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Show sl;atcd for a few brief hours in unchecked un-checked glee. "Cone'.erges who have not flooded cellars to co;ie with put on their best bonnets and po out to have a lock at this new and wonderful Seine." Nightly, when the theaters yet freo tln ir crowds, elegantly attired women, wllh their escorts came In motors to the Pont do 1 Alma to ai-o how much of the rrcnes might be still above water. Tbo rest of the world thrilled In its alarm as squares and street wllh nanifs that have become be-come hou-'hoM words to the conlines of clvi! zailon collapsi d, exhaled their sewers or dlsappeHP'd entirely In a rush of waves. Only Paris remained gay. The one grief was tho inevitable inevit-able lxjstnonement of Chanticler." "A I stranccr mlht 1n excused for wonder-i wonder-i ing," sny the- British daily, "whether j the average Parisian realizes lh aw-ful aw-ful calamity." Current Literature. PARISIAN SPIRITS CANNOT CAN-NOT BE DAMPENED As the lawny torrent of the Seine, swollen by the oei flowing tide of lis great tributaries, tiie Marine aid the Yonne, rose lo the arches of the hlgherit bildse in Paris; tho spirits of the millions who dwell in the French capital rose with it "Nothing could bo gayer," wrote the amazed correspondent of the Ixjndou Telegraph, Tele-graph, "than flooded Paris, when death by drowning, death by pestilence and death from hunger and cold drew near and ever nearer." Shrieks of laughter from rain-soaked men and women greeted everj huge hoshad that bobbed under the choked arches of each bridge. Immense? armchairs were received with raiiuro, and dainty dain-ty ladles In furs, from the rumm'ts of automobiles, wagered gerus and bonbons bon-bons upon the results of rnees between be-tween the upholstered sofas and gicat Carved bedsteads. The "mldlnoltes." j or shop girls, spent the noon hour in sorting with the waters that rippled rip-pled to their ankles in many of tho highest laid streets, ud schoolboys |