The record-union., 1898-08-22

| for a free gift But you have not seen
| the way the oyster stands are decoraleu
| down at the Old Port? Nor the Noel
| fair in the Allie Meilhau? All, you must
come with me this evening, Monsieur,
and see how beautiful is our city in les
| Fetess de Noel.
! AMONG THE OYSTER STANDS.
| The young Marseillais whose ideas
are expressed here, though they lose
much of their freshness and originality
by translation into English, was my
able guide on Christmas eve among the
decorated oyster stands of the Oid
Port and through the mysteries of the
Proveneal Christmas fair in the Alice
Meilhau / wish you could have seen
us as we started out down the Rue
Breteuil. The uniform of a French
naval officer covered him to just above
the knees, and from there down to his
shoe tops was a chubby expanse or
sunburned skin, never covered Dy
trousers or stocking in the coldest
weather. And corns on his knees; not
through much praying, he tells me,
but from playing marbles in the gar
den. And cheeks as rosy as any boy
on the American Continent or the Brit
ish Isles; and muscles in his big brown
calves that make the footballs sore
when he is 10 or So. At present he is
mot quite 13, Monsieur" as he tells
me, and then laughs with Christmas
glee to think that he has made so long
an English sentence without any help
from Mr.. Aims Grammar.
All seel see the beautiful Noel
greens!" he cries in French as we turn
the corner into the Quai de la Fra
ternite. His knowledge of English is
too slight to do him justice on such
an occasion.
/ And there are the oyster stands, true
/ enough, bristhng adj over their fronts
with lemon trees full of fruit. You of
New York may think these rough sheds
strange things for a first selection
among the Christmas wonders, but you
must know that in this part Of the
world an oyster stand Is a thing of
Importance The possession of a single
one is something for a city to boast
of, but when there is a long row of
them, as there is in Marseilles, that
marks the metropolis. Countrymen
coming in from beyond the big hills
look upon them almost with awe. But
let us look into this matter a little
more closely. There are the lemons
dangling among green leaves, sure
enough, but if the lemon tree Of Prov
ence or even of Algeria across the
water, bears leaves Of this peculiar
shape and hue it is worthy Of study.
Still more so if it bears the small, dark
berry that clings to most Of the
branches near the top. All, here is the
secret These are real lemons, but
they grew on other boughs Having
stems attached. they are wired to the
decorations, or sometimes tied on with
white strings. Here, further up the
street, is a man busy at the interesting
work of wiring them on, and beyond
him is a girl fastening on flowers in
the same way. But my young Mar
eye of faith which refuses to see either
wires or strings. They are just as real
lemon trees to him as if he had seen
them cut from Florida grove.
If it is possible to make an oyster
stand artistic, these Marseilles stands
are works of art. Sloping gradually
down toward the front, they are divid-
ed into such little sections as your coal
dealer has at his Office to separate the
samples of his various kinds of coal.
And each Of these sections is lined with
bright green leaves that come from
the bottom of the sea-leaves as bright
and soft and shiny that they look al
ways fresh and wet. Upon the leaves
the oysters are laid in careful rows,
every oyster washed cleaner than it's