We have been permitted to make the following extracts from a private letter received' in Shanghai by the last home mai I must tell you we were treated to a most enjoyable week in Paris, and really we had a delightful time. The city is beautiful, and the Exhibition most faseinating—we saw great deal in the time we wore there, but the Exhibition, of course, jas the chief texture of interest, ani a sight I would not have missed for much. H**** made arrangements with Thomas Cook and Sons, the *'Tourists' Guide" people, for all travelling and hotel arrangements; they proved tost satisfactory, saving us any trouble in this respect. There are also Cook's: Conducted Tours" Which mean going about in parties—each party has its own-guide, and the guide takes them to seo the plices and things of interest in Paris; they also include drives to country parts of France. We, however, were not of the conducted parties, as H**** thought it would be so much more pleasant to go about as we pleased. In our wanderings we saw Cook's parties at nearly every corner, being led about in herds; the guide goes in front with a little pointed stick or wand, and suddenly up goes the stick and they all halt, and he points out something of interest and oxpislas—then down goes the stick and forward ni arch the troop to something else. Several times, when we were in some pavilion in the Exhibition, we would hear a great clattering of feet'and a sound of many voices, and would wonder what on earth was coming, when lo! a whole herd would come marching in behind the man with the stick, till at last we got to expect to see them popping round any corner of the Exhibition, or anywhere else for that matter. They were a source of great amusement to us, and on the day before we came away twe thought we would join a party drive to Versnilles, a beautiful part of France, The Palace' at Versailles, in which the former Kings and Queens ro-sided, is sixteen miles out of Paris; 1 forget how many rooms there were in all, think the guide mentioned one hundred odd, but we only went through some of them, those which contained original oil paintings of historical renown, and some of the bedrooms—one was pointed out to uses the room in which Queen Victoria slept when on a visit to France, and according to our guide she never' slept better! The floor were of wood, pieced out in patterns, and very highly polished the only marble portions of the palaes wore the halls and. steps; the Chapel was marble, with its beautiful ceiling covered with biblical paintings. In one of the holla our guide pointed out the very step on which Mary Antoinette was arrest ed. The grounds outside were magnificent, with innumerable fountains all round; on festival days the fountains play, and the cost for a few hours is £400, but the sight must be beautiful with the reflection of the illuminations on the waters. The stables were also opened to visitors, and were filled with the state carriages used in the times of the Sovereigns of France. Some were immense things, having massive golden oraamentations and costing thousands of franes, Our guide was a very humorous man, and made the drive very' interesting, driving us home through some lovely This is only one of the many outings we had but I revly must tell you a little of the Eshibition itself. Some of the build ju it were superb, particularly those wh were oroumented with sculptures—in fact soulpturss formed quite large feature in the Exhibition; some were of soft delicate tints, and the figures were exquisite' The galleries (picture) contained splendid col-Tections—oue gallery was set apart for the work of schools of the present day—a great number being contributed by school children of various art schools. Tapestries were also very prominent, bur not very attractive to. look at; they were well faded, which gave the faces that were worked on them a sickly sort of expression, if one might fancy any expression at all. There were Pavilions there, representing all different nations (Limean the divellings of nations), England was represented by an old English country house, with old oak door and low porch this was not open on the day we wanted to Dut we went into nearly all the The Italian one was very artistic, and contained some lovely porcelain, of many different kinds and colourings, also very old pewter. The Chinese Pavilion, or rather pagoda, was full of blackwood furniture, and ornaments, and reeked of joss sticks (which must have been bad ones I ink, from their odour). Here we caw ing horsts prowling about, and my first inclination was to fly at th necks, and throttle them with my little claws, so you may guess we did not stay near them for more than a few minutes. Before this I had been longing to see John Chinaman again, but of course circumstances alter cases, don't yer seo! The Turkish and Servian Pavilions were not so very interesting—their chief occupation was making rus and pottery.
