3-046-989 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Holiday amusements of the Parisians at Bougival, 1872. 'The pretty and pleasant suburban village of Bougival...a few miles north-west of Paris, is a favourite resort of holiday folk upon those festive occasions when the shopkeeping and working classes of the French capital agree to forsake their ordinary toil...and to indulge in the customary sports of a regular pleasure-fair...in the Café and Brasserie by the riverside, called the Rendezvous des Canotiers for its convenience as a baiting-place of boating-crews, many a dish and bottle are cheerfully emptied on a fair-weather Sunday in summer. Many a cup of strong black coffee, laced with cognac, is added to promote digestion; and many a cigar is smoked with a knowing air by the ambitious youths...who treat their female companions...with unlimited ices and conserves. Their choice of pastimes, including the various exercises of skill and athletic prowess, is only embarrassing from its abundance...The boats, the Tir or shooting-gallery, the dancing-ground, the swings and merry-go-rounds, the exhibitions of acrobats and jugglers, the performances of brass bands, and other popular diversions, employ the leisure of this Parisian crowd; "Pleased with, a feather, tickled with a straw".' From "Illustrated London News", 1872.