OUR PARIS LETTER

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 363, 13 January 1880, Page 2

OUR PARIS LETTER

Varieties,

(from our own correspondent.)

Paris, Nov. 22.

A private soldier cannot travel in the first class, as he might possibly have a superior officer for travelling companion; but the latter has the right to,voyage in the third class with the men.. .

Little girl in presence of a marching regiment, band playing : " Mamma, what do the soldiers make who do not play music?"

Dirtiness does not exclude the taste for ornaments, B«ys M. Baudrillart; legislatures have to compel people to wash, as well as to check their inclination for expensive adornment. The Jabochkoff electric light makes the gilding of the grand opera red, and the Wedermann system, green. The conquests of Alexander were the signal of the intellectual and eesthetical decadence of Greece.

French mammas are opposed to their boys attending a school where chocolate is not served for the first breakfast—and the boys agree with them. Potel and Shabot estimate that one of Lucullus' suppers must have cost 45,000f.

In 1794, Napoleon caused his mistress to follow the army ; he led her to the outposts, and, without necessity, organised an attack to show her what slaughter was.

The bakers having won their strike, the cooks now claim their turn to commence.

In 1788, Desnot, a Paris cook, demanded a medal of honor for having " cut off the head of Delaunaj', torn out the heart of Berthier, and paraded these trophies through the streets." A doctor recommended a Brazilian millionaire to try and live on 3fr. a day, but above all to earn them.

Abd-el-Kader was famous, not for his white, transparent teeth that a nun of 23 years of age might envy, but for possessing a yellow front tooth—thus resembling Mahomed himself. The Dukes of Guise are all presumed to be born with dark hair, but having a white lock in front.

Swallows' nests soup must have for stock either chicken broth or milk of almonds. Rats are eaten best when salted and dried.

While Joseph, King of Spain, was dying of famine in a palace at Madrid, without servants or money, his brother Jerome, King of Westphalia, enjoyed his weekly bath in a tub of claret.

"Killed by a lilliputian star," is the poetic epitaph over the grave of a farmer whose brains were knocked out by a meteoric stone.

In Flanders, the army of Marshal Villars was days without food. On passing down the ranks the men fell on their knees and prayed—" Give us this day our daily bread." The Marshal replied by tears. But at the battle of Malplaquet the French threw away their bread jn order to> fight more freely. When the first three acts of the Tartuffc were written, Moltere .read them to the

Prince de Conde—" A scene is wanting, Moliere." "Which, Prince?" "The critics will accuse you of impiety ; anticipate them by marking the difference between a true and hypocritical devotee;" •

Voltaire said—Actors are people who occupy themselves most .about their own interests, and who comprehend them least." :

The plat de resistance with the Chinese is a bowl of rice ; their favorite sauce is made with fermented beans and salt. In preserved provisions .Pekin is celebrated for its sugared ducks and kinhoa ; for its hams, kept for two years in sawdust.

The Marseillais wlien thej r marched upon Paris, not only brought with them a national hymn, but also tomatoes, which were served to prisoners awaiting to bo guillotined, as " love apples." The Censor in England is called a Lord Chamberlain ; in France that functionary is " Dame Anastasia."

At the late sale of the penates of the aged cocotte Esther Guinot, Alexander Dumas invested extensively in purchases. Is he collecting articles de Verttt for a demi-mondian museum ?

A lady describes the climate of Nice as " a summer's day iced." Under the Restoration, reporters in the Chambre de Deputes had to appear in evening dress, white silk stockings, and silver buckle shoes; they sat alongside the members. When relegated to a special gallery, they were indignant, and declined to take notes for three days. The Palais Bourbon is now reported to be fully cleansed; all the busts of the kings have been removed to the vaults and cellars ; flags occupy their place. A fast hian upon town, who had just been jilted, calls the mare under his dogcart after the name of the cruel one, and drives before her residence, whipping the poor beast without mercy. The tomb has been described by Nodarnot, famous for his piety, as the " horizontal doorway to another residence." M. Eush, in his new "memoirs of Prince Bismarck," states that at Varzoy, the Prince has a secret door in his bed-room, leading to an underground passage, which opens on the park. I Iβ can thus escape very intimate friends. Hnys says: " History has no ragpicker's basket." Alphonze Dand'et, once so poor and now so rich, made the tour of Europe with a friend in the compulsory role of " Wandering MihstreL" A man was boasting that he had an elevator in his house. " So he has," chimed in hia wife, " and he keeps it in the cupboard in a bottle."