Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1906-01-27
PARIS AND
ITS GAIETY
GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBED BY
REV. HILL.
now Society is srlixed' :. How
strangers are Looked after and
How the Guide Charged our
IravelEer--Art Treasures.


My last letter was scrubbed in
Cologne where we broke our long
journey from Dresden to Paris
Monday morning we took the train
at eight for nine hours trip to the
great and only Paris. When I came
to the continent | had a sneaking
suspicion that one couldn't travel
three hours in any direction without
falling into the ocean. But since |
haYe travelled for three or four
months on continental express
trains which go at the terrible speed
of thirty miles per hour, and have
spent whole days in crossing Ger
many AMI France, | have learned
once again how ignorant | am.
Travelling on the continent has its
ups ard downs but perhaps the
worse down is the dislike of the
average continental native for fresh
air! There is absolutely no indirect
ventilation in most of the trains and
if some fresh blooded American
seeks to "air out" by opening a
window his French or German CO.
traveller will look daggers and
quietly but firmly shut it. It is
rather seriously comical to play
battledore and shutlecock with a
window and a Frenchman! All this
adds variety to our travel however
ana at the end of the day, one is
philosophical enough to laugh at his
experiences.
We reached Paris at four o'clock
Monday afternoon. The first plunge
was not exactly exhilarating. Our
long visit with the Teutons and our
forced acquaintance with their Ian
guage, but lily fitted us to meet the
very rapid talk of the quick, viva
cious Frenchman. However with the
aid of gesticulation and 'pourboires"
we got through customs easily and
satisfa ctorily and were soon at our
hotel near the opera house.
First impressions of Paris are very
unsatisfactory and one must hesitate
TO pass judgement. Three weeks in
Paris gives no one the right to tell
what Paris is, Or to give we'll
formed opinion Of the French peo-
pie as seen IN the metropolis. So
though l shall continually be passing
judgments as [ go on with this recital
and as I have been doing in past
recitals, please remember tat Il
have my fingers crossed" and that [
reserve the privilege Of taking
back" in three days what | may
write. If only you could be set
down immediately at the Arch of
Triumph or in front of the famous
places Of the city, you would exclain
at once. "this is the magical city of
PARIS" But you must wait; you do
not see Paris at the station not while
coming up the street to your hotel.
Another reason for withholding judg-
ment of this city, is the contiguity of
the beautiful and the vile, the his
toric and the transiently modern
here. You cannot have an uninter-
rupted vision of the beautiful for
long. The beautiful Madeline
church is surrounded by dens OF
vice the street leading from it to the
Place de la Concorde, is lined with
notorious joints; back of Notre Dame
is the morgue, where the snipwrecks
of life are gathered from the Seine,
and all about are novels of the poor.
Along the Avenue de lOpera are
und the magnificent cafes and
s.brasseries" where all sorts and con
ditions of men and women congre
gate. Good and evil thus lie close
together. For example some of the
cafes are quite proper places before
seven O'Clock, for decent people to
take their friends to dine, but later
the same tables are surrounded by |
the vilest characters of the city. We
were told by an English Lady
(tbe first real titled English woman
T have even metz that the ice skating
rink was quite proper between two
and five in the afternoon, but after
that the society is mixed" That's
the word, mixed 1t does not
mean rich md poor, high class and
Low class. we'll dressed and meanly
dressed,-it means people Of good
character and those Of bad. Let me
quote something from Marion Craw'
fora's latest novel, which it seems to
sc uhn knnuG |