Morning journal and courier., 1892-12-12

| wise in getting their knowledge Of French
from the French people. For practical
purposes this is the only way in which the
language can be acquired. Lessons are
very cheap. You can get good teaching in
private for few dollars a week, and in
classes for a few francs, and, of course,
the great advantage of being in Paris is
that while you are finishing off in theory
you can confirm yourself in what you
learn by daily practice in the school of ex-
perience.
Another contingent of the American art
colony is that which has musical career
before it, With these it is proverb that
up to certain point New York affords as
good instruction for the singer as any con-
tinental city, but that beyond that point
the best results can be obtained only in
Paris. To speak as the students them
selves do, the final difference between Par
Is and New York Is the difference between
voice worth hundred dollars night
and the same voice rounded out into di-
mensions and capabilities which make it
worth twice that sum. Perhaps, though,
this doubling of its marketable value Is
due less to any new quality of the voice
itself than to the prestige one acquires
from having studied abroad. Lessons in
singing are much more costly than those
in language. The great teachers of vocal
ism charge five dollars to be troubled with
you for only half an hour. This, how
ever, is little, if any, in excess of the
highest New York figures, and were 1t not
for the outside expenses, the outlay might
not be a bad investment. But singers
have to live better than other students.
The first requisite is prime physical heslth,
and this means good apartments and
good table, things which in Paris cost
lot of money. An acquaintance who is
having q practical experience of all this
estimates that the hslf-hcur lessons at five
dollars-three q week-sre costing him al
together, including his tickets from home
and back, about twenty Ave dollars
piece.
There are a number of young Americans
studying architecture over here, and few
carving out an education in sculpture.
But the msjority are novitiates of the
brush and easel The latter find in Paris
facilities which are unsurpassed, and are
afforded the best possible teaching for the
lowest imaginable outlay. There are two
things which these budding American gen
fuses never tire of extolllng. One is the
substantial patronage given to art by the
French government, and the other is the
fact that the French masters are SO gene
rous toward students from other nations
There is nothing national about French
painting except the glory and the pecunis-
~ profits of 1t. Her schools and studios
are open to the world, and with only few
| exceptions the prizes of her grand Salon
are as accessible to foreign genius as to
| that of her own sons. Americans seem
| to be accorded special welcome to the ar
| tistic opportunities offered here, and one
| cannot be long in a company of American
| artists or art students without learning
| that this gracious prediction is grateful
| ly and even enthusiastically reciprocated.
| There are three courses open to the art
student in Paris. He may connect him
self with private school, of which tho
city boasts many which are excellent, or
he may obtain admission, If he can, to the
| Ecole des Bsaux Arts, or, again, he msy
do both, if he choose, at the same time.
The American student generally inelines
| to the first of these, and You will oftener
than not find him attached to one of the
popular Julian schools, of which there are
| several in different parts of the city for
both sexes. Under this system work
room is afforded him in which he can ply
his profession for a certain number of
hours every day, and where twice week
he will have the benefit of the best srtis-
tic criticism, all for an outlay of about
five dollars a month. The mode of entry
into the Bsaux Arts is to exhibit ones
drawings to some professor. If the view
Is satisfactory you are installed as an "as-
| pirant," or person on trial. Then, your
progress being what it should, You are
promoted gradually from the Antique to
the Atelier, and become eligible, in due
course, to compste for distinguished hon
ors and large premiums. The cost for all
this is nothing. Once year the classes
give a dinner to their professors. The
student will, of course, subscribe to that,
but as he will probably, in six months
residence, have acquired soms of the
French propensity for gormandizing, he
will look upon this outlay as being less q
recompense to his teacher than q treat to
himself.
A curious fact about art students is thai
in private schools aspirants of the female
sex are charged nearly double the fee ex
, acted from young men. Still more curl
; ous is the reason assigned for this. French
professors, 1t is said, do not like to criti
else the work of women, and because the
! task is disagreeable one they demand
better pay for performing it. Here is ar
instance in which the proverbial gallantry
of the French character pays. Certainly
1t pays the professors; though when on'
? remembers how much these gentlemen dt
= solely from the love of art, and how Low
comparatively are their very highest de
3 mands for tribute, it is impossible to b
, severe upon them None the less 1t SEEM
: a pity that the Frenchman's reverence fol
woman should work in this way to her dis
l | advantage.
Speaking of the ladies, one cannot hell
. admiring the good work being done TO
American students of that sex by the Rev
1W. R. Newell and his wife. The begin
. ming of this good work was In little infor
, NAL gatherings on Sabbath evenings with
in the domicile of this worthy couple, sn'
its existing dimensions are seen in tn
4 suite of rooms-something in the nstur
= of club rooms-maintstned for our fai
p compatriots at 10 Rue Vevin. The mon
!. eyed power behind this enterprise Is Mrs
' | Whitelaw Reid, but the originstors ant
. the real sustainers of 1t are Mr.. and Mrs
J. Newell. The rooms are open all day, ant
q many are the American girls who, worl
out with hard work and made home-sicl
by their disappointments, seek occasions
(, asylum and refreshment within them
= y Good reading is afforded, with no end O
kind sympathy and good advice. Ever
evening tea is served to those who choos
to partake of IL, and every Sabbath even
l. ing there Is q service of song, followed b
J: q warmth hearted, fathsrly sort of talk fror
the good clergyman, and after that com
q lemonade and cake, which are pssse
around amid the hum and stir of q regr
Y lar American sooiable. 1t goes withor
u the saying that to these formal gathering
re on Sunday, and to such delightful ente
1t tainments as are always gotten up |
N Thanksgiving and Christmas, the your
men are invited. II may be added, ais
as that for young America, turned loose
., the gay city Of Parts, such pppoFsupiH