Rollo in Paris Part 15

"Yes," said he, "I certainly feel better--a great deal better."

"I am very glad," said Rollo.

"Where is your mother?" asked Mr. Holiday, as he walked across the room to the gla.s.s.

"She has gone out to take a ride," said Rollo, "with uncle George and Jennie."

"That's right," said Mr. Holiday. "I am very glad that she has gone. And have you been staying here to take care of me?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," said Rollo. "I have been writing another French lesson. I have got them all written now to next Friday."

"Ah," said Mr. Holiday, "that's excellent. That's what the farmers call being forehanded."

"Now, Rollo," said Mr. Holiday, after a little pause, "I feel so much better that I should like to go somewhere and take a ride myself. I don't care much where. If there is any where that you wish to go, I will go with you. Come, I will put myself entirely at your disposal. Let us see what you can do to give me a ride and entertain me."

Rollo was very much pleased indeed with this proposal. He decided instantly what he would do. He had seen that morning an _affix_, as the French call it, that is, a placard posted on a wall among a hundred others, setting forth that there was to be a balloon ascension that afternoon at the Hippodrome, at three o'clock, to be followed by various equestrian performances. Rollo immediately mentioned this to his father, and asked him if he should be willing to go there. His father said that he should; adding, that he would like to see the balloon go up very much.

"Then when we come home," said Rollo, "you must ride slowly along through the Elysian Fields, and let me see the booths, and the games that they are playing there."

"Very well," said his father; "I will take some newspapers with me, and I will sit still in the carriage while you go and see the booths and the games."

This plan being thus resolved upon, and all arranged, Alfred was summoned and ordered to get the carriage ready, and to put the top down.

When Alfred reported that the carriage was at the door, Mr. Holiday and Rollo went down and got in, and were soon in the midst of the stream of equipages that were going up the grand avenue of the Elysian Fields.

They arrived at the Hippodrome in time to get an excellent seat, and they remained there two hours. They saw the balloon, with a man and young girl in the car below it, rise majestically into the air, and soar away until it was out of sight. The fearless aeronauts seemed entirely at their ease while they were ascending to the dizzy height. They sat in the car waving banners and throwing down bouquets of flowers as long as they could be seen.

After this there was a series of performances with horses, which delighted Rollo very much. Troops of men came out upon the arena, mounted on beautiful chargers, and armed with lances and coats of mail, as in ancient times. After riding their elegantly caparisoned horses round and round the ring several times, they formed into squadrons and attacked each other with their lances in sham battles. After this, fences of hurdles were put up across the course, in various places, and girls, mounted on beautiful white horses and elegantly dressed, rode around, leaping over the fences in a surprising manner. These and similar performances continued until near five o'clock, and then the immense a.s.sembly broke up, and the people, some in carriages and some on foot, moved away over the various roads and avenues which diverge from the Star.

Rollo and his father got into their carriage, which had been waiting for them all this time, and pa.s.sing the Triumphal Arch, they entered the Grand Avenue of the Elysian Fields, on their return to the city.

They descended the slope which led down to the Round Point at a rapid rate. Here, after pa.s.sing the Round Point, the road became level, and the region of groves and booths, and of games and frolicking, began.

"Now," said Rollo, "I should like to drive slowly, so that, if I come to any thing that I wish to get out and see, I can see it."

"Very well," said his father; "give Alfred your orders."

"Alfred," said Rollo, "draw up as near as you can to the sidewalk on the right hand, and walk the horses, so that I can see what there is."

"And in the mean time," said Mr. Holiday, "I will read my papers."

So Mr. Holiday took his newspapers out of his pocket and began to read them, while Rollo, standing up in the carriage, began to survey the crowd that filled the walks and groves that bordered the avenue, in order to select some object of attraction to be examined more closely.

"Only I wish, father," said Rollo, "that I had somebody here with me to go and see the things--Jennie or Carlos. I wish Carlos was here."

"It is very easy to go and get him," said his father, with his eyes still on his newspaper.

"May I?" said Rollo.

"Any thing you please," said Mr. Holiday. "You are in command this afternoon. You may give Alfred any orders you please."

"Then, Alfred," said Rollo, "drive to the Hotel Louvois as fast as you can."

