The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-28
LETTERS FROM A COUNTRY GIRL
IN PARIS.
No. 6.

llS 80 NNS
o'clock. there Is the "Grand Procession
and Blessing of the PALMS. at Notre
Dame and most OF the other Churches. 1t
is perfectly magnificent. After all the
priests, bishops, acolytes and officers
have assembled in the Sacristy they form
in procession and march all around the
inside of the Church. First come the
acolytes, the boy attendants, who usual
ly dress in red. On Palm Sunday they
are dressed in pure white and each car
ries a candle about a yard and half long.
Then the other attendants carrying
punches of lockwood, such as we have in
our gardens at home. 1t is called Petite
kameane," or "little palms," and bits of
it are blessed aud given to everybody
who GOES to the Church that day. Next
in the procession is the Cardinal OF
France, dressed in his gorgeous scarlet
robes, cap and magnificent embroidered
outer garment of some description. lie
walks under a splendid canopy. held up
by four priests. Then follows the Arch
bishop of Paris, attended by about one
hundred priests swinging censors, and
carrying palms. These palm branches are
the largest I ever saw and were grown at
Nice. This splendid procession finally
stops before the altar, and the people all
kneel, and afterwards take part in the
musical service which follows. The SER
vices are perfectly dazzling to us Protes-
tants, who are accustomed to so much
less pomp aud show, and IN a way they
are immensely impressive.
On Monday in Holy Week the Ham
Fair opens. All the year round there
are little feasts and fairs going on, and it
ia impossible to attend them all, but |
went TO the Ham Fair" and must tell
YOU about it, because it is differentssfrom
ANYTHING in America. You can Just inn
agine a broad avenue with four solid rows
of tents and booths stretching q mile in
length. There is space for walking be-
tween each row of booths, that is, there
would be space if the crowd was not so
dense that it is almost as much as your
life is worth to walk through the Ham
Fair. And in the gaily decorated booths
are splendid hams, cured for market,
whole pigs smoked a beautiful rich
brown, and decorated with ribbons and
roses. The pigs have bows of ribbon tied
around their ears and tails, and roses
around their necks. Thousands o. sau-
sages of all different shapes, sizes and
colors decorate the front Of the tents,
hanging in festoons with pendants OF
dried tongues and tails. In front of each
tent q man or woman stands with q long
usage and a sharp knife and calls out,
..approchez gouter," "come taste!" And
everybody who passes takes a bit and
eats 1t. didn't like to try the raw sau-
sage. There are the strangest looking
meats there which they say are all pork,
fresh or dried, but it is made up so differ
ently from ours that you would never
know j..
Next 10 the meat booths come the ECU
riosities." They are simply old things
in the way of china, silver, brass, etc.,
that have belonged to the wealthy and
noble French people Of days gone by.
Beautiful china cups made at SeYles for
Mario Antoniette, and bearing her I'M
tails with a gold crown, stand next to an
old brass candlestick of Louis XIV, per-
haps. Silver spoons Of the time of Ma
poieon lie on a splendid old Turkish rug
which adorned the studio Of some great
artist. There are hundreds and hum
dreds of vases, iron lanterns, silver can
dle,ticks, brass and copper cooking YES
eJls, antique b~utterdishes, cracked jars,
sandal-wood boxes, carved shells and
iewelry, and every imaginable thing I
could mention. It is vastly interesting.
And artists are in their glory, for with
lust such beautiful, rich old things their
studios are furnished. One old brass
candlestick covered with green mold is
worth q dozen new silver ones. and they
prize the mold more than the candle
stick. Age is what makes US American
people crazy. Not the least attractive
bart of the Fair was the woman who fried
potatoes and sold them to the tired, hun
CRY crowd for about 6 cents a pound. l
mean the potatoes were attractive, not
the woman; she had a full grown beard
and moustache. That is very common
here in Paris.
It is strange to US that such devout Ro-
man Catholics as the French should have
a Fair in Holy Week. It is for the pur-
pose of selling the hams, etc., for Easter.
All the week there are solemn and i'm
pressive services in the churches. On
Holy Thursday the wine is blessed with
the same dignified ceremonials which at
tended the "Blessing Of the Palms." In
the afternoon they have the "Washing OF
Feet' at Notre Dame, where the priests
wash each others feet. Good Friday is
observed very strictly. The grocers and
and market people have nothing but fish
and eggs to sell, and when a friend of
mine wanted to buy some corned beef
one of the clerks said: "Ah, but you are
not going to eat that to-day, are your"
At three o'clock Good Friday afternoon
thousands of people throng to Notre
Dame, St. Roch and the Madeleine to
witness the Descent from the Cross"
This is an extremely impressive service
from some points of view, while in an
other way it seems very s~acrilegious.
There is a life-sized figure Of G" Saviour
on q cross of roses. 1t is taken -own by
people, representing those who stood at
the real cross. Then the people 60 up to
the cross one at a time and kiss the
image, the face, hands, feet and wounded
side. Saturday the bells of Paris ring in
Easter at sunset. and the great bell of
Notre Dame, which is heard only twice a
year, clapgs out its magnificent music.
The bell is called Jacqueline, the Bour-
don de Notre Dame. 1t is n of the lar
gest in the world, weighing Is tons; the
clapper alone weighs half q ton. The
bells in the churches are usually called
after their donors. A king, named
Jacques, probably gave the bell to Notre
Dame, and his lame was engraved On IT,,
and he was called the god father of the
bell.
I shall have to tell you next week about
the observance of Easter Day. One thing
I know is that the Russians have Easter a
week later than we have; and on Easter
Eve the men and women 60 to Church at
midnight in full evening dress; the ladies
in their silks and jewels, dressed as II OF
q ball. The music is made entirely by
the human voice. No instrument is
used, and the effect is wonderfully beau
tiful.
You would be very much interested to
see the markets they have here in Paris.
There is the great central market, which
goes on ali the time. with similar small
ones. Then there is the country market
which is opened on Wednesdays and
Saturdays. These last are the most in
teresting for the number of peasants,
their quaint costumes and the strange
things they sell. They set uptheir booths
on the large boulevards, and there n
NAV buy snails at two cents a quart,
mushrooms much more dearly, horse
flesh If you like, but most people prefer
mu!e-meat as being more delicate. 1t IS
said that they palm off cats for rabbits,
and sell crows for squads, but I don't
know how true that is. The grand CEN
trail market, called "LeS HdlteS," takes
up six blocks in the heart Of the city.
The country people bring in their fresh
vegetables, fish, etc by underground
passages. The Halles is built Of iron and
covered with zinc. It covers an area of
22O acres, and the streets and boulerards
run right through it. There are also
small flower markets, dog markets and
bird markets in different parts of the
city on certain days of the week.
The system Of house-renting here is
very different from at home. The apart
ment houses are all rented by a concierge,
somewhat similar to a %janitor, who lives
in the building and represents the pro