The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-10-22
4FRENCH SUNDAY.
The Scene ola Rag Fair-Motley Collection
of Articles.

/
of Articles.
on Sundays there was a slight change
| IN our programme. For then the market
in our square had a rival. The wide bare
Place of the Church OF ST. Gernin, usual
w a desert at other times, was the scene
OF the weekly rag fair. All around me
great brick building, beautlful OF ora,
but now a monument 10 the lncapaclty
OF the modern restOrer, booths were BET
up. or else the merchants stock In trace
was laid out on the bare, dusty ground.
I have never seen such d motley collec-
ton. There were piles Of rags that looked
as IL they might contain enough cholera
germs to devastate all Europe, old dress
es. old shoes, old hats, old sheets,
old towels, old bits OF old cloth
and cotton; there were books
we never came across any OF
special value-and music and musical
instruments; there were chairs and tables
and beds and pieces Of rusty iron and
brass; there were new bercts and peas
ants caps, and the slippers with gaudy
flowers on the toes which are so much
worn in the country about here; and there
were even antiquities, amongst which Oc-
caslonally was something worth picking
up. One man was eager 20 force upon
us a lantern, which, he said, was Hen
ri H.. and another had lovely Old cop
per water-cooler, with portrait Of some
ancient Toulousian disn.tary beaten upon
II; and this we captured without any
pressing, much TO the satisfaction OF an
interested crowd who had come out 10 be
amused.
For It was a curious feature Of the rag
market, as Of the other IN the Place
du Capitole that those who attended IL
seemed TO have gathered there less for
business than pleasure. Now and then
a bargain was made when a peasant
stepped In front OF the new caps and
tried on one after another. and examined
the effect in a broken bit Of lO0king-glass
lent him by the old woman IN charge.
But, az a rule. the people simply looked
at everything as they wandered about.
before going into the church 10 hear
mass In the friendly, familiar way IN
which Southern Catholics take their reli-
gOn. The briskest trade Of the morning
was really on the church porch, where
women sold rolls and cake. and beggars
demanded an aims. And while the mar
ket hour.shed outside ST. Gernin, inside
mass after mass was said In the chapels,
with the hideOus frescOes on the walls,
and there was a neyer-ceasing stream OF
people down the nave and aises. by the
piers. where all the stone jointing Is
and neatly painted. But for
not the worst detail can destroy
the solemnity and impressiyeness Of this
fine old Romanesque Interior as a whole.
on Sunday afternoon the museum was
open and admission free. Here Toulou-
sian gayety is slightly more subdued
Visitors walk decorously through the gal
leries whore there are few pictures OF
nOte-chiefy those bought by the State
al the Salon OF recent years a few OF
interest. as, for example one
showing Napoleon assisting at a great
-ete on the GarOnne-and where there Is
4 marvellous collection OF Romauesque
sad witnesses OF the beauty
gone forever from ST. Gernin and many
another ancient church OF Languedoc.
This museum OF old was a Frdncican |
II in France the State has /
aiken many buildings from the clergy, /
I has been most often 10 hand them over
% the people. All through the provinces
'ou find churches or converts turned into
galleries, and the Frenchman now comes
70 look at pictures and statues where ne
nee came 10 pray. The old architecture
gives additional interest 20 provincial
which usually contain some
hing worth seeing l know Of no mus
um. however. 50 lovely In Itself as tne
ne at Toulouse. with its beautiful cioist-
rs.-Harper's Magazine for OCTOBER