The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-12-22
LIFE In A FLAT.
TIE PARIS APARTMENT SYSTEM
SEEN AT ITS BEST.
.-ne Paris Landlord and His Tenants
The Concierge and His Wife-The
French Housewives Traits
In the Kitchen.


ICor Brooklyn Eagle
II a married couple in fairly good stand
ing in France wish to keep house-aul as
rule. UGH is every ones desira-it will not
occur to them that they are in danger Of
losing caste by taking only one of the five
or six stories insteal OF the whole OF
house They will select their fiat according
70 their means -au second, if they can
afford it with front windows upon a
pleasant street. II their means are limited
taey unhesitatingIy locate themselves upon
an upper perhaps tue very topmost floor of
the house. IL it i, in a good locality they
Lose nothing socially; their acquaintance
will seek their society and extend in vitations
T. them freely as if their choice OF we'll
ing indicated greater wealth.
The tenants of any single house in Paris
will comprise a most varied assortment of
types and characters The first persons
whose acquaintance you make are the con-
ciergo and his wife The concierge is a des-
pot who has all the tenants under his
thumb. He is the guardian of the house,
the Ger berus whose good graces have to be
bought by brides and tips, by drink money
and New Years gifts. He dwells In den
called lodge, just inside the entry. His
chief duty is to pull the GORDON, or to touch
the pneumatic button by which the street
door is opened; for, let it be added for the
benefit of those who not know, that each
tenant, though lie has a key to his own
dwelling, has no key to the common en-
trance to the house. The larger outer door
is closed about or 10 o'clock After that
you have to ring the bell, and the concierge,
without disturbing himself, pulls a cord or
touches o pneumatic spring By which the
door is opened. In most houses tao gas on
the staircase and in the entrance way Is put
OF oak md - ,v't., an+a If
ter that hour are required to cali cut their
names as they pass the cOnciergs's ioEe, and
they have to find their way upstair III the
dark as best they can.
Except in the poorer quarters Of the town,
where the proprieturs comm un cate directly
with their tenants, the concierge forms tho
connecting link between those two poles of
the population landlord and the ten
ant. As for the locataires or tenants, you
may have the proprietor himself on the first
floor, a countess and cocotte on the Sec
ond, dress maker and financier on the
third, a bourgeois family or two on the
fourth, a literary man ON the fifth and an
artist or photogra pher on the sixth floor.
You may, however, live for twenty years
in hou Q and never see your opposite
nelghbor or know who he or she is and what
he or she does.
It is often reproachfully said that there is
no such word as home in French; yet there
is no country where SO homelike q look can
be given to Il few rooms as a French woman
Will give to her little fat. If it were left to
French woman to appoint tho three
Christian graces, she would unhesitatingly
name economy. cleanliness and thorough
ness. The first is the inbred rule o. her life:
not the sordid niggardly trait tie virtue
sometimes degenerate5 into, but a wi.o
prudence which turns everything to good
account allowing nothing to be wasted.
Her frugality is broad-not of tho penny
wise, pound foolish kind; so she shows no
stint in furnishing her kitchen knowing
that upon that quarter depends tie comfort
OF her menage. 1t is there she begins her
furnishing and fits it up with every con-
venieuce
French Kitchens, except in great houses
waers chief is employed, are always very
small, and being so, everything Is close at
hand and no time is wasted in stepping
about The cupboards and shelves will be
well filled with bright copper cooking
utensils, the uses of some OF which are
qpite unknown to us, while others are not
unfamiliar. There are Casseroles, sante
pans, PURGE sleeves, timbal mods, and bains
marie of various sizes and all the other
iniispensables. But the supply, although
varied, il not large, and there is really
nothing to spare, and the intnitesimal stove
would appal Yankee housewife and send
one of our arrogant Celtic cooks in scorn
from tho kitchen. But small as it is, many
elegant dinners will be prepared by its aid.
Fuel il a special economy in France, SO
fire Is kept only during the time when the
meals are being made, AMI most of tho
cooking is done over wood or charcoal,
waich can be extinguished tho moment the
need for it is over.
There are no happier women in the world
taGn French women. Their lives ARE full
q occupation, and busy life cannot fail to
be happier than ono III which idleneSs
throws down the barriers that shut out
onnui and imaginary ailments. A married
woman in France systematically fills her
time with business of pleasure. For every
Luur there is laid out an appointed pursuit
ut duty or pleasure. Her house and family
are her first care. but although an ire
p-Nachabls wife AMI an affectionate mother,
sac does not let her duty take the form of
dru gerry She knows her own value and
fully realizes the Importance Of keeping her
ieelth AMI nerves in excellent order, so she
WIN not suffer her cares to master her, but
wisely arranges every thing with careful
method and allows herself time for social
intercourse for music, reading, walking,
dining and amusements OF whatever nature
she falcie'. She il very practical and by
her Systematic method Of life preserves her.
self from the countless worries that make
lie Il burden 70 cur women.
An Omen Secret of Success.