The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-04-13


whereof the end is the resurrection fes-
'tivaI of the risen Lord, stands Mi
Careme 1t, toe, is a sort of religious
fete but although it masquerades among
the Christian holidays, the gods it cele-
brates are not they of the blessed Trim
ity. Disguise them as you may they are
just the ancient diyinities of the wood
and field. At the mfd-Lenten carnival
in this city of the Vaccinations the old
such full enjoyment Of the moment
such q frank forgetting of the yesterday
and the morrow, that 1t were almost pain
to pronounce the needed after-word
Great Pan is dead. So he is, and the
centuries are burying him Deep But may
not he, too. have his resurrection? Yes,
in Paris.
In Paris, then, On the morning of Mi
Careme. 1t is the wide and babbling
market place, out of which the Rue
Montmarrre climbs to. yonder convent
and cemetery that lie white and far AMI
strangely distincsNin the spring sunshine
For the beginning of the carnival, in
deed, one must go to the markets. Were
not the gods first honored by offerings
of flesh and fruits. That is why their
memory fingers longest and fondest, no
doubt with the hifmble folk of the stalls
until the centuries have made them it's
veritable guardians, says the Paris cor
respondent of the New York Mail and
Express.
Ml-CareEne as a saturnalia is the af-
falr OF all Paris. AS a; spectacle it is an
affair of the markets. Most of all Of the
market women who elect their fairest as
queen of queens and parade in triumph
to the Elysee where a paternal president
Kisses her and her maids in waiting
and sends them on their way rejoicing
Y1pT 81 Of
dent of turbulent republici
Their sisters of the markets are await
ing their appearance now, here where the
towers Of st. Eustache overlook with
Christian forbearance or admonish with
indulgent clangor the throngs along the
roadway. 1t is an ingenious sight. Back
There under the acres Of roof sheds still
there IS traffcking in flesh and green's Of
0utlandish sort-it grotesque swine heads
TO which death mad denied any dignity.
In curled salad leaves, in skinned and
spitted frogs, in the curious voluted en-
Yelopeseof swollen snails. Still, there is
chaf1n9 of the stranger in the quaint and
racy argot of the markets, ia. fangue des
Halles," the -philologists call it. Good-na-
tured cries follow one, and the sturdy
Breton fishWomen. with their short
dresses and thick ankles, Join in the
chcrused argument of the flower r1aafdens
monsieur does not want. Men must ca t
and drink even though it be holiday be-
cause, indeed, it is holiday. And bust
ness must go on in the markets.
But Wren the head of the cavaIcade ap-
pears, the markets suspend forthwith.
Garlsh footmen in rsd-peaked caps and
breastplates, Gaulish horsemen, courtiers
In the costumes of Henri Quatre and the
Grand Monarque, looking as if they had
stepped out Of old china; trumpeters in
the picturesque neglige of the revolution,
haloerdiers and their chariots-they file
past, while. the butchers and fishmon gers
and flower vendors fraternally greet them
with the gay fraternity Of Latin repub-
nc which has imperial and monarchical
memories. The chariots? There is the
Santos-Dumont balloon in miniature and
In its car various damsals of the colonies =
Algeria, Madagascar, Notwithstanding
about with their gaI1ants in character
lstic dances. There Is also "un char
American genre. Barnur1,' + for the great
circus is playing in Paris; the happy
Yankee family gets a vigorous salvo.
There is the chariot Of Repopufation !"
a fairly frank tableau vivant Of such
courtships as should be approved and
such courtships as should properly be
banned. And lastly the chariot Modern
Style Whereon seated under a crown
with her maids about her is 1.-The Queen
Of Queens" herself pretty Nine. Berthe
Roche, dark-eyed, dark-haired, round
faced and petitely plump-a very human
little queen and not too set up by her
honors to wave a joyous greeting to her
chums.
For some reason the procession halts
and waits AT last cavalier rushes for
ward with pink satin slipper, which
one Of the nai6s CT honor has somewhow
lost on the way. She puts it on unhesi-
tatingly, to the immenses satisfaction of
the multitude-and one wonders whether
it was altogether an accident that it was
ever lost. The procession sets forth
again, amid a thin shower of confetti.
Mi-Carene has begun. Henceforth it is
the affair of the multitude.
Mid-afternoon in the Boulevard ST
Michel, the heart of the Latin Quarter.
Here in sooth is the multitude. From the
Medici fountain, in the Luxembourg gar
dens past the venerable Place de la Sor-
bonnie down to the bridges that span the
Seine, rolls that cay sea Of faces. de-
voices for the none of the pagan gods.
Some are in dominos, some are ia powder
ana patches, but most of them meet you
unmasked and bright-eyed with the flush
Of the carnival spirit in their cheeks and
that audacious weIcoma in the smiling
curve Of the lips for which the day must
grant absolution
Here and there monstrousf long, fake
noses blaze in the crowd Pantaloon
passes with his bespangled breadth of
preeches; cavaliers with horsehair wigs
stalk among the strollers sYonder is a
Tyrolean bird merchant, but the cage on
his shoulders holds dried goldfish in
stead OF a canary. A pair of tinid mai
F dens hurry along hand in hand, needing
perhaps the countenanee of their COM
Fanlonship to compensate for the brevity
OF their dresses A group of students is
seated in front of a cafe-students evil
IDENTIFY by the loose, comfortable cut of
tnelr coats and trousers and their aspect
OF bohemian good fellowship. But GER
tam singtiarity of outline arrests your
careless glance. No, they are not stu
dents, unless they have escaped from a
seminary! Perhaps they are sisters OF
students
Much there is to be seen on the "Boul'
Mich; something there is to be done.
one must defend himself from attacks,
4