OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 121, 24 May 1928, Page 16

OUR PARIS LETTER

VENERABLE CHURCH A LINK WITH JOAN OF ARC | (From "The Post's" Representative.) PARIS, 15th March. Pew visitors *o Paris ever enter the old Church of Saint Denis, in the Rue de la Chapelle, on the hill of Montmartre. And yet it is one o£ the most venerable and venerated churches in the capital. Here, near an old pillar, -which is still pointed out to tho visitor, Joan of Arc is said to have kneeled during her three-day visit to Paris in 1429, and with tho Maid of Orleans, the church has always been conneetod. Yesterday, however, the last servico •within its walls was held, for the building has become unstable, and is to be demolished. During tho war, it will be remembered, Roman* Catholics m Paris resolved that after the conflict, a beautiful church to St. Joan should bo built and tho site of the old Church of Saint Denis was indicated. V<hen the building of tho now church will ' begin is not yet known, but it is stated that the historic portion of the old edifice will be incorporated in the new building. Until the church of St. Joan has been built,, a.littlo chapel will be provided for the many pilgrims who visit the spot. BEAUTY OF NOTRE DAME. There- are few churches more beautiful in Franco' than 'Notre Dame, and tl\e~ scene, was magnificent yesterday morning when, with the altar, ablaze .with candles, and tho red-robed Archbishop of Paris seated on his carved throne, and surrounded by priests and acolyte's Bach's "Grand Mcsse en Si Mineur" was sung. B-ioath the highvaulted ceiling of the Tribune, where are suspended the faded, red hats of tho Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, were gathered tho 400 members^ of the performing choir, under tho direction of ■'__. Gabriel Pierne, and the solists, whoso voices, mingling with the music of the violins, roso and fell and rose again, finally to die away among the great spaced arches of tho wonderful roof. Then tho grand organ took up the strains, and a volume of triumphantmusic filled the church and seemed to crash against tho old grey walls, only faintly lit by the warm colours of the stained-glass windows. The body of the cathedral was full, as were the galleries, and the effect in the crowded building was heightened when, during pauses in the ceremony, the great clock solemnly struck the hours. PICTURES ''IDENTITY CARDS." Science has come to the aid •of the ' curators of the Louvre, in providing them with an unfailing method of establishing the identity of the priceless pictures in their charge. Hithertothero has sometimes been an element of doubt, when a picture has been lost and then found, whether the restored painting was the genuine article. Of this the famous, Mona Lisa provides an' instance." Science, . however, is pro-, viding all the most famous pictures in the Louvre with a kind of identity card. Among tho methods employed, the X-rays plays an important part, and it is'now possible to register, not •only tho peculiarities of the surface of the picture, but tlio composition of the underlying pigments and tho number of times the picture has been retouched and cleaned during tho course of centuries. - . DEPARTED STREET CRIES. A writer in "Paris Soir" yesterday was: regretting-the passing of the. old street cries, of Paris. Slowly,, it. seems, the" folk of the curious little trades whose cries mado discordant, though not unwelcome, music in the narrow streets, have been pushed out, of business by a changing world. The watercress vendor, with'his blue apron and his basket on his back, -trying • "Cresson de Fontaine, la saute dv corps" is no more with us. Gone, too, is the barrel-mender with his sonorous cry, "Tonneaux, marchand do tonneaux," and what has become of tho seller of bird seed and his melancholy refrain? Even the sweep's boy, with his shrill cry has vanished beforo the inarch of central heating and anthra-< cite. But some of the old music is .till with us. Wo still have tho oldclothes man, with his "Marchand d'Habits," and the staccato "chiffon" tacked on to the end. And we still 'have tho merry skirl of tlio pipe of the porcelain mender, and the toot of tho chair mender's trumpet, still cheers or worries us, according to our mood. For |_ese we may be thankful. TIFTY-EIGHT YEARS A JOURNALIST. ' Few journalists could claim to know their Paris a's thoroughly as Georges Grison, who has just died at an advanced age. He began his career as far back at 1865, as a reporter for the "Moniteur," and soon afterwards join- , cd the staff of the "Figaro," on which ' newspaper he remained until he retired in 1923. He made a name for himself early as a reporter, and was regarded as a master in tho art of composing "faits divers." He knew every corner of the Paris underworld, never missed an execution, and knew the ins and outs of practically every criminal drama of his day. Apart from his journalistic work, he wrote several plays and books on crime, and was a member of the Societe dcs Gens de Letters, and the Societe dcs Auteurs Dramatiqucs. Ho spent his later years largely in writing his memoirs, which should prove interesting reading. METHODICAL VICTOR HUGO. That Victor Hugo, tho 126tn annivcr^ sary of whose birth occurs to-day, was very methodical in business transactions, is borne out by a number of documents which are stored in Haute-villo House, his Guernsey home, now the property of tho Paris Municipality. Several of these documents aro reproduced in a book written for the city authority by M. Rene Weiss to record the ceremony which took placo at Guernsey, whon tho houso was handed over to the city, and copies of the book have just been presented to M. Dounierguc, the French President, and M. Georges Clemenceau. The terms of Hugo's first occupancy of the house aro recorded by him with minute detail, aud he converts tho amount of rent which ho paid in English money into francs. There is also a note recording that a deputation of. the Municipal Council, headed by its president, M. Georges Clemenceau, in 1876, called .on him to announce that ho had been chosen by the council to represent it in the Senatorial elections .of that year. .Both tlio-1 French President and tho aged statesman were delighted on receiving the book.