ON THE CONTINENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13859, 23 March 1907, Page 5

ON THE CONTINENT.

No. lI.—PARIS,

By J. Ai.un Thomson, 11.A., Oxon., Rhodes Scholar.

My journcyings ; in France have been confined to two visits, each of a month's (duration, to Paris, where I have been so fortunate as to be able lo work in the laboratory of an eminent French mineralogist. I have not, therefore, yet had the opportunity of seeing the country life of France, known since the days of Arthur Young as the great peasant-proprietor country of the world. , But I was chle lo make many a ramble about Paris; to its parks and museums; along its fine boulevards and its dirly, narrow streets. Paris is said to be at its best in spring; certainly it must then bo very lovely, for even in the nakedness of winter it is a beautiful city. Having bad no fire, as London had, to make rebuilding on modern lines a necessity, it was left to the genius of the Napoleons to improve the city. Napoleon the First had great schemes for the improvement of Paris, but tho chief alterations were mado by Napoleon 111. lieside the large squares and magnificent avenues leading from tho Louvre through ' tho Champs Elysees to tho Arc de Triomphe and tho Bois de Boulogne, there are ill every direction large boulevards radiating out from the centre of the city to the suburbs. A boulevard is, of course (m case anyone should be in the error of the sailor, who saw two boulevards a-rolling down the street), a wide street with two rows of trees dividing tho pavements from the roa<l. • Tlie,y were projected largely to prevent further revolutions, and paved with concrete and asphalt, instead of cobblestones, that tho populace might not find missiles ready to their hands (rr feet), nor materials wherewith to build ft barricade. All tho Onest shops and best buildings follow these boulevards. The custom of building all the houses in a street of the same size gives an air of uniformity and solidity to the town. I believe it largely docs away with overcrowding, great curse of London. Between file main boulevards, however, the streets aro often very narrow and dark—so narrow, indoed, that I have been in, danger, on the pavement, of being jammed against the wall by the axlo of a passing dray. Although they are regularly flushed and cleaned by tho corporation, they aro often very dirly and malodorous; whilo the darkness allows the. occasional occurrence of the robbery and cut-throat activity of the Apaches, a class of-hooligans with whom Paris is still afflicted. In spite of tho dirtiness of the streets and of the markets, tho poor people give one the idea of tidiness and cleanliness. The women dress neatly, and do up the hair in a very "chic" manner, to use their own expressive adjective. 111 their housekeeping arrangements they seem to live from hand to mouth, going* to market ' in tho early morning (Sundays included) for all tho provisions of tho day. The number of cafes and restaurants is very remarkable in- Paris. They abound everywhere and in every style, from a Cafe Biard, where you may get a good cup of black coffce for two sous, up to the swellest "West End" restaurants. There is perhaps more drunkenness in Paris than in most Continental cities, as the people aro more addicted to drinking liqueurs, aperatifs, and absinthe. Except iu tea-shops that eater for English visitors, it is difficult to got a cup of tea, while in the average Parisian restaurant tho waiter would stare at you if you orderod any eatables with your afternoon cup of coffee. ■*

A feature notably absent in Parisian and in most Continental streets is the calling of newsboys, so 'dear to Londoner and Punch. Newspapers arc sold in shops or in little stands at street corners. Inside you may sec a patient old dame knitting, and apparently indifferent to tko sale of her merchandise. At Christmas timo there is a greater liberty allowed to street, vendors, and in eorae boulevards there is an endless number of booths along the pavements. Postcards and cheap pictures dispute the ground with confectionery for second place, while the first place' is easily given to the little roulette tables, on which you may try your 6on against a stack of nougat. Old theatre bills, for use as wall decorations, formal the wholo stock-in-trade of 0110 booth, and were deservedly popular from the degree of art exhibited in their designs.

