[Illustration: 251, Rue Saint-Honoré, 251 NOUVEAU CIRQUE]
These papers also contain carefully edited accounts of foreign fairs, such as the following letter sent to the _Voyageur forain_ from Karkhoff (Russia):--
"Those of our comrades who do not suffer from cold in the eyes, and are not afraid of being frozen, could try their luck at Karkhoff, where it is only 17 degrees below zero, with 70 centimètres of snow; our friend and correspondent gives us some interesting details about the customs of the showmen and people in Russia: thus in most of the cities it is not unusual to see several shows installed in one booth; for instance, a complete museum of anatomical figures and groups, a panorama, monkeys, crocodiles, giants, dwarfs, and armless women, all shown for 20 kopecks, or fivepence, children and soldiers half-price; no allusion is made to the nurses, or to the treating propensities of Russian soldiers in love.
"These booths remain in the same town for two or three months at a time; this year an exhibition was held at Karkhoff, which preceded the fair, and lasted a fortnight; it consisted of a large museum, a glass-spinner, a large circus, a fine menagerie, a monkey theatre, and an aquarium, besides the town [p031] theatre; and all these entertainments were established in a city which only contains 20,000 inhabitants, that is to say, there were too many attractions for so few people, and no one made any profits; the lower classes are not worth counting, they devote themselves to the consumption of brandy which brutalizes them; and only the nobility, the middle classes and the Jews, who are rather bad than good, can be relied upon. It is impossible to open anything before noon on Sundays or Thursdays and, we might add, that the Russian public is utterly _blasé_, for it has seen nearly every variety of attraction. Still, it is very fond of marionettes, and the owner of a puppet-theatre, willing to risk a journey in this country, would soon make his fortune; rents are very dear but living is cheap, with the exception of wine."
[Illustration: NOUVEAU CIRQUE Tous les Soirs a 8 · MATINEES · Jeudis et Dimanches a 2]
The third page of both the _Union mutuelle_ and the _Voyageur forain_ is filled with advertisements. As usual, these columns are particularly amusing. I need scarcely explain that the following cuttings have been made almost at hazard, and that I have not altered one word of them:-- [p032]