Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1910-07-14
PARIS IS IN
GALA ATTIRE
Frenchmen Celebrating the
GLORIOUS Fourteenth"
When the Bastile Fell
Before the Mob.

Paris. July l4.-Again the whirligig
OF time has brought to Paris that day
OF days, the glorious fourteenth" !"
when all loyal Frenchmen with repub.
lican blood in their veins and patriot.
ic sentiments in their minds turn
themselves loose to celebrate the ami
versary of that other grim and terri
BILE fourteenth of July, when the Bas.
tile. symbol of kingly tyranny. fell
before the onslaught OF mob shout.
ing "Liberte. Fraterhite ct Egalite."
True. iirecrackers are tabooed, and
there is no heavyweight champion
ship to add eclat To the French nation.
al holiday. Yet today all Is merry as
a marriage bell in this city OF light
and laughter, and the victory OF n
black Johnson over white Jeffries
could add nothing to the joyousness OF
the occasion.
Today's celebration Is distinctly bur
geois, OF course. for the mobiles and
the clergy, and such as dream OF n
restoration OF royalty. frown upon the
Fourteenth's festivities as an opening
OF old wounds and festered sores. The
glorious fourteenth" is exclusively
the holiday OF the people, and fashion.
able Paris has been away at the baths
and cures and watering places these
many weeks. But the fun, though
generally unconfined, is, for the most
part. wholesome enough. 1t is like
wise inexpensive, which is an item to
be considered In the holiday OF this
thrifty people.
For week or more the streets have
been undergoing transformation, and
avenues boulevards and squares have
suddenly blossomed With all sorts and
conditions Of booths and tents. Vans
and wagons have poured into the city
from all quarters each bringing its
special attraction for the fete. Once
here the vans are quickly unloaded.
the horses driven to shelter, and the
work OF setting up the booths begun
and finished. No quarter OF the city
is free from these newcomers. In the
great open places and I'm the crooked
meaner streets, from the Champs Ely
sees to Montmarte and in the Quarter
Latin. the fakirs and showmen are
safe for the time being from any sort
of municipal molestation.
Bourgeois Paris is evidently proud
or Its workmanship or else welcomes
the opportunity to improve 1t, for the
rifle galleries outnumber every other
form OF amusement SIX to one. All
over Paris one hears tue Zip-zip of the
little bullets as men--and women, too
try to pile up Ina score or the lille
bullseyes. Everywhe.'e too, one finds
the carrousels.
1t is relatively speaking, a noiseless
fourteenth. To be sure, there was
plenty Of noise and tumult on the orig.
inal fourteenth. the one in 1889. There
was no end OF sound and fury then;
the echoes of that terrific occurrence
are still heard in history. But France.
In her annual celebrations of the fall
OF the Bastile and the rise of Liberte.
Fraternite ct Egalite. has never had
resource to the Chinese firecracker
and all the diabollcal and dangerous
explosives that follow in it's train.
Rather France eats, drinks and makes
merry; she goes in for romping and
dancing; she erects creased poles and
turns loose creased pigs. There is
atmosphere of rolIicking. There is
an atmpsohere OF rollicking good hu.
NOR, of jokes and joshes and pollity.