As he said this, Mr. Holiday folded up his paper and Rollo took his seat, while Alfred, turning the horses away from the sidewalk, set them to trotting briskly along the avenue.

"Only, father," said Rollo, "I shall prevent your reading your papers."

"No matter for that," said Mr. Holiday. "I shall like a good brisk ride along the Boulevards quite as well."

The horses, kept always by Alfred in the very best condition, trotted forward at a rapid rate, leaving scores of omnibuses, cabs, and citadines behind, and keeping pace with the splendid chariots of the French and English aristocracy that thronged the avenue. Presently Rollo observed a peculiar movement among the carriages before them, as if they were making way for something that was coming; and at the same time he saw hundreds of people running forward from the groves and booths, across the side avenues, to the margin of the carriage way.

"The emperor!" said Alfred, drawing in his horses at the same time.

An instant afterward, Rollo, who, on hearing Alfred's words, started from his seat and stood up in the carriage to look, saw two elegantly dressed officers, in splendid uniforms, galloping along toward them in the middle of the avenue. They were followed at a little distance by two others; and then came a very beautiful barouche, drawn by four glossy black horses, magnificently caparisoned. Two gentlemen were seated in this carriage, one of whom bowed repeatedly to the crowd that were gazing at the spectacle from the sides of the avenue as he rode rapidly along. Behind this carriage came another, with a gentleman and a lady in it, and afterward two more troopers. The whole cavalcade moved on so rapidly, that, before Rollo had had scarcely time to look at it, it had pa.s.sed entirely by.

"The emperor!" said Alfred to Rollo. "He is going out to take a ride."

"Is that the emperor?" exclaimed Rollo. "He looks like any common man.

But if I had four such beautiful black horses as he has got, I should be glad. I would drive them myself, instead of having a coachman."

The movement and the sensation produced by the pa.s.sing of the emperor and his train along the avenue immediately subsided, and the other carriages resumed their ordinary course. Alfred's horses trotted on faster than ever. A thousand picturesque and striking objects glided rapidly by--the trees and the booths of the Elysian Fields; the tall, gilded lampposts, and the spouting fountains of the Place de la Concorde; omnibuses, cabs, wagons, chariots, and foot pa.s.sengers without number; and, finally, the tall column of the Place Vendome. Winding round in a graceful curve through this magnificent square, the carriage rolled on in the direction of the Boulevards, and, after going rapidly on for nearly half a mile in that s.p.a.cious avenue, it turned into the street which led to the hotel. It stopped, at length, before the door, and Rollo got out, while Mr. Holiday remained in the carriage. Rollo went up stairs, and after about five minutes he came down again, bringing not only Carlos with him, but also his uncle George. Mr.

Holiday invited Mr. George to go with them for the remainder of the ride. This invitation Mr. George accepted; and so the two gentlemen taking the back seat, and Rollo and Carlos the front, Alfred took them all back to the Elysian Fields together.

They remained nearly an hour in the Elysian Fields. During this time Rollo's father and his uncle George staid in the carriage by the roadside, talking together, while Rollo and Carlos went in among the walks and groves to see the various spectacles which were exhibited there. They would come back from time to time to the carriage, in order that Rollo might describe to his father what they found, or ask permission to take part in some amus.e.m.e.nt. For instance, at one time he came and said, very eagerly,--

"Father, here is a great whirling machine, with s.h.i.+ps and horses going round and round. Carlos and I want to ride on it. The horses are in pairs, two together. Carlos can get on one of them, in one of the pairs, and I on the other. We can go round twenty times for two sous."

"Very well," said his father.

So Rollo and Carlos went back to the whirling machine. It was very large, and was very gayly painted, and ornamented with flags and banners. The vessels and the horses were attached to the ends of long arms, which were supported by iron rods that came down from the top of the central post, so that they were very strong. The horses were as large as small ponies, and the vessels were as big as little boats--each one having seats for four children. When Rollo and Carlos went back, the machine had just taken up its complement of pa.s.sengers for one turn, and was then commencing its rotation. There were a great many persons standing by it, pleased to see how happy the children were in going round so merrily. There was an iron paling all around the machine, to keep the spectators at a safe distance, otherwise they might come too near, and so be struck, and perhaps seriously hurt, by the horses or the boats, when they were put in motion.

