How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 381 pages of information about How to Enjoy Paris in 1842.

How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 381 pages of information about How to Enjoy Paris in 1842.

Some of the handsomest shops and coffee-houses are to be found on the Boulevards, and dwellings where many of the most respectable persons reside.  There is always an humble traffic going on from an immense number of stalls, in which various commodities are sold, and although the assortment consists of a hundred different descriptions of articles, yet all are at one price, consisting of everything that can well be imagined, from a comb to a pair of bellows, the vender singing out the price with stentorian lungs, perhaps twenty-five sous, more or less, and as there is a great deal of opposition with these itinerant merchants, they often try who can cry out the loudest, and succeed in raising a terrific din, which amuses the mob, who consider that all is life and spirit as long as there is noise and fun going forward; these Boulevards, therefore, are just such as suit the Parisian lower classes.  Those on the south side of the Seine are an exact contrast, most of them being so deserted, that in viewing the long lines of tall arched elms, with scarcely an individual moving beneath them, one could imagine that they were a hundred miles from any capital; but there is something pleasing in retiring to these lone green shades, when fatigued with the bustle and rattling noises of the city.  The only individuals usually to be met with in these quiet Boulevards are now and then a nursery-maid with a child, an old lady of the gone-by school, and her female servant of the same era, who jog on at a slow and solemn pace as they moan over the good old times that are passed, and sympathise in expressions of horror at the vices of the present day; a tall thin battered looking beau, whose youth was passed in the last century, meets the antiquated pair, mutual salutations take place, the gentleman doffs his hat, and with a graceful sort of turn and wave of the hand, at the same time bows his body full half way to the ground, which, although rather stiffened with age, still retains a shadow of the elegance of former times.  Madame makes a very pretty reverence, somewhat ceremonious, according to the flippant ideas of the present day, entreats Monsieur would put on his hat, would be in despair if he should catch cold; he obeys, is enchanted to see her look so well, but desolated to hear she has a little cold, and after expressing the most fervent hopes for her getting better, he takes his leave, having too good a notion of propriety to join the lady in her walk lest a liaison between them might be suspected.  How different this worn-out remnant of the days of Louis the Sixteenth from la jeune France of the present day, when the usual greeting between the young men would be a nod of the head, “Bon jour, ca va bien?” adieu, and away, which is tantamount to “How do, quite well, good bye,” and off; with a lady the abruptness would be a little softened, but any politeness that gives much trouble is quite at a discount with such

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How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.