The Portland daily press., 1897-08-21

always loss or time, and often the mis-
sing of what we specially desired to see.
Sight seeing is great art, and expert
ence saves incalculable time and strength,
SO unless one is accustomed to travel
and has unlimited supplies of these two
requisites, undoubtedly for foreign speak
ing countries, a conducted party is most
| simple, sure and satisfactory.
After we had seen the great wonders of
Paris, we were allowed to crafty our
| feminine thirst for shopping. We well
know that many woman's heart throbs
with envy when she thinks of our oppor
tunity to secure loves of bonnets, dreams
of dresses, and the thousand and one airy
| trifes SO dear to the female heart. But
| let no one be under the delusion that
beautiful things can be had in Paris for
! a song. Nay, nay, good article brings
good price in Paris as in New York,
and just as charming creations can be
bought in the latter place for the same
| money. We admit there is a halo sur
rounding the chapeau personally pur-
chased in Paris which cannot be seen
shining around the one bought at home,
even If imported; but hats are difficult
| to carry in trunk or in ones hand, and
woman with bandbox has long ago
gone out of fashion. So with Spartan
coinage we bore the wolf-like gnawing
of wanting everything, and said sit
doesn't hurt bit'' when we withstood
those tempting costumes Truth to
tell, we failed to see the advantage gained
by one woman, who bought for herself
and daughters twelve silk skirts at exact
ly the price asked in Portland, planning
for each to wear four on their way
through the custom house. and anxiously
asking If they would be searched! The
glory Of the ''Bon Marche" is past, the
Grand Magazins du Louvre" have
eclipsed it. Here skirts trimmed from
top 10 bottom, reign; with blue and
green the combination most approved.
| What dainty lingerie, what exquisite
hand embroidered mouchoirs, the quanti-
| ty unlimited from which to make selec
ton. The smaller shops are far the best
and most bewitching in their loneliness.
However, we bought with pound Of
candy and six yards of ribbon all the ex-
perience of Paris shopping that we
wished. We learned one lesson thorough
~ during the first hours of our stay in
France; while ascending to our room we
kept repeating to ourselves sfquatrieme
etage-quartrieme etage,o and as we
neared it plucked up sufficient courage to
repeat our little phrase to the porter, al
belt in q somewhat husky voice. "All
right, Madame, fourth floor" was the
unexpected shock and feeling at same time
relieved and foolish, we resolved that for
ever after we would preface all remarks
with "Do you speak English?' Accord
ingly, while on our shopping tour, after
walking the length of the ribbon counter,
our eyes fell on one young man who
looked a shade less volatile than his com
panions, and to him we addressed our
now familiar formula, "Do you" ETC.
mon! non!'was the emphatic reioind-
er, accompanied by a most negative shake
of the head, and echoed down the line by
twenty more young men. For the next
hour that gentleman of France foun d
life burden. Beyond belief are the
mutual Misunderstanding as to price
and width that are possible and must be
explained with but single word and
shrugs and gesticulations without num-
Der. We finally secured what we wanted,
but at the cost of nervous force meal
cuiable. Spent in purse-we. paid more
than double its value-exhausted in body
and mind, we were supported to the
door, where waiting vehicle conveyed
us to the hotel, our long list of intended
purchases carefully preserved for future
use at home. do they not have English
speaking clerks?" we hear across the
water. They do. of course; but when
there are hundreds of American women
shopping, what is one among SO many?
Our visit to the Luxembourg was most
enjoyable, one great reason being that it
of it's contents though it would take
days to see all the beauties of Detailles'
great picture of the "Capitulation. 1t
hangs low, SO that it can be seen two
rooms away, and the effect of life is mar
vellous. One hears the measured tramp
of men moving slowly along, with arms
retained, for bravery, but with heads
bowed low with grief. More touching
than scenes of war, more fascinating than
Bonheur's beautiful cattle, was the pic
ture that spoke of the utter abandonment
to grief of one whom death had deprived
of the sole treasure, and who, stricken,
sought at the feet of the Mother of Sor-
rows sympathy and sustaining strength.
All this we found in Bougereau's "Con
possible, the Louvre impossible-with it's
immense galleries filled with vast treas
ures of marble and painting-impossible
to any but those with weeks of time at
their command. The miles on miles of
Rubens and Van Dycks we could only
glance at. but studied long Murillo' sc
Assumption, and the inserutable fact
Of Mona Lisa. Even the most enthusiast
tic love of pictures cannot prevent the
eyes from firing, or the head from aching
with long looking. So one afternoon
eight of us decided on change of plan,
and set forth to see Paris alone. We no.
ticed that the guide secured, at one of the
many small stations circular pieces of
cardboard, each containing number,
AS numbers were called the person hold
ing that number took her seat; five
mounted to as many vacant seats on top
of the bus, and three mournfully sat
within, feeling injured that they must
pay double for what they did not want.
Surely eight small cards, five women on
top of bus and three inside, seems a
very harmless combination; but the Sc
quel will show how true it is one cannot
Judge by appearances. The horses-poor
skinny beasts-ambled along, urged on
by the incessant crack of the drivers
long lash, which sounded far more like
the explosion of cannon crackers than a
thorough bred whip. Then came the
foot, foot of the conductor horn, instead
of the usual bell, bewildering us by mix
ing February 22nd with July 4th, until
it became difficult for loyal United
States citizen to tell which instrument of
torture was peculiar to ''the day we cele-
brate.'' We casually remarked at first
how affable were French conductors, for
every time ours paused before us we
would proffer him the round tickets,
which he smilingly refused by decided
shake Of the head. We thought it pecu-
liar, but one popularity more or less
hardly signifed where there are so many.
After leaving our trio, he would wind his
| .I-s- A.. 49,