Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-14

SprlnStlme all the cabs are changed from
the close boxes into light and open VIC
torias, like pleasuring -machines. Every
one begins to put a muzzle on his dog, by
force of law. The bicyclsts, male and fe-
male (with the females in strange COS
tumes), riot on the asphalt roads out to the
Bots and to the countryside. And straw
berries will stay with US until July. Each
is a part of the beloved routine of the life
of Paris.
But it is great thing that the season"
opens now-the only great and fashionable
season left to Paris. from the days near
Easter till the end OF July. 1t is now, and
not in winter, that Paris, brilliant. as one
dreams of it, lives in real truth. The salon
and the horse show draw the very cream
of the great world of Paris ladies, VINO
come to study up the gowns and hats of the
cocotteS.
The spring is here. 1t has come early
as 1t always does-and 1t will stay late.
One day bud unfolds, and the next day
a leaf. 1t lasts three months. In America
we scarcely have proper spring, hut leap
from winter into summer The American
climate, like the genius of the American
people, Is quick in its decisions and intense
in it's extremes. The climate Of western
Europe resembles its own slow and minute
ly graded social ways. In Paris the COM
ing of full summer is like the growing up
of the Partisan young person." 1t spins out
long and tantalizing maidenhood. The
American summer comes more quickly,
glorious and overpowering, like the Ameri-
can girl. complete. entire. at one grand leap.
You pay your money and you take your
choice. Certainly all this Partisan mildness
is paid for in the winter (also mild, when
you compare 1t with our OWN. II spring
did not come soon, If autumn did not merge
reluctantly into the winter, how could
Parisians endure their comfortless abcdes
in old apartment houses? Paris, with all
its smart and modern air. is still city Of
old houses. The climate is a cause and an
excuse for these dilapidated boxes which
they call apartments, and their antiQuated
modes of living. The winter does n5t last
long and it is not hard; so they do not dis
turb themselves to have the modern winter
comforts Of such countries as our own, or
Russia. Hence catarrh and rafting bron-
chitis, rheumatism and stiff joints even in
the young and tender. In order to keep
warm they eat and drink instead Of set
ting UP a furnace in the cellar But they
have no cellars. The long French windows
let in wind; cracks under massive doors Of
oak give murderous little draughts that
cut like knife blades and assassinate Amer
leans; and then those yawning, coke-de-
vouring open crates, SO decorative and so
dirty, give rather light than heat. The heat
goes up the chimney, where 1t warns the
cats upon the roofs. All this Parisians will
patiently endure, in waiting for the spring
The moment that it comes their joy is un-
confined. You meet a gentleman upon the
street who smiles as though his mother-In-
law were dead. Have you been left a
fortune?" mo, it is the spring" He means
that he is glad that those sad days are over
when he has to pay for coke. l think that
at the present moment not one apartment
out of fifty in the whole of Paris has a
spark Of fire in II, except the kitchen.
In the Country.
1t is the time for taking trips into the
country. Parties of working people, clerks
and their sweethearts, shop girls, govern
ment employees. whole middle-class families
and groups Joined together by every pos
sible kind of tie, the just and the unjust
all make alike for the countryside. where
the sun may shine upon them.
There they scold Paris from a proper
distance, not too far from the railway sta
ton, which holds out to them, like a
mothers hand, protection and connection
wit. the great heart of their beloved alrr
ma, :. whom they blaspheme, but only
with their lips. They think they love the
country, but they so to it rather for the
JOY of returning to the asphalt The spirit
in which these trips are made Is different
from the American picnicking disposition
To be a Partisan is to ignore the surround
ing universe, except as a playground for
the good people to go out in They look
down with condescension on the country
folk, on the horses, the fields the trees ana
the rivers. They bring their cafe habits Of
mind and morals with them: and, so great
is the prestige of Paris. they are looked nm
to by the country men, praised and admired
as II they could do no wrong
In the countryside for fifty miles round
Paris all the restaurants are good Fine
open carriages roll along the smoothesr
turnpikes. Every village has antiquities
its churches, bridges. its museum and IT'S
charming scenery. 1t is a garden trim
tight snug; country citified, yet added
to by romance, and "reminiscences, and a
wealth of settled ways, where the rustics
harmonizing with the landscape.
STERLING HELLO