The Ottawa free trader., 1878-08-24
PARIS LETTER.
Cc.ivc,l.

Lsh Gady kl4ocs aJom us. An En9Iishman's
lutgue aig,inlent In tiaror Ct secession OW
hunts, manaerS and dreSs CteaStce 10 tie re-
ll.el apes amt c,lca pa,ced tigers IF Paris
THE uania fer Emopean trarel Europe0@
shopu,ca oad tnnkeeperS kilJjng the prodnc
ttcc goose Ansertcd@ So,taJihty ajroad. 4
subject on rhich huceiers disdgree.
tFrom our Regular Corrcspondept)
Ii is worth while to come to Europe, if for
no other purpose, to get birdscyc view Of
America. or, as bright American girl en-
pressed it, to look at our country through an
inverted telescope We will never, us a peo-
pie, see ourselves as Europe sees us, perhaps
1t is not well that we should, for, with all our
national pride and vanity, we have not the eX-
aggerated opinion Of our own greatness, and
the contempt for the unwOrthincss Of every
thing trans Atlantic, that is SO charming and
injurious in Englishmen and Frenchmen.
The average American has not rs much con
cet rs the Frcnchman, or rs much stolid AFRO
gance as the Englishman. But, however so
little we may admit the business Of their yer
dict, it Is wholesome editiCatlon to know
that a large majority Of foreigners, especially
in France and England, look upon us with
very much the same pitying contempt that
we regard the South American republics. |
have come to the conclusion, since | have had
an opportunity for observation, that we are
more liberal and cosmopolitan than our cous
ms ON this side Of the water Their ignorance
of everything American is sometimes amusing
Last week | was talking with an intelligent
English lady, well versed in English literature
and politics We were telictating each other
on the immense number of people
that spoke the English language and
the larger number that would speak it in the
future. told her that the English speaking
people in the United States numbered 10000,
900 She replied: But that includes the
slaves does it not?' have heard Of an Eng
lishman who insisted on the right and necessi-
ty of secession because, he said, If Providence
had intended that the North and South should
he one government he would have given the
two sections broader geographical connection
than the Isthmns of Darien. We have not
succeeded in making very good impression
on this side the water, and especially are the
habits, dress and manners of our tourist popu-
lation offensive to the French. The French
are Il superficial people themselves and take Il
superficial view of everything, and, it must be
admitted that the average American traveller
is not superticially attractive With these vol
title, amlahle, graceful, conceited apes, ele-
gancc of manner, of dress and address, are all
the law and prophets. The American abroad
is good natured, amcabe, direct, and uncon-
ventional; or, in the eyes Of the French, awk-
ward, rude, addressed and disgusting. He is
tolerated only in shops, and only for his pur.
chasing power. The mean way in which he
is imposed upon and made to pay from twenty
to fifty per cent. more than the regular price
for everything he touches, tastes, wears, or
looks at, for his newspaper, towel, soap, nap
kin, e coterd>dd thinitum, sometimes makes
him use bad language, IN plain English, of
course, for the language of diplomacy and
love, even if he knew it, would not be suili
ccntly emphatic When he uses the emphat
iC language, accompanied by energetic gesture,
the polite thieves and pickpockets who have
robbed him look on with aggravatng urbani-
ty, their charitable hearts full of pity and con
tempt for the barbarian who has been SO un-
fortunate as to exist all his existence out of
Paris, without opportunity for acquiring the
perfection of bows, smiles, facial gaycty,
al ,,H and lapaittulunSS of
phrase peculiar to the people whom Noltaire
described as a combination of the monkey and
the tiger. wish | had space to tell of some
of the outrageous skinning and gouging of
Americans that have come under my own OBJ
servation. ! think il will react on these pco
pie, and, in time, they will learn that they
have killed the productive goose. But, at
present, the mania for European travel Is
strong. 1t has become the fashionable thing
to come to Europe Swarms of Americans
from all parts of the Union and from Canada,
are ranging the continent, spending usually
the largest portion of their time and money in
Paris Formerly only Americans of wealth
came to Europe, those who had struck oil, a
government NOulltUt, VI NONN'h Ii"i'"'i''''
Now the United States sends forth battali0ns
who come with only four or five hundred dol.
lars for pleasure, to study art or for general
culture The old class set the example of high
prices, and Europeans have been only too
happy to believe that the chief pleasure of
Americans is to spend money. The old
wealthy class of American travellers have by
their prodigality done great wrong TO those
who come after them. II is edifying TO see a
number of Americans together abroad. No
people In the world have such a facility oi fra
ternlzation on foreign soil. The English and
the French hold themselves aloof from their
fellow countrymen for fear they may meet
some one they cannot speak TO at home. But
Americans, whether from Charleston or Dos