The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-01-10
THE PARIS SUNDAY.
A DAY OF REST OR RECREATION FOR
NEARLY ALL THE PEOPLE.

The Well to Do Stay at Home, but tha
Masses Are Gay and Festive-Especial
Arrangements For Their Entertainment
and Pleasure.
If the day be fine-a bright sun in win
ter and cool breeZeS in summcr-PariS
presents the most beautiful exterior of any
capital in the world. There are smooth
paved roadways full of cheap cabs, and
realty laid sidewalks, free from those
trCachcrouS unoYCnncssGs, the bane of the
pedestrian il American cities. and, to
cap all, these Paris streets arc perhaps
even little cleaner than the Manhattan
thoroughfares since Colonel Warning took
up his good work Then there are we'll
trimmed lawns in the many public gar
dcns, numerous flower beds blooming in
every season, graceful fountains ever play
ing, iunumcrablc statues and groups of
sculpture by past masters i'll the plastic
art, comfortable benches scattered along
miles of avenues and scores OF more COIN
Portable chairs under the trees of the
broader streets and squares, countless res
taurants and cafes, with their immaculate
tables invitingly installed on the broad
SiiGtNt aims anu ltiSlll lIit
yards-thc boulovards, from tho Madeleine
to the Montmartre-the like of which, for
M INDISPENSABLE something, are to be
found neither in London nor in any Amer
lean city, ovarflowing, especially on Sun
day, with good natured crowds of men,
women ana children in gala dress.
But n description of the attractions of
Paris on Sunday would be quite incom-
plGte without some mention of the charms
and entertainments in its immediate Vi
cinity. Hero belong tho horse races Of
ferod in great variety nearly all the year
around, Mt Longchamp and other subur-
ban tracks; the Seine boats, bearing their
happy human freight TO the NincenneS
wood il one direction and to tho superb
alleys of St. Cloud in the other; the neigh
boring town of Sceaux, with its garden
dedicated to Robinson CrusOe and Friday
and its dining tables perched in the easily
accessible branches of towering chestnut
trees; st. Denis, with its tcnbs, and Yer
sailles, with its picture galleries, and still
farther away, but one of the favorito Nee
Gas of the more we'll to do Partisan Sun
day sightseers, Fontaincbleau, with its his
toric apartments and its grand forest.
Such are some of the more inviting as
poets of external and exterior Paris on a
propitious Sunday. Now a word about a
few of the internal, the within doors al
lurements of this same captivating city.
The magnificent Louvre with its inn
mense collections of paintings, sculpture,
antiquities, chronological and naval IIu-
seums, is thrown wide open ON Sunday,
year in and year out, to the delighted
crowds who throng its galleries from morn
ing till night. The same thing is true of
the fine military museums at the Hotel
des Invalides, of tho Trocadero ethnolog-
ical and architectural collections, of tho
Guimet exhibition of oriental religions, OF
the modern PAINTING and sculpture ut the
Luxembourg, of the Canayalet museum so
rich in souvenirs of the history of Paris,
and true also of half dozen or more other
museums, collections and exhibitions Of
greater or less Importance. 1t is on Mon
day that these public resorts are CLOSED
for the weekly cleaning and sweeping, not
on Sunday, when all the population is FREQ
and can visit them.
The two state theaters-tho Francois
and the OdCon-and tho Opera House arc
not only open throughout tho year, winter
and summer, but never dream of closing
their doors ON the Sabbath. In fact, On
that day the Francois and the Odcon, and,
as d IulC, al liiO i hilS PitlN iioStSNs p4-tI
two performances, afternoon and evening,
when the programmes are made us popular
as possible and tho prices of admission re-
duced. In a word, the managers seem to
vie with one another in an effort TO enter
tain the public, g striking instance Of the
democratic spirit which peryades the Paris
Sunday.
Furthermore, the best musical concerts
occur on this same day, and it is on Sun
day, too, that the military bands perform
In the parks When tho great annual pic
turo exhibitions are III progress, the price
of admission is reduced, us in the case Of
the theatcrs on Sunday, and mt the old
salon no charge whatsoever is made in the
morning, when one may see lines of pc0-
pie, four or five deep and u block long, FL
ing in through the gates in order To feast
their eyes on the best work of tie leading
artists of the world.
Now, how do the people IF Paris use
these privileges of Il French Sunday? In
answering this question we may separate
the population into two grand divisions.
The leisure class, that have amused them
selves during tho week, generally remain
at home on Sunday, for If they go out
they complain of finding the streets too
crowded, the cabs taken and the thcatcrs
full. Speaking generally, it is the masses
who take possession of Paris On Sunday,
and they evidently get so much enjoyment
out of it and must DO SO much benefited
by tho aesthetic surroundings that even IL
Puritan would have to admit that some
good thing can come out of Nazareth.
The big stores and most of tho small
ones do no business on this first day of the
week. so that the army of clerks is free.
Many of the great public administrations,
such as the post and telegraph Offices close
early Sunday afternoon and add largo
contingent to those bent on rest and inno-
cent amuscmentS The mechanics and
vast majority of the day labcrers, the shop
girls and home servants, the university
students, probably from Is, 900 To 20, 900
in number; the cadets from the various
government schools, in jaunty uniforms,
and the multitude of school children, all,
in their way, give vivacity and variety To
the Joyous scene.
NJ. Leon Say and several other philail-
thropists have founded an organization
whose aim is to secure the cessation OF all
labor on Sunday, and they are meeting
with considerable success. The number
of the sunday unemployed" is conso-
quently over on the increase in Paris, so
that Partisan Sunday is continually
growing in popularity and univcrsality.--
Paris Cor. New York Independent.