In Paris, as in Berlin, the cabs aro largely on the Oximeter system. Jn this nn automatic machine registers the distance you have travelled, and tho amount- of your fate, to which, it is vnso to add a small pour boire. Why this system lias not, been introduced more into English and colonial to,mis is difficult to understand. _ Paris was so up-t-o-date a year ago as to have motor tabs plying for hire, while this year -women are to bo allowed to obtain licenses for eal>dTiving. With motor busses and carriages of all kinds, tho better streets become at times quite dangerous. Tlie streets do not belong to tlie pedestrian, as ill England. It is but rarely that tho "scrgoant-de-ville" attempts to regulato the traffic, or to hold it up for tine benefit of the timorous street crosser. So after patiently waiting your time, and venturing on what seems a .safe crossing, suddenly rim find iv motor rushing down on yon, apparently without, the least effort to stop or alter its course. When, by running, you haw just escaped tho wheels, you aw'rewarded: by a volley of oaths from the driver. It is against, the law to get run over.

Paris is an easy city to find your way about in. Not only aro cabs very cheap, but trams, busses, and motor busses, Seine-boats, and tho underground! inotropoliian are available in every direction. There is a useful system iii connection •H-itU the trams that must appeal to old 'adies.. At tho chief stopping places are small offices where oil arrival you may take a ticket number for your'journey. When the tram comes along, the con-' ductor admits passengers in the order of their numliers. There is tlierofore no unseemly rush, and you fed that you aro lining fairly dealt. M-it.lt. For a stranger, who ('.dcs iiot know the routos well, it is apt. to bo perplexing, ami at times it is slow, but. it seems to suit the Continental character well. There is a much greater patience with ofiicial precision and interference in tlieso free democratic Parisians than in aristocratic England. For art of every kind Paris has long bren noted. The city abounds in public museums, some tho opnvortcd palaces of the Kings, others tho gift of the Republic, and still others, the maority of the small ones, tho legacies of patriotic individuals. Sculpture, paintings, carvings, china, porcelain, tapestry, furniture, historic relics, there aro museums and museums of tlicm. The chief, of course, is the Louvre. It alono is the, study of months. Unfor tunately it is so large and bewildering, and tho rooms so difficult to find, thatsightseeing iB apt to bocome a burden. My first, visit was sjwnt. is discovering anil worshipping the Venus de Jlilo; from that, (lay I have becomo a Hellenist. Who were these Greeks, that put to sluuno the finest minds of every age? It is pitiful to find in the same building fat Dianas of Rubens.

But of modern art there are treasures there tlr.il- must remain "a joy for ever." Studies of children by Leonardo da Vinci, the blessedness of labour shining through all (he pictures of Millet, sweet- childwoman faces by Greuze, landscapes of Carot that seem' to breathe the breath of summer, these a-ro but a- few of tho pleasures in store for tlioso of my readers who mean lo travel. The Louvre is so largo and its collections so complete that there is material to satisfy every taste. The Luxembourg Museum is' nearer to the I.atin Quarter, <vliere I was living, but in the modern French school there is more of pleasant recreation than permanent inspiration. .A sunny winter afternoon down the river at St. Cloud, with its memories of the Empire, afforded a pleasant- chango from the somewhat artificial lifo of the city. I went down by a Seine boat .past " half a hundred bridges," ono of which, almost, the oldest, still' keeps the name of Pont Neuf. At Sevres I saw the State potterv works and museum. The art of modelling in china and porcelain seoms lo have been solved there; for varied and delicato elwsvnce it is unsurpassed. Tho Seine is a river that- slwws many aspects: on a-bleak winter's-day. after

rain it rushes down like an angry fate; oil a clear starlit- night, in llic qJiiet roaches above the look, with tho pretty red and white reflections of the lamps of the bridges, it fascinates with its weird beauty. More than once I have seen a. blue-coated ofiieial watching me suspiciously, when I have lingered at tho side of the bridge, ready to rush at the slightest suggestion that I was going to cliinb over. Alas the morgue shows that 100 many unfortunates in the misery that the gay aspect of Paris cannot hide, seek in tiie cold river a happier lot. A visit to Paris would be incomplete will-out a. day nl Versailles. Winter, however, is not the time to visit its wooded parks. In the comfortless air of winter, the baro trees and flowerless beds, heighten the effect of artificiality. One cannot but feel pity for the Grand 'I'lor.arque, wiio lived a life as conventional as these geometrical paths and heavy imposing buildings. There is an air, tro, of artificiality about tho Pantheon, wiiere the great men of France are buried, and the Hotel des Invalides, which contains Napoleon's tomb. I would not like to feel that any part of my greatness depended 011 the impression made on other minds by the magnificent surroundings of my tomb. Napoleon should havo stayed in loneliness at St. Helena, or found a resting place in the bosom of the ocean that proved his ruin. Amongst the many sights of Paris, tho great shops aro not, the toast. Of these I feel my total incompetence to speak. They | tempted me, and almost made mo wish I

