MOV, 8 
CORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SOS 
She Strauclcij. 
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER. 
Arrival In Paris. 
PA his, Oct. 8,1872. 
I have delayed this letter a week, hoping to 
experience a thrill of enthusiasm of sufficient 
intensity to tinge my pen with something of the 
rose color through which most people see Paris, 
at least when aided by the enohajirauiut ot dis¬ 
tance. But I despair of attaining to such felici¬ 
ty, and beg the dear ____ 
Kuhal friends, sitting 
happily by their shin- 
ing (1 r esIdea, to bo 
with me content, to 
80o only the sober, but 
substantial gray of ex- 
istence, and to be 
thankful each day 
anew for having been 
born in America. For 
the last six weeks I v 
have been in that cs- 
pedal mood of thanks- tvSS» ■ 
giving. Upon arrlv- 
ing in Paris, we step- *■. 
ped out of the car 
comp a rtmvnt, for ; •■ >v, ' * 
“women only,'' in - 
wliich wo had jour- 
noyod, and were 
shown into a large 
waiting-room, where y^j ra 
wo were told to wait. /Ok? 
All sorts and classes K- 
of people wore walk- F^fj^ vjx rYS'ilv 
ing up and down in \^v | \WtfiIl9 
restless moods. At I .'jj§J|l 
the cud of half an llftjl 
hour a large door ■ < 2 ® 
swung open, and there J/ 
was a general rush for 
the next room, where |#jw| 
the travelers' trunks 
were arranged on 
counters, with regard 
to tlie cities from 
will' ll they li.nl 1.. . n " * - [ ;>• 
all trunks are weigh- \ 
ed extra weight, that ®!C 
;t I n i V < 1 (if'. Hi-,.. |i.t|i| I- : l|JP( 
hut to obtain a cheek j 
fur any weight a trifle j 
must be paid. The ^ v^k~.vS’v jjjjjjl 1 ’ 
only comfort I have fflll ' 
yet experienced with _~r- . I 
baggage, la that it is V wY^ 1 ^:- i f 
] m it died with a degree 7 :y*4- 1 \ 
of respect and revet - - I , 
encc unknown to an j||| v 
driven to our destlna- j!ji 
tlon.a hirge boarding- j^ 
inopolitan to a ro--.--——— 
markable degree. The 
landlord himself is an Jones.— Good gracioui 
Italian ; his wife a Pa- Emma.—N ot a bit of di 
rislenne. while the 
guests in the housu include men and women 
from Russia, Koumania, Spain, Greece, Isle of 
Java, Bahamian Isles, England, Germany, Aus¬ 
tria, and almost any number of Americans. 
Nearly all speak French, and nearly all the 
French speak English. To hear them chatter¬ 
ing in the mfan al ter dinner, whllo taking their 
coffee, reminds one of the confusion of tongues, 
which,alas! entailed a great deal of vexation 
on the race. 
The Expense of Living In Paris 
ranges from twelve to twenty dollars a week, 
exclusive of lire and lights, and Including sim¬ 
ply a fair degree of comfort, without any of the 
luxuries. Lessons in French can bo had from 
two to five Iran08 (a franc is equal to 20 cents) 
per hour. Gas in apartments is almost un¬ 
known, the orthodox light being the feeble rays 
shod abroad by a pair of wax candles. The 
French broom bears uo relation whatever to its 
American relative, being a largo brush, in the 
shape of a clothes brush, with a long handle. 
Men do the chamber work; consequently, it is 
very well done. There is little or no reliance 
whatever to be placed upon the word of tho 
working classes or shop-keepers. They tell you, 
with tiie most honest face Imaginable, that, they 
will serve yon Ho-and-so, but I have yet to learn 
of one who has kept his word. Finished boots, 
dresses or hats are sent homo on Sunday, the 
same as on Monday. The upper classes are 
scarcely expected to he visible before noon, and 
the shop-keepers are never fully in order with 
their wares before that hour. Only a few shops 
In Paris have fixed prices for goods, while at 
the others the shop-keepers commonly ask you 
double the price they will actually receive, if 
you refuse to buy, which is very annoying to a 
person who bus a distaste for “ driving sharp 
bargains." 
Snails as Food. 
Among the peculiar articles of food popular 
with the French are snails—called colimaeon. 
They are found in abundance In gardens, cling¬ 
ing to shrubbery and vegetables. When pre¬ 
pared for eating, the mouth of the shell is filled 
up with a stuffing of broad, parsley, etc., and 
then baked. They arc said to be very nutritious, 
and an English lady tells me they are prepared 
and preserved In a certain form for a diet tor 
consumptives, and frequently prescribed by 
English doctors. As yet, I have not been con¬ 
scious of eating anything more pronounced 
than frog ami stag, although daily expeotiug to 
discover that I have dined on horse, as meats 
are fixed up in a fashion that almost completely 
disguises their origin. 
