Cabman as Gondolier.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 8 April 1910, Page 4

Cabman as Gondolier.

RKMARKAMLF, SIGHTS ON A Tori{ OF PARIS WJfKX STILL

rXDKR WATER

A "Lloyd's Xews" correspondent who during the first week in February made a tour of the wealthy quarter of St. Germain, which lies behind Palais Murlion and the Quai d'Orsay Station, writes: This district is inhabited chiefly by senators, deputies, foreign Ambassadors, and the kings of finance. 1 found that the woes of the wealthy were no less marked than those of the humbler worker who lives in the Crenelle quarter. The principal streets in the St. Germain quarter, notably the Rue dp Lille, the Rue de Mac. the Rue de Poitiers. the |{iie de rniversite, and the ]lue de Moiirgogne, were still .submerged to an average depth of n ft. Along each of these thoroughfares were built, wooden footways, consisting of trestles covered with stout planks. I passed down the Rue de Poitiers ■i.nd nlonsr de Lille by one of the«!' footways. The courts of the beautiful mans'ons in tin's quarter, some of which in their time ha\e sheltered some of the pi-ii'idesl families of France, were F.ci many miniature lakes with the water reaching to the steps of the entrance. Peering through the windows of the rooms abuting the -treef- the canal it might be more trulv called me saw tallies and chairs (hating about within. Jn one of these apartments, the oc-:'Mi.-iiit.s of which had fled, f noticed a handsome gilt bedstead .standing ! 'i I'lid. Mlack spots, like so many -hcal.s in ;i sea. indicated the presence in tiie water of other articles ;f furniture. The traders and shopkeepers in the district have been irretrievably ruined by the inundation. At one shop 1 saw the proprietor, assisted by some of his friends, perched on the h.-ilf-la.iidiiig of the stairs trviug t:> save what little of the stock they could with long poles, to wliich fish hooks were attached. The handsome entnence to the National Savings Mank with its superior stone porch and wide courtvard seemed to be embellished with its setting of yellow water. No handsomer water .rate could surely !'p found in all Venice than that «f tiiis half-submerged building. Ha\iug completed n circular tour ol the footways I returned to the Quai d'Orsay Station, and there took boat for the Chamber of Deputies. _lt was tho most direct route. There were besides the boatman, four passengers and myself. It was a flat-bottomed craft of the type ono sees on tho upper regions of the Thames.

T\vf> polieeintvn obligingly helped us to board while the boatman lump; mi to tile landing .st:i.t>e to prevent tin' boat from being .swept away. As we pushed off the flood water was pouring out of the first door windows uf tho railway station with tilt , noise of a mill .sluice. Tim current bore us safely down the Hue de Lille. There was.little need of sculls to propel us, but the boatman, who until last week had driven a horse taxi, had speedily adapted himself to his new surroundings and now showed himself as much at homo on the water as he had formerly been on the land when piloting a taxi. He explained the situation good humouredly. "Last week, 1 ' he. said, "when I was "driving a cab in the Etoile quarter I little thought I should become a gondolier. Where to?" he asked to one of my fellow passengers. "Xo. 78 Rue do Lille." "Von mean tho Grand Canal," said our coche-gondolier, with a laugh at his own wit. In a few minutes we were abreast of Xo. 78. The water was half way up to the top of the Avide street entrance. A few dexterous strokes of the sculls and we shot through the entrance and kept ducking our heads to avoid coming into contact with tho arched room. We shouted for tho concierge, but for a moment there was no reply. As we turned the corner of the concierge's lodge and entered the courtyard, which was six feet deep, we oalight sight of the concierge sitting on the sill of the second floor window with a fishing line in his hand. Ho was, as lie assured us. having some- excellent spnrt. "What luck?" asked the boatman. "T have caught four in an hour," explained this enthusiastic angler. The trestle footway ran round one side of the courtyard. The concierge, leaving his pursuit, lowered down a roughly-built ladder from the seeoml-flonr window. One of our narty climbed this and so reached home. Waving an adieu from the window he disappeared. With this we unshed off once more, flind further down tho canal landed other passengers.