Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-04-27
FROM PARIS, MAINE, TO PARIS,
FRANCE.
No. %.
THE ART OF PARIS.

PARIS, FRANCE, March 2s, 1897.
To write about Paris and say nothing
about the artist life, and art galleries.
would be like seeing the play Of Hamlet
with Hamlet left out" That Paris Is
city OF art Is plainly apparent, for In
every highway and by-way and back
ailey-way, you see statue, usually OF
nude figure.
In England they appreciate nature,
out in France, nature is not "in II.
Everything Is artificial. All the houses
are built with an eye 10 ART Ia architect
ure; and the construction OF buildings
Is very interesting process, and We
must confess that they have got the art
Of making artificial marble down fine.
The walls that frat go up are OF rough
stones, or bricks, and mortar, then the
outside walls are covered with sort OF
cement, which we saw the workmen
making, from something that looked like
-four, mixed with some substance which
made a sort Of paste, which they mould
into squares on the walls, and when
hardened Il gives the appearance OF
blocks Of marble. The inside walls OF
the rooms are prepared In the same way,
only not in blocks, but one side OF q
room will be like great sheet OF varie-
gated marble, and Just as hard. IL looks
very pretty, but seems cold and damp.
The Countess de Csstellsne, nee Anna
mouse-trap maker, Is building palace
on the opposite corner. Rumor says that
the husband and coronet she bought
with her millions, have proved poor In
vestment, so there are none OF US here,
even with our primitive surroundings,
who envy her her money, coronet, or
husband, no matter how much We may
rant sll three.
Here il occurs TO Us, that perhaps you
would be interested In the process OF
producing these statues and figures we
see everywhere about US. Que OF our
most pleasant remembrances OF Paris, Is
of the hours spent In the studio OF a
sculptor and his wife, In the Latin Quar-
ter, which Is the centre Of all art life In
Paris, one reason being the fact that
iiring Il so much more reasonable 10 a
cheap and poor part Of the city, and an-
other Is, that the picturesque inhabitants
make studies for the artists. The first
time We looked out OF high-up window
In an artists studio, down on Little
Billee's Latin Quarter, was most fasci-
mating experience.
Their mode OF living is Bohemian In
the extreme-those having families be-
ing content TO live In two little, dark,
low-ceiled rooms, and conduct their
culinary department In the most primi-
tive style. Notwithstanding that fact,
the Christmas dinner OF which We par
took with our friends In their dim, dis
nal surroundings, tasted better than any
We can recall, for IL WAS the traditional
Christmas goose, cooked a Ia Imericdn
aud all the a Ia "fixings."
Those who are not fortunate enough
TO have families live in their studios,
where they sleep on some kind OF a
couch which is draped up daytimes TO
look very Oriental and artistic, and 20
out for meal once a day, bringing their
feed" In, and eating II of the back OF a
canvas or the back ofG m 9dei, the rest OF
the time. There Is great colony OF
professional models here, OF all descrip-
tons. Italians are much sought after
from their beauty OF features and COM
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the children.
One day, while gazing from the win
dow, we saw, leaning against build
ing, an old, old man. dressed In the most
abjectly poverty-stricken manner, for
the few rags which barely covered him
were so thin and sparseiy scattered over
his body that the cold must have pene-
rrated 10 the very msrrOw OF his bones,
which had not even flesh for covering.
A long, white beard. matted together
with no one could tell how many years
of unk.mptness, hung over his barred,
bouy breast, and few Struggling locks
dropped from under battered head
covering. His feeble limbs could scarce
support his tottering body, and sympa-
thy impelled US To ask our friends II We
could not in some way help TO mitigate
his apparent suffering, when We were In
formed that the object Of our solicitude
had stood there every day for some
weeks, as a model for several artists In
the neighborhood, and was well paid for
his services.
An artist friend Of ours was one day
making a sketch Of the Notifications,
when along came gendsrme and polite
ly told him he was arrested. He as po-
litely asked what crime he had COM
United, and was told it was an offence
to do what he was doing. They have
not yet gotten over the notion that there
are spies and traitors at large, and
though their old Notifications are OF Io
aa vthlx, nca thav arrpsf anv npp that