner sometimes grUmbles at the sum
offered, but the almost invariable reply is
''Bien, monsieur. - The functionaries do
TO I,
in the waiting room, whom they treat as
if they were paupers applying for relief. |
The sum having been agreed to, it NAV
be supposed that the money is then paid
over the counter and the business ended. |
Not at all; such plain and straightfor-
ward proceeding would be contrary to |
the most sacred traditions of French of |
fetal practice. &Iuch Formally has TO be |
gone through and much writing to be |
done before the transaction is complete |
Meanwhile the applicant has to wait half |
an hour or even an hour, if there are |
many people before him, until he hears |
his number called out again. He now |
pushes open a swinging door in the |
wooden partition, and follows rallied |
passage which brings him into the pres
ence of two surly clerks sitting behind a |
counter. One asks questions and makes |
entries in huge book, and the other fills |
up the pawn tickets, which are sheets of |
paper closely printed and written over,
and pays the money. The applicant must
state his name, address and profession.
Then he must show papers to prove that
he is telling the truth. If it should hap
pen that he has not brought with him the
receipt for the last rent ne paid, or some
other document to prove his identity, he
is sent away without the mOney.-St.
James Gazette.