Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-12

stone floor, Packed
in with some fifteen
thousand others in the immense church of
Saint Sulpice- Who Sulpice was the guide
books do not state; but his church is full
OF architecture in the weary midnight. II
was sight to be seen in wicked Paris
where the visitor thinks of ANYTHING else
but church-going Paris is a big town.
very big, and all the inhabitants are not
dancing nightly at the Moulin Rouge and
other delectable resorts
coming back in the restful daylight, we
md that this grim, gigantic church, with
out particle of Gothic or other poetry
about 1t, is interesting to Americans in a
hohieiiKe way. 1t is parish church, of
course, and serves the religious wants of
one OF the most populous districts of Paris.
including good part of that realm of mys-
| ferrous delight and squalor and unchurch-
| manlike students known to Americans as
| the Latin Quarter
appropriately enough, the church is not
under ordinary priests, but is served by the
seminary near by. There, too, are students
NOT quite of the regulation Latin Quarter
order high wall runs around their gar
den.high enough to keep the grisettes from
looking overland the long, plain building
| racks. ~
Here in France. where everything settles
GOWN INTO century-old routine, the clergy
| form disciplined body quite on a par with
t the army. Ihose who are now attacking
| the army because of Dreyfus mix up tho
| clergy naturally with the obnoxious gener-
| ais. Those who love law and order shout
Ior both, regardless of the merits of the
Some DISTINGUISHED Pupils.
| The seminarists are mute on the subject
as they hie out in long. black-robed lines
| from the great door their way to the
| church, where they do the singing with
massive voices, several hundred together;
or on their weekly walk in large souads
| through chosen streets which will not he,
| suIle them with too much Partisan gayetv
| IhiS seminary has sent, in times past
many an evangelist to the United States:
| and, doubtless, among the students at tte
| present day there are some Americans AT
| the time when the French revolution turned
the church into banqueting hall, where
Napoieon was Toasted. the ''Supicians'
| quietly subsidized into Baltimore until the
storm was over. The theological seminary
which they founded there still continues
put the genuine French training has always
brought back to the place in Paris some Of
| their more distinguished students
| among the living, 1 believe. are Cardinal
S.ppons OF Baltimore, Archbishop Williams
OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. the first bishop of
| BOSTON and friend of Claiming, was a
French student of the place, expelled by
| the revolution-the late Archbishop Pur-
| eel, the war prelate of Cincinnati; Bishop
keane, who has had much to do with
the Catholic University at Washington. and
any number of priests and prelates whom
have never heard of, but who have a soft
spot In their hearts for Saint Sulpice of
Paris.
An older colony of Saint Sulpice in Amer
lea is the great seminary which is so prom
iient spectacle, with its long stone build
treal, Canada. IT We Louis XIV who sent
1t out, and when his suco esscr, by the adj
vice of Noltaire, calmly gave up to the
English the few acres of snow" which he
was told his possessions were liz that part
OF the world, the Sulpicians remained on.
When General Dix came TO Paris as
minister of the United States to the third
French republic, he was asked where he
had learned his French. AT Saint Sui
Iice," he answered, to the astonishment of
the profane Frenchmen. who imagined that
The brave general must have deserted the
ranks of the clergy for the army. But he
was only former student of the boys
college, which is an annex of the seminary
or Montreal. OF late years these reverend
teachers OF young theologs have opened
a seminary in Boston. All their establish
ments look back to this one at Paris as the
mother house.
It's Two Odd Towers.
Seen from the great square in front, the
scene is impressive. Two steps behind the
church, you are in full Latin Quarter with
its fine musical cafe of the Concert Rouge.
SUDSiuiZtu ny d pnlldnlnrOplSt that the STU
dents may have something higher than the
silly dirty Songs of their csfes-chantants
Up on the hill is the profane dance hall
the Bal Butler. But here, placidity reigns
The great fountain in the center of the
square has the statues of Frances four
greatest preachers-Bossuet, Fenelon Mas
sillon and Fletcher. Their sacred pose is
not troubled by the dissolute laughter
whose echoes die away before reaching
them. Only the coming and going of the
omnibuses at the corner station bring life
to the place; the seminarists can look from
their windows without fear of perturbing
their imagina tons. 1t is not gay for the
average tourist, and he does not come a
second time. He is content to wonder why
the two towers of the church front are
SO unlike each other
III he asks one of the natives, he will
hear that Roman Catholic architectural
ruling forbids any church except the bish-
ops cathedral to have two towers exactly
alike. Probably he will believe it, as the
people do-for some reason there must be.
A better one is that the church was build
Ing a hundred years and one architect had
the building of one tower, while his sue
cessor dealt with the other.
1t is only a case of many men, many
minds. and the mind that made the trou-
BILE was certain MacLaurin, of Scotch
blood, and therefore argumentative. He
has the last word to this day, when the
French are not much given to church
building on so great a scale. His reformed
tower still remains to make people ask
questions and give answers.
Site OF the First Worlds Fair.
Passing round by the north side, through
narrow street which the high blank
wall of the great church forever shadows
with an uncomfortable gloom, we come
out in a curious corner Of old Paris. which
Is soon to disappear.
1t is square space occupied with the
lorg, low buildings Of the local market
Of Saint German. The buildings are
divided into the usual stalls, whers people |
come to find all things, from calico dresses |
to fish and fresh tripe. In the center is a |
fountain, whose marble sides are sculp- |
tured with the classical designs dear to |
thu men OF the French revolution, for they |
thought they were like the Greek and |
Roman republicans. |
It was once in front of the Church of |
Saint Sulpice, but when priests and kings
were restored in Paris the new ecclesiasti-
cal fountain was set up here, and the |
revolutionary basins with their pagan de- |
signs were set up here. Now the city has |
voted the destruction of the whole place
in order that the immensely valuable land |
may be made the site Of an educational /
building fer lay school teachers.
The greatest interest of the spot comea