OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 112, 8 November 1930, Page 15

OUR PARIS LETTER

ON-THE- EIFFEL TOWER

MASS CELEBRATED

(From "Tt)e Post's" Representative.) PABIS, 3rd September. For the. first -time (since- it was built, over 40 years ago, tlie Eiffel Tower lias been the scene of a religious service. On its topmost platform. Mass was said by Abbe Buffet, Chaplain of. the. Fine Arts Society, ■ anil the ..congregation, composed plainly of. students from tho Eeole des Beaux^Arte, included .M. Brayer, winner of this year's Prix do Rome for painting, . It was a curious scene, enacted within the lofty caged space of tho tower's summit. A small table covered with ..white drapery.' was used as an altar. ; A" the. liturgy; proceeded, _ a breeze played around the group, while tho .words of the priest were accompanied by the murmuring sounds frqm, the city.; ; ... In the course of a short sermon, Abbe Buffet paid tribute to those who had builfc the tower, and made special refer'. once to M. Eiffel. . LA MAPQUISE OF PAIVA. The disappearance of tho grandu deini-nioudaino from Parisian.'pleasure life is one .of the",most striking features of our time. Until the beginning of the century, almost until the beginning of the war, the Parisian sceaie was dominated by t'apious courtesans who set the fashion, played for millions at EiigUeiii an<d M6ntb. Carlo,'• ruined wealthy.aristocrats,.and even played a role in politics. ... Of all the. great .courtesans whose names have found place in history, tho Marquise de Paiva is the niost famous. The story of this plain* little Jewish girl from Poland, who began life by marrying a tailor and died as the wife of Prince Henckel Von ' Dojinersniarck, handsomest and wealthiest of Prussian nobles, forms aa amazing romance. In-.the days of her Parisian glory, j when she had made Donnersniarek marry her and built her famous mansion in the Champs Elysees, Madame de Paiva was fond of expounding before a reverent circle of writers and artists her theory of success. One night, shivering and hungry, she was sharing a two sous 'roll with an equally I miserablo companion in front of the) Jardiu d'Hivcr when -she voiced her revolt against society in the ferocious cry:" Ten years from now I shall havo the finest mansion •. 'in the Champs Elysees, I will it!" ' And-ten years after she was really installed iu her celebrated, residence, surrounded by| famous pen. . . To them, she explained her terrible, cold-blooded philosophy, of life: '.'Everything conies to pass if one only desires 'it' strongly -enough. There is no such thing as' circumstances. Fate j can pe- forced provided onoi wills it,! The uufortuuate are those who lacli: the I will tp.be buppy.';'-.. ■.Then ahb would j teij' the story; of : a vfoman - who, iu ' order to achieve a certain-film, icmained for tbroq years in cbmplotp isolation, scarcely touching food, walled within herself and concentrated entirely era the evolution of her plan, willing .its success with all her tremendous will power. And, after a short silence, she would.add: ''I Wasl.that -woman. " Madame do "aiva.was plain, fat, and' no longer.-young when Hcnekel Von Donersmarck made her. his wife. BEGRIMED -STATUES AND MONUMENTS. Parisians havo become so used to see* ing their statues and historic buildings hidden beneath a coating of grime, unavoidable in these days of aoot and petrol-filled air, that it is quite possible they would not recogniso some of them if they -wore cleaned. ■'•■'• ' ■ The question has been raised whether they should not all bo regularly cleaned by vapour, as is the case in New York, for it is pointed out that much of their beauty and finer points are now concealed beneath the dirt of years. . The Arc.d'eTHomphe has been mentioned atr a case in point, as well as Notre Dame, the Operaj and the Porte Saint-Denis. But it. may.well ; be. asked whether tho walla of the old cathedral may bedescribed merely as dingy qt possessing a mellow groy.riess which gives it a great charm;The /Louvre, too, bas become dear ..to the heart, of Parisians in. its garb of rgrey, although actual danger to the old stone-may be found in tlic rapidly increasing layers of soot from the; atmosphere.l BY MULE FROM CATALONIA. One of the most curious features of the street life of the city at present is tho übiquity of . the pictureßque Spanish mule, laden with bulging saddle baskets containing pottery, and led by tho dealer," a swarthy, hardy-looking man who hails from Catalonia. There are only.a few of these combinations in Paris, but the animals are fine little specimens of their enduring species -and* they can coyer an'amazing1 length of ground in a day.. : These animals, with their owners, have made the journey from the other side of the Pyrenees on foot, the men riding during the greater: part of the journey. The pottery, however, is sent to. Paris by mail, and the animals are not over-burdened when travelling from city to city.■■•-.: The journey from Spain to Paris took these itinerant dealers three weeks to,complete. The. men speak little French, but manage to do a fairly good business. They are- always happy, of course, to drop on a customer' who . can speak Spanish, though, being ; Catalonians, they, speak a dialect of their own. Their wares are vessels in terra cotta, mostly formed on classic models, ', ' . ' SILK STOCKINGS rROM THE POLE. ' The advertising methods of some of the: Paris street salesmen;-'are often highly amusing. At a cheap stocking and general clothes store .*at the back of the Opera One of these vendors[keeps up a running conversation that is well, worth halting to hear." The other .dayhe was offering a cheap -lino-' of artificial silk stockings.to his public, and his comments ran something like this:—-. '■Aliens-mesdames! Come inside and see our wonderful silk stockings n\a.de by Eskimos at the North'Pple by the light:'of the Midnight Sun. ' Terrible, terrible- I'histoire de ces / esquimaux! Allous mesdames, messienrst Step inside and see the serpent lady lying in a coffin of artificial silk stockings. Allons, aliens come inside! .. . See the Eskimo who swam the Channel. . < . . Anyone buying three pairs o| our silk stockings will have a free trip to Le Tourquet and back to-morrow morning, allons, allons. ...."' ! . Never a stop, never a repetition, and a great good humour with it that is quite infectious.