PARIS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1548, 22 July 1873, Page 2

PAR IS.

; [PROM OUR OWN : 'CORRESPONDENT.]- ;: '; I . ; . ...May ; iT- /;,/. ; It is refreshing to turn from the turmoil of home politics to the pleasing and healthy view to be daily encountered in thestreets, . of- . Young, France of both sexes, going to its "First Cpmtnunipn." . The boy-communicants look eh arming but demure, in their gala-costumes ; the_girls) : dressed in white v tulle; iwhUie flowers, and white pearls, and veil-en^ yeloped -like a bride, about contracting marriage with. the, Church —are Innocence itself. There is a little coquetting also in appearing. for the first "time, in .a grand ™ toilette, but . which is pardoned [ before being blamed. Then how proud the mother looks ;,how= amazed ;the younger sisters.; how- happy the father ! It is the moment to catch him and make him vote for r Henri VV ; This ceremony -is . ; everclear to Free Thinking— that is persons neither free nor thinking— -parents ; they cannot assist at a divorce between youthful innocence; and. religion. Confirmation was perhaps the- only religious vote at which Voltaire did not scoff, arid Didevat riot only sent his daughter to the church to be: catechised ;biit/.he"ard her that lesson himself. The period in ques-~ ibion is the occasion for parents who have lived as free lovers to have their marriage legally ratified ; some even venture" so' far as to invoke the blessing of: the Church. Only imagine so tranquil a state of existence compared with Paris ' two years ago, when the French army was ': besieging . the capital with Prussian sol- ' diers for spectators, ; and the 'besieged in their spare moments shooting' 1 priests, V| . policemen, and prisoners. And this tranquility, too, independent of any dynasty.

An idea, not more than five years old for France, is the Societe dv travail.' ' It has for its object the finding of honorable employers for. honorable workmen, the intermediary, being a. society bf wellj--^ known citizens. It is a labor ■bazaar, wheie good conduct out of work, is sought ;* and engaged., A. practical change 'has r Been made ,by, the associating s of ['io^e-.; , men on the Committee to represent ,iheii;,.[ employers, the ( wants of the labor market d,re thus best understood. Paris has now three of these excellent societies, Lyons one, and Marseilles and Lille are preparing to adopt the plan also. * Neither of the parties interested has to pay fees, f i j During the late invasion, one of the ; many circumstance which most, struck the 7 French was the knowledge displayed of their language by the enemy. . Since then the necessity of the French studying German, or rather living languages, has become so apparent, that not only has it led to reform in classical studies, but an agitation is being set on foot to introduce the acquisition of English arid German in the primary schools. M. Weill has lately ,_ drawn attention to the alleged poverty of ' the. French language. It requires to be , enriched, be says, by at least 5000 words, dnd ; supplies specimens of . his ability, to coin them. It is this; penury, it would { seem, accounts for his countrymen not ' being orators. Hitherto it was generally :< believed:that every Frenchman was a born l > Demosthenes, as every good ; American is a born President. M. Weill is more at home in broaching the idea that living languages— one at least to be compulsory —ought to be taught in children's schools and above all by females— the age and| sex of the teacher being conditions bPsuccess. ••■' : ■ : : ■ : ■"•■ : -- - 1 - i; ■•-'■

A few statistics about the Commune Courts-martial: There were 19,000 pri- ... soners; 5000 indictments were quashed, ' and 2227 persons acquitted, 80 sentences to death, and 120 ditto pronounced against fugitives,"3oo were banished, 6 mulcted in fines,'s2 eiifants under 16 years- of i age > sent to reformatories, and the remainder of the thousands have been condemned tor iniprisonment of various degrees, ranging?), from one year up to life. Bacon observed, that Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil tirries^ and which: have mucli venera- ! tion. but. no rest. Prince. Iturbide was , an exception to all this ; his father, Em- ! peror Iturbide, Dori Augustiri I. of , Mexico, 'found his : Qaueretaro in July, '1822, , , w.as shot pqxir encourag&r Us auimis, . ;■ perhaps. Tlie Prince who has jusf'dieel was, according to his obituary notice, ' "aged 58," a strange posthumous child, - whos must have been born some eight % years after his father's execution. The defuncb : resembled other Princes— Louis . Phillipe when in America arid Louis Napoleori when in London— in having no ' means, and worse, no "star" to believe in, no " uncle's memory to sustain" him in this vale of tears." In 1865; he fellia love ; with ; the cook of the hotel where he resided, and married her— as . other ■ great men have done before him. The ' happy couple then opened an humble eating house, where for one franc and a half . a meal was to be procured, including -a r small bottle of wine and pain a discretion; '4 the establishment was ■ on the fourth stpry, and "such a gettin' up stairs" no one ever did see. The Prince in white apron and paper cap waited on his clients, an

