The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-04
PARIS FROM THE TOWER.
4 Description of the French Capital
a. u T. To-day.


Mr.. Richard Whteing. author OF NO ;
John Street" and "The Island. begins in
the February Century his papers on Paris
today. his descriptions being accompanied
with pictures by Andre Castaigne. He
says:
"A hot August afternoon. and the cage
slowly mounts with handful OF travellers
TO the top OF the Eiffel Tower. We are not
all sight-seers; at any rate. / can answer
Tor one. The Paris plain Is so hot that
tne aseent-is, with me. last despairing eff
Tort for mouthful OF air 1t has unex-
pected advantages now that am on the
move. see Paris as have never seen n
before. There is the Exhibition Building
of 1890. yet to be in all its glory, and at
/ present only a skeleton OF timber. The
monstrous litter of building material fills
all the Champ de Mars and lines the Seine
on both banks, far beyond the esplanade
OF the Inyalides-a perspective with no ter
minal point Paris is once more being
torn down. Were there a speaking trum-
pet at hand, one would fain cry. WHY
| can't you let well enough aIoue?'' to the
pygmies below. This mood lasts until We
reach the summit. when there is abundant
evidence that they set up faster than they
lay low. The Champ de Mars is covered
and well-night rooted The banks, IL still
a mighty maze. are not without plan. SO
the saving power is once more In the con-
structive activities of this marvellous race.
They have wiped out Paris a dozen times,
and every time have left something better
in its place. The legacy OF the last exhibit
ton was the permanent Museum of the
Trocadero. One legacy of this transforma-
tfon is to be the Cars Bridge. The first
span is up, and its lines Of relocated iron.
with the masses OF masonry on each side.
show that we are going to have one more OF
the finest things in the world.
THE bridge does one the service Of TAX
ing the view from the exhibition, which is.
after all. only a secondary affair TO Paris
itself. There is the everlasting spectacle
more grandiose today than ever. From this
elevation the city is manifestly outgrowing
Its mere walls. as a healthy boy outgrows
last years jacket. But for these walls
Paris might enter into hopeful competition
with London for primacy among the larg-
est cities of the world. II stretches away
in unbroken lines of milk-white masonry
at every point. The inner circle, as one
may already call the space within the for
tiications. has yet an innermost ring-the
Paris OF the foreigner. This Tatar city
may easily be traced from our present ele.
walton, by taking the Round Point as its
centre, and the Arch as its circumference.
Here are all the braveries OF The fair for
the nanny few from many parts of the
world-a multitude in their aggregate. This
British are an diminishing colony:
London is now their capital of pleasure for
the whole empire. Good Americans have
a tendency to look for their earthly para
disc in the same quarter consistently
enough. for the site Of that region is noto-
riously a speculative point. But the bal
ance' of mankind still seeks its cosmopolis
here. Wealthy planters and traders from
the four seas. adventurers from South
America. the pick of the Continental aris-
tocracies, all flock this way in the season,
and wrere they fail the French OF the
same category are quite ready to supply
their place"