Show I 1 oj of the I 1 NY N Y poet post I 1 THE MINIATURE PHASES OF PARISIAN ll 11 LIFE FE i i the impression made on the mind by the visible world of paris IB s that of a widespread charming littleness I 1 do not associate with this term terra any of the contemptible or wish it understood as denoting an absence of grandeur in paris I 1 I 1 employ the term to convey an idea of the effect produced by an infinity of attractive objects as well as by certain economical features of a parisian an existence due to a skilful I 1 struggle for life by a community determined to have a good time of ft tt pa paris ris in its grand totality ia is at ut once a vast avast brilliant bazaar anda and a complicated polished social mosaic each group according to Proud hon each monad according to lem Lef leibnitz finitz each thing according to material conee conoe conceptions eions being a speck of color or form harmoniously harmoniously arranged and striking into effect some pome of thi the social details of this great mosaic I 1 propose to look at microscopically blythe my themo rad rao is accord the little in paris I 1 will begin with a brief analysis of the parisian shop the first floor of almost every house in paris is devoted to shops we will not stop to admire objects displayed in ili the shop windows the bazaar element of paris but const consider constser der den the shop as a little institution by itself the parisian shopkeeper carries carnies on business on a small scale the moment he gets a small capital his own savings which is rare rard an inheritance or his cifes dot doo he rents a small shop chop and fills it with small wares and is small enough to make his wil wll wile his clerk the result of which is to render her small through fingering money while her husband becomes beco haes an idler anda and a small spendthrift at a amali amail cafe his enterprise is small his profits i small and when he ho fails falls the loss lp 1 ss is small to his creditors his competitors would get rid of a small smail noi nol nuisance sance and strangers of being cheated in a small way if there were liot riot innumerable ready to step into his small shoes there is not much to be said morally in favor of the parisian shop people in paris live in a small compass french living is the perfection of the science of social economy private apartments and hotels are full fall of or small things you pay a small price for a small room increasing your rent proportionately abely for a suite the standard of luxury and the ratio of price always corresponding to habits and ambition imagine an apartment on the usual bachelor scale it contains every article necessary en petit you will have a small washbowl and pitcher with a little water in it a small table and bureau with small drawers a small bed jafet a little too short a swall small patch oi of abt apet all in as small smail a space as you y ou can dexterous dexterously li turn round envery neathery neat very oi orderly derly and no small gratl gratification to a man with a small smail purse the dwy ly exceptions I 1 can make to this gen rule are two large ones connected with my small hotel first an enormous landlady with a good big heart and second its title hotel of the universe we will say nothing about pictures 60 feet long by horace vernet that is a government affair As it is his canvas is filled with small figures french amateurs generally love small art picture buyers prize small paintings for which they sometimes I 1 think pa pay y overlarge over large prices but let that pass they lovea love iove a small idea well done it may bo be a man drinking dancing or fiddling a woman sweeping holding a coffee tray trying a shoe or peeping C through a keyhole in landsea landsen landscape pe french taste delights in a bush a puddle some chickens and a row of small top trees topped of all their large branches in sculpture they are fond of statuette they reduce the antique and manufacture small caricatures to perfection little bronze and plaster casts of the various ivo IVe benuses Ve abound very few dianas bianas and minervah Miner Aliner vas petty sculpture representing judges as monkeys englishmen as bullfrogs bull frogs emaciated artists and literate urs eurs the exaggerated in all shapes together with minature saints virgins and crucified christs meet the eye on all sides this taste for thoa thea little in art is perhaps most apparent iii iq the ornamentation of public structures the louvre for instance is covered with small statues columns and friezes with flowers garlands cupids cupida and allegorical figures arranged in most complicated groups gro all very puzzling and at the same time very pleasing in in the grand rand raud effect of this magnificent edifice iho the the tho large largo ideas idea after the main design m this his phantasmagoria of sculpture are kal lat matestic majestic estic caryatides tides of females support pediment its roof very significant symbols in relation to the woman question fuestion ue stion than the parisians Pari no people in the world are more easily pleased witha with a rattle and tickled with a straw traverse the broad avenue of 0 the champs dotted with booths and observe the little groups of old men and children pitching little quoits shooting little guns guna ascertaining how little they weigh by small scales whirling around in petty boats alid and on flying hobby horses kotses gambling for little cakes bon bons and crockery enter a cafe chan tant with a stage before defore you displaying a minature parlor blazing with small jets lets of gas and filled with women women in full dress singing for your amusement at the cost of un potito petite verre of cordial contemplate the little in other directions go to the theatres theartres the atres and study pieces composed of a little dialogue and a little singing a multiplicity OF of comic situations subtleties of expression and striking tableaux examine french literature where the same peculiarity is manifest many of the tho best thoughts of the french ml mind nd are expressed in a small compass the works of joubert bo ro la bruyere brayere and alid pascal form collections of thought crystallized into inid small intellectual brilliants brilliantz brilli ants of rarest bality quality the little atle is apparent in a great many other directions french politeness for in instance stanco consists of little attentions little ceremonies conversation of epigrams and exclamations families are small in number suited to the space they move mow in the soil is divided into small email farms gardens are laid out in small beds and tortuous footpaths foot paths the army is made up of small men med and the country of numerous small departments and so on ad infinitum let no ono one imagine that this widespread littleness indicates above an absence of gLand grandeur eurin in paris on eele efee the contrary this great social mo formed out of little specks each VA with its own tint and boundary line I 1 is as impressive in its concrete as in its elementary form paris it is said rules france paris accordingly ra represents france en grand history shows us what frenc frenchmen lAnen are tire when disciplined and what they are when emancipate emancipated a from discipline their military successes and their revolutions furnish farnish ample ampie am tipi e illustrations they are very plas pias plastic s so 0 long as ag they can possibly adjust themselves copach to acu aeu ach other terrible when they recoil and stand upon their individuality the little tempest of excitement which the most polished frenchman ox exhibits hibits when provoked is significant it is the keynote key note of the horrors of the french revolution how all these sandy particles of french humanity these little lutle sparkling sparkling egos the greatest compounds 0 of sensibility and susceptibility extant cohere and form a nation is a marvel A clue to the unravelling of this mystery is only to be found in a study of the little in the w wrid of P paris aris |