Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-24


long ago, and the site is marked by the OBJ
servatory. Over on the right bank the hill
of Montmartre is crowned by a temple to
Mars, but you may look in vain on that old
map for any sign OF the beautiful Place de
La Concorde or the Champs-Elysees.
THE PARIS OF TO-DAY.
Now, take a map of the Paris of to-day,
or look down on the town from this tall
tower, and see what q great city has sprung
into existence from the cluster OF huts built
by boatmen on an island in the long ago
The modern capital into which all the world
will flock this year is quite different sort
of place that it was when Gauls ran wild
and kings built themselves palace baths as
residences.
AS 1 looked down from the high spot to
which 1 had climbed, my eyes were at first
dazzled by the vastness of the view, the
rich colors, and the diversity of details.
But little by little was able to take in the
most distant contours of the horizon, and
the longer it was contemplated the more in
terestiug and the more imposing grew the
spectacle. Emerging from amid irregular
roof lines, and surrounded by a circle of
faded tree tops, the two curiously shaped
cupolas of the Paris Observatory formed
but part of cluster of historical build
ings in that corner of the capital, and of
which Val de Grace Hospital, with its
clumsily shaped heavy looking dome formed
another. Close by could see the front of
the Bal Butler place, a dancing room for
naughty men and women out of which ad
wise all newcomers to remain, and am
quite sure not single soul will pay atten-
ton to my words.
inside the place; it is one Of the sights of
toll hot folr
and then go home and pray for forgiveness
atterward
PRETTY PANORAMA.
The low rambling buildings of the Gobe-
lin Tapestry Manufactury are also in that
direction; the Luxembourg Palace
looms up inside of garden that will be
more beautiful still when shrubbery has
greened and flowers are in bloom again. Be
yond lay the Jardin des Piantes, Wills
little to the north rose the low hill, known
in topography as the Mountain" of st.
Genevieve, crowned by the splendid dome
and classic porticos of the Pantheon. The
Sorbonne is thereabouts, and could almost
make out the gothic caves and gables of the
apostate's bath house, which now, as the
Hotel Cluny is another place, that all
the good Americans must go and see when
they come to Paris, for there are many
curious, and some few naughty things to be
seen inside its walls. In line between it
and this tall tower lies the gilded dome
that crowns with gold the resting place of
great Napoleon. The graceful towers of
sublime that masterpiece of gothic art, the
church ofNotre Dame, showed far above the
many buildings that cluster around the old
cathedral on the cite island. Hard by ! saw
the courts of justice with st. Chappelle, also
the laee-like walls and pointed towers Of the
terrible conciergerie.
The curving line of the river separates
old Paris from the new, and it is not until
we get well westward of the Opera Comique
and the Chatelet Theater that we find still
newer Paris. There are numerous bridges
across the Seine; have a photograph in
my possession showing no fewer than seven
of them in full view. From my perch
saw the Mint, the low dome Of the Institute,
all the grand buildings of the Louvre, the
Palais Royal with the Theater Francais
hanging onto one corner of its historic par
allelogram, the Bank of France, and then
far away the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise, to
which you must be sure and make pill
grimage.
HISTORIC SPOTS TRACED.
Nearer by were the fire-blacked ruins of
the Cour des Comptes-last relic now re-
naming Of Commune vandalism-then a
graceful little mansion once the abode of
Madame de Stael. now headquarters of the
Legion of Honor, the Palais Bourbon,
where deputies hold their noisy sessions