The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-02-07
STREETS OF PARIS,
with a Description Of Partisan
Houses and Other Objects
OF INTEREST 70 SIGHT-SEERS.
"A eolty of Magnificent Distances"
The typical PariSlan Homo Life
FFeduont Changes Of Namos-won.
derful Features Of a Captivating
City.
speoial oorapona.ne. of tAs Inlligeloe,


Special Correspondence on hsuige'oer.
PARIS, Jan. 25.-In our study Of the
material aspects OF Paris it has been a
perennial source of pleasure, and a
very great help, to find at every corner,
within easy focus OF the side walk, signs
OF uniform appearance, announcing in
distinct characters the names Of the
various strestsy In this matter the au'
tHorities have been so exact that in
making your way about you feel like
thanking them at every turn. And it
Is equally gratifying to find that the
houses have been SO carefully npmber-
bered, and that the numerals which
mark them, instead OF running contin.
uoualy on one side OF the street and
then jumping 20 the other side and
starting back, as they do in many other
continental cities, are arranged here on
the convenient American plan OF odds
and eyens opposite TO each other
Two thiuRa, however, have given us
J little trouble. One is that the num-
{ bers change so slowly; and that in
searching for a particular domicile or
shop one has 10 travel so far before
reaching it. Speaking generally,
Partisan houses are all large. This IL
because they are nearly all built for
apartment houses. The typical Par
isian lives in q fat. He will never
speak to you ofhis home or his house,
and in fact the use OF such terms would
be monstrously egotistical on his part,
forthe house he lives in Is occupied as
rule by dozen other families. Hence
your home in Paris is always referred
to-allowlng for excsptions-as your
appaTtsaleilL
Asfor the typical Partisan house, this
ID really block Of houses extending
around q court. It has a frontage OF
from seyenty-fyeto $50 Iceland stretches
back a greater distance still. In height
tia six stories, with another story in
the roof The windows are deep and
theyall open like doors, window sash
being apparently quite unknown here.
The only entrance from the street is a
central archway. Penetrating this you
come AT once TO the lodge Of the care.
taker or concierge. A little beyond, on
both Sides are large stairways. Hyou
pass into the court yard you will find
other stairways, and by means OF these,
ifyou have q very good pair OF legs, you
may hopento find your way gradually
into the different compartments and
rooms. Such house as this you can
see anywhere in Paris. II is the pre-
vailing type. Rich and poor alike live
in houses modelled upon this plan; and
1t 10 only the truth to say that, II the
reader will take our little sketch and
vary il somewhat, bearing in mind that
nearly allifhe houses in this city have
stone fronts, real or imitation, that they
alllook as much alike as peas in the
same pod, and that there are sufficient
number Of them to closely pack some
three or four thousand streets, he will
have a fairly correct idea Of what, in its
architectural and residential aspects,
the city Of Paris Is as a whole.
& AN INCONVENIENCE.
The other things which troubles you
a little in finding your way about Paris
is the mania which the city fathers
have developed for hauling down
familiar street names and putting new
ones up in their places. It's quite true
that the names OF the streets are in full
view at every turning, but 1t does not
at all follow that the name you see to-
day is the one your map gives or the
one which was there yesterday II is
affirmed as an extreme instance that the
name OF one street was changed three
times within six months. The cause OF
this mania must BIO looked for in the
radical and secularistic sentiments of
the municipal council. These are Re-
publican times; hence names which
stand for monarchy and oppression
must give place. to the champions OF
liberty.
Its also an era when the Catholic
church iApot the supreme power it
used to betwhen, in fact, it has become
the fate OF the church to receive from
the powers that be annoyances rather
than favors. Naturally, therefore, the
names OF the numerous saints have had
to 90. Paris, however, Is still stuff.
GENTLY blessed, one would think, in the
latter respect How many saints'
names have been hauled down, We are
not appraised, but OF the number re-
naming We have satisfied ourselves by
study Of the directory, our researches
showing that the rues boulevards,
squares orplaces in this city which are
etill dignifled by thename Of some saint
or saintess amount in all to about an
even hundred.
In regard 10 the naming OF streets,
that which especially delights the visitor
from America 10 to find that several
Partisan thoroughfares are named after
the distinguished men Of his own coun.
try. There Is a Rue Washington, and,
aa every American would have wished,
10 keep that company there is Rue
Lincoln. These, OF course, are in what
10 called, by courtesy, the American
quarter. Which reminds us, however,
that the American colony in Paris Is
not 90 large as is generally supposed
our authority for this statement being
q high official OF the American legation
here. GLOW many Americans are ro-
= bident in Paris during the winter sea-
sonT This was our question; the gem
tleman's reply being that estimates
which put the numberNat twenty thou.
sand, or even at ten thousand, were wild
exaggerationH He was sure, indeed,
that II the census was confined TO those
settled here for teveral months, IL could
not be placed truthfully at more than
Eve thousand.
,lsl the AMERICAN QUARTER.