Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17

cheaper still, though you will have to pass
five or six hours on the channel. This route
lands you at Dieppe, and thence YOU can
ride through Normandy-a much more
picturesque country than you would come
through II you entered Paris by the north
ern lines. If you travel on the French
steamships, you will land at Havre, and if
you take the Hamburg boats, you are
dropped off at Cherbourg. 1 will suppose
that you have landed at last on French soil
by either one of these routes. Usually
your baggage is examined as soon as you
get into this country, but this, however, is
not the case for large baggage brought IN
the holds of French steamers. In New York
you check it through to Paris, and 1t is not
opened until you reach the capital. At Havre
all small parcels are looked into, but the
operation is sort OF perlunctory act, ana
by no means bothersome. Coming into
France from England, similar slight ex-
animation is usually made at Calais or at
B0ulogne, while if you come in from Bel
gium this examination takes place on the
French frontier. French inspectors of Gus
toms are seldom disagreeable; let them have
! their own way and they will make 1t as easy
| as possible. This is also true when you
reach Paris, where your baggage has again
to pass another examination on account of
the octroi. This city puts on taxes for
everything, and you are questioned as to
whether you have in YOU: trunks articles
that ought to pay town duty. However, this
is an examination that seldom takes more
than few minutes, and is never very thor
ough. Nearly always these officials at the
French railway stations are agreeable men
and it is apt to be your own fault if things
do not go we'll with you when you first get
into Paris.
PARTISAN PECULARITLES.
Now you have entered into a beautiful
city and at the same time what NAV be made
a world of worry, of vexation and of much
personal distress if you are not careful. So
please do not, because everybody speaks
French and you cannot, commence fretting
yourself and wishing yourself back in
America. There are no railway omnibuses
in London, but there are in Paris, small
affairs that will hold four or five persons,
with a gallery on top to carry all the trunks.
If you do not require SO large vehicle,
take an open cab and get favorable first i'm
pressions. You will see multitude of
splendid sights and scenes in the beautiful
and busy capital, even in so short dis
tance.
There will be carriages with servants in
splendid liveries; queer looking hacks with
kDockneed plugs in the shafts, and great
carts drawn by powerful Normandy STALL
ions, all along in single file, with large
shaggy collars that give them, at distance,
the look of buffaloes. You will see soldiers,
not so tidy looking as they might be, but
having good swing on the march, and as
fit food for gunpowder, think, as any other
class of men on the continent You will
see tidily-dressed females wearing aprons
and servants bonnets, some even with
out hats. rosY-cheeked flower girls, all
sorts of persons, in fact, of both sexes,
quite different from those you have ever
seen before. These are styles and types pc
culiar to the continental capital. Almost
every object will wear lively charm, and
the longer you stay in Paris the more agree
able everything will appear, that is, unless
you are grumbler or person determined
TO change everything now in existence to
suit your own personal wishes. But do not
imagine you can come over here and COM
pei these people to change their ways and
manners, nor can you make them believe
that your ways are better than theirs, not
even if you live here for many years. Take
matters rs they are, pay your way, and en-
joy yourself as becomes an intelligent be-
ing. You will find that with very few ex-
ceptions the streets are well paved and
drained; that there is refined look IN the
architectural arrangements of the houses;
that you will have much to admire in every
walk, and that you can easily forget any
faults which your oversensitiveness may
discover.
SIGHTS OF THE CITY.
- There is much less of godliness and not
SO much richness in this city as you might
wish for, but there is neatness in the ex-
ternal aspect of things beyond your antici-
patton. You will see a developed taste, and
could write you long letter on the at
fractions of the shopwindows, on the
artistic talent shown in the arrangements of
mirrors, about the gliding in the leading
restaurants or of the elegant furnishings in
private houses, of everything, in brief, that
so skilfully brings into play the taste and
devices'os this remarkable people. Love of
beauty pervades the whole population. 1t
is not always visible in their dress. for
they do not attire themselves for
the streets as do American ladies for Broad
way or other promenades. But, if you
could see them indoors, you would find them
tastefully attired, and you would be pleased
with their graces and fascinating manners.
Paris is a city of public gardens, of
museums and palaces wherein you will see
perfect forms embodied in paint and stat
uary, and the combined charms OF nature
and art and an enlightened spirit. Paris is
also expensive, and you must not imagine
for one moment that you can live more
eheaply here than you could at home. This
much you will discover as you go on, and
no matter which place you visit on the Con-
tinent: You will be bothered about the ex-
pense and be troubled by great many
annoyances that ought not to prevail. But
all the kicking and grumbling possible for
you to indulge in will not change it one
single bit, SO don't attempt it.
The leading hotels in Paris are the