attention that made you feel for once like a Roman Emperor. Subsequently the Prince and Princess opened a cate and dancing salon in the outskirts of the city. Big drinks, however, killed his highness. His funeral was very humble, in accordance with his late mother's wish, and the mourners were scanty, but then Princes, like favorites, have no real friends. The deceased leaves one sister, who resides at Bayonne, and two cousins, of the younger, Augustin, is aged ten years. This was the boy adopted by Emperor Maximilian as heir apparent to his crown ; the King of the Belgians and the Emperor of Austria, out of memory for their sister and brother, support him. The various clubs are now in the height of their concert season, by means of which bachelors can repay the hospitality of married friends. At these reuniotis, Madame Judic is a necessity; no distinguished member of the fashionable world would think of entertaining her society without this celebrated " gesturesinger," who balances so delicately the indecent, without being shocking. She receives 1000 francs on these occasions. The circus has opened for the season in the Champs-Elyse'es, and fashion patronises the acrobats here, though ignoring their existence at the winter circus. But no " star" has yet appeared ; the gymnasted sensation, however is certain to arrive. It was the famous Astley, an Englishman, who nearly a century ago established the first circus in Paris ; subsequently he took Franconi into partnership, they introduced various celebrities to public, notice, monkeys, deers, elephants, jugglers, and tight-rope performers. Leotard, of trapeze notoriety, was as much beloved by the ladies as Capoul the tenor, or rather as all tenors are ; there was Olmar, who walked on the ceiling so as to make the flies jealous, and Crocket the lion tamer, so much loved by his pets that one morning they breakfasted off him. Saturday is the aristocratic niglit at the circus, as Friday is at the open-air concert, and it is rumored certain dressmakers do a good business by hiring out toilettes to ladies on these evenings to "try on," before packing up the wardrobe glories for foreign parts. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth at Nice ; owing to the passion that exists there for play, the government has been compelled by the virtuous citizens to order that theclubs be closed at midnight. This curfew-bell arrangement has been mitigated by extra trains leaving a few mm- # utes after twelve for Moraco, where in half-an-hour, playing en route to keep one's hand in, gamblers arrive in the land of .freedom. Those who do not like to go bo, far commence sport earlier in the clubs, and stake higher sums. In Natuie everything is thus compensatory. It may not be known that in that land of soft and perfumed breezes, nice violets are sold by weight, and in accordance with the spirit of the times have increased by ten sous per pound, that is costing two francs per pound now. Orange blossoms— not old ones — are disposed of in the same manner. In the environs of Genoa, it is not unusual for a pet horse to have a bedding of cut ■violets instead of straw, being cheaper into the bargain. Roses, that formerly cost but ten sous per pound, now cannot be had under one franc, but still not beyond the means of the weary and heavy laden, to have at last a " bed of roses" — which are in addition cheaper than "down."

Public funds, as represented by the 1 pawn offices, are no slight indication of i the social state of the capital. Government monopolises " my uncle's " business, and lends on an average 30 millions of francs c per year. Last month three millions were ' loaned, and two and a-half paid in for . redemptions. The difference between the loan value of a pledge and its actual yalue f when sold, remains to the credit of the . borrower, hence quite a traffic takes place „ in the sale of tickets— pa wn-rbroking scrip. The most gigantic loan ever effected was ] by a Russian on diamonds, in 1851, when his wants were relieved to the extent, of a quarter of million of francs. The PrincePresident, according to the gossip of the - time, was known to have an interest in this affair, money being required for the emip d'etat. The ex-Emperor had thus reason for revering the memory of his « uncle." J Asparagras never was known to be so plentiful or so succulent as this year ; it " is, comparatively speaking, very cheap, varying from two to ten francs the bundle. t In the latter case the stems are as white , and as long as a baby's leg. Paris depends on the village of Argenteuil, a 1 suburb, for this spring luxury, that which comes from Algeria, like all that country's produce, is tasteless. Asparagas seems to take the place of rhubarb and tea-kale . in France ; the French, lift up their hands in pious horror at the idea of eating Btewed rhubarb, the few stalks of which to be met with in the markets sell at the rate of one franc per pound. However, " hand me the rhubarb, and I'll pass you the senna " is quite a common proverb here. Cherries are in season, but dear ; ' good children caa purchase for two sous, half a dozen tied on a stick, peeping out beneath leaves of lilly of the valley and a top-knot of pansies. The trade in cherries is very • important, tons being sent to London and even St. Petersburg ; the .stalks are sold to make "pure tea "for invalids, and the stones are smashed up to be distilled with the fruit into the liqueur, Kirsch. Five executions took place in one day last week in Paris— the victims are unclaimed dogs, having no fixed residence ; when atrested, the animals, if curs, are kept for a few days, then hanged on iron gibbets in the knacker's yard ; the skin is disposed of to the tanner, and the carcasses, on the faith of the sanitary inspectors, are converted into charcoal to refine sugar, and not into sausages for the million. The public gardens of the city are now supplied with milch cows and drinking fountains, for children, and the plan of hiring a perambulator on the ground, as one does a cab, with a steady one-woman pushing power, is a boon to babies and fainting mammas. Each perambulator is famished with the parasol working on moveable joints, and attached to the handle of the vehicle. Electric-light advertising has again come into favor, and is rendered quite " catching/ by alternating each advertisement By flashing on the screen with a magic-lantern drollery. The ostriches in the Zoological Garden have "excavated" nests, and after depositing eggs therein, covered them op. we are awaiting "asus of Austerlitz" to hatch They are real "birds of freedom. v One picked M. Thiers' pocket of a handkerchief a few days ago.