New-York tribune., 1900-05-13
ON THE MOVING SIDEWALK
CURIOUS SENSATIONS AND SIGHTS on

On Ine SOutN sue OF JIt river L-4- FvSitiO1
buildings stand upon three sides Of what in
London would be called a square Trapeziam
would be the right word but square is the
popular The longest side. measuring three
quarters of u mile and containing the Avenue
of the Nations. Is formed by the river. The
next longest is formed by the Champ IL Mars
Palaces and the third and shortest by the
Palaces of the Invalides section The fourth
side open to the city, is bsund-d by the Ave
nue. de Ia Motto Picquet- Il is obvious that under
ordinary circumstances q VISITOR lItrndlns 20
pass say from the InValides 10 the Champ de
Mars must without specially contrlved means
of communication. traverse a large block OF
streets, avenues and bOuleVardS- The rolling
platform "trOttOir rOulant,' Is the special con-
trivance. 1t is not a detached structure Ike
railway train arriving at and passing certain
points at stated times In the uott'ir rou-
LIANT there is no break In engineers language
1t is endless" floor The 'trottoir rou-
lant'' is a narrow ribbon Of 4 nOoF raised thIFty
feet above the level OF the ground, ever and ever
gliding along the four sides Of the sGuare-a
wooden serpent with its tail in its mouth
The rolling platform is about two and
quarter miles in length. There are ten entries
TO 1T and many exits from il, distributed
over the river face. along the Champ de Mars
and the lnVahdeS- 1t never stops Tor pasSen-
gers; you step on to il or off il as you DO on
or off London bus in motion but with the
important difference that the rolling platform
is only two inches above the level Of your shoe
soles, and that its rate OF motion is slower As
it turns the corners of the huge traFezium, or
swerves rightward leftward at sCUlr point
on one of its sides its motion resembles he
sinuOUS crawl OF q snake.
Thirty feet overhead, supported uPOn forest
Of scaffOlding. are laid the steel rails upon
which revOlve the dwarf wheels of the "trottoir
roulant" Upon the two and a quarter miles
are congresated two and a quarter miles OF
more or less idly curious humanity r. b0r o.
humanity, French journalist calls h. Ali-
titudeS of PariSianS, prOVincialS, Americans,
cOckneys, Germans, but principally -he t-si
two, glide overhead on the back Of this SirCoas
monster 1t IS odd to witness. when a sHGTe-
comes, the sudden shiny appariJiOn cf the 'oas
ribbon of umbrellas. The monsters vaiee
sounds SiuG-iV the Ci1C Yong nI-f the
night. Sometimes it resembles the din made ~
the lids OF twenty million Br0bdinEude.aE Set-
ties from which the steam is eSCapiDg- some
times the roll of the nassed drums OF the entire
French army. At other times il conc-ntra;es
itself in a high pitched, fierce iron SCreech-
How does this Internal mutteTiTE. SrGa--ng
growing, rattlng. ScreechinS affect the GVei,s-s
of the Avenue de Ia BOurGonnaiS the AvsC3s
de la Motto Picquet the Rue Fabert, in frcrt
of whose third story windows the "tTutt0iT res
past with its load OF humanity? IT. London
where people make a fuss about organ grinders
and the tambourine girls Of the salvation Ariny,
1T would, L fancy, cause an insurTsctlcn Bu'
have heard Of no wild protest il Pa-is-not .
wrathful face have seen in all those h5it niles
Of windows. What Sh0pkeep pers and V-0;as-
sOnal people have done is TO seize this rave op-
pOrtunity of advertising JhemSslVa - The most
striking advertisement Is the figure of doI
meant for newly born baby, stuck in a VII
dow bearing the sign OF ''A.le. PCu-=-1 SC
COUcheUse." That baby Of flannel AM sawtus[
with its prematurely WideaWGke smile eysrast-
ingly holds out its spCds CT arms to the RIBBON
of humanity that glides past everiastin-ly alike.
For the man ~ business intent u7OC prompt
, transfer from this % that region Cf the EXpoSl-
tlcn- and the idle locker caring most Tor me
summer air and q smoke. tha "trOttCi- rOUlant
is 4 convenient. comfortable and ingenious de-
vice. In the first placa the aerial structure 3
not all mobile. L IS divided into three lGnsi-
tudinal parallel sections. the first stationary
the second IrOvinE at the rate Of about three
miles an hour, the third ~ about SIN II you
want to make the circuit quickly You stand On
the third, and if YOU in great hurry al you
have 10 dc is to stride ahead ald add yen'
1s4rlf ~ p
roulant" If yoU want 70 take IL easy and locs
leisurely about YOU. you simply step down tNo
inches to the second section. II You want u
come TO a dead stop the two inches 20 the
stationary strip You viii often 10 This in 0rde,
10 admire some street view. or glimpse OF the
surllt river. or beautiful building IL the Avenue
or the Nations, or on the opposite bank OF t17
Seine The cluster of steep roosed old Paris TO
ing on the "trOttOir ruulInt'' is easy walsins
out 1or all that scores OF people come 70 gris.
quite haTmiessly and cOmically when arst thes
Try H. In Ccckayne no sane person gets fAce ~
the rear out of omnibus attempts !"
enter il with his silly back turned toward ths
1t is great fun. a stoutish. jolly looking womsh
mas done 4. and the result is thai she h@S
cannoned against somebody who Cannoh'
against third. who pitches against the s,oH-
ach OF fourth. whom the unexpected snueA
temporarily depriVeS of his umbrella and his ha|
InnocuouS disaster often happens when per,
sons foot becomes entangled behind the ear
OF the other leg; each leg becomes as UnmsnAse
able as towel whipped round the leg OF
table EnSnared thuSwiSe. the person ufa--.
tests an uncOntrOllable tendency 20 SPIN rVu.-
like teetotum- After long and leisurely %
serVation. am inclined to think that Of al -
titudeS on the "trOttOir rOuiantF this Is uae
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