The record-union., 1894-01-18
Hiss STUDENTS TRAVELS.
Taking in the Christmas Sights of
Paris.
The Young Lady Moralizes on Re-
1igion and Comments on Eu-
ropean Politics.

The following letter is from young
Sacramento lady, who is studying in
Paris, to her father:
PARIS, December 26, 1893
Dear Father. / think [ caught little
cold standing at ii o'clock at night in
crowd of 1000 people, waiting to get into
ST. Eustache to hear midnight mass
music. 1t was very novel to be among
so many foreigners, all talking, laughing
and gesticulating at once. IL was not
select crowd. as the church IS IN rather
poor quarter OF the city, and every one
went inspired more by curiosity than re-
Hglon. When little progress could be
made for a step or two the crowd gave
hurrahs and rushed forward like hur-
ricane, but they were jolly and good
natured withal. There was no advantage
taken and no one seemed to mind the
cold. There was a dense mass on each
side of the line, 1t was so funny when
they were rejected at the door and had to
go down to the end of the line. Others
who had been waiting as long, and who
did not yet know that they were IN the
same box, would cry out with mocking
laugh, 'E'dlre ja queue ! ba, h0! Il TT
queue! hd, ha' After pushing along
Tor half an hour between Oniony smelling
people (and some had worse smells), we
at last entered the church, only to find 1t
full.
We succeeded, however, in finding
chairs by the high altar. where we could
see all and hear the music We'll. we
were paid for coming, for the music was
excellent, and the singing continued all
through the service. At times the Cath
olic religion IS imposing and inspiring,
but to me it seems TO have too much form
and ceremony. We took cab home, ar
irving at in the morning.
The morning atterward, imagine the
dismay of our group OF women TO learn
that the anarchists had threatened to blow
up this church just as the crowd was we'll
in the building. The police had received
an anonymous letter and so were out in
full force, there being at least fifty stand
ing around. Every one is so afraid Of
dynamite now, after the attempt to blow
up the Chamber of Deputies, and the
papers are full of threatened attempts
avery day.
Christmas Day we went into two or
three churches to see the little wax Christ
in the manger, this being a custom pc
culiar to these European countries. AT st.
Roch we stopped while and listened to
a Franciscan triar, who delivered a very
fiery but fine sermon. The two children
were so sorry that be no longer followed
the custom of not washing, but we were
glad that he had more sense than his
brethren. He held his congregation in
rapt attention by his enthusiasm, and at
the end they stamped and cheered as
though they were at theater
| have heard Pere Hyacinthe, the ex-
communicated priest who married an
American woman. / enjoyed his sermon
because he very freely gave his ideas on
Catholicism VS.. Professionalism and on
marriage. He is not at all backward
about coming forward, and he aroused
his audience to the loudest cheers imag-
Unable; but it was not religious enthusi-
aSm; 1t was more SOciallStic, SO l did not
like it. His French was perfect, so pure
and distinct, and L am happy to say | was
able TO understand every word he said.
\ couple of American girls in front said
they could not understand q word. Nj.
LOyson, as they call him now, is terribly
against Professionalism, but he likes every
thing about Catholicism except the intaI-
libilily of the Pope and the rule that
priests cannot marry. He still wears a
priests garb, and J. imagine he calls HIM
self a good Catholic still. His wife is a
handsome, tall woman with very sweet
face, and as she sat there watching his
every breath, she looked as though she
thought him god. when he is very
coarse and ugly.
Christmas afternoon we tried to take in
some of the sights on the big boulevards,
but they were SO crowded it was impossi-
BILE to see a thing and very hard to walk.
So we climbed on top of an omnibus that
starts at the Madeleine and goes the whole
length of the grand boulevards, as they
are called, TO the Place de la Bastile.
From the top we saw the surging
masses, some walking even in the streets,
and we could watch the little shops which
have been put up temporarily all along
the sidewalks during the past week. They
sell oranges, toys, birds, animals, soup,
vegetables, visiting cards and all sorts OF
small, useless things. 1t was a sight
worth seeing, | assure you, and that is
the only way one can get good idea of
the masses of human beings who live
here.
Returning by an omnibus that goes up
the length of the Avenue des Champs
Elysees, we saw the handsome equipages
returning from the Bois de Boulogne.
That was a sight so entirely different
from the boulevards, because one was the
drive Of the private carriages, and the
other the path of the fiacres and of the
shanks-mare people. This people enjoy
so thoroughly an occasional holiday, for
they work on Sunday just the same as on
week days, and so they make the most of
good time. 1t is too bad that the French
are either blindly religious or blindly
free-thinking.
They have strong feelings for liberty"
now, and they carry it too far. Freedom
in doing whatsoever they wish is the
present all-absorbing thought, and it is
not a good thing for hot headed, pas |
sionate nation like this one.
Give me plain United States every |
time; they have enough vim and |
energy to always be at the head, |
and with it all they have a good |
supply of horse sense and reason. |
1t is really sad to hear even the French |
themselves admit that they are decidedly |
fin de SaecLe; that America is the country |
of the present and the future, and that |
France is on rapid decline "NOuS da3l-
sons Sltr u3e UoLcan," said witty French
man on the occasion of a grand ball in the !
Palais Royal and at time when France
was expecting a big revolution; and it
could well be said now. Everyone is
living at their best, straining every nerve
to have a gloriously, grand good time
while the feeling against Germany grows
stronger every day, and France could no:
stand war at this time.
One of the young ladies of the house is |
very anxious to paint my portrait. asking !
me as a favor to pose FOR her. She has |
exhibited in the Salon for fifteen years. |
and Is now member of the committee. |
She does very strong, fine work, and her
resemblances are very striking. She has