The San Francisco call., 1895-11-17
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THE GIRLS ART CLUB.

VI all tne types OF American girls ABROAD,
the art student is the most enjoyable one
to meet. Her capacity may be very linn
| tied. She may lack the genius or talent
necessary to paint nature, and so spend
her days painting pansies and buttercups
and chrysanthe NUNS, or now and then a
basket of fruit. At the same time, what
ever her daubs may be, she works con-
sc ientiously, spurred on by the dream that
she may win fame, if not imm ortaity.
The home of the Girls Art Club is on the
Rue Chevreuse, just around the corner
from the MEMS Club. The men call it the
"Nunnery." [ believe it used to be an old
convent. 1t is large triangular building.
enclosing in the rear sunny garden which
speaks to you of things of the past. Its
situation is good. The Luxembourg, with
The Ecole des Beaux Arts is near at hand :
so, too, are the studios of Bouguereau,
Laurens and Whistler, and the schools of
Julian. Colarossi and Montparnasse.
1t is not well furnished. but fairly COM
Portable. One salon is decorated in red and
is called the "red room.' Here tea is
served on Mondays, the clubs 'at home"
dav, and all the news of the student world
q
membrance connected with this tea-room.
1t was the day of my first introduction to
the club. | entered this room first and
my attention was instantly attracted to
the small open box cover which stood on
the mantel. 1t was filled with chewing
gum. A little notice said, Take one; five
centimes' Zone cent?. | couldn't resist.
The low French windows open upon a
broad veranda. In the early summer the
tea-table is placed there and the scent of
the roses adds flavor to your tea.
The library and reading-room are COM
bined in one, and a very pleasant room it
is. The number of the books is few, but
well chosen. The long table is filed with
magazines and newspapers. The bulletin
board is always an interesting study.
There are notices of art sales and church
meetings and dressmakers and sales of all
sorts of domestic and artistic nistings,
and curious list of things lost and found.
The bedrooms are very plain. 1t is left
for the taste and purse of the occupant to
make them homelike and attractive. Rugs
and draperies, books and old cabinets and
sketches must be added to make them
heart rests. In the winter fire must
crackle in the CRATE.
The dining-room and restaurant are
pleasant. All the food is we'll cooked and
well served and table d hote dinner may
be had for 35 cents. Tne prices la carte
ranges from $5 to $14 month. One is not
| able to live here for mere song as is gen
| eralIy believed in America. The lowest
| cost for decently comfortable room and
| board is So per week. Then come extras
in the way of lights and fires. The former
! will cost you l franc a week If used
economically. As for fires-well, wood is
expensive IN Paris, and so cents day
spent on wood on cold day will not keep
the cold shivers from running down your
back, though it may scorch your face If
you get close enough to it. Coal is cheaper,
but so cents day spent on that material
will not keep one healthfully warm. The
draughts of wind and air in Parlslan
houses, even the newest and best built
ones, are simply dreadful. Apart from
being good marrow-searches they are a
short cut for an early grave.
No girl who values her life and useful
ness will lightly treat the question OF fires.
Your laundry bill will average about 2
francs week. You may have one plunge
at one of the public bathhouses for 25
cents. There are girls who make their
expenses less by dint OF much planning
and many wakefui hours spent in trying
to make two and two make five, but they
are simply suffering from lack of food, or
warm clothing, or comfortable room.
Their social pleasures are such as you
will find among any collection OF bright,
intelligent girls. During the winter a few
dances are given, to which the men are
invited The latter also have the pleasure
of calling there on Sunday evenings. Ex-
hibitions of work are given in the winter.
Last February eighty pictures were sold at
one of these exhibitions. For those who
desire religious home there is an Eng
lish Episcopal church only few steps
away at the rear of the club.
The girls who live at the Art Club enjoy
many social privileges from the mere fact
that they reside at Rue de Chevreuse,
but with them as with the men, the girl
who would win fame must eschew social
gayetv. Art is not the only profession
represented here. Among the thirty seven
boarders there are some who come to
study literature, others music and still
others French.