The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-28
HAVEN MORNING JOURNAL AND COURIER FRIDAY, JUMPS

know one another and the masses
 would be content to act as spectators;
 but to venture on such a spectacle, and
 to throw it open to any one who pays a
 few francs, in as great @ city as Paris,
 requires, first of all, the highest eXecu-
 tive ability before the artistic and pie
 torial side of the affair is considered at
 all, and the most hearty cooperation of
 the state or local government with the
 citizens who have it in hand.
 On the day of the fete the Alice du
 Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois is
 reserved absolutely for the combatants
 in this annual battle of flowers, which
 begins al four o'clock in the afternoon
 and lasts uninterruptedly until dinner i time. Each of the crossroads leading l up to the Alice is barricaded, and car 1 riages are allowed to enter or to depart
 only at either end. This leaves an open l stretch of road several miles in extent, and wide enough for four rows of car l riages to pass one another at the same moment. Thick woods line the Alice on l its either side, and the branches of the trees almost touch above it. Beneath them, and close to the roadway, sit | thousands of men, women and children
 in close rows, and back of them hun l dreds more move up and down the pathways. The carriages proceed in four unbroken lines, two going up and two going downi and as they pass, the occupants pelt each other and the spec tators along the roadside with hand fuls of flowers. For three miles this battle rages between the six rows of people, and the air Is filled with the fy- ing missiles and shr;ieks of daughter and
 the most graceful of compliments and goed-natured plague At every fifty yards stands high arch, twined with
 festoons trailing from one arch to the next, and temporary flag-poles flying long banners of the tricolor and hold ing shields which bear the monogram of the republic. The long festoons of flowers and the flags swinging and fly ing against the dark green of the trees form the Alice into one long tunnel of color and light; and at every thirty paces there isithe gleaming cuirass of a trooper. with the sun shining on his hell met and breastplate, and on other steel breastplates, which extend, like the hulIlO III 1NLIiAfAlNt 1Aist tio Aal eN6 llAG eye can reach, flashing and burning in the sum- Between these beacons of steel, and under the flags and flowers and green branches move nearly eight miles of carriages, with vanished sides and polished leather flickering in the light. each smothered with broad col ored ribbons and flowers. and gay with lace parasols.
 It is a most cosmopolitan crowd, and 1t Is interesting to see how seriously some of the occupants of the carriages take the matter in hand. and how oth- CTS turn it into an ovation for them selves, and still others treat 1t as an excuse to give some one else pleasure. You will see two Parisian dandies in a flacre, with their ammunition piled as high as their knees, saluting and chaf- | fng and calling by name each pretty | woman who passes. and following them | In the line you will see a respectable | family carriage containing papa, man. | ma, and the babies, and with the coach- | man hidden by great breastworks of | bouquets. TO the proud parents on | the back seat the affair Is one which is 1 to be met with dignified approval. and l they bow politely to wohever hurls a rose or a bunch of wild flowers at one | of their children. They, in their turn, | will be followed by magnificent vic- | toria, glittering with varnish and em- blazoned by strange coats of arms, and | holding two coal-black negroes, with !! faces as shiny as their silk hats They | have with them on the front seat l hired guide from one of the hotels, who | t4 .l..as ,,.4E NS l4r is probably telling them that every wo- man who laughs and hits them with a | flower is a duchess at least, at which | their broad faces grin with good-natur- ed embarrassment and their teeth show | and they scramble up and empty q handful of rare roses over the lady's shoulders. There are fre- 1uent halts in the procession, which moves at walk, and carriages are of ten left standing side by side facing opposite ways for the space of q min lte, in which time there Is ample oppor- unity to exhaust most of the ammuni- ion at hand, or to express thanks for he flowers received The good order )f the day Is very marked, and the good manners as well, The flowers are lot accepted as missiles, but as trib- ties, and the women smile and nod de- nurely, and the men bow, and put lside pretty nosegay for the next meeting; and when they draw near the tame carriage again they will smile heir recognition, and wait until the wheels are just drawing away from one mother. and then heap their offerings tt the ladies' feet--From "The Grand 9rix and Other Prizes" by Richard Harding Davis. in Harper's Magazine Or June.
 Dnrfas CIaveef Hnur