San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-29
"CIEL" (HEAVEN.)
A DEGRADING EXHIBITION IN
PARIS.
Parisains Have Reached the Very Acme
of Degrading Pleasures, as Told
By a Visitor.

men trundling large pictorial adver-
tisement on wheels, with the single
word "Ciel' (Heaven) traced upon the
side of the vehicle, which is surround
ed with the bluest of ornaments and
speckled with the fleeciest of clouds,
my curiosity was reused to the point
of inquiring where Heaven" was to
be met with in Paris, and what was TO
be seen there.
One of the fellows, as a reply, gave
n bill with the word "Ciel," Boule-
ward Rochechouart, printed on it, to
which people, with or without i'm
maculate consciences," were invited,
the entrance being free to saints and
sinners, to politicians and publicans,
to virgins and half virgins to all, in
fact, who aspired after celestial joys"
at the low price of Is sous, which sum
gave the visitor a right to a glass of
beer, together with a glimpse of hea-
ven. Angels, it was further intima-
ted, were engaged at this cabaret at
Montmarte to minister to the wants
of "vile man." and the traditional
pour-boire was not indispensable.
To the cabaret on the Boulevard
Rochechouart therefore l went, and af-
ter knocking at the gates of heaven"
they were opened to me by strapping
fellow with q shock of tawny hair
and pair of prodigious wings attach
ed to his shoulders. The rest of his
attire consisted of a white flowing
garment reaching down to his heels,
girdled around the waist with white
cord, his feet being shod in white san
dals. When l say white, mean that
all this had been white once on a time
To restore the garments to their orig
inal color good deal of soap and wa
ter would have been necessary. The
other five or six walters of which the
establishment boasts were similarly
dressed, their wings as they moved a
bout in the performance NJ their du-
ties as ''ministering angels" greatly in
terfering with customers, some Of
whom let loose in consequence Ian
guage the reverse of gentle. Wings
and blue armament are the strong
points at this newly opened place of
resort. Outside, guarding the en-
trance, is statue representing an an
gel with outspread wings, under a sky
blue canopy. The statue is dressed
oddly enough, in white calico chem
Use, perhaps out of Difference to Sena-
tor Beranger's virtuous horror of the
| nude.
Entering the low rooted room, a per-
son with strong religious feeling would
certainly be shocked. A table occu-
plying the center of the room initiates
that of the Last Supper On the
white cloth covering it are glasses of
beer for visitors. At this table, when
l entered, were seated two score of
| men and women, of all conditions Of
life many of whom INDUCED, it goes
without saying, in coarse testing on
religious subjects, on the saints and
sanity caricatures which ornamented
the walls. Music of the lightest de-
scriptiOn was played previous to the
performance" if the expression can
be used, which lasted about half an
hour, after which the company dis
persed to make room for others.
Just before a venerable looking par
ty, whose outward man was made up
by means of flowing white locks, a
beard, and flowing garments, got into
a species of pulpit, and the strains of
an organ We're heard, melancholy and
lugubriOus, though distinctly out Of
dressed the public, eXhorting people
with mock gravity to silence and re-
spect for the sacred place in which
they were. His address was n COM
pound of indecency, coarse jests, and
worse. The moral he affected to in
calculate was that money was the di-
ETY. of mankind, which was wor-
shipped by saint and sinner alike. In
proof of this he told his dear broth
ers and sisters" to study what was
about to be presented to them. The
lights were then almost turned off,
and in the semi-obscurity the stage at
the end of the room, surmOunted by
an effigy of the golden calf, and st.
Anthony with pig, examining n large
ledger was Illuminated. On it was a
man representing a saint on his knees
praying in his cell. To him appears
as in a vision a beautiful woman,
scantily dressed, who does all she can
to tempt him. The saint stands to
his guns-that is TO say, to his beads
and his prayerbook- for a time, but
ultimately the damsel of bewitcning
and unhOly aspect gets the best of it,
and he rises from his knees to pursue
her.
This is the sort of thing to be seen
in the room below, where one takes
ones beer, pays the thirteen sous to
the ''ministering angel" who willingly
accepts a pour-boire, and who in re-
turn gives one ticket for the upstairs
part of the business. Before leaving
the Last Supper Table," however, a
midst imitation of thunder and light
ming, there are diSSolving views of
heaven, of angels in armour with fiery
swords, of rolling clouds, smoke, and
so forth.