Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-06-04

Foreigners are apt to take their imprcs-
sion solely from Paris. which attracts them
bv it, brilliancy Floating on the surface,
they see a great deal of gayety and folly and
vice. and hastily conclude that this is French
morality and French life. But Paris Is not
France nor indeed DO they see hut small
part of Paris. They have no access to French
society of the better class. One must dis
engage himself from this first impression, if
he would judge justly Of the real character
of the French people.
Leaving aside these lrivolit;cS Of a gay
capital, and seeking the French in those IN
teri0rs which are generally closed to foreign
ers. we find there very strong feeling Of
home, in both senses Of that word. First,
the love Of place. of Il fixed hahitati0n-what
phrenologists call the organ of locality-is
largely developed in the French nature.
They love their country. and never leave it
but with reluctance Hence they make poor
colonists While the English and Germans
emirrate. the French can hardly be torn
from their native soil. And not only the
country. but the province, the city, or the
little village, which gave them birth, is al
ways dear to them. Go into the country, and
YOU find families that have always lived in
the same place. Generation after generation
has come and gone and still they cling to
the old spot. Children, and children's chill
dren, are born and die on the same farm, in
the same mossgrown cottage, beneath the
same thatched roof. where their fathers lived
and died. This single act-the love Of a
fixed abode-spcaks much for tie home-feel
ing of the French, especially to Americans,
since it appears in such strange contrast to
the migratory habits Of their countrymen.
With this love of the birthplace, the de-
sire to have little spot, however humble,
where one may be.ome rooted to the sol, Is
one Of the strongest passions Of French
man. Ii exists among the poorest peasantry.
Even tie common laborers, WHO 90 to Paris
to find employment, always have it at heart
TO return TO their native village. The popu-
lar songs which the wofkmen sing at their
tasks. almost all have reference to the coun-
try-to the spot they have left, and to whieh
they hoTe some day to return. This is their
safeguard amid the temptations OF a great
eitv. Oat of their little savings they send
back something to keep alive the old people,
or TO help their younger brothers. And the
height of their ambition Is, by many years
of hard labor. to save enough to return, and
buy plot Of ground, and build little cot
tace. where they may PASS the rest of their
DAYS.
Every family which is little easy in its
circumstances, though it may spend hall the
wear IN Paris, has somewhere in the country,
buried among the trees, retreat which often
has keen in the family for generations, and
which is cherished with as much love and
pride as any baronial castle. Only extreme
necessity can induce them TO part with 1t.
lt Is the first spot which the children learn
to love. and which remains equally dear in
manhood and old age. True, the same iami-
lies, when they come up to Paris to spend
the winter. live in apartments, and this has
been thought unfayorable to domestic life.
Bot is it half so much SO as that life of
boarding-houses and hotels IA thing unknown
in France. but so common in America) in.
which there can be 10 such thing as dOmes-
tic privacy?
As - tie home in its more elevated mesh
ing. not confined to the place, bat including
the fe, Ing which unites family in affection
and in Il common interest, one circumstance
contributes greatly to preserve and strength
en- this among the French. Ii is the social
eoualit, Of members Of the same family.
To this 10 contrast can be greater than that
of families in America. A farmer in New
Encland has half dozen sons one remains
on the old homestead one goes to city and
becomes rich merchant another to college,
and enters profession. Thus In lew