The age-herald., 1897-09-12
AT DAYBREAK.
Streets Teen With Many Odd
 Kinds of ToilerS.
ALL PREVAILING BLUE.
Workers of Every Stripe Wear the Color in some Shade. Fol- low Trades Which Puzzle the American.

American.
 Paris, Sept. Lit is a pity that the tens of thousands of tourists who are always here, never think of getti-g up very early in the morning and seeing ,, the city at dawn. That is the time to see picturesque Paris, working Paris, the Paris of the common people. But the trouble is that the average visitor goes to bed very late. Setting up with the dawn is naturally repugnant, so he eontentedly sleeps on until artificial Paris, with her range and cosmetics, is ready for another days frolic.
 The working classes do not take their toll sadly. Jests and bandiage of the raciest character abound on all sides and remarkableslig ightness and brightness pervade everything. Their gaiety extends even to the very clothes they wear. A French working man is almost always a beautiful object as a color, and something he has on is sure to be of remarkable blue. This blue is so universal that 1t forms one of the chief characteristics of the streets of Paris, being, sometimes, dark to start with, but taking all varieties of won l derful shades through much use and hard washing It is the favorite colo. as being distinctive of the Mother | M.-s-'
 So wide is the use of it, also, amongst the workers themselves that one would say, on seeing them issuing from some big usine or factory at the dejeuner hour, that they were all clad in a uniform Men following almost any kind of handicraft wear blouses, usually blue, and workmen for the most part either these or else bouger- ons, cotton jackets often a brighter blue of an extremely smart cut, close l to the figure at the back and loose in | front. But velveteen trousers wide above and small at the ankle are much in vogue, particularly among carpen- ters and chemineau, or navvies, and this costume is often picturesquely completed by the addition of high we'll ington boots, a scarlet sash and son. brero hat.
 The women of the lower and middle classes, the tradesmen's lads, and the boots" when at work, all have aprons of dark blue material; and no bonne, or French servant, is complete without one. Indeed there is an unwritten law that every mistress shall present two | | Many servants do not wear caps at all, nor indeed do the working women use any head covering in the streets. One meets them so in the omnibuses and on the Bouleyards with . neatly cpiffed heads even when the snow is on the ground, and this is the more remarkable as their ears (and often those of their husbands too. are sure to be stuffed with pink cottonwood, and at home they will shut both doors and windows at all seasons for fear of what they call courant. d'air. Slatternly milliner or dressmakers' l girls are almost an unknown quantity in the streets of Paris. The little mes- sengers one sees there with their huge pasteboard boxes are always of the trimmest and if not every one of them exceptionable as their conduct from certain points of view, they form, at any rate, a picturesque addition to the street landscape. A woman is sure to be neatly shod, no matter to what class she belongs, though an Ameri- can heart would undoubtedly sink low at the terrible thinness of the sole. | This apparent recklessness has its ex- 1 cuse in the fact of the condition of the 1 streets which are remarkably well l cared for.
 The street cleaners begin at 4 a. m. l to wash and sweep the pavements and at 6:30 they are through. Then un- l til 8:30 they load up the scavengers 1 carts with the refuse. They promptly begin again to sweep and wash the streets and flush the gutters and the work is continued until nightfall. But these are only one of the many | haUiaS huGU fn hn f,, l the early hours of the morning. Up and at work soon after the street cleaners are the chiffonniers male and female (rag-pickers), the porteuses de pain (bread carriers) and the milk women. These last deliver their milk in glass bottles or bottes of either a l litre or half litre, and metal handles are attached to them so that as many as thirty can be carried at a time. | swinging from two iron bars.
 The bakers shops are some of the first to open, and aJ early as five o'clock the porteuses de pain begin operations by brushing the bread. The bakers boys are usually girls CT rather strong elderly women who can carry as much as forty pounds of bread at a time. Formerly, long baskets were used, but these have of late been discarded, except for the 5 D. m de- livery, when the small hot rolls are taken in them to the hotels and better class houses, ready for the dinner hour. Instead of the basket the DOT teuses de pain now wear substantial blue apron extending from the should CTS and cut double the length of the ordinary article.
 In sharp contrast of these, the spot less, orderly early walkers of the streets, stand out the dingy stooping | figures of the chiffonniers. They look | weird objects enough in the half-light of the dawn, truly more like birds of prey than human beings, as they hover vulture-like over the tin rubbish-boxes which at that hour line the Paris streets. It is impossible to realize when watching one of these weird creatures at her strange work, that in this way 50.000 francs worth of pick ings is collected in one day.
 Swift, silent. solitary. she performs her unsavory task with deftness that Is quite remarkable. First she drags the movable, official dusbin, Poubc.le