Burton Holmes, the man who brought the world home

Excerpt from the book "Burton Holmes Travelogues"

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The Paris Expo was part of a grand tradition of international fairs, from the late 1800s until the onset of World War I. It was where motion pictures were first shown; where the world of the decorative arts was introduced to Art Nouveau; and it provided the impetus for many of Paris's most famous buildings to be constructed, including the Grand Palais, and the Petit Palais, the Gare de Lyon, the Gare d'Orsay, and the Pont Alexandre III, as well as Eliel Saarinen's Finnish pavilion. The Paris Metro opened to the public the same year, 1900.

I'd like to relate a story first told to me many years ago by my late manager, Louis Francis Brown, and later used many times effectively in my introductions to lectures on Paris. As it invariably seems new even to the sophisticated audiences of today, I'll risk re-telling it. It is about a dear old British clergyman, a vicar of a country parish, who all his life had dreamed of seeing Paris. Eventually, in his seventy-second year, in failing health but still mentally alert, he found it possible to realize his dream of visiting the
gay French capital. On his return, friends and parishioners gave him a reception of welcome."And how, dear Vicar, did you enjoy your stay in the wicked city of Paris?" was the first and most frequent question."Oh very thoroughly indeed, very thoroughly. But I must confess that my pleasure was marred from time to time, oh very slightly marred, by a vague regret - mind you, a very vague regret - that I had never been in Paris before I gave my soul to God."

But the charm of Paris did not make me overlook certain shortcomings of her civilization. I was shocked to find that in our hotel, which was one of the better class, there was not even gas light in the sleeping rooms. At night as we walked upstairs (there was an ascenseur but it worked only for the aged or infirm) we were handed neat little candle-stocks, each with a lighted candle and a box of
matches. And for each candle we were charged a price that yielded a handsome profit to the management. Electric lights were then almost unknown, but gaslight displays in the public rooms, in shops and on the streets were sometimes brilliant - brilliant for those dark days or rather, nights.

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