to be remembered; the size of the whole Our trip the Eiffel Tower is a thing thing can only be realised, I am sure, when one sees it. "The first stage is a huge platform, with shops and restaurants on it—the distance round the square forms quite a promenade, and had lifts working at th four corners. The second stage is similar to the first, only not so big. The third is the tower part, and to ghetto the top the centre; the sensation during this part of the journey makes a great invny people giddy—one sees the objects below getting smaller and amallec. goid his inclination was to throw himself over, so we had to keep sharp eyes on him!!! The total height was 900 feet; the houses and people below looked so small from the top that they were recognised with diffi Wo stopped up about an hour to see the entire view of Paris—nearly everyone up there was writing postcards, so of course one had to go to my old pal;" I heard afterwards that ink was provided, but trust that you able to decipher the pencil all lit. H**** addressed it for me, so you will get it anyhow. When we descended the sensation was curiouser' and curious ser'.—I was in a stew lest anyone should be squirmy near me—the lift was packed—and that ain't the pleasantest thing to oppon'!!! The tower, as you mxy know, is s permanent structure standing from the last Exhibition, but the rest of the buildings with the exception of a few, are only built of iron and plaster; it seems such a pity that they should have to come down again. As a small souvenir from the ower, I am sending you a booklet of pictures of some of the Exhibition views, as I know, dear F** you will be interested to seo them. I wish I had the book with me at the present moment, 50 that I could describe the views to you, as write but as yon are a French scholar yon will rexd about them yourself, I know.
The electric steam launches used on the Rives run for remarkably small fares, either up or down the River as far as one cares to go. and all for 10 centimes (-ne penny). H**** took us one morning, and we went down the River t" a plice where there were a lot of ruins of old forts, and also where they mide wine; the grapes there grew very profusely hanging thickly on the hedges, and looked very inviting—little white grapes. We rode in an electric train as far as it went, and then got out and went into a little country restaurant to have some lunch, and a very novel one too! First the woman gave us soup in huge bowls, which didn't leave room for much more in us; and gave us what she called some boiled beef, but which certainly seemed to us to be the beef the soup was boiled in, and finally she brought in some beef-steak, looking highly delighted with herself, and telling us she knew we would like the beef-steak 8" she just conked it for us—we thought it such a pity she had not thought of it before, but tuid her we had enjoyed itallimmensely. The French people have such a great idea that English people's staple food is beef-steak, and are bound to give them that however much else they may have. The wine, however, is very cheap, and is drunk by the poorer classes even, like water; of course it is very mild, and doesfi't taste so very grapey. After our very hearty (7) lunch we went back and took launch to the Exhibition—by the way the Exhibition is built right along on the banks of the River for mile: down, and the view of the River running between makes it delightful. You will see in the hooklet some ye y fine views of it, Oh! I musn't forget to teil you that the broad we had at the inn was quite " yard in length, H**** cut off from one side of the table and I cut from the opposit. 40 imagine the pictur we made, Ever} body in Franco is most informal and natural, so that one might do anything without being remarked upon.
The Exhibition, they say, is not paying all well, and many of the buildings are left in a semi-finished state for want of funds. The illuminations are magnificent the entrance fre on speci illumination nights is three tim's the usual. The Glass Palace" is a beautiful structure of ghisi entirely, oven to the balustrades, which are of pink ylass shells, the steps of sea-weed green, and the roof a great dome white glass. The effect, whan this is lighted up, is lovely; from the four corners of the roof, which is shaped like a pard, four dragons pour water from their muths into a lake below. Another very wondorfol thing are the fountains of changing colours—the colours vary as the fountains play (all in a group), and beyond the fountains is a huge recess lit with electricity, T could ell you of heaps more, but really think I have dosed you with' enough of this—T often though of you while T wis there, and wisher you could have be with us to enjoy it all, particularly the string bands; they wore so beautifully dreamy, one never tired of listening to them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.