As soon as the twenty turns had been taken the machine stopped, and the children who had had their ride were taken off the horses and out of the boats, all except a few who were going to pay again and have a second ride. Rollo and Carlos then went inside the enclosure, and, going up some steps placed there for the purpose, they mounted their horses.

Very soon the machine began to revolve, and they were whirled round and round twenty times with the greatest rapidity. The arms of the machine, too, were long, so that the circle which the horses and the vessels described was quite large, and the whole twenty revolutions made quite a considerable ride.

After finis.h.i.+ng their circuit and dismounting from their horses, the boys next came to a whirling machine, which revolved vertically instead of horizontally; that is, instead of whirling the rider round and round near the level of the ground, it carried them up, over, and down. There was a great wheel, which revolved on an axis, like a vertical mill wheel. This wheel was double, and between the two circ.u.mferences the seats of the pa.s.sengers were hung in such a manner that in revolving they swung freely, so as to keep the heads of the people always uppermost. These seats had high backs and sides, and a sort of bar in front for the people to take hold of, otherwise there would have been great danger of their falling out. As it was, they were carried so swiftly, and so high, and the seats swung to and fro so violently when the machine was in rapid motion, that the men and girls who were in the seats filled the ear with their screams and shouts of laughter.

Rollo and Carlos, after seeing this machine revolve, went to the carriage to ask if they might go in it the next time.

"No," said Mr. Holiday. "I am not sure that it is safe."

So the boys went away from the carriage back under the trees again, and walked along to see what the next exhibition might be. The carriage moved on in the avenue a little way to keep up with them.

The boys strolled along through the crowd a little while longer, looking for a moment, as they pa.s.sed, now at the stalls for selling gingerbread and cakes, now at a display of pictures on a long line,--the sheets being fastened to the line by pins, like clothes upon a clothes line,--now at a company of singers, singing upon a stage under a canopy, and now again at a little boy, about seven or eight years old, who was tumbling head over heels on a little carpet which he had spread on the ground, and then carrying round his cap to the bystanders, in hopes that some of them would give him a sou. At length their attention was attracted by some large boys, who were engaged at a stand at a little distance in shooting at a mark with what seemed to be small guns. These guns, however, discharged themselves by means of a spring coiled up within the barrel, instead of gunpowder; and the bullets which they shot were peas. Rollo had seen these shooting-places before, when he went through the Fields on the first Sunday after he came; so he did not stop long here, but called Carlos's attention to something that he had never seen before, which was going on at a place a little under a tree, a little farther along. A large boy seemed to be pitching quoits. There were a number of persons around him looking on. There was a sort of box placed near the tree, the bottom of which was about two feet square. It had a back next the tree, and two sides, but it had no front or top. In fact, it was almost precisely like a wheelbarrow without any wheel, legs, or handles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SINGING IN THE OPEN AIR.]

The bottom or floor of this box had a great many round and flat plates of bra.s.s upon it, about four inches in diameter, and about four inches apart from each other. The player had ten other plates in his hand, of the same size with those which were upon the bottom of the plate. He took these, one by one, and standing back at a certain distance, perhaps about as far as one good long pace, pitched them, as boys do quoits, in upon the floor of the box. What he tried to do was, to cover up one of the disks in the box so that no part of it could be seen. If he did so he was to have a prize; and he paid two sous for the privilege of playing. The prizes consisted of little articles of porcelain, bronzes, cheap jewelry, images, and other similar things, which were all placed conspicuously on shelves against the tree, above the box, in view of the player.

It seemed to the bystanders as if it would be not at all difficult to toss the disks so as with ten to cover one; but those who tried seemed to find it very difficult to accomplish the object. Even if the disks which they tossed fell in the right place, they would rebound or slide away, and sometimes knock away those which were already well placed.

Still, after trying once, the players wore usually unwilling to give up without trying a second, and even a third and fourth time, so that they generally lost six or eight sous before they were willing to stop; especially as the man himself would now and then play the disks, and he, having made himself skilful by great practice, found no difficulty in piling up his ten disks wherever he wished them to go.