Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-03-23
FROM PARIS, MAINE, TO PARIS,
FRANCE.
No. IS.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN PARIS.

No. IS.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN PARIS.
(From our Special Foreign Corrcspondcnt)
PARIS, FRANCE, Feb. 26, 1897.
There are few things in Paris that the
have been written about so much that
metropolitan journals forbid their CORE
spondents saying anything about them,
and that's just the reason that we
are going TO tell you about them,
for they say that whatever Is forbidden
Is the most interesting and fascinating.
II was Frenchm,n, OF course, who
said, while eating some OF our luscious
trawberries, "How much more luscious
they would be II IL were only wicked Ia
eat them." We confess we have as yet
failed to discover what is considered
wicked here, for the ten commandments
seem To be an unknown quantity; but
perhaps they read backwards In French,
or that little word ''not" is left out In the
French language.
The chief among these forbidden sub
jects Is Eiff.l Tower, Arc de Tri-
omphe, Champs Elysees, Place de Ia
Concorde, the Tuileries, and the Bois
de Bouilogne.
As some Of your readers may not have
had the opportunity to read all that has
been said about these stale old "chest-
nuts" We will begin with Eifiel
Tower, which IA, OF course, the first
thing one sees on entering Paris, rs II Is
the highest thing In the world-or thinks
it is-but IL IL would perambulate over
TO Paris Maine, We might show 1t n
thing or two that would make 1t hide Its
diminished head-old Streaked Noun
tain, for Instance.
As the first glimpse OF the famous
trestlework rises up before US. we are
reminded Of the parting advice OF our
host In London; but must first tell you
the story. At one time he imported q
distant relative on the maternal side, to
take position In his gun works at Cray
ford, and from the kindness Of his heart,
invited the wife to be his guest at his
mansion In Bsldwyn's Park.
She proved to be the kind that could
never see anything quite so grand ss
what she had been accustomed to at
home, though in reality she had been
reared In a remote back town 10 Penn
sylvanis, and hyd never before been
out Of her own chickenyard. On one
occasion, when some Of his guests were
sdmiriug the lofty and beautifully decor
ated ceiling on his drawing-room, she
made the startling declaration: "Oh,
that's nothin', Ye'd orter see our'n
More'n twice as high, an all han paint
ed.
Ever after that, whenever anything
out OF the ordinary appealed to him, he
would quote his former guest, and his
parting Injunction TO US was TO remem-
ber the ceiling, and not fail to say TO the
friend who frat showed US EifIe'
Tower that, That's nothin'. ie'd
orter see our'n. More'n twice as high,
an ali han painted. And so We say 1t
is nothing, for they can't get anything
so high as our own MI. Washington,
which Il indeed all "han' painted" by
the Hand that paints the ceiling OF the
skies
But, seriously, Mister Eiffel did do
quite tall thing when he erected this
lofty ffet-work monument, which will
perpetuste his nsme through coming
ages. for Il Is the highest structure OF
human workmanship on the surface OF
globe, being 9s5 feet high. II Is built OF
interlaced ironwork, and you can "see
daylight" through II, all the way to the
top. On the first platform, $40 feet
from the ground are restaurants and
cafes where many thousand people can
be Accommodated at once, and In summer
they have a band of music, every day
and dancing Is INDUCED In 70 some ex-
tent. The second platform IL much
smaller and used chiefly for observation,
being S63 feet high, and that seems quite
AS high as most people care to get, Till
they aspire to mansions In the skies. but
II they wish to go still higher, the 'left'
will take them to the very top platform,
90i feet from the ground, and large
enough to hold 500 people, where the
city looks like q vast checker-board
spread out beneath them, and human
beings on the ground are Of not so much
consequence as flies. There are l192
steps from base To summit, but we de-
cline nith thanks. the invitation TO go up
that way. The four columns that from
the base cover over l-2 acres OF ground
and form a triumphal arch 300 feet high.
The only time we ever saw II when there
seemed anything particularly attractive
about Ii, was one misty grey day, when
the skeletOn-like outline was dimly
shown through the mist that enveloped
| IL, so that, as the gaze travelled upward,
the form grew DINNER and DINNER, till
IL was lost entirely In the shsdowy at
mos sphere, for AS IL had got discouraged
trying to climb TO the skys, the sky had
come down TO meet its emaciated suitor,
hiding his head 10 the drapery OF her
garments. One can understand when
they again reach the ground, after soar
TO such dizzy heights, how the old lady
felt, who, when she again reached terra
frma, after riding up the trestle-work
Of the Mt Washington railroad, when
she circulated "'rhsuk the Lord, we're
liz"
The next object Of Importance Ia the
Arc de Triomphe, said to be the finest
piece Of architecture 10 the world. Most
people 90 into rsptures over this re-
nowned piece of workmanship whose ex-
terror is covered with statues and monu-
ments, fashioned by the hand OF man,
but 1t did not particularly impress Us,
and we again felt like saying, "le'd
orter see our'n etc." for 1t Is mean to
littleness compared to our own old New
England statue of the Old Man Of the
Mountain, hewn from the mighty and
eternal hills, by the Sculptor to Her
Msjesty, Mother Queen Nature! Wemsy
Eull "Details Gladly Given.