Some of the yearly customs on fête days in Paris are peculiar, and those occurring in the winter season are less familiar than others—to English visitors. New Year’s Day, the “Jour de l’an,” is kept as a National Holiday, and presents of flowers and “objets d’art” are sent amongst friends. Christmas Day is not kept with the like solemnity and joyousness as with us—though becoming more a fête than it formerly was. Upon New Year’s Day beggars are allowed in the streets, and it is often a ghastly spectacle to see the poor creatures in all conditions of deformity asking alms. A good deal is distributed amongst them, as the French are very charitable to the Poor. At this season “booths” are allowed on the Boulevards, when all sorts of toys, etc., are exposed for sale, some of them mechanical and very ingenious. They are supposed for the most part to have been made in the homes of the poor. Shrove Tuesday (Mardi-gras) and Mid-Lent (Mi-carême) are also general holidays. On the former there is a procession of fat cattle, and a throwing of confetti in the main streets and Boulevards, where vehicular traffic is suspended. I have seen the Grand Boulevards literally six inches deep in confetti on a fine day. Mi-carême is marked by a procession of the washerwomen, and in many particulars resembles our Lord Mayor’s Show on November 9th, only it is more fantastic. The Grand Car on these occasions is reserved for the Queen of the Laundries, who has been solemnly chosen for her beauty. She rides triumphant, surrounded by her “Court”—sometimes rather scantily dressed for the cold weather, and stops at the Elysée, where she generally receives a present of a bracelet at the hands of the President of the Republic. These functions are well worth seeing—once. The National Fête, to celebrate the declaration of the Republic, being in warmer weather (July), is usually more of a festival in the open-air, and is kept up late and early. Many families leave Paris for the country before it comes off. It is emphatically the people’s fête, and one feature of it is that dancing is allowed in the streets. Bandstands are erected, usually opposite a restaurant, and in the evenings people gather in large numbers. Inmates of flats near these bandstands suffer much (I write from experience), for being the hot weather windows must be open, and the noise is deafening. “All Souls’” and “All Saints’” Days are religiously kept by most Parisians, and thousands go to the cemeteries to place flowers on the graves of their relations. It is a very interesting sight, and visitors to Paris should not omit on these days to go to Père-la-Chaise, Passy, Bolougne-sur-Seine, or one of the other cemeteries. The French pay great respect to the dead. No funeral cortège is allowed to trot in Paris whatever the distance to the cemetery, and most men raise their hats and women cross themselves as the body passes in the streets. Soldiers and officials always salute.