, 1879-02-02
PARIS.
Fconomy a French Characteristic
...living Well at Small
Expense.
nressing, Eating, Drinking, and
Observation-Disclosures and
Servants~-Cheap
Cooking.
linglShopkeepers-The New CO.
Operative Store in the Avenue
de r0pera.


Ep<ct1I C0s7eSpblae1Rct O. 1 nc 1310tkf&s
pms. Jan. l0.-You Americans, accustomed
N lire your lives altogether on a grand scale,
eoendipg great deal Of money, keeping a
,umber Of servants, and doing your shopping
rho1esa1e, must iud the change to Partisan
r,vs very comical at first I suppose that is
Int natural. When one is used to anything,
,hether it be custom Or dish, all that
eapms negation or alteration of that particu-
,,r thing or habit is apt TO appear ridiculous
for moment Later on one Rrows used to
the novelty, and then as likely as not the old
.rsrs themselves seem odd or foolish.
In America, SO far as I can make out from
bearssy and some study Of the question, even
,he moor live as If they were rich. In France,
mn Of the wealthiest countries io the world,
IT Is JUST THE CONTRARY.
Thp rich themselves live almost as If they were
noor. Economy is cardinal virtue here. Most
rrencbtncn and women are born with predis-
nosition to thrift, love Of the beautiful in
form. and certain amount of polfteoess {gen-
.r.l}y turned to polished insincerty as the years
roll on, by.the-oy). Foremostlamoug all the
vood Qualities sought for when man looks for
wife here-I put love marriages out Of
the question, for they are hardly Known
Is this thrift. Well, il the truth must be
spoken. the very first dcside1atum is the pos
session Of respectable dot; but certainly this
Is the only point considered OF more importance.
uousehold-ecouomy is carried, perhaps, little
10 excess amongst us. That, however, is fault
On the right side. We don't give expensive
dinners to people whom We care nothing about,
aud who proba bly, care less than nothing about
US, Neither do We think it necessary to turn
the whole apartment upside down SIX times in
the season for the sake OF allowing number of
our acquaiptances to bore themselves in company
atballs Balls and dinners are replaced by simple
ssreceptions." s."-co1d and artificial entertain
. mcnts often, but at all events not costly. So
that 7ou are tat home" once week to your
friends and acquaintances, and can offer them
bscut With cup Of tea. When you are at
home, nobody, according to French ideas, has
right to pick holes in your reputation for hospi-
taity, or to find fault with you for your stingf
ness 'Hamlet ~ is play little read in Paris.
and little understood BY those who do read it;
TIE ADVICE OF GOOD OLD roLoN1us
to his son is laid to heart far more than in some
lands where *sHan1let'' is househoId-word.
"Neither borrower nor lender be-" French
ment as q rule, don't take readily to either
character. t'Costly thy habit as thy purse may
buy" The women are happily able-they do
not, alas! alWaEs choose-to remedy defects In
the quality OF material so we'll BY their taste
ia the disposal OF the material, that their
dresses, however cheap, are preferable to other
women's dear dresses. Eet I am afraid the
Empire did much to- encourage exor-
btant outlay on personal adornmcnt. The
reforms introduced during the bourgeois Presi-
dency OF II. Theirs nave not suticed to quite
restore the love Of simple elegance. AS for the
men, why, nowadays all men IN a certain rank
dress alike Unless they spend their money on
satin unaerc]othne or supernuous jewelry, they
can hardly be rerT e1travagaut. Take French
teristic embodies itself. The chains and brooches
are not less hanGsome-indred, they are far
more 50, more artistic original in design, and
tanciful-than elsewhere; but they are all light
aud hollow. The effect is the same. The gold
Is uniformly Of high standard and the only diff
ference is in the price
Few could afford to rent 1 house in Paris. To
begin with,
HOUSES ARE ENORMOUSLY LARGE.
In most at them there is sufficient accommoda-
ton for dozen families and half-a~dozen BACH
elors,-not to mention servants. Apartments,
house in London would. OF course, rents vary
Immensely as you approach or leave the centre.
In the ueighborhopd OF the Opera, first floor
will cost you 600, 1000, or 81, goo francs;
While OH LuC l11pIILaul Uuk ul5LduL DOulcf1Fu
st. Michel, you may have the same rooms for
5000 OF GOO. The higher rou go, the lower the
rent naturally becomes I, for example, paw but
'5u francs for four pretty rooms on the Boule-
ward st. Michel; but l have to go
up five flights OF stairs to get to them. was,
General, formerly Governor Of a Colony, and
moving IN the best Of society," The whole esrab-
lishmeut did not comprise above SIX small
rooms, and none OF those saw were carDeted.
In the matters Of eating aud drinking, the
economical spirit IS equally evident,-though
French cookery is deservediy. pronounced the
best OF all cookeries. I don't kaow whether
theoretically the system Of buying provisions in
1nfntesimal quantities, and renewing your
store from daE to day, is preferable 10 that OF
that, IN spite OF the shameful ex1ortions OF the
shopkeepers, and in spite of the swindling
practices Of servants, somehow VIC manage to
lire e1ccllently well. and de'icately, for
AsUM PER DIEM RELATIVELY SMALL
You would smile If you heard how small. I
count myself a bit of an epicure, ret for my
own nonrishment and my wlfe's, do not find it
needful to disbursc above five francs daily. For
this we have wine, bread, meat, eggs, vegetables,
butter, sugar, coffee, milk, and tire to cook
With.
See here now, talking OF fire, how easy. it is to
waste money or to save it. Instead OF lighting
huge, roaring bonfire in the kitchen to cook
our modest meals at, we take about twenty
csnt1mes worth -four cents) Of charcoal. This,
Il Ton have close French range, will be enough
TO Gill your chops over. to fry your omelette,
anu boil the water for the coffee. Directly the
cooking is finished, out goes the fire.
The 1oraging is generally 1ntrusted to the
oonne or the femme de-mcnagc- A fcmme-de-
lnenage is u woman {oftcn the wife OF q porter,
O dressmaker With spare time on her hands)
Tho goes out to work By the job or the hour.
she charges from Is to so ccntimcs the hour
oft1d q