The record-union., 1894-01-04


bands of Grape and somber dark colors,
and they always look so unhappy. I
know they want to romp and whip tops,
but their nurses will not let them. Then
all the little boys wear socks until they
put on long trousers, and it looks so
funny to see boys OF II walking along the
street with bare. thin, bruised legs. The
boys wear black capes, with monks
hoods, and as they go eat hot chestnuts
and talk French so much faster than |.
can after all my hard study.
Poor little Ruth has an awful time
about her mortar board. Every time she
wears it the children stare and laugh and
shout, "Quet chopedun' None of the
children here wear rubbers or gossamers,
and they look at Ruth and Donald when
they are rugged out for rain as if they
were Fiji Islanders. But these French
children mean well and are very kind
hearted, for they always start Ruth's top
for her when she cannot, and show her
how to make it go fast or slow or to make
it jump. will bring you top. They
cost only a cent and the duty will not be
much
Last night l went to the theater and
saw two fine plays, lie Cid'' and Lies
Precieuse Ridicules." The latter play
was written by Mollere, who is the favor
ite author of the French. 1t was played
in the same theater in which he gave this
and other plays 200 years ago. The thea
ter has hardly changed since his day. 1t
and the stage are small and old-fashioned.
and they keep the same customs that he
observed in 1860. Instead of ringing a
bell for the curtain to rise, they knock
on the floor three times with
a huge wooden bar. We had to pay
four cents for our programme, and we
n crxrn inc,t 70 h0
who helped us off with our wraps, and
opened the door Of our box and put little
foOtStoolS under our feet. You may think
we put on deal Of style in taking box,
but there are not many seats except in
boxes. There are five galleries, and each
is lined with boxes. We paid a dollar
seat in the fourth gallery. In the orches-
ira sit the cl2queS-the men who applaud
loudly because they are given free seats
or cheap seats.
Around the orchestra are a dozen small
boxes called baignoires, or bathrooms,
and they really are vapor baths, for they
are small and stutfy, and you cannot
see the play from them. There was no
music.
Friday night we shall have a treat; we
we shall hear "Lohengrin" at the Grand
Opera. Rosa Carvon, the tavorite. prima
donna, will take the Bart OF Elsa, and as
she is quite the rage, L am very anxious
to hear her.
On Sundays we give ourselves great
treats. We buy two cakes apiece at
'patisserie" around the corcer, paying
six cents for two cakes. They have such
beauties; chocolate chicken in pastry nests;
mOlasses nut-houses with cocoanut snow;
cream puifs; jelly rolls; cherry tarts and
nut candies.
Oh, they are fine! But they always
make me sad when | eat them, for they
taste like more" and l cannot satisfy
my hunger.
1 went to the "Bon Marche'' the other
day. 1t is about ten times larger than
the largest store in Sacramento, and has
everything in it that heart can wish.
bought love OF a silk petticoat there for
only 80 60, and put my black lace on it,
and 1t is as stylish as any in Paris. They
have an automatOn playing the piano,
nodding and winking as if he were alive.
They have all sorts of clowns, darkies
and dancing dolls to amuse the buyers.
The poor children come in from the
street, and their eyes fairly dance as they
watch the show. The Louvre is an
other big store, and there we saw pretty
artificial flowers and lovely dolls.
You must not confound this store with
the museum of the same name.
Every one in Paris thinks that the
American women go to the store rather
that do not. The stores, however, are
so attractive and nice that one has to
avoid them, for the money goes. l felt
quite safe, though, in going through the
Palais Royal to-day with fifty francs in
my pocket. That seems great sum of
money, but it is only ten dollars. This
Palais Royal is a large court, or palace
built around park, and the ground floor
is occupied all around the square with
jewelry and fine glass stores. / saw many
line jewels and many pretty gold trities,
but the effect is not so gratifying as what
you get at Shreves.
You saw the jewels at the Worlds Fair,
but they are finer here, in greater abun-
dance. Some of the pearls and rubies are
wonderful.
The real Louvre, the Museum, used to
be the residence of the French kings.
They took great pride in adding to it, en-
riching the collections and refurnishing
it. 1t took over 600 years to really finish |
the palace, as it has been partly burned. |
Some of the kings were too careless,
and some were too poor to add to it, 1t
now contains ancient and modern statu- |
ary and paintings. Part of it is used for |
offices and for lecture-rooms where. free |
of charge, one may attend excellent lect- |
ures on art, history and science
No picture can be exhibited here until |
ten years or more after the death of the |
painter. 1t seems too bad that they can
not have the honor while they are yet |
alive.
To-day, while in shoe store, hor-
rible cat came up and rubbed against me. |
The woman who waited on me asked me |
if we had many cats in America. / |
smiled and said to myself, "Oh, the cats |
on our back fence.'' All the cats here are |
so very large and almost all are a reddish |
brown. Their tails alone are as large as |
one of our cats bodies. and their whiske |
are very long. The French children call |
them "minnets," meaning kittens" and |
so you Will understand the inclosed |
Christmas cards with cats and "minnets." |
QIICEES HELD 10 q MSIuEP