Morning journal and courier., 1886-11-09

ltarlS LeCCer 10 the LONDON world.
Figaro, by the pens of NM. Albert Mil
land and Blavet, has been filling foul of the
| manners and dress of the English in Paris.
1t is the old story of the Cooks tourists who
go to the opera in tweed suits and cloth caps
and of the miserably dressed girls who carry
alpenstocks along the boulevard. Unfortu-
natsly cannot deny the facts of the case.
There are Englishmen and EngIishwomen
who are sufficiently wanting in self-l aspect
and in respect of other people to walk about
Paris in old shooting clothes, and to go to
the opera and the other theaters in tweed
suits and headgear that attracts attention
The other night at the theater I saw first
tier box occupied by seven Englishwomen-
mother, an aunt and five girls-and the
girls were all clad alike in brown Hnsey-
woolsey dresses, bearskin capes and cloth
travelling caps. 1t was a grotesque and pain
full spectacle. But what is to be done? At
the opera one might institute a grangers'
box, as they have in Germany and Austria,
and so hide away the badly dressed foreign
ers. Yes, but what are we to do with the
badly dressed Parisians! Before throwing
stones at the Cooks tourists, who are often
innocent people coming from remote and as
cetic parts, where the cult of beauty is un-
KNOWN, WHy OO6S nOG Figaro his eyes
toward his own people? Certainly the Pari-
SLAMS OF the present day do not set the for
Ell zner good example in the matter of toi-
let The men go to the theater in jackets,
and even for first night all do not take the
trouble to dress. The women are equally
negligent insomuch that in no capital in
Europe do you see such dowdy audiences as
you see nowadays at the Franchise, the Gym
nase and the Vaudeville in Paris. Let Figa-
ro interview some of the travelling Partisan
actors who have had experience of foreign
audiences, and the satirist of the Rue Drou-
OF, who loves exaggeration, may perhaps be
tempted to conclude that the Cook s tourists
who go to the Paris theaters in dowdy clothes
do so designedly, in order not to put the
dowdy Parisians to shame. Paris is city
of unique beauty and unique charm, but
sometimes of late when I go to the theaters,
when 1 lounge on the boulevards incum
bered with abundant advertisements, when l
see the filthy cabs and the ragged and dirty
cabmen-above ALL when I notice the neg
lected toilets of the men and women of the
bourgeoise and of the people, begin to
fear that the Parisians are losing respect for
their beautiful city. Go and sit of an after
noon in the Champs Elysees, go and
watch the carriages in the Avenue des Aca-
cias, which fashion has stupidity proclaimed
to be the smart promenade instead of the
Tour du Lac, which was at least not mono
tonous. | am not pessimist prejudiced
and l am recording a sincere impression
when I say that there is decline in general
elegance; in pedestrians end carriage folks
alike there is a sad air of neglect, and pre-
cisely in this matter of toilet and personal
appearance. The spectacle of the streets
and promenades of Paris is becoming less
amusing; while other capitals are progressing
in material civilization Paris is stationary if
not retrograde. And yet Figaro wonders
why foreigners do not come to Paris SO much
now.