The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-19
COST Of LIVING IN PARIS.
The Gay City Not Such a Haven or
Cheapness as Generally
Supposed.
Taxes, Tips and Rents Foot UP a
Pretty Good Sum
Total
How the Natives Get AI0ng On Very Small
Expcnsc--Livins On Fifty Dol
lars q Week.

90 to Paris to live"
1t is an old, old saying, and an old, old
fallacy.
have just had nearly years experience
of housekeeping and living in Paris, and !
know something about it.
Two GLASSES of people only can live
cheaply in Psris-the French people them
selves and those foreigners who are willing
and able to live just as the French people
live. Moreover, it requires some expert
ence to learn how the French people do
live, and experience is not obtained in a
day nor bought in cheap market.
Paris has two prices for everything. They
are regulated by the Notifications. Within
and without. Within the zigzag line of
stone walls bounding the city of Paris
everything, from cabbages to house rent, is
from twice to three times as dear as in
London or New York. Without the fortif-
cations the same things are proportionately
cheap. But here am only going to talk of
living inside the ramparts, and | shall en-
deavor to show how one may live cheaply
as the French people live, while telling at
the same time how to avoid the expenses
foreigners always incur in their efforts to
get the necessary knowledge by dear ex-
perience
Don't do as began by doing. Don't live
in a small hotel or maison meublec, as
they call those apartment lodging houses
where no regular table d'hote is kept up,
but where, for all that you can have all
your meals served in your room, or you
may JOIN the family at their meals. IL is
almost as dear, and not nearly so satisfac-
tory as living in one of the large hotels,
where you can get everything you want,
from snack of lunch to banquet within
four walls.
Don't take furnished rooms within a
mile Of the opera. You will find healthy
and thriving colony of live stock on the
premises if you do, and your landlord or
landlady, as the case may be- in conjunc-
tion with your concierge. will "rook" you
numerically, take every advantage posi-
BILE of your ignorance of the language, GUS
toms and laws, and will exploit" Gas the
French say you on all available occasion ms.
You must have an apartment of your
own, and you must make your economies"
also Gallicism, and very practical one.
To get suitable apartment, or fat is not
go easy MS at first sight it will appear. In
every street you will soon become familiar
with the quaint little square notice cards,
stuck upon door Iosts and small boards,
bearing an inland revenue ten centime
stamp and the words grand or petit
appartement louer." The rent of
petit fiat ranges from seven hundred
francs to two thousand francs year, and
its accommodation from bed and sit
tingroom, with conveniences common to
three other similar apartments, up to four
good sized rooms, kitchen, and "offices"
inside one hall door. OF course, also, the
and floor of the building. There are
number of petty expenses attached to
taking a fiat, all of which must be at
tended to If comfort in the future is hoped
for. These include tip to the con-
cierge varying in accordance with the rent,
and which he calls a 'dernier adieu." You
have to give him another when you leave,
however. Then, if you want to make cer-
tain that all your letters will be delivered,
you must make the acquaintance of the
facteur, or postman, and give him q der
nler adieu, too. To get the gas laid on you
have to pay seven francs in advance for
each burner; but this is returnable at the
terminal OF your rental. / wont enumerate
all the small outlays, but will simply say
that everybody who serves you and with
whom you deal expects to receive a tip at
the beginning of their acquairtance and
if they don't get it they will pay you out
somehow. The surest way to the CON
cierge's heart is through his dog, his cat,
his parrot. or his canary bird.
Well, you are installed. Now you have
to live. If YOU have bonne YOU will find
it much easier. But French bonnes are
somewhat like Chinese servants. They will
cheat you, but they won't let anyone else do
it, except the young man. She is an
economy, in way, therefore. And she
helps you to learn the language. French
people don't believe in learning English.
Talk of the insularity of the benighted in
habitants of Great Britain, why they are
wit, tln ,,l,
The Parisians especially will tell you that
| the French language, the productions of
France, the manners, customs, everything
French, is good enough for them. they
don't want to know anything about foreign
languages, produce or habits, and they
don't intend to learn Consequently i'll
nearly everything they are behind the age,
even to using the old fashioned water gas
meters, and getting the cessrools empted
during the night by suction pipes into huge
| travelling tanks.
| But let us go on with the living question.
| Since the war; and its legacy of war taxes,
| and the heavy governmental expenditure,
prices have risen enormously. Everything
| is stamped, taxed, or both For this reason
tho Parisians have introduced systems of
economy, which have reached II stage of
perfection unsought elsewhere, and proba-
bly, unnttainablo in any other large city in
| the world. Fancy. coal which in London is
twenty shillings ton, is forty-hve shill-
ings in Paris. Nevertheless fuel-saving
appliances and heating economies ure 30
perfect that by following the French plan
ones fuel bill may very we'll be less in Paris
at the end of Il year than in London or
New York.
Butchers meat is dear, except you choose
those parts specially arranged for the savory
dishes the Frenohman loves, the ragouts,
pot-a-feus. potages, etc., and tho outlets,
steaks, etc. This is due to the fact that the
butcher finds customer for every scrap,
has no waste, and consequently gets his
l'prioe in the aggregate. Game and poultry
are also comparatively cheap, when bought
French fashion--thus you can buy half or n
quarter of n hare, or part of \ goose or tur-
key by weight. You need, therefore, never
have more III your larder than you require
for Immediate consumption.
Here il a piece of eratuitous advice. Do
your mar keting yourself. There arc excel
lent markets in various parts of Paris, as,
FOR instance, Les Halles. of course, and
those of st. Honore and the Madeleine. At
these places you will find the freshest pro-
visions and the cheapest. A few visits will
convince you who are the best dealers, and
having found out that you are likely to be
regular customer, the market men and
women will do their utmost to retain your
custom, and will treat you on the most ad-
yantageous terms. advising you as to tho
best, cheapest, and wisest articles to pur-
chase, telling you how to cook them to ad-
vantage, and otherwise helping you, to say