The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-05-21

sembles the sinuous crawl of a snake
Thirty feet overhead, supported upon
forest of scaffoldng, are laid the steel
rails upon which revolVe the dwarf
wheels of the "trottoir roulant. Upon
the two and a quarter miles are congre-
gated two and a quarter miles or more
or less idly curious humanity-a ribbon
of humanity, as a French Journalist
calls it. Null titudes of Parisians, pro-
vincials, Americans, cockneys, Ter
mans, but principally the first two
glide overhead on the back of this einu-
Gus monster 1t Is odd to witness, when
shower comes, the sudden shiny APP
partition of the long ribbon of umbrellas
The monsters voice sounds unceasing-
ly the day long, and half the night
Sometimes it resembles the din maze
by the lids of twenty million Brobdlng-
nagian kettles from which the steam Is
escaping, sometimes the roll of the
massed drums of the entire French
army At other times it concentrates
itself in a high pitched, fierce iron
screech.
How does this internal muttering'
groaning, growing, rafting, screening
affect the dwelers of the Avenue de Ia
Bourdonnais, the Avenue de la Motto
Picduet, the Rue Fabert in front or
whose third story windows the "trot-
toir" rolls past with it's load of humani-
ty? In London, where people make
fuss about organ grinders and the tam
BOURNE girls of the Salvation Army, II
would, | fancy, cause an insurrectlon'
But | have heard of no wild protest IN
Paris--not a wrathful face have l seen
in all those half miles of windows.
What shopkeepers and professional peo-
pie have done Is to seize this rare OPP
portunity of advertising themselves
The most striking advertisement is the
figure of doll meant for newly born
baby, stuck in a window, bearing the
sign Of Mime. Poussin, Accoucheuse.
That baby of flannel and sawdust, with
ito prematurely wideawake smile, ever
lastingly holds out it's spuds OF arms TO
the ribbon of humanity that glides past
everlastingly alike.
For the man of business, intent upon
prompt transfer from this to that re-
gion of the Exposition, and the idle
locker on caring most for the summer
air and a smoke, the ''trotter rouiant
is convenient, comfortable and ingen-
ious device In the first place, the aeri-
al structure Is not all mobile, 1t Is di-
vided into three longitudinal parallel
sections, the first stationary, the sec
ond moving at the rate of about three
miles an hour, the third at about SIN
If you want to make the circuit quickly
you stand on the third. and II you are
In a great hurry all you have to do is
to stride ahead and SO add your indiVld-
ual movement to that of the "trottoir
rouant." If you want to take 1t easy
and Ink leisurely about you, you simply
step down two inches to the second sec
ton, or if you want to come to dead
stop the two inches to the stationary
strip. You will often do this in order to
admire some street view, or glimpse or
the sunlit river, or beautiful building in
the Avenue of the Nations, or on the OPP
posite bank of the seine the cluster OF
steep rooted old Paris. Going on the
''trottoir roulant'' Is easy as walking,
but for all that scores of people come to
grief quite harmlessly and comically
when first they try 1t. In Cockayne no
sane person gets face to the rear out OF
an omnibus, or attempts to enter 1t
with his silly back turned toward the
horses. Many try it on the "trottoir
roulant" 1t is great fun. A stoutish,
jolly looking woman has done IT, and
the result is that she has connoned
against somebody who cannons against
a third. who pitches against the stom-
ach of a fourth. whom the unexpected
shock temporarily deprives Of his UNI
brella and his hat. innocuous disaster
often happens when a PERSONS foot be-
comes entangled behind the calf of the
other leg; each leg becomes as unman-
ageable as a towel whipped round the
leg of a table Ensnared thuswise, the
person manifests an uncomfortable ten
dency to spin round like a teetotum
After long and leisurely observation, |
am inclined to think that of all atti-
tudes on the "trottoir rouant" this is
the most absurd. That the victims sus-
peot so too I gather from the sheepish
expression of their faces. but these
quite innocent misadventures are, in
comparison with the great numbers on
the "trottoir rouant," few and far be-
tween.
You will have gathered that the trot-
toit has become a favorite place of re-
sort. For those OF its passengers who
have friends in the avenues before.
whose windows 1t crawls along it might
become a convenient substitute for long
deferred calls. Standing on the trot-
toir, one might chuck ones visiting
card through any open window In the
Avenue de la Motto Piequet and ex-
change salutations with old cronles in
the upper stories Of Rue Fabert and
Avenue de la Bourdpnnais. Indeed, I
have seen many such exchanges of
becks and mods and wreathed smiles
1t is also obvious that the "trottoir rou-
liant" may, in its own lazy, loafing way
be made the means Of forming new ac-
quaintances. One who sticks to 1t all
day long can scarcely help making
some, and for his fifty centimes one
may, If he chooses, stay there all day
long. Crowds of idlers would do it, but
for one thing-the lack of seats. That
is doubtless the reason why the compa-
ny has not provided seats.v-Paris Cor
respondence of the London News.
AUROCHS AND BISON.