Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-18
LIFE IN A FLAT.
THE PARIS APARTMENT SYSTEM
SEEN AT ITS BEST.
The Paris Landlord and His Tenants -
The Concierge and His Wife-The
French HousswiEe's Traits
In the Kitchen.
ICnr RrppkINu EarIr

II married couple in fairly good stand
ing in France wish to keep house-ani. a, II
rule ,uch is every ones desire it will not
occur TO them that they are in danger OF
losing caste by taking only one Of the five
or six stories instead IF the whole Of
house. They will select their fat according
TO their means-su sscOnl, if they can
afford it with froat windows upon
pleasant street II their means are limited
they unhesitatingly locate hemSelves upon
an upper perhaps the very topmO,t floor of
the house. II it i in good locality they
lose nothing socially; their acquaintances
will seek their society and extend III vitatiOns
to them as freely as if their choice Of we'll
ing indicated greater wealth.
The tenants of any single hou g in Paris
will comprise a most varied assortment OF
types and characters The ir>t persons
whose acquaintance you make are ths con-
cisrge 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 Cerberus 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 i 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 he 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 . n 10 O'Clock After that
you have to ring the bell. and the concierge,
without disturbing himself, pulls & cord or
touches a pneumatic spring by which the
door is opened In most houses the gas on
the staircase and i'll the entrance way Is put
out at IL o'clock, and tenants who enter af-
ter that hour are required TO call out their
names as they pass the Concierge's lOgs, and
they have to find their way upstairs in the
dark as best they can.
Except i'll the poorer quarters of the town,
where the proprieturs comm cate directly
with their tenants, the concierge forms the
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, countess and a cocotte on the sec.
ond, a dres. maker and a financier ON the
third, a bourgeois family or two on the
fourth, a literary man on the fifth and an
artist or a photographer ON the sixth floor.
You may, however, live for twenty years
in a hou and never see your opposite
neighhOr or know who he or she is and what
he or she does
1t is often reproachfully said that there is
no such word as home in French; yet there
is no country where so home like look can
be given to few rooms as a French woman
will give to her little fiat If it were left to
a French woman TO appoint tine three
Christian graces, she would unhesitatingly
name economy. cleanliness and thorough
ness. The first is the inbred rule OF her life:
not the sordid niggardly trait the virtue
sometimes degenerateS into, but a vie
prudence which turns every ything TO good
account allowing nothing TO be wasted.
Her frugality is broad-not of the penny
wise, pound foolish kind; so she shows nc
stint in furnishing her kitchen, knowing
that upon that quarter depends the comfort
of her menage. 1t is there she begins her
furnishing and fits it up with every con.
venlence
French kitchens, except in great houses
where a chief is employed, are always very
small, and being so, everything Is close al
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
quite unknown to u while others are not
unfamiliar There are caSseroles, sante
pans, puree sievss, timbal molis, AMI bains
marie of various sizes and all the other
indispensablss But the supply, although
varied, i, not large, and there is really
nothing to pare. and the in6nitesimal stove
would appal Yankee housewife and send
one OF our arrogant Celtic cooks in scorn
from the kitchen But small as it is many
elegant dinners will be prepared by its aid
Fuel is special economy in France, SO a
fire is kept only during the time when the
meals ale being made, AMI most Of the
cooking is done over wood or charcoal,
which can be extinguished the moment the
need for it is over
There are no happier women in the world
than French women. Their lives are full
of occupation, and busy life cannot fail t.
be happier than one in which idlenes:
throws down the barriers that shut Out
snnui and imaginary ailments A married
woman in France systematically fills her
time with business of pleasure. For every
hour there is laid out an appointed pursuit
of duty or pleasure. Her house and family
are her first care, but although an ire
pruachable wife and an affectionate mother
she does not let her duty take the form oi
druigery She knows her own value and
fully realizes the importance of keeping her
health AMI nerves in excellent orier, so she
will not suffer her cares to master her, but
wisely arranges everything with careful
method and allows herself time for social
intercourse, tor music, reading, walking,
dining and ahiuSemsntS Of whatever nature
she faucieS. She is very practical and by
her systematic method Of life preserves her
self from the countless worries that make