Morning journal and courier., 1892-04-18

offers plenty of scenes that need no embel. lishment from the imagination to make them interesting. Much there is which cannot be described-sights known only to the police and to outcasts-but visit to certain thieves kitchens and ss-houses will give some idea of the criminal side of submerged life. We will begin with a dancing saloon in the Rue de Ia Montague St. Genevieve, frequented by those who are beginning @ career of depravity. You enter through & small liquor shop, where a number of rough loafers are lolngipg and drinking at the bar, and pass into large inner room some forty feet by twenty-five feet. It is all fairly clean and in good pre- servation; the place evidently does we'll. The band, consisting of cornet, @ clari- net and horn, sits on a platform at the far end; and we may mention, by the by, that detectives, disguised as musicians, have on occasion made use of this conven- fence to watch suspected persons. Tables are arranged along the wall, at which a good many people sit drinking claret, and in the center some fifty or sixty couples are dancing vigorously. All are sober decent ly dressed, and dance in 6 very business like way with perfect propriety Dancing Is of all amusements that most dear to the Frenchwoman's heart, and these women aAS oSus oA 6chthS thCli uOAcl HOEIu. Payment is managed in @ peculiar way, by what is called the demi-danse. Each dance is divided into two by a short interval, dur ing which dancing is forbidden, while the proprietor goes round and takes two sous from every man on the floor. Everything is quiet and orderly, which may perhaps be accounted for by the inspectors pres ence, though his visit is unofficial But the company, although bent on pleasure, e1- hibits general and striking lack of gayety; and the same may be said of the people in every one of these dens. They look serious, depressed, and even dismal-no body of Englishmen ever took their pleasures more sadly.
 From this place it is not far to the noto- rious cabaret "Au Pere Lunette" The ar engagement is much the same, an outer and an inner room, except that the latter is very small, not holding more than thirty people. It is pretty full now, and we squeeze in with some difficulty. Only men are present, and they sit on wooden benches at the bare wooden tables-drink- ing, playing cards, or doing nothing If the dancers were serious, these are almost sullen; nothing could be quieter than their demeanor, yet only the week before, at this very place, there was a murderous affray in which knives were drawn, and the proprietor severely stabbed The pride of the 'tPere Lunette" is the fires coes which run round the room. They were executed by some former frequenter of the establishment, and represent Ho- garthian scenes from Paris life, painted with considerable power and quite Rem brandtesque coloring. Presently 8 pie turesque -uffian stands up against the wall, and drumming 0 guitar, sings some couplets descriptive of the paintings. He is followed by another, who favers us with the inevitable "monologue," dealing with the same theme in greater detail These performances are obviously meant for our benefit, as the habitues exhibit very little interest in them. Meanwhile 6 lightning cartoonist has seated himself opposite and dashed of a couple of chalk drawings misrepresenting two of the party Art, the art of the pavement, sp- pears to be the speciality of this particular den. There are others which possess a whole museum of ingenious horrors and practical jokes; but sucn efforts to enter tain do not go for much. The habitual criminal is by no means a merry fellow, even in Paris, and needs a great deal of diverting. This becomes more apparent as we get lower in the scale. The 'fSalle Octo6re" and the "Pere Lunette" are not precisely exhilarating, but what are We to say of the Chateau Rouge!" Here we plunge into the very depths.
 The Chateau Rouge" is the most cele- brated thieves kitchen in Paris, and merits particular attention. You enter from the Rue Galande, by wide but very dark archway. Inside. you can just make out, on the left hand, an antique and hand double stairway with stone balus- trades, for the building is ancient and
 l,araal GahrtaIla present doorway of the establishment is farther on, and leads at once into large room with bar at the far end. Beyond this is another large room at right angles to the first, and both are pretty full. The company is of the very dregs, and includes tie lowest of tramps, thieves, and night wanderers; the air is fetid with them. Some are sitting at the bare tables, others standing listlessly about; but hardly any are drinking-probably they have no money. Many are in rags, and present wretched appearance. One old man, standing upright in his black and sodden rags, and staring vacantly at nothing, with deathly white face, is a particularly dreadful object. Formidable ruffians are gathered here, who would stick at nothing if excited, and this suggests the question, if it is not dangerous to penetrate into these places. That entirely depends on the mood the company is in; if disturbance arose it would undoubtedly be very dangerous, and at no time would it be prudent for a well-dressed stranger to show himself here alone But they are all like lambs with the inspector. who handles them beauti- fully. One eide of the inner room gives upon a kind of deep recess, which is pitch dark and apparently empty; but @ turn of tEe gas reveals gruesome sight six or seven ragged wretches stretched motionless on the tables, benches and the floor. They do not stir nor give any sign of life, and might be supposed dead; but place is appropriately called the chambre des morts. When these creatures are drunk they drag themselves, or are dragged in here, and are laid out to sleep it of. Up stairs is another bedroom" which is also in darkness, and contains absolutely no furniture of any kind. Here and there on the bare floor lies prostrate form with noth ing to cover it, or merely an old sack wrapped round the feet. The accommo- dation is free, and in winter hundreds of outcasts find shelter here, for the rooms are large. One is reserved" for women, but a it happens to be the room through which every one must pass, In going in or coming out, the term reserve" sounds rather lronlcaI- Rood many lanies are present now, and some are preparing for the night as We pass out again into the blessed open air.
 Opposite the .'Chateau Rouge is the "Cremerie Parent" d coffee-shop frequent ed by the same class A notice on the walls forbidding all bargaining and dis putting on the premises indicates the char acter of the customers. Only a small and sombre party is present tonight, inclu- ding a quite young girl, a mere child
 whose pallid features and hopeless sunkeu eyes tell story of moral and physical ruin ghastly in so youthful a creature
 The inspector falls into conversation witl
 some of them, and a man comes forward with tale of woes over which he be comes quite excited. He has nowhere tc go and no money, so ne contemplstes help ing himself to some one else's. "Why
 don't you go to the night refugeI' a have no papers" No, he says; he mus
 have fifty francs, and is going to get then by practising the vol rivrogne-that is pretending to be drunk. knocking uI against a passer-by and robbing him. Thii candid intimation is received with th, greateet phlegm. Well" says the in spector cheerfully, as he moves toward the door, "you don't seem to enjoy your
 selves here much" "Ohi we are poor but not honest" And with this partin, | shot, which raises an involuntary laugl