OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 113, 16 May 1925, Page 13

OUR PARIS LETTER

A MINIATURE CITY

IN THE HEART OF THE CAPITAL

(FttOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, 25th March,

Very rapidly the buildings that are to serve, the Applied Arts Exhibition are taking form and shape, and there is every prospect of the ground being ready for the opening at the end of April. In an almost incredibly short while, a beautiful miniature city has sprung up in the centre of the capital. Acd how beautiful it will be may now in a measuro be realised. The river running through the grounds gives them many scenic advantages, and at night, with riverside restaurants, the scene will be fairylike in character. Equally beautiful will be' the view of the exhibition from the river, and the passenger boats will offer a rare spectacle at night to those wlio care to tako a. river journey by moonlight.

GIRL CHEMIST'S DISCOVERY.

An explosive fuel, which it is claimed will replace petrol because it ■ is more powerful, and will cost only a few pence a gallon, has just beno discovered by Mile. Irene Laurent, tho fifteen-year-old daughter of a French scientist. Irene, who is a pretty girl, with bright blue eyes, is no mean chemist. She has been watching her father searching for a hydrocarbon solvent of an explosive he had discovered, when she suggested ex-' perimenting with ordinary cane sugar. . She worked in her father's laboratory until late in the evening, and next morniug produced a clear, golden-colour-ed liquid, without any precipitate. She hud solved the problem that had puzzled her father for months. The new motor fuel, which has been named Irolene in honour of the girl-inventor, has been subjected to exhaustive tests by big- French motor firms, and is said to have given every satisfaction.

2COO NEW STAMPS. For stamp collectors the year 1924 constituted a record with over 2000 liew stamps to be added to their albums, a very different affair from 1894> when they thought themselves overworked at keeping track of only 654. Commemorative stamps bulked large last year. England, for the first time, issued a series of this kind for the Wembley Exhibitioa, valid only for its duration, while in France thero have been the Pasteur stamps, which are permanently valid, and the Eonsard series, classed by the Administration with, those of th« Decorative Art Exhibition as exceptional and exclusively commemorative. Other stamps that have beeu issued includes series for the Holy Year, for the Postal Union Jubilee, for the centenary or lifeboats, as well, as those showing the heads of Camcens, of Garibaldi, Lenin, and Byron, which in foreign countries have for the moment supplanted the usual classic issues, and added colour and beauty to the pages of the albums. In the present year fresh stamps may be looked for in Ireland, Egypt, and India, keeping collectors on the alert. "BOBBED IN HASTE." •A .number of fair Parisiennes, who, ' after hesitating for months, at last summed up enough courage to have their hair bobbed, are now keenly' disappointed. They determined to sacrifice their locks when they heard a rumour that the Queen of the Belgians had decided to bob her hair, arguing that when a queenled the way, they could venture to folj low suit. It has since been officially declared that Queen Elizabeth never had any intention of having her hair bobbed, and it is understood that she does not particularly approve of the fashion. The. Queen's would-be imitators now wish they had not been so hasty. I NOTRE-DAME'S ACCOMMODAt TION.

How many persons can find room in the Cathedral Notre Dame, Paris? Without chairs the great building can accommodate 21,000 and the figure, large as it is, is beaten by several other edifices. Thus, St.. John Lateran, at Rome, is big enough to take 22,000 persons, the great Mosque of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, 23,000, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and the Church of St. Petronius, at Bologne, both 25,000. Even that is not the record, for Cologne Cathedral will hold 30,000. St. Paul's, of Rome, 32,000, the-'beautiful white cathedral of Milan 37,000, and, greatest of all, St. Peter's, of Rome, the almost incredible totalT)f 45,000 persons.. It seems unlikely that this total will ever be equalled by modern buildings. New York contents itself with a cathedral capable of containing 17,000 persons, and St. Etienne's, of Vienna, can not hold more than 12,000.

"L'AIGLON'S" 25th ANNIVERSARY.

Yesterday -was the 25th anniversary of the production of Edmond Rostand's play, "L'Aiglon," which has been given over 2000 times on tlio stage of the Theatre Sarah-Bornhardt. Tiio tragedy wns produced by. Mmo. Bernhardfc on 15th March, 1900, and its popularity is probably a, record iv the history of the stage, equalled only by that of '"Cyrano do Bergerac." by the same poet arid author. M. Antoine, the former wellknown actor-manager, places only one modern play before "L'Ajglon" in its power over the public, and that is "Buy Bias." "Lo Cid," in the repertory of the Comedie-Francaise, has scarcely passed 1200 performances, even including those given before 1680, and "Andcomaque" has not got beyond 1000. With these figures may be compared the statistic for "Tartufe," Moliere's most popular comedy, but after two and a half centuries that famous work lias hardly reached 2300 performances.

I 30,000 FLAT HUNTERS. An old mansion in the Rue dv Carj dinal Lemoiue lias a special interest for • flat hunters.' In it repose no less than 30,000 names of those who are looking for housing accommodation in Paris. For Ilia mansion lias recently been acquired by thi, Housing Department, of the. Paris municipality and the 30,000 people are hoping that by some magical means the presence of their 30,000 dossiers within the silent old house will somehow bring 50,000 flats for their habitation. The department is doing its best to bring together ttie huntersand the hunted, but until the building programme is more advanced, this must be a slow process. In tho meantime, one may note'that tho house in the Rue dv Cardinal Lemoine has quite an interesting history. Charles I.ebrun, the famous painter and director of tho. Gobelins tapestry manufactory, I once lived there and the celebrated Wat- i teau was another tenant.

COUPLE'S LONG RECORDS,

jtf. and Mine. Ciochez, a Parisian couple of tho working class, yesterday ! celebrated the 52nd anniversary of their wedding. All their live children married, and four generations of the family | were represented at the gathering. Jl. I Cvoehez is not, yet 74. and his wife is 1 three years his junior. ' The house shortage in Paris has not affected them. They took a. flat at No. 41, Re de la Tom". I tille, in the 20tli arroiidissonient, in 11874, when they were a young couple Ijind Ilicy !ui.vi; yTOtipicd it over since. Ml i Ci'uuwa ."was ju tka mm* vi iw« iteui Iy*

52 years, and all his sons and grandsons have followed his example of industry. FRANCE'S YOUNGEST GRANDMA.

Mine. Leon Lefebvre, a war widow and a native of Buysscheure, in the north of Franco, is probably the youngest grandmother in France. Mme. Lefebvre, whose daughter has just borne a son, was born in August, 1892. A curious complication has . arisen over the question of the war pension for the married daughter. The Ministry of Finance declares that the law fails to indicate whether the pension for a war orphan, married before sixteen years of age, should go to the mother or the child. UNLUCKY. Being aware that the police were anxious to_see him about some consignment of goods, which he was suspected of selling without first going through the formality of paying for them, M. Damieseau took his precautions. ' He bought a white rat, recommended as an infallible mascot, and carried it about in his coat pocket. All went well for a time, but on Friday, the fatal 13th of the month, he was arrested on leaving his domicile at Boulogne-sur-Seine. "What rotten luck!" was his .remark, "I forgot to put my whito rat in ray pocket, and this is the result!" He is .now detained in custody on several warrants, issued at various times during the past two years:. Tho total value of the goods which he.'is alleged to have appropriated, is 800,000 franca..