Show STUDENT LIFE alley Paris is within less than a tiav by rail of the regions ahout Nice and Monte Carlo and so the Parisian ilower semi-tropic- al market at Christmas time is gorgeous to behold The mot characteristic feature of the boulevards at Christmas time is the row of booths and temporary shops extending for nearly a mile on the oufer edge of both sidewalks I once sat in a cafe in a Spanish city and while sipping my horchata de clnifas was invited by beggars and street pedlars to buy nearly every small article imaginable from a drink of water to a lottery ticket and the multiplicity of sensations which I as a much importuned senorito underwent is the only thing I know to he compared with the mercantile bewilderment one experiences before the array of Christmas goods along the sidewalks of Paris Here is the true home of the article de Paris Here we see it in its highest perfection — cheap but artistic jewelry toys of every kind each year showing new mechanical ones of ingenious make then there are candies fruits books hot cakes music and even pamphlets claiming to teach the buyer without other aid to speak fluently any language on earth Nothing is gaudy or ugly but everything has the chic attractive air that only Paris can give Sometimes the sidewalk is blocked by people who have stopped to join in the refrain of G9 some popular song such as ” “Ca-fa- it plaisir Aux Femmes sung by some vender of music Here again is a crowd of children watching a set of mechanical dolls which sweep make beds and do other domestic science stunts with now and then a bewitching flirt of their skirts to reveal their shapely ankles and let us know that they are Parisienncs Evervone is good natured public and salesmen fling jokes at each other and as you listen to the alluring calls of the latter you realize how the artistic element so strong in the French race reappears even in these humble street merchants for they find the most startling adjectives and the most appropriate metaphors to recommend their wares and you wonder with Stevenson “Where does this people get its gift for saying doing and making pretty things” The Christmas boulevard also reminds us how far the French are from attaining their' political ideals : m that Liberty Equality Fraternity have never been anything more than a motto for the French republic The most elegant shop windows face the cheap booths in a glaring and most unequal contrast The rich bourgeois arrives in his automobile and does his shopping indoors while the poor ouvrier makes his purchases in the open air and on foot The holiday spirit reaches its height on Christmas eve perhaps the most joyous moment of |