THE LIGHTS OF PARIS.

oil lamp which gave as much light as six large candles,
and wore in his belt a sand-glass of a quarter of an
hour. When one of these light-bearers was engaged
he would, after receiving his money,
light his lamp, turn down his glass
and set off, and the only drawback
to the usefulness of these walking
lamp-posts was the fact that no one
could answer for their honesty, more
than one of them having been known
to overpower and rob his employer
on reaching a lonely street. Still,
for want of a better, this plan con-
tinued to be carried out, even until
the beginning of the present cen-
tury.

The person who succeeded best
in lighting Paris was also the founder
of the French police force, Nicholas
de la Reynié. In 1667, he was
made Lieutenant-General of police,
and Louis the Fourteenth gave

THE NIGHTFALL CRIER.—~‘ HANG OUT YOUR LANTERNS.”

him for his watchword these three nouns: CZean/i-
ness, Light, Safety; a very difficult programme to

aes

carry out in a city which had no street lamps, which
had never been swept, and which was, besides,
swarming with thieves.

But La Reynié set to work

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
    

TREACHEROUS LIGHT-BEARERS.

vigorously; had the mud and dirt carted away,
formed a large body of night watchmen, and ordered
that candles protected by glass should be hung by
cords from the first story of the houses. It was not
thought necessary, however, to have these lights used
during the summer months, and it was soon discov-
ered that thieves and pickpockets began their work
again as soon as the warm weather returned, so that
scarcely a night passed without the dismal, desperate
cry, “Help! help t” being heard in the streets.

Then the people clamored to have the lights kept
burning the whole year round; and after a great deal
of delay it was decided that the city should be lighted
from the twentieth of October to the thirty-first of
March, which was a gain of forty days, or rather of
forty nights.

The people were very much pleased with this
arrangement, and Madame de Sévigné, who lived in
Paris at that time, said in a letter to her daughter:

“We supped yesterday at Mme. Contange’s, where
we met Mme. Scarron, and about midnight we came
home very gayly without being the least afraid of rob-
bers — thanks to the lights in the streets.”

At the end of the seventeenth century, there were