The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-09-17
The Rich-POOr Of Paris.

The Rich-P00r OF Paris.
There is no such thing as measuring the
dimensions of Frenchman's house. He
may live at the top of magnificent white
marble palace, in six rooms, at a rent of
500 or $500. And yet when you have
climbed up there. have sounded the bell
and have been admitted into the hall.
which. with its highly polished mirror,
will deceive you at once in regard to the
size of the little box, you are convinced
that he revels in luxury. Opposite the hall
glass opens the folding doors into the par
Tor, which is long room with still more
mirrors TO aid in increasing the perspective.
Off of this room are yet other folding
doors, two of them leading into the din
ing-roOm, which is always fitted up in ex-
quisite taste, and, with studied careless
ness, left visible to the caller. Try the
doors at the other side of the room it is
hard to open them. Probably locked?
Most effectually locked! They never
move upon their hinges. Still they are
not quite as useless as - a painted ship up
on painted ocean," for they serve dou-
bic purpose; they dispense with the ne
cessity OF pictures to fill up the bare
walls-for who would hang pictures on
the doors ?-and they give one the impress
sion that vast apartments stretch beyond.
Madame will receive you in the most
charmingly languid manner if your cal
chance to occur in the day time. She has
just arisen, won't you have coffee with
her? This, if she means by generous
courtesy to make useful friend of you.
Now you find your way into what she calls
her private apartment, which, like the 9th
er rooms opens into the parlOr. 1t is really
int re
were French, or, at, least, that you might
understand the art of living as the French
people do. But little closer acquaintance
and moderate increase in your experience
will teach you that these people work and
strive only for the sake of the appearance
they make. They comprehend what the
elegances of life consist of and they will
live without the commonest necessities in
order to deceive you as TO their real con-
dition. A family of seven persons will
actually live in two small rooms, and
make their beds up late at night on the
floor of the apartments in which, but
few moments before, they were chatting
with you upon the impOssibility of econO-
MIXING in Paris since the war. Even they.
in their modest style of living, find that it
takes fortune to spend year in Paris
You are shocked to hear them suggest that
theirs is a simple mode of life-you never
thought of being So fine at home. In re-
ality, these people speak of live like pau
perS. They sleep on the floor the year
round, and often on the kitchen floor at
that. The last is convenient, as they can
get up and put the coffee over the spirit
lamp and retire again until it is prepared.
Coffee is taken in bed, of course.
For the benefit of the girls at home who
may admire and envy this lady of luxury
that graciously asks you into her bOudOir
at eleven O'Clock, declaring she has just
arisen, and invites you to take coffee with
her, | will tell them something of her
toilets and the singular way in which they
change with the hours of the day. No
body is out early in the mOrning-that is
to say, nobody before whom she cares to
keep up an appearance-and, as the mar
ket people always measure customer
before setting price, it is wise to go TO
the market shabbily dressed, not only be-
cause no one will see her. but as matter
of economy. So the toilet of the day is
not made until this duty has been per-
formed. In exchange for the great, airy
bathroom, with its abundance of hot and
cold water, and its fresh, clean towels,
which Americans cannot live without,
Madame has, in a little dark hole between
the kitchen and her bedroom, a pint of
water in basin the size of a finger bowl.
For water is too precious commodity TO
be used unless sparingly. 1t has to be
carried from the street up five flights OF
stairs, and a servant must be paid five
cents an hour to do it. No further argu
ments than these are necessary with Mad
anne. With the aid ola dirty little towel,
for clothes must be washed away from
home-there is neither room nor water to
do it in these papier mache boxes-our
lady will succeed in making herself very
tidy. have really begun to wonder if
there is not such a thing as dry wash.
At ten O'Clock the cOiffeur comes and
Madame's hair is dressed as, my dear, you
never think of having yours dressed ex-
cept it be for ball. If she chances to be
little gray the hair is powdered after it
has been arranged in its intricate puffs,
braids and ZZes.-PariS Correspondent.