Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1889-10-01


if they had occupied it but yesterday, and the
cradle in which their little son, the King of
Rome, was rocked; and near at hand the little
mahogany table which the great Emperor
wrote and signed his abdication, before his
banishment to Elba. There, too, is little
theatre, whose exquisite beauty and luxurious
elegance can hardly be described, which the
last Emperor constructed to entertain his
friends and Court with plays by great Paris
actors. The seats of Louis Napoleon and Eu-
genie are there, as if awaiting their coming;
but where are they? Emerging from the pal
ace, stood for moment on the porch whero
the first Napoleon stood as he badc farewell to
the French army on his frat Punishment and
at the same spot where he reviewed it on his
sudden return from exile, to meet his fate at
Waterloo. SO much of French history is thus
interviewer with Kings and Emperors that
republic starts out dowerless, and forced to tho
hard task of gathering slowly and with udverso
circumstances its own inspiring tradition.
But must not let my pen run into this
groove any further. If I could have jotted
down my daily experiences and observations,
should have had much to smile at in after
ward recalling them, for have seen many
things that have Intensely amused me, while
they seemed not at all ludicrous to the people
themselves. Indeed, am disposed to doubtif
the Frenchman has that eye for the ludicrous
that the Teutonic people, including ourselves,
possess. French quarrel is an indescribably
funny thing. have seen half dozen, and
especially one in crowd ut Versailles 1t is
entirely contest OF words, as never saw or
heard any bodily threats. "Cochon" or s'pig"
is the favorite term of abuse, aud it is COM
petition between the parties as to which can
command enough opprobrious adjectives to de-
scribe the particular kind of degraded aud un-
mentionable "pig" the other party is, and his
ancestors, particularly his maternal ancestors,
were before him. The quarrel rises and fails
with the abounding or lessenlng vocabuInries
of the combatants. Now at such u scene
an American crowd would stand around
with grinning faces. and occasionally amuse
themselves with egging ON the parties. On the
contrary a French crowd stands with the So
lemnity of funeral, and listens to each ep-
tibet 1t is uttered in the most anxious aud
respectful silence. But If quarrel Is funny, o
reconciliation is still funnier They have q
Court in Paris called the ''Court of Concilia-
tiOn," an admirable thing too, where minor
controversies can be settled without lawyers
and without costs. A party having a dispute
can summon the other party to appear before
Court, and while its decision is merely In the
shape OF advice, it is generally conclusive. of
the controversy. In looking for q regular
French Court 1 accidentally, and to my great
delight, went into Court of Cancellation"
There was gathering of some twenty or thirty
serious looking people of both sexcs. Two
judges and u clerk sat behind little table,
separated by railing from the people. The
clerk called the names of two parties, in turn,
and they stood up before the judges and stated
their cases, were quesionedb little and the de-
cision or advice given at once Twomen were
first called, who had dispute about the price
of some mechanical drawings. Tho party who
summoned the other claimed them the other
disputed as to the price. They went at It for
dear life, talking and gesticuIating beyond any
| thing had ever heard or seen but ended the
matter in about five minutes by payment of
money and the transfer of the drawings. The
clerk then called Madame Bohue and MADAME
Dimande. Madame B. was an old fat woman,
and Madame d. tall, bony, middle-aged wo-
man. Madame b. began her story. but had not
gotten far before Madame d. started in on the
other side. The talking was so fast that
could not understand a word of It, but the act
ing was constant and expressive. Sarah Born
hart herself could not have surpassed the atti-
tude of breathless astOnishment with which
the old lady threw up her hands and eyes and
uttered her "oh! Madame" al some OF the
statements OF her antagonist, Finally itreachcd
point where both of the women seemed to
start in seriously to try which could talk the
fastest-a contest in which both of the judges
soon Joined also with thcm-nnd then 1t seemed
to me that if all the steam power at the Expo
stiou had suddenly been hitcbed on to tho
French language, II could not have turned out
the words fast all four turned them out
in one chorus, mechanically aided by most ac-
tive aud ceaseless gesticulations. OF course It
had now become a mere question Of supply
The French language is copioua one. but no
language could supply words for such col
! loquy more than a few minutes, and suro
enough the supply was soon exhausted and the
controversy ended, not entirely to the satisfac-
tion of the fat woman. 1 never saw anything
so comical, and Ionged to run out and roll on
the grass and scream with laughter. Yet the
crowd sat there without an expression of
amusement, but with rather u painful effort to-
catch every word that all four Of Tie taIKerE
uttered.
! While alone for most of my time, ] have been
occasionally brought in contact with familiar
names. In London ] lunched at Gallahers,
Faulkner's and Lucas's Indeed, the latter
name seems cosmopolitan. saw It over three
shops in London. On my arrival ia France, af
| Dieppc, found the fine hotel kept by Henri
Lucas. In Paris found a Lucas House
| (Maison Lucas) near the Madeleine. Tho die
rector of the dinner concert at the Grand Hotel
! is Eusebe Lucas. Among the Belgian exhib-
itors at the Exposition is 4 Lucas and among the
bull-fghters at the great Spanish Bull-hghf in
the Bois de Bologne Is another Lucas. II Mr.
D. B. L. wonld come oyer here and make out
his family relationship TO all who bear the