Food Items. 
Game of all kinds is not cooked until it has 
approached a state of ripeness that is startling 
to an American. White grapes are those laost 
generally eaten, but the wlnealiuost universally 
drank is red, being considered more wholesome 
The city abounds In open spaces ornamented 
with statuary, fountains and benches for such 
as care to sit. At I lieso places are found omni¬ 
bus offices, whore you obtain a ticket with u 
number upon it, entitling you to a seat in the 
next omnibus, in case there Is room. If your 
ticket bears the figure one, you have the first 
chance; if four, the fourth chance; and one 
can only get in and alight from tho omnibus 
offices, which arrangement Is declared a nuisance 
by all eager Americans. It insures equal rights 
and equal wrongs, which is tho best to bo said 
in ils defense. 
The Central Park of Parle 
T9 the Bois do Boulogne. During the Franco- 
THJB HORSE EPIDEMIC. - ROUGH ON JONES. 
Jones— Good gracious, Emma— I, I, guess my horso is going to be attacked with that dreadful distemper, and I am ready afraid I shall catch it 
Emma.— Not a bit of danger of your catching it, because I never hoard of a Donkey having it. 
than the white. Beaus, white and green, form 
a standard dinner dish. Chiccory Is more com¬ 
monly used for salads than lettuce, which hero 
is called Roman salad. The head of the chiccory 
is tied up in a bunch while Btlll In the garden, 
until tlie inside becomes fully blanched. An¬ 
other vegetable, the name of which I forget, 
runks quite tho same as cauliflower. It is the 
fat- simile of cabbage, in miniature, the heads 
being no larger than a small hickory nut In Us 
§hell. The French eat tomatoes only when 
cooked, looking upon those who cat them raw 
with much the same horror as we would regard 
a cannibal. Champignons lmushrooms)are much 
used to flavor meat, sauces, and comfltures, In 
which the French excel, and lino their shop 
windows with to a most tempting degree, are 
eaten in very dainty quantities, French bread 
is delicious- white, superfine, light—but ruinous 
to feeble stomachs. Pitchers containing water 
for drinking purposes are never seen on the 
table or toilette stand. Their substitute is a 
wide-moutheil glass vessel more likoa vase than 
bottle In shape, and having no handle save Its 
neck. The sheets of a French bod are double 
the size ol' our own, the lower one being rolled 
to almost half its length around tho bolster and 
i lie upper one folding over the coverlid almost 
to tiie foot of the lied. Sheets ami pillow cases 
of linen only uro used. Double beds are un¬ 
usual—u custom most hnpplily growing into 
American favor, now that our pioneer days are 
over which necessitated tho economy ot double 
beds, to tho sacrifice of decent privacy and com¬ 
fort. Bo much for a few national peculiarities. 
Architecturally, 
Paris is very monotonous. The buildings are 
mostly a light,gray limestone, sort when quar¬ 
ried, but becoming hardened upon exposure. 
Seven and eight floors high is the ordinary 
bight, the roofs being peaked, covered with 
slate aud rendered somewhat picturesque with 
dormer-windows and groups of iron smoke 
staeks rising from the tall brick chimneys. The 
bou levards, lined with trees, are as smooth to 
ride over as a parlor floor, and the sidewalks are 
as wide as those of Pennsylvania Avenue in 
Washington. 
f a Donkey having it. 
Prussian war, many of the trees wore cut down, 
which impaired the beauty of the Park. It. 
contains two or throe very pretty artificial 
lakos, some charming flower gardens with col¬ 
ors arranged aud marked for the best, effect, 
and splendid uvenuea thronged with carriages 
and horseback riders in I lie pleasant afternoons. 
At. Intervals of distance are open structures, 
with roofs thatched with straw, under which 
the fair equestriennes seek shelter from the 
rain. I rode there one sunny afternoon with 
some A merieftn friends who have long resided in 
Paris, and on our return to their home, they 
showed mo the injuries done their houso by 
bursting shells. As we stood In the balcony, 
overlooking the loveliest avenue and view in 
all Parts, with the sun gilding the scono to an 
almost celestial radiance, and the air so full of 
peace and quiet, it scorned difficult, to imagine 
that anything so ugly and infernal as war had 
ever been. 
One of tho “ Sights " of Pnris, 
which once was very common, but. of late ex¬ 
ceedingly difficult to see, are tho Catacombs. 
