Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-05
IN THE FRENCH QUARTER.
Misfortunes which Seem 10 be Unavoidable
New York SUM-

MisfortuDes which Seem 20 De Unasefaapte' |
New York SUM-
1t is not easy to assign exact limits |
to the French quarter Of New York. |
Geographically it is bounded On the
north by Washington Square, on the
south by Spring street, on the west by
south Fifth avenue, and on the east by
Mercer street; but this includes some
unfrequented territory, and excludes
many scattered sections Of the colony,
which struggles along Blocker street
almost to it's western extremity, and
runs a long way up Sixth avenue.
Nevertheless, the geographical descrip-
ton given correctly places the district
in which Frenchmen most do congre-
gate.
This quarter does not remind one
much of Paris, or indeed of any part OF
France. Its inhabitants have brought
with them many Of the habits and pre-
JUDGES of their country; they cling
tenaciously to their own language and
their own cuisine; they form little
commonwealth apart in the great Eng
disappearing community environing
them, but they have left behind them
the aesthetic spirit which issues in the
marriage Of industry with art--ln ele-
gantly-decorated stores, ornamental
street architectures, the glow and
brilliancy Of mirrors, and profuse
gliding. Even the cleanliness which
is so remarkable a feature of most
French towns is absent from the French
quarter of New York. In malodorous
smells it certainly excels much calum-
mated Cologne, without, like the city
by the Rhone, producing a world-famed
antidote for them. True, for much of
this the French population are not re-
sponsible. They have little or no in
fuence over the management Of civic
affairs, and are Enthusiastically neglected
by the powers that be. Again, they
are mostly wage-wOrkers, and those
among them whose wealth permits
them to think of matters artistic are
not numerous enough to make mark
on the quarter.
A majority of the present French
population of New York arr Alsatians,
and of every half dozen French immi-
grants now arriving probably four be-
long to the provinces annexed by Ger
many. Teutons in physique, in Ian
guage, and in race, they are for the
most part more attached, if possible, to
the grande nation than those whose
title to belong to it is open to no chal-
lenge. But they assimilate much more
readily with the native population than
Celtic Frenchmen. Their knowledge of
German opens a wider sphere Of en-
ployment to them than that available to
their ex-countrymen, and, like all BIZ
liDgual peoples, they learn a third Ian.
guage rapidly.
The inability of the ordinary French
man to master English is really remark
able. 1t is certainly not due to any alb
sence of the organ Of language, for the
most uninstructed Frenchman is more
fluent in his native idiom and yields a
larger vocabulary than the man Of cor
responding opportunities in any other
country. But they spend all the time
not occupied in work in amusing them
selves. 1t is long and weary task for
an adult to learn strange tongue, and
the Frenchman, unless he be sayant
by instinct, rarely studies after he
comes to mans estate. Few members
of the colony have even the perseve-
rance to follow half way to the end the
excellent gratuitous course of lessons in
English given in the Thirteenth-street
school.
French employers profit by the diff
culties of the newcomers by making
them work for next to nothing. Among
the best known Of these exploiters Of
their fellow-countrymen are men who
made figure in the Commune and still
loudly pirate of the right of every one
to an equal share in the worlds goods.
The Societe de Renaissance does ad-
mirable work within the limits Of its
resources, especially in the way Of find
ing occupation for the unemployed, but
it can only go short way toward meet
ing the evils with which it has to Crap
pie. There are probably more French
men, in proportion to their numbers,
than there are members Of any other ma
tionality who, without any fault Of their
own, are in state Of chronic impecu-
mostly which too frequently compels
them to seek the hospitality of the
parks at bedtime. Yet crime, the usual ,
almost the inevitable, outcome of ey-
treme poverty, is comparatively rare in
the French quarter. Captain Melon
nell, who commands the police force OF
the district, has as a rule little trouble
with the French section Of his precinct,
though it is true that now and then the
quarter is startled by some lamentable
deed Of blood, generally committed by
some Frenchman who has outrun the
constable at home. Quarrels Of a deadly
character, rebellion against the gu
thority Of the police, and other crime,
Of violence, are notably rare among tn,
French.
Most French immigrants have on
trade or another, but only fraction o
them, owing to their ignorance Of Eng