Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17


Grand, Continental, Bristol, Meurice, Chat
ham, Windsor, Athenee, Binda, Rhin, Bade,
Normandie, St. Petersburg, Louvre and
Liverpool. AS for boarding places or pen
sions. they stretch out all over the capital,
and very few of them are bad places. The
Paris boarding house is a peculiar institu-
tion, in which you live sort of table d'hote
existence not easily described and which
must be passed through to be appreciated.
Some ofthem are thoroughly aristocratic and
all are respectable, but the prices vary
greatly. do not know of a single board
ing house where you can live for less than
81 day, and L would not undertake to find
you such place at that price.
CHEAP LIVING.
The cheapest I have yet discovered is
about francs per day, and no one ought to
enter cheaper one. The average price is
from to 10 francs per day each person.
This includes room, bread and butter and
coffee in the morning, warm lunch at noon
and dinner. In some houses it also includes
wine, but not often. 1t very seldom in
I cludes lights, and never fires. You must
buy your own candles and pay extra for
lamp. There is but very little gas burnt In
Partisan houses. Candles are not expen-
sive, especially when you can get them
yourself, and this you are permitted to do
by most of the pension keepers.
If you are going to stay here some time,
or II there are good many in your family,
it is much cheaper to live in pension than
in hotel, besides which, you get the ad-
vantage OF the gossip. There is very little
show for gossipers in hotels, because there
the crowd represents too many nationalties.
I Furnished apartments can be secured and
so also can unfurnished ones, but you will
have to pay good round price for both
kinds. Mind though, when YOU take an
apartment, that you do so with-the advice
and assistance of some one who lives here
and knows the condition of this sort
of local operations; for if you do not you
will pay dearly for your experience and
give yourself great deal of suffering later
Oh. Don't think yourself capable of self
protection against these natives. They can
and will beat you as sure as you live, if
you refuse the helping advice of local
friends or Of some agent who attends to
things for a money. consideration. It is
very easy to get into an apartment furnished
or unfurnished, but it is very difficult to
get out of them again, and when you wish to
leave it, you will find all sorts of imposi-
tions put on you in the shape of payment
for imaginary injuries to the furniture etc.,
etc. Verbal promises count for nothing,
but written guarantee will be faithfully
observed.
RATIONAL ADVICE.
IT you take an apartment or lodgings in
some hotel or private boarding house you
will generally be at liberty to eat where you
like, and in this way you can try all the
cuisines of the many famous restaurants
that have existed at the capital from time
immemoriai. This question of where to
eat in Paris is, however, so important and
L. IL s,41 7 l.
permission to put it off for future letter.
Permit me to repeat, in conclusion, what
1 have already said, do not attempt Tor the
moment to change the manners and custom
of these people. Take things as you find
them and you will get along much more
easily than you would otherwise. Don't be
afraid to give waiter or person who does
something for you, a word of thanks
and little money now and then. These
sort of tips will make him or her your de-
voted servant always. In business matters,
do not believe in verbal promises. Have
everything put down in writing; be careful
what you sign, and be careful what you
purchase. Do not patronize strange or
cheap dressmakers. As a rule, avoid Shops
that have the sign English Spoken"
painted on their windows. Be careful about
crossing the streets, and if you are lady,
do not imagine that because Frenchman
looks at you with admiring eyes
he means to insult you. am
sure there are fewer sorts of
these kinds of insults offered in the streets
of Paris to young women and girls than
there are in the streets of London, New York
or Boston. The Frenchmen admire beauty
as they see it in the fresh rosy face of Ameri-
can girls; it is but natural for them to ex-
press their admiration with look, and it is
very seldom that they ever go beyond that
Should young lady loiter along the boule
wards. and stare in the shop windows, as she
would do at home, her position would be
apt to be mistaken and she might be spoken
to, but not otherwise. 1 have lived here
many years and 1 honestly believe that there
are fewer insults to women in the streets of
Paris than are in the large cities of America.
HENRY HAYNIE.