PARISIAN INTERPRETERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 13 November 1890, Page 35

PARISIAN INTERPRETERS.

Some thousands of persons in Paris gain a good living by acting as interpreters. Such men hang about the hotels, and accost strangers in the streets. Some of them are dangerous characters ; at the best they are, as a'class, ignorant of the history of the city; and an Englishman from the country can learn a great deal more by himself than in the company of a conductor.

Paris is a wonderfully easy city to explore, although the tram car and omnibus arrangements are totally inadequate for its enormous traffic; but a professional guide is ,totally,unnecessary ; he is, in fact, a nuisance. Of, course, if a visitor ' could nave such a guide as Mr John Augustus O'Shea, who ' knows Paris beiter than a "country cousin" knows London', the objection would readily bejwithdrawn.

Mr O'Shea himself followed this occupation, when fundswere low. Referring to the members of the Irish oolony in the gay city, he remarks : "We constituted ourselves into the Society of Ciceronian Oicerones, and prowled about the picture galleries, offering our services as guides to English visitors, and occasionally making a pretty penny by our industry. This is one of the few callings which a gentleman with no professional training can adopt and earn money at without soiling his hands.

"It demands no oapital, no authorisation, no character, nothing but a little reading, a good manner, a smooth tongue, and a neat attire. Art knowledge is not absolutely essential ; but if the amateur guide possesses it, bo much the better. There are a few tricks of the tradewhich are readily acquired. For instance, old ladies like Scriptural subjects, and young ladies those with a love legend attached ; but the pictures to show the • women generally are those in which children are -prominent.

" The ignorant wealthy are fond of glaring colour ; boys like battle scenes ; and selfeducated men, who have got up in the world, and are anxious to prove themselves equal to the position, are invariably fetched by anything upon which they can expatiate. Put them before a canvas which tells a story, suppose it is only a mythological or a mythical one, and give them the chance of displaying the information they have heaped up by their reading, and they are as pleased as the -proverbial Punch— so pleased" that they may treat you to dinner, in addition to paying your regular day's fee."

What that fee is depends upon the character of the guide and the puree of his client. It ranges from half a crown to £1 a day ; but, whatever it may be, the service rendered is rarely worth the expenditure.