The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-10


 sweet dirge music comes floating into my window am pretty sure there is some military funeral at St. Sulpice. don't care any great for Notre Dame or the Madeleine, but old St. Sulpice and St. Eustache and St. Etienne du Mont, and St. Joseph-des-Carmes, which is the old Chapel of the Carmelite monas- tery founded by Louis XIV, have an attraction for me. Though not a Ro- man Catholic, love to attend services, especially the evening services, in these old churches. The sermons are often excellent and some of the hymns, which they sing in French and not in Latin, and congregationally too, remind me much of some of the Moody and San- key hymns, and yet the music seems to take on a somewhat different charac- ter, as it echoes through the lofty aisles and arches Of these churches of the early centuries. It seems to me nev- CT listened to sweeter or more effective music, both instrumental and vocal, than heard one evening not long since at old St. Etienne of the Mountain. This is the church just to the left and. little back of the Pantheon. When I was here good many years ago the Pantheon was used as church, and a beautiful church it was, too, with its grand proportions, its striking paintings and in contrast to many of the churches here, flooded with sunlight, and when the Pantheon re- vefrted back to its original purpose, at the time of the death of Victor Hugo, becoming national tomb for illustri- ous dead, and ceased to be used as the Church of St. Genevieye, the congre- gation of St. Genevieve was scattered, but am told the majority were trans ferred to St. Etienne-du-Mont, which, though not appearing from the outside to be a very large church, still accom- lnodates large congregation. .s-...
 The restaurant where go every day, in the Rue Cryas, which leads directly up to Ct. Etienne-du-M Mont, is very bright, friendly little place, frequented regularly by about hundred students, and good many that are not students. The proprietor is d good, substantial looking man. with a nice face, and he often goes about among his guests shaking hands in a llospitable, fatherlT sort of a way. His wife, who sits at the desk taking the money, is hand some and good humored, and always has a bouquet of flowers by. her. To- day they were daisies and peonies, and she was as smiling as they.
 As this restaurant I have made two or three quite agreeable acquaintances, One is a Roumanian, a subject of the lovely and gifted Carmen Sylva. He is a student at the old Sorbonne and ex- poets to become a teacher or professor of languages when he goes back to his home by the Black Sea have offered to teach him English as long as re- main here. English is new to him, al- though he is a good scholar in French and German. He is doing splendidly, and 1t is a pleasure to feel that am doing little good to somebody, for D know 1t will be of value to him to learn English, which is becoming so important 8 language in the world. have been surprised to find that the Rournanian language is So much like the Spanish. I supposed it to be more like the German.
 Apropos to the subject of flowers, a magnificent exhibition of which is now open Just eff the Champs Elysees. It is wonderful to one how cheap flowers are here. Every one can afford to have them. The poorest looking old woman you can possibly imagine, sitting next me on top of an omnibus this morning, carried a little bunch of flowers affec- tionately in her toil-worn hand.
 We are just having the last of the Ill., ies of the valley. On the first day of this month in one of the daily papers, saw few very pretty lines about the lily of the valley. I will translate them from the French and close my letter herewith: 'The Lily-of-the- -Valley-The flower of
 the first of May
 A friendly symbol-Bringing happiness.
 The appearance of the lily of the val ley, coincident with the approach of the month of the Virgin, caused this flower to be chosen long ago as the emblem of purity and truth, and it became theI gracious appanage of all wise virgins. Folklore has gallantly preserved and transmitted the idea, although some- what modified from it's primitive signif- ieance. This flower has become a bringer of happiness, and on the first day of May every young girl, whether wise or not, wears 1t in her corsage, and the whole feminine element pays it grand festival. Simple and modest in its corolla of green, with its soft per fume of musk, the white flower of the lily of the valley made it's appearance in Paris several days ago. In form of bouquets coquettishly mingled with rich ribbons in the large florist estab- lishments in the quarter of the Opera, simply punched together in the more modest flower shops, empearled with dew, or Autographed upon a carte pos tale, it was admired by the poor on foot as well as by great ladies in their carriages, and yesterday, according to tradition, all Parisiennes wore bunch of lilies of the valley, and in the streets of the capital, beneath the bright sun which came out for a little between the showers, smiling young girls hurrying from the stores and shops to their dinner at noon, ex- changed their little bouquets and wished each other a thousand sweet and amiable wishes"
 WILLIAM HULL MACCARTHY.