PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1669, 29 November 1872, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARIS.

(PEOM OUR OWN COEKBSPO?TDEN"T.) September 18The working man has seen with unmixed satisfaction the collapse of the " International." Its true object was political, hence why the Red journals observe a solemn silence over the explosion of that bugbear. The real proletariat had nothing to say to it as an agent to remedy the conflicting interests of the labor question ; he may have perhaps given it his sympathies on account of some clauses rather in its political than social creed. The true ouvrier in France well knows legislation cannot decree he shall become a Dives ; he expects that the law shall not impede his efforts to rise, and to rise — he well knows — there is no royal road ; work and save are hi 9 maxims. The idle and empty-headed think otherwise. England and the States continue to attract the best workmen of Paris by offering them — in addition to double their usual wages — a liberty they only knew by name, and a tranquillity that never entered into their dreams. The repugnance to emigrate has greatly diminished since the Commune ; that terrible delusion has thus done some good. The deficiency in skilled labor is at tho present moment visible in Paris ; emplnvers apologize for inf'eriorly executed work, not beinyabl-' to iind the -workmen, j and further, Frenchmen themselves are J sending important orders to London to be executed. I visited the fete of St. Cloud yester- j day, with several young friends whose happiness in the prospect of doing this celebrated fair made me feei a quarter of a century younger. The vJllci<re is rapidly rising from its ashes ; substantial stone buildings are replacing structures nearly as old as the patron saint, and life appears to have returned to the late deserted vill.ige. Knowing since several years many of tiie inhabitants, I found on conversing with them that they blame the ex mayor for the vengeance inflicted on them by the Prussians ; he failed to keep his word, to find the amount of the fine imposed on the village — that is, on the clusters of charming villas in the vicinity. Be this as it may, the G-er-uiaus, and, it is asserted, the Emperor himself, personally acquiesced in the proceeding, set fire to the empty village on the eve of the treaty of Versailles. This barbaric act might have been omitted. JEh Men, the fair ? It is as gay as in olden times, and very thronged ; it will continue till the first week in October, Every Parisian has, as a matter of duty, made a regular annual pilgrimage to the toy-stalls aud merry-go rounds in his youth, and feels a necessity for doing so in advancing years. The booths and toys, the shows and wheels of fortune, never change, yet always strike you as new. There is the chateau a mass of charred ruins ; the cascades are black with dust or green from vegetatiou ; the reservoirs instead of being tenanted by gold fish, are abandoned to " slimy things ;" seahorses have blades of grass sprouting from their eyes, and nymphs wild flowers " rooted" in their hair ; mermaids have their tails covered with weeds in place of water. The " penny" shows, which cost one franc to get close to the foot-lights, no longer represent battle pieces of " French and Prussians ;" nothing more tragical or sanguinary than the burning of Joan of Arc, with the enigma, that French and English are equally vietorieus. The soldiers were in high glee, and mounted the wooden-horses to perform the " feat of the ring" with all the delight of children. Imagine a militaire, with Crimean, Italian, and Mexican medals on his breast, riding between a couple of infanta, singing as loud as the barrel organ, and performing all kinds o£ antics for his travelling companions ! A great many Spaniards and English, or Americans, were present, and entered into the fun of the place. "Why not The stalls extend to a good mile and a quarter from the palace gate up to that famous bou&e at Sevres where Bismarck and Jules Pavre tad so many preliminary interviews. For such as may De suffering from that new malady — the " air of Paris" — no cure more perfect than to enjoy a run through battalions of happy children at this fair, a laugh at the wonders of the world there exhibited, then a walk through the vineyards, over the battlefields of Montretout and Buzenval and home by Versailles.

The only advance to be noted in the education question is, that the primary schools have been supplied with colored diagrams of those insects beneficial or I injurious to agriculture. There has been a good deal of bungling over the trial of the Eev. M. Dufour — whose father has been killed by the scandal — and the Viscountess de Valmont, for alleged crim. con. in a railway carriage in the vicinity of Brest. First of all, the event seems to have been exaggerated; the railway guard is not above suspicion, aud the implicated parties hare been imprudent. The extreme journals are making a " star chamber matter" of the affair ; the Judge declined to allow the case to be reported, which injured the accused, and instead of going into the merits of the case, acquitted the prisoners on the ground that a first-class railway carriage was not a " public place." Hence, the appeal, and the scandal reopened. In Paris it is a knotty point if a cab or a carriage be a " public place," as the police claim the right — exercised generally in the Bois de Boulogne — to open the door of a vehicle whose blinds are closely drawn down. It may be among " things not generally known" that until the first of December next, there will remain open, at Bordeaux, the poetic competition to which the bards of all nations are invited to compete. Those who possess eyes with the fine frenzy rolling, can Belect what subject they please — the principal point is to contribute something. I noticed at St. Cloud M. Loyson's portrait was included in those heaps of photographs costing one sous the carte. See what a fall is there my countrymen ! J It is jo Red abroad that 200 priests are , ready to follow M. Loyson's example. But where to find the widows— with 75,000 dollars, be it understood, to represent their poverty ? Ah ! Saint Anthony never was subjected to such a temptation. A few curiosities are now on view in the city. A barber exhibits in his shop window " the veritable beard of a fireman after fourteen years of service ;" also, an old curiosity shop displays the watch of another " fireman" — Marat — which lay on a chair beside his bath at the moment he was assassinated. The watch is iv silver, has an etching of the pelican tearing open its breast to feed its young, and two mottoes — " obey only the law," " love only country." If the owner had but practised these precepts, instead of demanding 5000 heads of his countrymen ! The difference between a Jew and an Israelite consists in the former having less than a million, and the latter more. M. G-uizot is very old and a lover of the fine arts. Latterly he visited a Venus, beautifully sculptured, and the guide, to natter the ex-statesman, remarked, that the artist waa over eighty years of age. " What a memory be must possess," replied Guizot. A nephew from the country came up to see the " ruins of Paris," and, calling on his maiden aunt, said he reserved his last visit for her. The lady has since altered her will. An action has been taken against a bailiff, for seizing a set of false teeth in an execution. A doctor — like everybody else at this season — went out for a day's sport, and complained of having killed nothing. " That's the consequence of neglecting your business," observed hia wife. Coffee is said to be now relatively aa dear as in 1660, when it was inveighed against in France by the clergy as a corrupter of manners. It was then believed to cure all ills'; widows took to it to drown their grief, and admitted they found consolation. A medical student having been robbed of all his clothes and papers, warns the public against his being impersonated till he be in a condition to appear