The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-07-12
PARIS LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent.

|
PARIS, FRANCE, June IS, 1900.
Yesterday was Sunday, and the day
OF the Grand Prix or the great horse
race at Longchamps, about four miles
from the city. Why is it that in all
Catholic countries, Sunday is selected
for sports and amusements2 In Spain,
bull-hghts; in Italy, pic.nics and ex
curslons; in France, automobile, bcy-
Gle and horse races. | did not 90 to
the Grand Prx. saw it twenty-five
years ago, with the then President of
France, Marshall Mcmahon, on the
grand stand with the Shah of Persia
and the 9x-King of Spain Amodeus as
guests OF honor. Once is often enough
to see a Grand Prlx or to 90 slum-
ming. 1t may be necessary to know
and understand some things but it is
not necessary to wallow in them.
remember just how it looked; with its
immense throng of people in carriages,
drags, tour. .in-hands and cabs; thous-
ands on foot; gamblers and demi mon.
delnes, the fast set from France,
England and America The demi-
monde is always conspicuous in fine
carriages or on tally-ho-coaches, wear
ing for the first time the Plrisian
gowns and hats of the season, which
will in an incredibly short time be inli-
tated in every nook of our own country
on the planet. 'Tis pity It's true.
Renan was perhaps right IN his hatred
of expositions and in blaming women
tor them.
There are many kinds OF expositions.
Yesterday, President Loubet and his
guest of honor King Oscar (Bernad-
otte) of Sweden went to the races IN
separate drags, each drawn by four
horses and each left horse ridden by
a jockey or postillion. The drags
were accompanied by platoons OF
dragons. Republican simplicity has
not penetrated France. The manners,
the forms, the state etiquette are all
OF the empire or previous monarchy,
which has passed only in name.
Names are more easily changed than
conditions rooted in centuries. But
France is no doubt more prosperous
and freer from war and from the
Catholic church than during the days
of the last empire.
The exposition buildings during the
week, when there is an average OF
10000 visitors, are quite we'll filled,
and ON Sundays, when there are near
ly half million, it is uncomfortably
crowded. But now 5000 cabmen
| have struck, and thousands who de-
pend on cabs will not be able to reach
, the grounds. The omnibuses, cabs,
street cars and Seine river boats were,
even before the strike, notorlously in
adequate. After waiting for twenty
. minutes on several occasions to get a
cab or seat in an omnibus, | have
, changed my lodgings and now have a
/ room within half square of one OF
the entrances, and am independent OF
ali kinds of transportation.
In spite of military reverses, the
South African Republic day before
yesterday inaugurated its building in
the Trocadero Gardens. The exposi-
tion is composed of three parts; the
official pavilion, the Boer House, and
a mining plant. The official pavilion
is of the Dutch or Flemish style OF
architecture, with columns in white
and gold and bright interior decora-
tions. At the entrance is seen bust
of President Kruger, upon which a
r large tri-color boubuet has been plac-
ed with a card bearing the words
"Homage of band of patriotic ParI-
= sian workingmen." The pavilion con-
tains a number of objects OF sinister
suggestion and memory. One is II
big clumsy cannon, now very rusty,
which Boer foundry man made in
1880 and which contributed to the
Boer victory at Majuba Hill. Then
there is a library with text books, etc ,
: showing the public school system; plan
t OF the johannesburg mines, photo
graphs Of the country and model OF
$ the old-time Boer wagon. The house
is an exact reproduction of native
: buildings with its four rooms; two bed
: rooms, a kitchen and kind OF parlor
or sitting room. The floors are OF
: earth, the bedsteads of iron. A bible
and an old organ are part of the scant
and simple furniture. In the mining
, section are shown complete models OF
!, the machinery used for the reduction
= of gold ore. There is estimated to be
S., 200, ,ooo,o unmined gold in the
Transvaal The guests, among whom
. were the officers of the Exposition, the
) foreign commissioners and the mem
bers of the press, were received oy
Mr.. Pierson, the Boer commissioner