But, a tilled friend, with a name long and im¬ 
posing as a member of a royal family, obtained 
permission to make the ghastly journey, and so 
wo went, in a modest party of twenty. The 
street leading to the building, out of which wo 
made the descent, 1 b named the Street of Hell 
(fiued'Knftr), aud tho door which opens Into 
the descent bus an equally dubious name. Wo 
went supplied with candles like wise virgins, 
although finding at the on trance numerous peo¬ 
ple eager to supply us with a honyl# stuck in a 
circular piece of pasteboard. Lighting our cau¬ 
dles wo began by descending a narrow spiral 
stair of stone-cold, dark and frightful. Every¬ 
body quite despaired ol' over reaching the bot¬ 
tom. aud OHO poor dame, when half-way down, 
entirely yielded to prostratinu, and declared 
she could neither return nor proceed. Finally 
we reached tho terra fir urn of this subterranean 
world. We threaded a long a ml narrow passage, 
until wo came into a larger space, from which 
streets diverged at right angles, and were named 
such and such avenues. These were lined on 
both sides to the top with human bones, ar¬ 
ranged in the most perfect order; rows of skulls 
alternated with tho long bones of the arms and 
legs. Now and then the monotony would be 
relieved with a skull and cross-houes, or a 
chapel bearing some doleful or hopeful inscrip¬ 
tion pertaining to mortality or immortality. 
Back of these well arranged fronts tho bones 
were thrown in to the depth of several feet. 
For an hour we traversed street al'lci street, 
seeing only' those relies of the dead and noting 
the skulls which have been broken by bullets or 
opened by bayonets. In some places the earth 
beneath Our foot, was wel, while dampnessover¬ 
head seemed to he oozing out ol' (lie stones. 
The air, however, was not in the slightest de- 
_groeunpleasant. Why 
such a place should bo 
Tho origin or thot.’ut- 
|||j| 1 "" ' J ' " 
TO 'VHC After 11 I hue, 
b tying «; that portion of the 
Pi «"« “ Olty under which the 
r I H excavations were 
1|3«1S * iv,! w,y * h"d arches 
were accordingly 
. Xv V'SjSwi§Kn built to support, it. 
S rPr During some one of 
I be reigns of terror 
which have afflicted 
Furls, hundreds of 
bodies were thrown 
in,n * hose caverns, 
tkShCwS '"id subsequently the 
•’? ttSuSjgS bones from eeineter- 
: ^ l "’ w0l '° r 0 111 ° v 011 
— — ~ ^ I cannot close ibis 
— ^ _'j disjointed Idler with- 
- _ ' j outa thought of thou- 
j sands of ItUHAii girls 
-> ':!!! j discussing the ward- 
__ UI ( j robe question in these, 
‘ to you, brilliant Octo- 
~ -=- = " V$fj|| her days—to us, in Pa- 
-- risjlump, cloudy days. 
French fashions are 
afraid I shall catch it. summed up in a very 
f « w w o r d 8— every 
tiling in black, for the 
street, except color In the neck-tic and gloves. 
Skirts clear the ground, are trimmed high with 
rallies or flounces. The polonaise Is long, open 
down the front, and strapped across with passe¬ 
menterie cord ami buttons; Hie buck is full 
and looped. With a black petticoat the toilet is 
varied by the addition of a polonaise in any 
one of the numerous shades of brown or gray, 
elaborately braided with cord of the same 
shade. Dresses arc made very high at the neck; 
the linen collar is upright, with tiny poiuts 
turned down in front. Ncck-tlea and bows for 
tho hair arc largely in two colors; scarlet vel¬ 
vet. with pale salmon silk; lierron (very dark 
blue) with palegreonish bJuo; prune oolor with 
pale sage green; rose velvet and rose silk; crin¬ 
oline Is almost entirely discarded. Hair is 
dressed in a hundred ways; low down on tho 
back, loosely in a net with a coronet roll or 
braid; high on the buck with, enough curls and 
puffs to daze a simple eye; tho “ French twist,” 
surrounded by a braid, or tho braid without the 
twist, and pretty heads look well with the hair 
plaited at the back and looped school-girl fash¬ 
ion. For a wrap thefiacque aud cape continues 
to lie fashionable; a more novel style is a par¬ 
tially fitting anoquo with imiucnse flowing 
sleeves, aud the garniture, fringe and braiding. 
French women, for themselves, do not seem 
to ape after new fashions. If a garment is 
pretty and becoming, they do not remodel it 
six months after because a new style mani¬ 
fests itself. But to satisfy tho ambit Ion of Rus¬ 
sians and Americans, t hey use their brains to 
invent all sorts of novelties in dress, selling 
Ihem cloaks and dresses and bonnets which 
they themselves would never think of wearing 
—and for the street, a respectable French wo¬ 
man never makes anything but a simple, natu¬ 
ral toilet. A section of Broadway with its mag¬ 
nificently attired women on proruouudo would 
drive Puns frantic willi wonder. Although a 
blackbird myself. I confess to a weakness for 
tropical hues, aiul like Broadway, 
11 the transient Americans one most fre¬ 
quently encounters in Paris are fair specimens 
m my countrymen. I can readily understand 
wtiy they have obtained the epithet of ”Thoeo 
dreadful Americans." 
Mahv A. E. Wagkr, 
