Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-09-15
THE BEAUTIES OF THE FRENCH
CAPITAL PORTRAYED by THE
READY PEN OF AN AMER.
ICAN GIRL.
A Visit to the Magnificent Tomb
of B0naparte and a Gianee ut
the Finest Square In Europe
View of the Seine
From the Eifiel
Tower.

The following letter addressed to
Mrs. George Marshall, of this city,
from Alcinda Allen, who is in Paris,
France, will be of interest to our
readers:
1875 Rue DE l. UNIvERsIrE, PARIS,
FRANCE, August %, 1S92.-My
DEAR EMMA: After a little more
than Il two weeks stay here | find
myself completely under the fasci-
nation which Paris is said to exer-
else over all Americans and | sus-
pect that [ shall be rather 10th to
leave next week, as | must. Though
Paris impressed me as being very
beautiful at first, its beauties have
steadily grown on me. No n can
see the wide %boulevards and streets
SO neat and clean without admirlng
them. The fine squares, beginning
with the Place de la Concord and
ending with the Champs Elysees,
are more than a mile and a half in
length. The glare of white stone
was not altogether agreeable to me
at first, but after seeing it every day
for a fortnight and especially after
seeing the Champs Elysees crowded
with carriages, | have become re-
conciled to the absence of the green
grass plots which always lend varie-
ty to our own parks and drives.
The Partisan proudly tells you that
! the Place de la Concord is the finest
square in Europe, and l am ready to
believe him. With the obelisk of
Luxor in the center, a magnificent
fountain on either side, and the
monuments to the leading cities of
France all around, while the Arc de
Triumph rises proudly in the far
distance, it is certainly a splendid
square. However, no loyal French
man can look upon it with unalloy-
ed pleasure for the Strasburg mon
ument reminds him that Germany
has wrested Alsace and Lorraine
from France, and so a Grape veil is
always kept over the face of the
figure which surmounts the Stras-
burg monument and funeral wreaths
are always strewn around it. Such
decoration points with prophetic
finger to the time when France,
gathering strength from years. of
peace, shall seek to reverse the results
of the Franco-Prussian war. The
Tuilleries Gardens appear at a great
disadvantage just now, having been
considerably disfgured by the fete
given for the benefit of the poor of
France and Russia, but even amid
the debris the gardens are really
quite pretty. The Trocadero, or Elk
position Esplanade, with its green
plots, white statues and lovely
fountains, is more in harmony with
my ideas of beauty than either the
Place de Concord or Tuilleries. 1t
is especially beautiful on evenings
when the fountains are illuminated
with all the colors of the rainbow. |
may say ,parenthetically, that Paris,
like Venice, is more beautiful at
night than in the day time. The
long avenues of closely crowded gas
lights, the red lights rejecting them
selves below in the Seine and the
variable colored rays from the top
of the Eiffel Tower, a thousand feet
above, keeping watch over all, lends
enchantment to the otherwise beau
tiful city. Paris is as famous for
its places of amusement as for its
styles; the Grand Opera, with its
magnificent exterior and gorgeous
interior, where even at this season
of the year standard plays are being
performed by talent of high order
and where the wealth and beauty
congregate in the winter, of course,
ranks first in Importance; the most
important future of the Exposition
buildings remaining is the Concert
Hall, capable of seating over five
thousand people and having one of
the largest organs in the world.
The ventilation of this hall is uni
que-the v~entilators are below and
hot or cold air a be pumped from
the back of the opera chairs at will
the Hippodrome has a handsome
building and claims pre-eminence
among entertainments of that class.
The amusements grade all the way
from these down to the open air
concerts where the entrance is free
but the exist costs something.
From n standpoint Paris may
be regarded as a school of art. The
Louvre and the Luxembourg CALLER
les contain art treasures inferior
only to those in the galleries of
Rome and Florence while the ar
rangement of the Louvre is much
more tasteful than that of either the
Pitt or Ufzzi. 1t certainly does
not lack in quantity for one room is
over a quarter of a mile long. YER
s~ailles, with the finest collection of
historical paintings in the world. is
only suburban to Paris. The Gebe-
lin Tapestry Works, where skilled la
borers spend year after year in
transferring the masterpieces of
Raphael and other painters into silk.