Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-22
The CATAC0MBS,
AHalIoweII Teachers Letter to
the Journal.
The Grim Scenes Under the City OF
Paris.
A Trip to the Latin Quarter-Vis'tors
in Paris.

acombs of which we had heard great
deal. 1t was necessary to provide our
selves with candles, as the chambers,
we were told. We're totally dark.
large crowd Of tourists, several hundred
in number was gathered at the en-
trance eagerly waiting with candles,
for the time ito descend. When the
guard opened the door, We lighted our
candles and joined the crowd pressing
and crowding for the entrance.
A long descent of Il hundred feet or
more down a dark. winding stairway,
brought us to a room thirty or forty
feet in width with perpendicular stone
walls and a stone ceiling about eight
feet high From this we followed
passage some six or eight feet wide,
winding around and passing every fe"
rods other branch passages. After
travelling about a mile we came to
large chamber around the sides OF
which and entirely hiding the walls.
were TERED. in the same manner IN
which wood is TERED human bones with
rows of skulls along the top and bottom
an! about half way down the sides.
and in places arranged in the form OF
crosses. The effect of the arrangements
skeletons could be made to look so fine.
From this we followed a passage
from five to fifteen feet in width along
the sides of which were similar arranS-
ments of bones and skulls In some
places we could see that the bone wall
must be eight OF ten feet in thickness.
The passage wound about for about
three miles | should judge, with occa-
sionally a tablet bearing some inscrip-
ton and with branch passages every
=. little while. all lined with bones as far
as we could see The passages were
Well drained but in places the ground
was quite muddy. Stone pillars had
been placed in many places to help sup
port the ceiling where the rock. Of Il
very soft kind seemed likely To give
way Another winding stairway led TO
the surface.
This vast network of chambers and
passages is IN old quarry where lime
stone was uuarred years ago. They
are entirely underground and invisible
from the surface save from the dozens
of places where they may be entered.
Years ago the people of Paris used
these as receptavles for bones taken
; from cemeteries about the city. During
the French Revolutions. bodies and
bores in vast numbers We're thrown
into these passages. completely filling
them in places. 1t was many years
later. that the place was cleaned out
ana the bones arranged in the orderly
manner in which they are now seen.
We were fortunate in the matter of
finding a good hotel in Paris, where the
rates are reasonably low. The hotel
St Pierre was recommended 10 US and
proves very desirable. although il is not
in the most aristocratic section Of the
city. The proprietor is very laxative
although he does not speak English
He has visited cuba and thought it
very strange when we told him we had
not been to that place. He has not
visited America and evidently has
little conception of the distances in our
country When l showed him Bos
ton and New York on 4
n small map and told him it was as far
between these as from Paris to London:
and that one could ride in straight
line in our country. week without
going outside of the United states. it
seemed very much different from
France which one can cross in two days
on tnelF SLOW Trains.
We are in the Latin Quarter. the sec
ton in which the colleges and uni
Nersties are situated, the educational
center of France, of n world wide
reputation Across the street are the
dismal old stone buildings OF famous
school of decorative art, From the
balcony we can look down into their
inner court and see the students at
work. Nothing in the exterior would
give the impression of artistic beauty
but the work done here by the stu
dents. some of which is on exhibition in
the buildings. is the most beautiful of
anything of the kind have seen. Down
the street to the right are seen the
massive buildings of the EcsSn of
Medicine. while to the left are the
equally massive buildings of the Uni
versity of Paris.
This is the older section of Paris and
has not the beauty OF the newer parts.
but it is the home of the student, and
although many of the students are not
here during the summer we have a
fairly good idea of the student life in
the Latin Quarter from the few who
are still here. How different from
the student life in America. The
greater part of the students here have
rooms at private houses and buy their
food from the shops. Everything
seems to be run on that basis. There
are shops where one can buy all kinds
of cooked meats, rolls--iittle breads.
is they call them-and pastry of all
kinds. Economy is not wondered at
here as it often is in America.
The students seem to take their time
for recreation late in the evening. If
we chance to be out about eleven
O'Clock we see them roaming about OF
drinking wine with some young women
and having Il wonderfully good time
The art students wear their hair down
over the ears and usually Wear a hat
with rim turned down. the most re-
senbling scare-crow of anything
have seen. About two o'clock in the
morning we often hear them going
home, sometimes singing and halloo'
Ing as loud as they possibly can but
never otherwise disorderly. never in
toXicated-we see only a very few in
y toxicated people in Paris.