The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-08-12
Hiring Rooms In Paris.

tI4sthe provinces Of, France you hire a
set! !0f rooms or q house by the year. The
Parisians, less constant, hire by the quar-.
ter The reader will remember that de-
tached houses, and houses entirely occu-
pied by one tenant or by one family, are
the exception in Paris, The houses are
almost invariably strongly built, compact
stone blocks, five, six, or seven stories
high: and, each floor will generally contain
two, three, four, or more separate dwell
lings Or apartments, each with its minia-
ture sale manger, salon, bedroom, kitch-
en- and offices, varying of course according
to the rent paid, and the quarter of the
town In which 1t Is situated, Some of the
apartments give on the courtyard, and
are,not 30 gay or expensive as those which
give on the street; some Of which, and al
most certainly the one on the fifth floor,
will have fine balcony. The TACT of an
apartment being tolerably high up is not
considered drawback in Paris Jules ST.
mons lives on the fifth floor on the Place
dc Madeline, aud Louis Blanc long lived all
cinquleme in the Rue Royale, before he
migrated to the same elevation in the Rue
de kivoli You may get more air higher
up, and you; have, the advantage of fine
terrace-balcony, large enough in many
cases to hold the dinner table. In di
trlct OF Paris like the Quarter Sa MT George
which is situated on the slopes leading up
to Montmartre, anywhere between the Rue
Notre Dame de Lorette and Rue de Moscou,
you Will get an apartment on the df tn
floor with balcony for an annuvl rent of
from seven hundred to one thousand
francs. 1t will consist of tiny kitchen, a
salon, dining room with stove in it,
one or two sleeping rooms; closet or two,
and offices. The rooms will be small and
the ceilings rather low, The first floor of
such house, containing say, dining and
drawings rooms, ante -chambcra, and four
or five sleeping rooms with two or three
servants, cry :, rooms =, up in the attics, would
fetch as much as two, three, and even four
Thousand francs in year. The fittings of
the rooms will not be handsome. In France
the dining rooms Of the great hotels have a
speciality OF profuse ornamentatlon, aud
the foreigner thinks that the French are
equally luxurious in their houses. This is
not So. The ordinary apartment is fur
nished in comparatively mean way. The
paltriness of the door handles and latches,
to say nothing of their Inconvenience, will
strike the English or American visitor.
The French locksniths are more than
half q century behind the times. The
ffrcplaces are constructed with view of
allowing the heat to escape up the chimney
as much as possible, The folding doors,
the easement windows, and the polished
parquet t1oorings would give handsome
appearance to the roolns if they were only
lofty, but then again the proprietor, if it be
lie who does the repairs, will spoil the
whole effect by cheap and paltry wall
DaDer., Tie way Won tako an onartn,ont
or dwelling in Paris is this You choose
the quarter of the town you would wish
to inhabit, and you begin to hunt. Most
people hunt for themselves, though there
exist agencies for that purpose. AS you
pass along the street you will see little
piacards sticking out at right angles to
The wall, by the side of the porte cochereIor
entrance OF the houses where there is any
thing to let, The placard or ccrlteau will
say, 'Petit" or ''Grand apartment louer
presentment, s'addresser.,, l do not ever
remember to have seen a placard which
told you were you VIII ,re requi Q to address
yourself. AS Il matter Of fact you address
yourself TO the porter, or the concierge, or
the portel's wife. Very often the placard will
add that the apartment Is orne dc glaces;
but as rule that is matter of course, it
being the rule for the looking glasses in
the various rooms to be fixtures belonging
to the proprietor, A bacheI or's apart
ment, which may mean anything from
couple of rooms to large suite, Is advcr-
tised as an apartement dc garcon: the
meaning of such placard is that ladies
need not apply. Small apartments are Of
ten described as logments, particularly in
the populous quarters.