Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-12
BOULEVARD BY NIGHT
PaIpitating Heart of the Gay
French Capital.
PARIS IN A BLAZE OF GLORY
As 1t Appears to Tourists From Cafe
Terrace.
THE FOUNTAINHEAD OF GOSSIP
Audacious Fakirs of the Great
Thoroughfare-some of Their
Wares-The Crowds.
THE FOUNTAINHEAD OF GOSSIP

Special Correspondence of The Star
PARIS May 2, 1906
"Dissipated!" remarked Berries aunt as
she glanced on the boulevard of a spring
night The British tourists sat in the open
air on the terrace" of the Cafe de la Paix.
close to the spot supposed TO be the exact
center of the world.
Ripping" nurmured Berries younger
brother. The arc lamps were splitting in
the foliage of tie sidewalk trees. Incandes-
cent gas lamps threw great floods of yellow
light. Disappearing signs and changing
color signs dashed varied tints across the
spangled night.
The atmosphere is redolent of springtime
flowers for sale in the kerb Mosques, coffee
and cordials from the terrace tables. escap-
ing automobile gases, and the perfumes of
a thousand Parisiennes. extracts, sachets
colognes and violet waters
1t was night on the boulevard A never
ending multitude of wel-dressed loungers
reveled in the lights and their own peaceful
gregariousness. The British tourists felt
themselves uplifted. Indeed they rather
liked the French. because they are such
funny people; but to the boulevard fakir
who was trying TO sell them a doped love
bird, clawing sieepiy to stick, the British
themselves seemed funny.
'Ach yes, / spik Eengleeshi Vohly-voh
cette petit vois-oh? l spik Eengleesh, zee
burd aussi!'
is such a little bird! How much? Com
beyan?'
"ze Lof'-Burd''
The splendid blonde had spoken the girl
of milk and roses, with two eyes like little
deep blue lakes beneath her mass of golden
hair-the troubling creature toward whom
fifteen Erepehroan nF oil
burning glances. The bird was SO full of
seed soaked in laudanum water that 1t did
not know its tail from its BILL ''Ze lof-
burd, mademoiselle, re burd what Iof' -
Get OUT! Like true Briton BERTHE had
spoken to the point. That bird is sick
fou ought TO De arrested Tor cruelty. Beast
ly French; they will do anything for
money!
That was Berties estimate of the boule
ward, and when mysterious young man
with bulging pockets thrust a little book
tied with string into the hands of Bertie's
younger brother, whispering. "Quicki Three
francs! he growled again: Get outr' The
last time he was in Paris he gave uu 7
francs for such stringtied book-whIch
turned out to be copy Of lie Peril Pro-
testant' yet it will not prevent him from
losing money later on by way of a sealed
packet-containing dozen blameless pic
torial post cards.
What is the boulevard? 1t Is not a drive
way nor suburban avenue. 1t Is a semi
circle OF brilliantly lighted streets lined
with cafes and retail shops in the plumb
center of Paris.
Is the boulevard the brain of Paris? No,
the intellectual city is the Latin quarter
far away across the river. Its Inhabitants
are as much strangers on the boulevard as
BERTHE and his aunt.
Is the boulevard the center of Paris life?
No, there are two such radiating centers
the Place OF the Chatelet and the Place of
the Republic-and must always remain SO
by reason of the situation of the great mar
kets and the railway stations.
Is 1t the center of fashion? No. wealth
and fashion are far away west And 1t is
surely not the money center. The stock
exchange quarter is hidden behind Its east
ern limit; the bourse of commerce district
escapes 1t entirely; and so do the districts
of the Bank of France, the city hall and
the ministry of finances.
Palpitating Heart Of Paris.
Is the boulevard the center Of pleasures?
Berties aunt thinks so. and twenty years
ago It was; but today Montmartre. the
Paris Bowery-and- Tenderioin, together with
the Champs Elysees and the Bots. make
the boulevard seem almost old-fashioned.
And note. the pleasures of Paris neither