An Illuminating Letter.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 March 1910, Page 4

An Illuminating Letter.

PARIS IN THE FLOOD TIMES

A NEW ZEALAND ARTIST'S

OBSERVATIONS

(Specially supplied to "The horowhenua Chronicles") Miss FranOeS Hodgkins, who is instructress in water colour at- the famous and ancient studio known as the Academic Colarossi, in Paris, writes to her brother-in-law and sister, Mr and .Mrs W. 11. Field, giving particulars of her experiences during the disastrous floods from which Paris has suffered all this year. Tn a coverin- letter sent by Air Field, lu.P., to the editor of this joilrnal, Mr Field recalls the fact that bis sis-ter-in-law enjoys the distinction of having had a picture hung on the line in tho British Royal Academy, and ol being the first New Zealand artist to have a picture accepted by that body at all. Vt is worthy of notice, too, that before Miss Hodgkins only one lady had been at any time appointed to the staff of the Academe Colarossi. Her lat-ers, to which reference has been made nbovo. are as follow:—

Val do Grace Paris, January 27, 1910, "You will have seen from the papers wliat terrible floods we are having. I wish I could send you assurance of my safety. I ain high and dry out of' the way of the waters, bu't, of course, you are not to kno wthis, and no doubt will have some anxious pangs about me. The havoo and disaster everyis awful. _ It is ton days now since the Seine began to rise, and three days ago we watched it, anxiously, creep up and cover the high Hood mark on the Pont R' 1ma of 1710. Since then it has overflowed the banks in some places and is pouring into all the streets leading to the river. The big sewers are bursting, and .all the drains which run into the river now have the river running into Mieiu, and bursting up the pavements with terrific force, and flooding the streets. Human effort is powerless in the face of such a calamity. Rain pours down and the cold is intense. Last night our hopes wont up; it began to freeze, and we hoped that this would put an end to the flood, but it did not last, and this morning it was raining harder than ever. Tt is not the local rain that is doing the mischief, it is the swollen tributaries pouring into the Seine, which is a river, to judge from its history, with a big capacity for overflowing itself; but tiever with such appalling thoroughness as this. "Wo spend all our spare time on the quais, or as near to them as we can get. At most of the street comers there is a cordon of soldiers, and a big detour is necessary to get to any special spot. Boats are plying in some of the streets, and where it is not very deep the busses and tram cars plough through the mud and filth. in Notre Dame, they say, 300 Archbishops of the 14th century are floating about, .and divers are searching' for papers in the Palais do Justice. The papers to-day predict a further rise of 32 inches. The poor people, as usual, are the worst sufferers, and there is widespread desolation everywhere. The price of food is going up, coal is dear, and electric light- lias failed altogether. T went down this morning to have a look at a friend's house, a very old one on the Quai Conti, and found it surrounded by five feet of w.ater. and a raft coming out of the front door. My friend, fortunately, is still in Scotland. The Government talk of turning the Pantheon (close by here) inso a dormitory. Heaven help the poor .souls condemned to pass a night in that dismal edifice. Fancy sleeping on top of Voltaire's .ashes, to say nothing of Victor Hugo and Zola, with Rodin's "Perseus" keeping grim watch at the door! Ft gives one the creeps to go in even in daylight, "All work is at a standstill. One can't settle down with Paris in such a terrible mess. Even the great performance of the famous "Chanticleer," which, was to have taken place to-night, lias been postponed. Who could fiddle while Paris burned or drowned? "Ry the time t-his reaches von. Paris will have recovered, and will lie. I hope, her own white beautiful self again. It is lmrribh> impiety to see her covered with slime and mud." A LATEIt LETTER. Writing later, on Ist February, Miss Hodgkins says:—"We are all getting over our fright and feeling more cheerful about the fate of Paris. The floods are slowly subsiding, the worst is over, anil we are breathing freely once more. Of course we are taking the greatest precautions. All water is boiled before being used for human consumption. It is to he hoped there will be no epidemic of any sort. There was a wild panic last week because the water supply was in danger of being cut off, and people left Paris by hundreds. Hut nothing of the kind has happened in my portion of the City, hi fact we have suffered very little inconvenience, and life is becoming 411 most- normal once more. On Monday when things were at their very worst, and we were all pretty gloomy mv class of students was on the- verge of bei'- - broken up. Four came in to say they were off to Italy, and later'in the afternoon a nervous Englishman said lie thought ho had better be goir- and a little American girl came in waving a ticket to Switzerland. Rut she was the only one who actually went; all the others thought better of it, though they still have their tickets in their pockets, ready to fly on the first sign of danger. Money has poured in from all ouarters of the earth —a golden sop to dry up the tears of the poor Parisians; also gifts of boats of every sort, shape and size. Gondolas from Venice are 1 yi n -* at the railway station, perplexing the Government. Rarges from the Thames are also another awkward present. The waters are going down so quickly now there is not enough draught for the shallowest boat, though it will bo more than a month before the river boats run again. Fortunately there havo been very few losses of life."