The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-05-05
LETTERS FROM A COUNTRY GIRL
IN PARIS.

No. Z.
QUARTER LATIN, PARIS, April 81, 81.
EDITORS ISTELL1GENcER: Although
Paris is full of beautiful public parks and
gardens, these do not seem to be sufi-
cient for the pleasure-loving French peo-
pie. So in all directions outside the city
gates there are lovely woods, parks, cas-
ties, churches and towns where the street
cars run at all hours O the day. There
you may go for a days outing in the real
country, which is so beautiful here in the
early spring.
One of the loveliest excursions of the
kind I took some weeks ago with my
friends. We packed up a basket of lunch
and started about 9 o'clock for Suresne.
went by boat from the Louvre quay.
The boats on the Seine are so much cheap
er and p~leasanter as q means Of transport
tstion that they are always crowded.
They are called the "Swallows of the
Seine" and the name suits them pretty
well, as they skim swiftly along the
lovely river. We passed under the fa-
nous bridges, past palaces and churches,
along beautiful gardens, till we went out
through the Notifications of the city and
into the real country. A word here about
the bridges Of the Seine. They are thirty
in number, and each has its interesting
history. Four of the finest were built by
Napoleon I. The Pont de la Concorde
was constructed almost entirely OF the
stones from the ruins Of the Bastile. On
one bridge is an image of the Liberty
statue in New York harbor. 1t is very
small comparatively, and Is put here in
honor Of the United States. But to con-
tinue our trip to Suresne. Presently the
river winds among steep hills, dotted
with quaint French towns. Among the
larger are Sevres and st. Cloud. At
Sevres are the factory and museum of
the beautiful and famous Sevres china.
Some of the finest china decoration in the
world is done there, and the museum
contains an enormous collection of choice
china, as we'll as the crude beginnings OF
the ceramic art in porcelain and pottery
handed down from the earliest time in
France.
St. Cloud is a beautiful town, with a
large park bordering on the river, and the
ruins offs magnificent palace, wherelthe
Kings ofFrance once had q summer home.
Then the country again, with tall Lom-
hardy poplars growing down to the wa
ter's edge. There are many strange trees
end plants, like nothing we have at home.
7 see more mistletoe here than I ever saw
in my whole life before; the trees are full
of it. The French call 1t "gie." We
reached Suresne, which is much like any
other French town, with its old or per-
haps ruined castle, and its Church filled
with queer tombs and mementoes Of past
ages. We crossed the river by the
bridge and found ourselves in the Bots
de Boulogne, which stretches from Suresne
up to the gates of Paris, and seems to
stream into the city by the Avenue Bots
de Boulogne. This is the favorite park of
all Perisians, and especially on Sundays
it is crowded with people, plain and fash
ionable, rich and poor, old. and young,
alike only in one respect. and that is in
appearing to be perfectly happy. They
are gay, bright, smiling faces that meet
you on every side. People in elegant
carriages, with gaily liveried attendants,
people on horseback, people on wheels,
with the most striking and wonderful
cycle costumes in the world. And the
crowds OF Parisians on foot, with their
perfect costumes; the nurses all in uni
form of Irish cape and beribboned cap,
the babies a perfect bundle of white, with
1ODH WA4IO fOllo aohS-D5 y IL OoaN
In French families the girls are dressed
exactly alike as to dresses, hats, gloves
and everything. In the poorer classes
the little boys wear blue and the girls
pink. The children have such a happy
time on Sunday. We Protestants were
very much shocked at the games of foot
bali, tennis, and other games not known
at home, which seem to be played only
on Sundays. And at Long-champs in the
Bots de Boulogne they have the races on
Sundays.
But the lovely, quiet part Of 1t weliked
best. We walked around the lakes by
shady %footpaths, and sat down to eat u
lunch on the grass, dotted with butter
cups and tiny white daisies. We listen
ed with delight to the sweet bird-notes
which were so strange to as. We saw
two black swans building their nest
among the "cat-tails" near the bank. The
beautiful creatures followed us up the
lake begging for something to eat. We
walked six miles in the Bots, then enter
ed the city and went up to the magnif-
cent Arc de Triomphe, which stands at
the meeting of twelve broad avenues. It
is a splendid structure, 100 feet in height,
and having arched doorways on the four
sides. It was built by Napoleon to COM
memorate his victories
Another day we went out to st. Ger
main, where there is an old castle and q
church, of course, but the beauty of the
place lies in its scenery. There is a ter
race two miles long on the banks of the
river and bordering the forest of st Ger
main. The terrace is high up on the vine
clad hillside. and the view OF river. bills
and towns is beautiful. Eleven miles
- tI1 No~kl 1;oo Dor;o vrtfh Sic
Eiffel Tower rising up to the clouds, and
the new church, the "Sacred Heart Of Je-
sus," shining white on the summit of
Montmartre. tt reminded me of the
view Moses must have had Of the land of
Canaan, with its fruitful fields and vine
yards and its fair, wicked cities. We
passed By Malmaison and the quiet little
town Of Rueil, where the Empress Jo-
sephine is buried in o simple village
churchyard. The French don't like Jo-
sepbine; they pay no attention to her.
All the houors and glories are lavished on
Some other interesting towns
1 have visited; Versailles, with its beau
tiful palace crowded with the relics of a
glorious past, and its wonderful foun-
tains, which it takes 1000 a day to run.
Versailles was a badly chosen spot for
such g palace and such fountains. When
the gardens were being terraced $4,000
men and 5000 horses were employed at
one time. Napoleon neglected the grounds
there because they were so expensive he
could not afford to keep them up. 1t is
now the property Of the Government and
a National Museum. I visited also the
forest and Chateau of Vincennes, which
is now used as Barracks. I hope to visit
Fontainebleau. and will tell you also of
that.
In Paris itself there arc hills, streams,
parks and everything Countrywide.
Montmartre is really a little mountain,
with apartment houses and
crowned with a beautiful new Church.
Beside the new is an old, old Church of
ST. Jear. 1t has to be propped up with
poles. Back Of it is what they call the
"Way to the Cross" 1t is q stony, steep
path up 8 rugged hill, and at a turn in
the path, three crosses, with their life
sized figures, break on the view with
startling effect. Underneath the hill is a