Year: 1878

vi Gue u6AG udy, L liudy, i9h liiSe.,
we arrived at the city of Paris. We
spent Saturday and Monday at the
Exposition. The Americans do not
like it as we'll as their Centennial, but
they admit that, excepting the ar
rangement, size and convenience, the
exposition, taken as a whole, is better
than that of Philadelphia The gal
leries of paintings of all the differ ent
countries were large and magnificent.
America had the smallest collection,
but she is to be excused on account OF
her youth. What she had were very
fine aud creditable. The paintings Of
France, Great Britain and Austria,
were exceptionally fine. Some of
them were very large, at least thirty
or forty feet. France has the largest
collection as she has of everything
else. l suppose, however, she claims
this right. The buildings and grounds
were so crowded that it was difficult
for a person to make his way, and at
the restaurants on the grounds per-
son could not get anything to eat forthe
crowd. I suppose there were at least
a hundred restaurants on the grounds,
every one of which was crowded from
the opening of the Exposition to its
close.


We went to see the Trocadero, but
found it unfinished and shut. We
concluded that it was sell. One of
the most charming places is the ac-
quarium. Here we wandered amid a
perfect labyrinth of massive rocks,
and saw fish, and eels almost as larg"
as an anaconda, sporting in the water.


At the Forest building we saw
every imaginable article in wood, and
in one Of our strolIs we passed a rus
tic bridge the railing of which was
iron and the most perfect imitation of
nature that can be conceived. To the
stranger it is nature herself till he is
convinced otherwise by using a new
pen knife and getting cash in it for
his curiosity


The musical instruments are of such
q sweet tone that a person would
think that ST. Cecilia herself was pre-
siding at them if he did not actually
see the exhibitor lingering the keys.


To one who did not see the Cen
tennial everything seems grand and
complete, but to those who have seen
it suspicion steals over them that
some of those elegant articles occu-
pied a place in the Centennial build
ings. For myself l do not pretend to
say aught, except that everything
was sufficiently grand for me, and l
do not see how an Exposition could
be more of a success.


On account Of the great crowd at
Paris the city was really unpleasant.
A stranger considered himself lucky
if he could find cab. The restaura-
teurs and cab men III some cases We're
perfectly indifferent in their manner,
and had so much to do that they did
not care whether they were patron
lied or not. I do not mean you to in
fer from this th at the French are not
polite and obliging. They are so very
polite that all foreigners, even the
Germans, give the palm of poilteness
to them. Even when they take leave
of each other they tip their hats and
shake hands, and if stranger ac-
costs one he receives bow and tip
OF the hat. They seem to have a
peculiar knack Of saying "OaI5' and
now "Monsieur,' so soft and kind
like it sounds.


Two Of our party were tired of
Paris with its surging crowd and said
we would leave and perhaps return
in August when the crowd might not
be so great. On this account we left
sooner than We had anticipated, We
however visited the palace of the
Louvre and saw in it one of the larg-
est and best collections Of paintings
to be found in the world. In one of
the galleries are the original paintings
by the following celebrated artists :
Raphael, Titan, Lionarda di Vinchi,
Peter Paul Rubons, Paulo Vernese,
Michael Augelo, Guido, and many
others.


The Louvre was begun in 1928 by
Francis |, and has been extended and
improved ever since. The valuable
library was burned by the Colnmun-
lists in 1871. The lower stories of the
Louvre are used for sculpture. Here
there is also an excellent collection of