St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-09-17
THE CAFES OF PARIS
Thef History u the HISTORY of
tho French Nat

Especial Paris LetMtr.l

tSpeciaI Paris LetHrl
It has been aphoristicallt stated ths1
the history of the French cafe is thu
history Of the French hilton. And
there is . good deal Of truth in it
Michclet. too. the famo{s; historian,
says that with the gcneraltlse Of coffee
began . new era in Frens9h! literature,
manners, politics am glo{y. II what
Molischott, the German naIufalist, says
is true, and the liquid ext rAct Of the
coffee bean affects above sll the i'm
agination. IL can well be bflicved that
coffee has had q great innJ ence on 20
volatile and excitable rac& as the mod
ern Gauls. And certain it y that in no
city of the world the oafe Il es played 50
important = part in mol ling public
opinion as in Paris
The most famous, and u the same
time the Oldest Of ParisisS1 cafes, the
Cafe Procope. has recently been closed.
It was over two hundred years old.
This means . great deal when it ID ~
membered that the first CLIP Of coffee
drank on French soil was tie one pre-
pared by NJ. de Merville ins Marseillea.
on his return from q trip On the LIE
vante in 1874. And it wae not until
1857 that coffee was first brought to
Paris by another oriental traveller. N.
Thevenot- The fragrant cub however.
did not become the fashion ytill several
years later, when the ambasD adcr of the
sultan. Mohammed w., hid it served
to the French court ladies who did him
the honor Of visiting him
It was in 1859 when Prandesco Proco-
pio Cultelli, an enterprisihg Italian.
opS7ed the first cafe in an elegantly an.
pointed house. opposite TIP Coincide
Franchise. This man had belonged for
some time to the household OF the
Turkish ambassador, and thkre. too. he
bad thoroughly learned to p,tpare good
coffee. His enterprise wa9 crowned
with success from the frstt All the
bc0ux esprits Of the Paris Of Nhosc DAYS
lrequentcd the Cafe Procobe, drawn
here partly by the convenie$t location |
md partly by the excellent koffec and
he fruit ices-which the Italhn first in |
from his SicilianI house in |
Paris. After the pcrformarke ut the
;omedie Franchise his place became the
Of all the elegancd and brain
II Paris And for hundredlyears, un-
il the outbreak Of the Frenkh revolu.
ion, 1t remained thus. Thefe. even in
'ur days, was shown thu leather
anteuil of Piron, tie cup be Fonte-
relies. the portrait q Clairo3. and the
mall marble table where vokaire used
o sit and sip his Mocha In ton corner
can Jacques Rousseau was i'll the habit
I Jotting down notes for is Social
contract. while Marmontel q I'D Diderot
iscussed religion and politid, d'Alem-
ert and Baron HolbacA chatted
ogether, and the leading aktors and
ctresses, operate composers Ind sing.
r. talked animatedly.
During the consulate literally ap-
ointed reading-room was ado I'D to the
of the Cafe Prokope, and
his fact rees.ablished the litesary char.
ctcr OF the place for two geterations.
was not until after Napole03r III. had
his bold coup d'e.ak; that the
afe began to mix in politict. 1t was
and for years was the !
.gular meeting place for 'Novells {
aule," and Gambetta madd many Z l
cry, impctuous speech before5a hetero- y
eneous audience. Finally, }ster 1871,
Re cafe went to sleep. and DIV it has |
.ased to exist.
Another cafe that was on{s = local
.lebrity was that kept by Willow Lau- t