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Show I Psmous 4 f 1 si Palais Boyal gtts 7 f HAT place 19 this? I have "JAM never been through It be- Vv fjre" SI " They were passing 'Z'r-i through the Palais Royal Q?fJi't as short cut. The speak- 11 " er was a New Yorker who visits Paris every year and stays j. two months each time because, al- i though he leaves New York fully determined de-termined to study other European capitals each year,' the charm of Puris holds him captive and he Krudges the few days he has to give ( to London to obtain a new outfit of I. clothes. Yet this student and lover of ' Jr ' v v is-S je'L rrr il k. Hi i-ir"' "SAr v'tti'-,v.': SiK 1 V " "ZrL " r--1 I 1 THE. 80URSL Paris had never seen the Palais Royal, because it Is living Paris that occupies ill his interest and the Palais Royal belongs to the past. An attempt was made this year to bring about the resurrection of the palace by moving the bourse to a new building to be erected in Its gardens. The bourse has grown too small for the transactions carried on there. When It was constructed the amount of securities in France was about $2,000,000,000 and the total had grown to $18,000,000,000 in 1899, when two new wings were added to the building. build-ing. The amount has Increased In the last thirteen years to $24,000,000,-000 $24,000,000,-000 and seems likely to continue to Increase, and the corporation of stock brokers complains that the operations of its members are hampered for want of space. A plan was drawn up to build a new stock exchange in the gardens of t'Ae Palais Royal, now only used by a few children as a playground. Several small, dingy streets (MontpenBler, Peaujolals and Radziwill) were to be swept away to give better access to It and two new avenues were to be built, one from the Avenue de l'Opera and one between the Council of State offices and the Palais Royal. The president of the stockbrokers' corporation cor-poration approved of the scheme and for a time It seemed as If it was certain cer-tain to be put Into execution. But the city council voted It down, being unwilling un-willing to surrender an open space and not wishing to make a radical change in a building with which so much of the country's history Is wrapped wrap-ped up. - ' "This Palais Royal," said the leader of the opposition to the project, "is to Paris almost what St. Mark's square is to Venice." But although the plan Is for the present scotched, It Is not killed, and it Is possible that the powerful Interests Inter-ests at work in its favor will overcome over-come the sentimental objections of its opponents. The Palais Royal, now deserted and melancholy, was for hundreds of years the center of Parisian gayety, business, busi-ness, fashion, gallantry and life. Its history recalls in its origin that of Hampton court, built by Cardinal Wolsey. It was commenced in 1629 by Cardinal Richelieu, who bought the old Rambouillet mansion for $19,003, PALAIS ROYAL and the fields and marshes then surrounding sur-rounding it, spending in all some $200,000. On this site he built a palace pal-ace so splendid that, fearing that the king, Louis XIII, would accuse him of being too luxurious, he made a present of it to the king three years before the building was finished. Louis' widow, Queen Anne of Austria, Aus-tria, took up her residence there on his death with her two sons, Louis XIV and the Duke of Anjou. The little lit-tle king, then four years old, played in the gardens, where a miniature fort was built for him, with rampartB, bastions, moats and redoubts, all complete. com-plete. Henrietta of France, made a widow by the execution of her husband, Charles I of England, lived in the palace, pal-ace, and later Philip of Orleans, when regent of France during the minority of "Louis XV, occupied It In the eighteenth century the northern side was the scene of dealings In stocks, in Law's wonderful schemes a foretaste fore-taste of the future that may await the palace. In 1789 the gardens were a favorite meeting place for the revolutionists, and Camille Desmoullns preached revolt, re-volt, standing on a table, on the spot where his statue now Is placed. With the directory the palace; deserted by j politicians, became the haunt of gayety again. Pastry cooks and wine sellers occupied the shops and gallantry gal-lantry held sway there. Under the consulate and first empire the palace was full of gambling houses, as readers read-ers of Balzac's "Peau de Chagrin" will remember. Lansquenet and baccarat bac-carat were played from morning to night, untff Louis Philippe closed the gambling houses. This act was a deathblow to the gayety centered at the Palais Royal. For years It was noted for good and cheap restaurants, but now even that trade has gone and cheap jewelry shops, postcard sellers and secondhand second-hand dealers carry on the only business busi-ness that exists there. One corner only retains full life. The Palais Royal theater, celebrated for Its farces, of a type peculiar to Itself, still brings people to the district |