St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-10

ON GAY PARIS.

CONWAY ON GAY PARIS.
THE ST PAUL DIVINE Y8ITES PiTHiLY
OF THE FRENCH CITY
IT'S FEATURES AND FAULTS.
Contrast Of English and French
Manners-A Glimpse Into the
Music Halls-Beauties of the
City Noted - Churches and
Scenes Far From Their In,
f1uence.
Paris. gay and glorious city of 1NsgrA'
ica's old-time cOmrade i'll arms, wifi be
found treated below i'll extremely inter-
esting fashion. The article is from the
pen OF Rev. John Conway:
My readers must not be permitted to
devote to dozes the empty hour between
their Sunday deYotiOns SO long as one
of the most interesting cities I'm the
world remains to be seen. And yet, the
most we can do is to take a passing
glance, a mere birds-eye view at it's
beauties and its glories. Still hope to
give more correct Idea of what we
shall glance at than any they could
possibly obtain from the hurried costa
cies of enthusiastic friends. If ever an
embarrassment of variety, intellectual,
eSthetical and social, presented itself to
the troubled traveller, 1t is in the gay
city OF Paris. You can study the whole
nation here, for, unlike most proverbs
and commOnplaces, the threadbare say
ing that Paris is France is true. mean
by this that one can study all France
here; that the government of
every department of the French ma
ton, be it ever so petty, is directed
from Paris: that Paris gives the social
tone 10 the whole country; that it is the
literary and intellectual center of France
that il makes or unmakes ministries,
yea. even forms Of government: that as
Paris DEGREES in any domain whatever,
so the provinces must follow; that as,
according to the evolutionists, man is
the resume and climax of all created
nature, so is Paris the resume and eli
max of the great French people. Even
If France had not followed our example
as to its form of government, and if Leo
XIII. had never pointed to the u nited
States as a model for France, neverthe-
less the land which gave US Lafayette
has a strong claim upon our attention
and our affection.
PARIS.
London is the great literary center for
the British Isles. New York holds the
same proud place In reference to the
United States. Rome is the mecca of
all thoughtful tourists from every quar-
ter of the globe. Paris is also one of
the great capitals of the world. Like
Rome, it can point to au historic past;
like London, every street corner has It's
history; like New York, it is pro-
gressive. But where is the difference
between Paris and the other great
cities? or where the superiority? seek
it not in this, that It is famous for its
boulevards. that 1t is city Of parks.
that its streets are wider and more
beautiful than those of London OF New
York or Rome. The difference and the
superiority are this: That Paris has the
highest civilization known in the world
of today. The Parisians are the most
courteous people in the world.
l write these things In full view of
the statement lately made by a distin-
guished Minneapolis journals t, namely,
that the reverence aud respect of the
Anglo-SaXon is lacking in the makeup
of the Partisan. cannot account for
this gentleman's blundeF unless 1t be that
he mistook the eXpreSsionless face of the
AnglO-SaXon for reverence and his start
ling stoiidity for self-respect. Mark the
courtly grace and encouraging vivacity
which characterizes the advances of
Partisan towards stranger and con-
trast them with the selfish complacency
and the chilling repulsion of the aver
age British bourgeois. In Paris if you
ask gentleman to direct you to some
place he will probably offer to accom-
pany you; in London should he open
his mouth at all. his answer will be,
'T DON'T KNOW, I'm sURE.''
even though the place asked for be in
the next block. 1 speak not of the
taking and polite, but they do not reflect
the urbanity of the people. 1t is their
business to answer queries and their
politeness is that of lackey. Take an
other example. Watch a Partisan gen
tleman with his friends and you will
see how accurately and elegantly he
anticipates their wants and their wishes.
See him when funeral passes by, and
you cannot help being impressed by the
gracefully reverent way lie uncovers his
head, whether he believes in The i'm
mortality of the soul or not If he likes
deep tragedy and wild fares it is
because he is capable of both.
Nor do l understand how Tame.
the distinguished author of the
History of English Literature"
could have been guilty of such an I'M
pardonable blunder as to say that of all
European races there Is none less poeti-
cal than the French. Frenchmen leave
the diving and the delving aud the ex-
perimenting to the coarser and ruder
people. They avail themselves OF the
discoveries of these latter, and they
bring about the highest and the most
beautiful results from such discoveries.
Nor are they lacking in thazoughness