Midnight
The boulevards are brilliant and the scenes most animating . Everybody is courteous , and all seen bent on a pleasurable time . Cafés , shops , and places of entertainment are very inviting , and you easily forget to note the passage of time . Midnight even overtakes you before you are aware of the lateness of the hour . This is true , if you chance to visit , as did the Harris party , some characteristic phases of Parisian life . Near the east end of the Champs-Elysées , under the gas light and beneath the trees , they found open-air theaters , concerts , crowded cafes , and pretty booths supplied with sweets and drinks . Every afternoon if the weather is favorable , tastefully dressed children appear in charge of nursemaids in white caps and aprons , and together they make picturesque groups in the shade of elm and lime trees .