The Iola register., 1891-08-07
OVER LAND AND SEA.

d It NIGH
OVER LAND AND SEA.
The French Fourth of July-tharacteristics
of Paris. Pleasant or Otherwise-Par-
isinn Style. a DrlusiOn-The Home-
less Frrnch-.'Do You speak
English?-The Ways of the
Guide-HistoricaI Paris
Some Notable
Tombs
The storming of the Bastile was to
the French Revolutionists of 1889 what
the Declaration of Independence was
to our patriot sires of 1T76-the be-
ginning of the end. And so the
Fourteenth of July is the French
Fourth of July, and it was my good
fortune to arrive in Paris in time to
see the best part of the celebration,
the illumination of the city. 1t was a
magnificent sight. Every building,
public and private, every fountain,
every column, every statue was a
blaze of light. Along all the avenues
and the length of the magnificent
boulevards, there were clusters and
festoons and circles and loops and
arches and straight lines oflight. And
in the spaces between the lights there
were flags, the tri-color flashing every
where. And on the streets the people
thronged. Gay men and women and
children, talking, laughing, singing
and dancing. The centre of it all was
the Place de la Concorde. And as 1
stood there by the great flashing
fountains, with the happy noises
making music in my ears, and the
light Of ten thousand thousand jets
glowing in my eyes, all my dreams
were more than realized. This was
Paris!
~
1t is nearly a week since that first
night, and have seen Paris by day
light as well as by gaslight-and it
might as we'll be confessed that there
are some things about it and about the
life in it that do not like. For ex-
ample: 1 don't like to see great rows
of houses built of brick and then stuc-
coed and painted 10 represent marble,
as are most of the houses i'm the new
and finer part of Paris. I don't like
to go into a garden" of beautiful
trees and find an asphalt pavement |
over the whole of it instead OF green |
grass with occasional paths. I don't |
like Partisan newspapers, the largest |
of which is only half the size of the
REGISTER, and has about two inches
of American news,-sometimes! III
don't like to see slouchy soldiers with
blue coats, trimmed in yellow, and |
red trousers and white overgaiters. 1
don't like to be denied admission to
the building in which the Congress
assemblies because 1 have not pass
from one of the members of said Con-
gress And to come down to small
things / do not like to be accosted at
every doorway when 1 step out of the
hotel after night by women to whom
L have never been introduced. I do
not like to have my meals served byi
the piece, the meat by itself and the
vegetables by themselves, and the
salad by itself, and be required on that
account TO sit at table an hour and
half in order to get very Indifferent
dinner. do not like to pay extra for
tea or coffee with a dinner which costs
without them a dollar and a quarter.
1 do not like to pay extra for the use
of a napkin. do not like to pay forty
cents extra for the lamp by which 1
am writing this letter, because 1 pre- {
ferred to write it in my room rather .
than in the public waiting room. do
not like to pay extra for soap. 1 do l
not like butter without salt. h
- II
But there are great many things I
about Paris that do like. / like the 7
wide boulevards, with their double and q
and sextuple rows of trees. G
like the Bois duBoulogne, a magnifi- l
cent park of about 5000 acres nearly f
N the heart of the city. like the in u
Vulnerable little gardens, in spite of t
heir asphalt pavements that are v
scattered SO thiekly all over the town. v
like the art galleries and the church {
ss, and the fountains, and monuments a
md statues. / like the open air cafes, a
where one may sit at table and eat e
md drink as much or as little as he \
likes and watch the people. 1 like the Y
Opera, the finest building of the kind n
u the world, where splendid music is O
rendered. / like the Iiobt "