PARIS,
April 21, 1891.
To-day is Easter. So Christ is risen! It’s my first Easter away from home.
I arrived in Paris on Friday morning and at once went to the Exhibition.
Yes, the Eiffel Tower is very very high. The other exhibition buildings I
saw only from the outside, as they were occupied by cavalry brought there
in anticipation of disorders. On Friday they expected riots. The people
flocked in crowds about the streets, shouting and whistling, greatly
excited, while the police kept dispersing them. To disperse a big crowd a
dozen policemen are sufficient here. The police make a combined attack, and
the crowd runs like mad. In one of these attacks the honour was vouchsafed
to me--a policeman caught hold of me under my shoulder, and pushed me in
front of him.
There was a great deal of movement, the streets were swarming and surging.
Noise, hubbub. The pavements are filled with little tables, and at the
tables sit Frenchmen who feel as though they were at home in the street. A
magnificent people. There is no describing Paris, though; I will put off
the description of it till I get home.