wcro my sister. The French havo introduced the article "do luxe";—train do luxe, edition d© luxe, cigar dc> luxe, chocolate de luxe (so it runs on, alas! to immorality do luxe. The immorality of the pictures and postcards displayed in tho shop windows under 'the .pretence of art is horrib.e, and I sjveak not as a puritan. The part of Paris I know best is tho Latin Quarter, imnv>rtali&d in "Trilby" and countless other novels. It includes most of the buildings of tho various institutions that make'up the University of Paris, liven Oxford and Cambridge have to yield the palm in ago to this hoary yet virile hoim: of learning, but in marked contrast to them it- is the most- cosmopolitan university in the world. The teaching given is good, and so cheap as to be accessible to the poorest-. Large numbers of foreigners aro attracted by tho faino of the professors and the generous treatment profercd to them. Of these English and American seem lo come chiefly to study French; Swiss and German for art and medicine; and Russian for general education. At the time of my first visit, the latter, in their furs and dirt, were very much in evidence. Owing to the internal troubles, of Russia, come of the banks were suspending payment, and those pror students were dependent 011 the mercy of tho "Matin" fund for their food and maintenance. If English sympathy with the Bussian reformers found outlet' in tho direction of seeding more students to Paris 'or elsewhere, instead of furnishing funds too,often spent, in anarchical crime, a happy issue of the troubles of that unfortunate country might be hastened. What strikes one most about tho young Frenchman is his great knowledge of literature and art, as compared to tho young Englishman. A bearded man who dined at our pension, and talked freely on all subjects, turned out. to be a boy of seventeen. 0110 wonders whether tho movement towards outdoor sport will alter this stato of affairs. An approach to each other in this would surely be to the "ood of both nations.

In the students' restaurants round about the Sorhonno and the Due des Ecoles one sees such a queer mixture of types that it is difficult to place their nationality. To be sure, in the Oriental houses, where garlic and Turkish coffee seem to be the •specialties, the colour shows that most of the men come from the Levant. I suppose the long-haired, much-hatted men that fix ono' 1 ! gaze almost to the point of rudeness belong to music or art. The bett-er-class French student may be known by the fashionable cut of his coat and boots, and by the colour and size of his tie. However much Paris may dictate the fashions to the fair sex, it is a thing to be thankful for that it has no influence on Englishmen's dress. _ Compared to the average British university, there is but little corporate student life in Paris. There arc a few clubs with writing and reading rooms, and a ■' salle des armes," where fencing and boxing hold sway. Football—both Rugby and Association—is taking a strong hold in France, but the students have not yet taken it up. Intellectually, however, Paris more than holds its own; it soems to be in closer relation, to literature, art, music, the stage, and even political,life, than arc our British universities. : In scientific matters the names of Past-eur, Moissan, Bccquerel, and Curie speak for themselves. While possessing much of the patience in details for which the Germans are so' noted, they' far excel them in preoision and lucidity. I expect to hear of colonial graduates in the near future preferring the Doeteur es Science of Paris to the Ph.D. of Germany. There are not wanting many people in England who are very, distrustful of the French and of 1 the entente cordiale. I think this must be due largely to the impression of superficiality that'one »ets from meeting the French in public; but as far as I have been able to judge there is more depth of chaarcter in the' French than we solid Englishmen give them credit for, and there can be 110 doubt as to their true desire for the peace of Europe and the civilisation of the world. bO it is my hope that the entente cordiale will long flourish, and that every one of my readers will visit Paris.