Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-31

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snce Naturally the inhabitants were much
interested IN as and our outfit, and whenever
We stopped IN village the population nocked
out, old and young, and took us in like chill
9ren ~ their arst circus. We explained in our
hop-skip-and-tump French the workings Of the
veiocipedi and all the appurtenances, ringing
our pens for their amusement and telling them
we were "Americang" bound for ssParee,"
wnicn intensified their interest even more.
Smiles and mods and the children followed US
as We rode on, until we left them far behind.
Undoubtedly the visit of the ..Americang" and
their velocipedies will stand prominent in the
village annals and furnish an intending theme
OF conversation.
A DEFIANT VIEW OF PARIS.
Ascending out Of these villages we reached
the main road on high ridge, from which we
had such view of the surrounding country as
In itself was ample repayment for our disap-
Pointment In the road which our Chaumont
friends had cracked up so highly. Looking off
on slightly rolling landscape, dotted with
rees, little villages appeared in every direc-
uon, with irregular-shaped, bright-hued
meadows and fields of grain, giving crazy
quit appearance to the picture, which was soft
ened and all its beauties fully brought out by
the mellow light of the sum- then close APP
preaching the horizon. On our arrival in the
outskirts of Pontoise, the Eiffel tower, fully
twenty miles distant, at Paris, became plainly
visible, standing out against the sky like a
-
hanging the city. At the hotel in Pom
toise we encountered the first Eng
nsn-speaklng person since leaving
Dleppe, young man whose vocabulary being
insufficient to describe the Swiss roads. he fell
back on snorts and gestures the former indi-
eating that they were very bad and the latter
That they were simply succession of hills. In
honor OF our arrival at Paris-for we were prac-
ticaily there-we treated ourselves to such a
swell dinner that c., after dreaming the
usual line OF horrible things and nearly falling
on his perch several times, awaking with a start
on each occasion, finally descended to the
hoor, where he spent the night in compare
tive comfort.
THE PEASANT GIRLS.
We feel in duty bound to say right here that
any one who thinks that the pretty 'speasant
girls" in ''The Chimes of Normandy" and other
operas are fair samples of the genuine article
had better come over here at once and see the
beautiful creature in its natural state. Come and
see it with its Chicagos encased in wooden
shoes, OF which arise like fence posts the deli
cate outline of its shapeless ankles; it's brawny
arms, its horny hands, its exp-essionless face
surrounded by an unsightly cap, or none at all,
striding along with step like an elephant. and
you have true picture of the only realization
OF the fair peasant maiden of our visions.
She, with the older members of her sex, seem
to do the lions share of the work in the fields
and of the carrying of loads, either slung on
her back or hung from the ends of yoke
across her shoulders. So far as we observed,
the men do not generally carry loads, except
possibly on Saturday nights.
The French seem to be afraid of water, and
the cheaper wine, with Normandy cider, are very
largely consumed in this section. Fifty CEN
times Go cents) per bottle, the prevailing price
for that ordinarily used, is cheap enough, but
some of the stuff encountered is dear at any
price. The cider is not as bad as it might be-
II 0fr 10th and A4x 10 I.-R
the wine, which isn't saying much for either.
In the matter OF vehicles there is an even
greater
CLINGING TO TWO WHEELS
than in England. One is almost led to suppose
that there is a scarcity Of wheels, the bodies of
SO many carts being as long and as large as those
generally put on four wheels in America
Hitching in tandem RACES violently, and three
or four horses are commonly harnessed to carts
In this manner. From our point Of view there
is a great injudicious and wasteful use of horse
power, which needs remedying. The horses
are uniformly good-sized, plump, sleek-looking
animals, of considerable spirit, guided usually
by whip and voice. In this portion of France.
at least, the blue blouses of the working class
is prominent feature. This "blue blouse" re-
ceives the attention of everybody who writes
anything about France, so we mention it lest
some one might think it escaped our notice.
We found it in large quantities and various
shades of blue, some very blue and some old,
patched and faded, with just enough blue re-
naming to be still classed as blue.
We hope that the people between here and
Dleppe have recovered from our pronunciation
of the names of the towns and villages they
have known since childhood, but which they
failed to recognize when mentioned by us. We
fell to pronouncing as unlike the way the words
looked as possible, and in that way managed
occasionally to get within few hundred yards
of correct pronunciation. 1t was fun for US
and We think it must have been for them.
EES.