The weekly clarion., 1874-08-13
A PARTISAN HOME.
IParis Correspondent Chicago Times

- 10 OCASo tudl IL pONeILN Is 10 %
! measured by the length of ones purse
n there are untold numbers of the very poe
;. In Pars. If, on the contrary, the estat
9 OF man is to be judged by the style i
5 which he lives, the very poor in the vas
' city are fewer than many suppose. I
0 very rich man must have his hotel
hothschild, for instance, lives like Il king
and man who, in New York, would b
considered merchant prince, lives on
q grand scale In apartments, or what
, known in America as hat-these ofteI
having from thirty to forty rooms, aud run
ming down from this TO two or three. Their,
Is no such thing as measuring the dimen
slons of a Frenchman's house. He may
| live at the top of a magnificent white
marble palace in six rooms at rent O1
; 500 or 5000. And yet when you have
climbed up there, having 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 con-
vinced that he reveis in luxury Oppo-
site the hall glass open the folding doors
into the parlOr, which is a long room with
still more mirrors to aid in increasing the
perspective. 1t is the duty OF the servant
to throw these doors open before answer
ing the bell, so as to give stranger the
impression that the room is constantly
occupied, while in fact nobody is allowed
there except to receive visitors. OF of
this room are yet other folding doors, two
Of them leading into the dining room,
which is always fitted up in exquisite taste
and with studied carelessness left visible
to the caller. Try the doors at the outer
side of the room; it is hard to open them.
Probably locked? Most efectualiy locked !!
They never move upon their hinges.
Still, they are not quite as useless as "a
painted ship upon a painted ocean" for
they serve double purpose; they dispense
with the necessity Of pictures to fill up the
bare walls-for who would hang pictures
on doors ?-and they give one the
impression that vast apartments stretch
fal beyond Madame will receive you in
the most charmingly languid manner if
| your call chance to occur in daytime.
She has just arisen; won't you have coffee
with her? This, if she means by generous
courtesy to make a useful friend Of you.
Now you find your way into what she
calls her private apartment, which, like
the other rooms, opens into the parlor
1t is really quite gem in Its way. You
wish YOU were French, or at least that
you might understand the art of living
as French people do. But little closer
acquaintance and a moderate increase in
your experience only for the sake of the
appearance they make. They comprehend
what the elegance OF life consists of, and
they will live without the commOnest
necessities in order to deceive you as to
their real condition. a family of seven
persons will actually live III two small
rooms, and make their beds up late at
night on the floor of the apartment i'll
which but few moments before they
were chatting with you upon the impossi-
bility eff economizing in Paris since the
the war. Even they, in their modest
style of living, find that it takes fortune
now to spend year III Paris. You are
shocked to hear them suggest that theirs
is simple mode oflife; you never thought
of being so fine at home. In reality these
people that | speaf. of live like paupers.
They sleep on the floor the year round,
and often on the kitchen floor at that
This 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 gracefully asks
you to her boudoir at II o'clock, declar-
ing she has just arisen, and invites you to 4
take coffee with her, | will tell them |
something of her toilets, and the singular
way in which they change with the hours I
of the day. Madame goes to market as
early as possible Nobody is out in the /
early morning is to say, nobody \
before whom she cares to keep up an
appearance-and as the market people |
always measure a customer before setting
price, it is wise to 90 to the market
shabbily dressed, not only because no one
will see her, but as a matter of economy.
So the toilet of the day is not made until
this duty has been performed. In ex-
change. for the great airy bathroom, with
its abundance of hot and cold water, and
its fresh, clean towels, which an American
cannot live without, madame has, in
little dark hole between the kitchen and
her bed room, pint of water in n basin
the size of finger bowl, for water is too
precious a commodity to be used unless
sparingly. 1t has to be carried from the
street up FIVE flights Of stairs, and a ser
want must be paid five cents an hour to
do it. No further arguments than these
are necessary with madame. With the
aid of a dirty little towel, for clothes must
be washed away from home-there is
neither room nor water TO do II; in these
pdpier ndche boxes-our lady will succeed
in making herself tidy | have really
begun to wonder If there is not such a
thing as a dry wash. At ten the coTeur
comes, and madame's hair Is dressed, as,
my dear, your never think OF having yours
dressed, except it be for bali. If she
chance to be a little gray the hair is
powdered after it has been arranged In It's
intricate putfs, braids and trlzzes. A
coif1eur costs but few sous, and this
dressing of the hair is, | believe, the ,
stronghold OF French women. | know
that it made profound impression upon
me. / shall never forget the feeling of !
battered vanity and unutterable gratitude
[ experienced when such fine lady in
yited us to make her house our home
If we could put up with their simplicity ,
and make ourselves comfortable In her
room, she would gladly move into another ,
apartment All this was to be granted
because of the very favorable impression !
we had made upon her. 1t would be so
for us to move into an ordi-
nary boarding house; this should be like
home to us. Fatal delusion. Home ,
ndeedI l have my doubts if there be !
my such things in Paris, except where
,ome Americans have made their nest for
few years Ihis matter of home, / am
coming to think, is purely American; 9
The English cannot make one; they find
- .o.Oo.o oil, Ia q bousa ,ub;cb their