The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-27
DRINKING IN PARIS,
There Is Good Deal OF 1t and 1t Is
All in Plain Sight.
Fronl fhe petrott nc Press.

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From the Detroit Free Press.
II you were to subtract drink from Paris
you would change the whole appearance OF
the city. People drink In Paris morning,
noon and night. They do not drink in the
half hypocritical way we drink IN America
and England, but openly, boldly, and on
| the streets. There are no concealing swing
doors in Paris to quickly cover up the re-
treat Of q man into saloon, as there are
invariably in the states Everybody drinks
in Paris, but they don't sneak In and drink
and they don't come sheepishly out as if
they had gone in for light.
Drinking is part of the life of Paris. and
| it is open, uublushing and sociable. Instead
of concealing screens and opaque window
shades, there are brilliantly lighted cafes
| with gre . sheets of Transparent plate glass
| open 10 ii he world. In good weather, of
course, most Of the gossiping and drinking
is done out on the sidewalks at the little
| round tables, three four or five rows deep.
They read and drink; they talk and drink:
they write and drink; they smoke and
| drink; they mediate and drink; they con-
| template toe passing crowd and drink.
The cafe in Paris is really everybody's
| club. You get there about all the facilities
you get at a club You can have, for the
| Calling, IT6b Ol COSbs WTlbluk p6DeT, en-
velopes, pens and ink, while If you write a
letter at your hotel they will charge you for
| the stationary in your bill. You can have
at the cafes all the Paris papers and at
many of them English and American
papers, the expensive illustrated ones as
! we'll as the cheap dailies. You take a seat
| on the boulevard and may drink much or
| little 0s you please and read or write all
| day. There is no appearance Of expecting
| you to give many orders If you stay long
At many Of the cafes in the afternoons
| and evenings you may hear the best music
| the world has produced and the waiter
hands you a printed programme free Of
cost, while If you pay big price to hear a
concert in London they expect you to give
| sixpence additional for the programme. In
one of the little cafes on the Boulevard ST.
| Michael there Is an orchestra under the mu-
steal mogul of the Grand opera house. In
some Of she big cafes they have orchestras
which it would cost us 81 so to hear in the
| United States.
People are as quiet and orderly as lat a
church. They listen attentively and appre-
| ciatively TO the excellent music and have
| been educated up to a realization of what
| good music is. The walters are prompt and
unobtrusive. There is no dickering about
how much there is to pay. You can pay
| when you leave, which is the usual custom,
or If you are an American and accustomed
TO pay on the nall you may do 30 and there
| Is no possibility of a mistake. This is all
beautifully arranged and is one of the things
they order better in France. You have a
| beer, for instance, and the waiter brings you
the glass in a little saucer, which you may
| think is intended to keep the drippings
| from soiling the table. If you look closely
| at it you will see that the price of the drink
| is printed on it. The beer costs you pence
or pence, as the case may be, or it may be
as cheap as cents in American money.
| The saucer is marked 80, 40 or Is confines
as the case may be. If you pay on the spot
the waiter slips this saucer out from under
your glass and takes it away with him. II
you postpone payment until you leave the
different saucers are piled up in front of
you aud their total represents your indebt-
edpess.
The loungsrs at the cafes 40 in for
strange variety Of weird tipples. There are
numerous syrups OF different colors whose
composition no man knows. There are
many horrible decoctions that a man OF au
| investigating turn Of mind tries and shud-
| ders at. Doubtless the most popular drink
is absinthe, which is, perhaps, the vilest
stuff man can befuddle himself with. Beer,
which they call hook, lie a very good second,
and that is now largely imbibed in Paris.
For some reason 1t is more popular than It
was few years ago, and some Of the
French brewsries are doing a large BUSH
ness. Perhaps in time they will learn how
to make beer. At present the secret for
| some purpose or other is withheld from
them, aud French beer rs the poorest and
dearest In the world.
Coffee and brandy Ia another very popular
drink. In serving this the stranger within
| the Paris gates may mako the mistake Of
thinking that they trust to his honesty.
The black coffee is poured out into the
| tumpler, with two or three squares of
| sugar In little saucer and flask of brandy
is left with apparent reckless cerelessness by
| the "garsong," who leaves you to do as you
| please. II you will look closely at the
brandy flask. however. you will notice that
| it is marked with little lines and usually
numbered one, two, three, four. and so on.
| The Partisan places his thumb nail at the
| first line and pours out the brandy with
the general DIR Of carefulness that a physi-
clan uses in making up prescription. He
takes exactly his quantity and no more.
He sees that he gets all he is entitled to, but
Is careful not to take drop in addition.
| The careless stranger dumps what he wants
| In his glass, but if he goes hairs breadth
over the line he finds he has to pay for two
doses.
| Rum punch ia seductive drink that 10
much called for when the weather Is chilly.
| / hereby beg to warn the, stranger with a
musteche that the stuff il brought to him
blazing. The thin. pale alcoholic fame on
| the top of the punch Is not noticeable to the
amateur but you can bet your last dollar
that it is right there all the same and ready
| for business, as you will find out when you
| bring It to your lips. Lie there and cool"
said the man from the country, when he bit
through red pepper pod, thinking it was
| pickle. made somewhat similar re-
mark the first time ! met Partisan rum
punch but a remark which 1t is, perhaps,
better not to repeat
What would like to know Is where the
people get all the money they spend in
| drink in Paris. Paris seems TO be drinking
all the time and everything is more expen-
sive than in any other city in the world
Even the nqueurs which thsy make il
France are dearer In Paris than they are in
New York, in spite of the tariff. Then there
| is another astonishing thing. Notwith-
standing this continual tipping you rarely
see drunken man in Paris. Pm sure l
! don't know how they manage 1t.