The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-03-09
ADVANTAGES OVER
PARIS.

Ou an average we dress better, fare
better, sleep softer, and combat the cold
in winter and the heat 10 summer with
more scientific persistency than do any
Of the so.caled luxurious nations OF Eu.
rope. Take, for instance, the matter OF
heating and lighting. a few Of the lead
log hotels in Paris and small minority
among the most expensive suites of priv
ate apartments have gas introduced int
all the rooms, but as a general thirg it is
confined to the public rooms, aud the un.
fortunate wight who longs to sec beyond
the end of his nose is forced to wrestle
with dripping candles and unclcan lamps,
known only by tradition in our native
land. The gas.light, which is common
necessary in the simplest private dwelling
in an American city, is here luxury
scarcely attainable save by the wealthiest.
And We do not know how precious our
gas.light is till we have lost it. To sit
10 dim parlor where four lighted can.
dies struggle vainly to disperse the gloom
to dress for opera or ball by the uncertain
glimmcr of those greasy delusions, is
enough to make one forswear all the lux
uries Of Paris and fee homeward forth
with. Then in winter comes the question
Of warmth. What is more delicious than
to plunge from the iced.champagne at
mosphere Of a sparkling winters day in
America into the nest-like, all-pervading
warmth of an American home? Here
such comfort is wholly unknown, The
cold, though less severe than with us, is
damp, raw, and insidious, and creeps un.
der wraps with treacherous persistency
that nothing can shut out. The ill.ftting
windows, opening in the old door.like
fashion, let in every breath Of the chill
outer air. A fire is handful of sticks
or half dozen Jumps of coal. The cal
orfere. poor substitute for our power.
fu furnace, is luxury for the very rich
an innovation grudgingly granted to the
whims of the occupants Of the most cost
ly and fashionable Of private apartments.
Warmth, our cosy. all-pervading warmth,
is winter luxury that we leave behind
US with the cheerful light of our univer-
sal gas.burners. In summer we sorely
miss the cold. pure ice.water of our ma
tive land, and we long for it with thirst
which win ordinare and Bavarian beer
are powerlcss to assuagc. The i'll tasting
limestone tainted water Of Paris is
poor substitute for our sparkling draughts
Of Schuylkill or Croton. Ice pitchers,
water coolers, and refrigerators are un.
known quantities in the sum total Of
Partisan luxurics. The "cup of cold
water" which the traveller in our coun-
try finds gratuitously supplied in every
waiting.room and railway-station, every
steamboat, every car, and every hotel, is
here something that must be specially
sought for, and paid for at an exorbitant
price. Ice can be purchased only in
small quantities for immediate consump.
tion. Ten cents for few Jumps swim.
ming in water on tcpid plato is the
usual tariff for this our American neces-
sity, this rare Partisan luxury. Nor do
all the delicate artifices Of French cook
cry suffice wholly TO replace for an Ame-
rican palate the dainties of his native
land. The buckwheat cakes and watfles,
the large, delicate-favored, luscious oys.
ters, the canvas.back ducks, the Philadel-
phia croquetts and terrapin, find no sub.
stitutes on this side of the water. The
delicious shad aud Spanish mackerel have
no gastronomic rivals in these waters, and
the sole must be accepted in their stead.
We miss, too, our protusion and variety
Of vegetables, our stcwed and stuffed to-
matoes. grecn-corn, oyster-plants and
sweet potatoes.