The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-12-25


never come. Punctual as the clock,
when their dinner hour arrives, behold
them turn into Bignon's, the Mason
Doree, or some other well known house,
and take their seat with the solemnity of
an academician who is going to take part
IN the official reception of newly elected
member of the celebrated academy! The
waiter presents the bill of fare and dis
oreetly retires. He knows that the study
Of the menu is momentous affair, and
that these gentlemen are not going to
lightly choose their dishes. They must
have ample time for reflection. he
leaves them in sweet meditation, SAVIOR
ing in advance the long list of dainties
for the day. This preliminary is one of
the pleasantest features of the perform
Gnce, something akin to the packing up
for holiday trip. Each article on the
bill of fare is discussed with endless COM
mentaries, accompanied with knowing
glance or smack of the tongue.
By and by the choice is made. One
takes hit of paper, and pencils the Or
der for the waiter:
Conso1lme aux pois.
o. Sters and sole Normande
Pheasant la Sainte Alliance.
Chateaubriand
1eId-rest of asparagus l'amazone
Su?rcmes de mauviettes.
Orto!ons a la Provencaie.
Meringues a la Vanilla
Ice, cheese, dessert.
The wine question is very soon settled.
The Frenchman is familiar with the
names of all his favorite friends
Beaune, Leoville, Chateau Lafitte, Cha
team Margaux will help the chosen menu
70 go down. He will sometimes order a
bottle of ithenish wine, but not without
previously satisfying his patriotism by
adding: These rascaIly Prussians, what
beautifully colored wines they growl"
Two hours, at least, are spent at table,
for the whole time of the meal CONVEX
satiOn goes on unfagging. When dinner
Is over our friends repair to Tortoni, the
Cafe Richie or the Cafe Napolitain, and
there sip a cup of fragrant coffee while
quietly enjoying a cigar; after which,
not unfrequently, a tiny glass of fine
champagne or chartreuse is brought in
requisition Ito push down the coffee"
Then they rise, and arm in arm, smiling,
, gesticulating, they stroll on the boule-
wards or the Champs Elysees, delighted
with the world at large and with them
selves in particular.
In all their pleasures the French bring
to bear certain amount of artistic feel
ing. See the workman when he starts a
new penny clay pipe. He will avoid
sitting or standing in a draught, and
will smoke gently to color it neatly, so
that the black part may be perfectly
regular. If he spoils it, he will throw
it away and start another bestowing on
it still more care than before. Whether
he works or plays, he will never do any
thing clumsy.
have heard English people say that
the french have always an eye for eff
feet, In such a tone as to imply that
this was blemish in the national char
acter
1t is true they have this eye for effect,
and it is because the feeling for art,
the love of the beautiful, is innate in
all classes of the French people. So
strong is it in the tradesman, for exam
pie, that it would never enter his head
to turn out in his trap to go to the races
In the stream of carriages that flows
through the Bots de Boulogne on race
days. Even the small bourgeois, who
takes cab for the journey, goes by an
other route so as not to spoil the show.
He goes by train if he cannot walk, or
Nhe seats himself with his friends under
the trees along the route, and enjoys
the pretty sight for his artists eye by
the file of smart carriages filled with
gayly dressed people.
Not long ago, being in fashionable
English health resort, went one morn
ing to see meet. The pink coats and
well groomed hunters, the amazons, the
hounds, all made up a bright tableau
pleasant to the eye; but, there in the
midst, was a butchers boy on his mas
ter's nag, who had joined the cavalcade,
and was grinning from ear to ear at the
joke of being in tiff not of it.
Now it is not that French butchers
boy would not think himself as good as
anybody else. On the contrary, his pride
is stronger than the English boys, and
would not allow him to mix with the
"swells" unless he could be as smart IS
they. This feeling and his natural re-
pugnance to mar in the slightest degree
the beauty of the scene are strong in
him, and he has no taste for horse play,
the great feature of any English holiday
in which the people take part.
1 have often heard that the English
take their pleasures sadly. am not pre-
\pared to say that indorse the opinion;
but can affirm that the French have a
wonderful capacity for enjoying them
selves. They know how to throw off
conventional restraints and give them
selves up to pleasure. Take the seaside, !
for example What fine opportunities
the English seem to throw away there
for thorough enioYmenta On the French