New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-05
THE RIVIERA,
A HOME FOR INVALIDS AND RESORT
FOR GAMBLERs-THE COMPARATIVE
WICKEDNESS OF NICE, CANNES
AND MONTE CARI.O-THE
QUEEN OF ENGLAND
At CIMlEZ.

Nice. April II.
Tho Riviera IL spot-it Is rather a strip-of
which the attraction may pail upon you or may
grow upon YOU with successive visits. ON tho
whole mink II grows. There are those who
doapHc II altogether one friend. long resident,
ar resident ~ intervals. IN itnly ! once heard
dcnounce the Riviera M ~ best poor. cheap
second hand imitation Of Italy. Yet II ~ not 80
long since this belt Of seashorc and snowy Alps
was itself Italian. And It has tho advantage of
accessibility which IL often decisive with busy
man, or with the man who has been busy and
wants % be again and must go somewhere 70
convalescc. Nice is within thirty hours Of Lon
don n you choose 10 make the Journey without
stopping. Youths Ike Mr. Gladstone think moth
Ing OF IL. lie came home the other day from
Cannes straight on end" to use piece Of slang
which would appall him. for while he is by no
means a master OF style he Is in some linguistic
matters a purist. Not the distance nor the thirty
hours by rail are obstacles much as Paris. IT,
pass through Paris or round it by the ccinturc
railway the Calais-Nice trains do. and not
stop, requires an effort of will-at least In an
Amer!can--of which only man I'm robust health
is capable. 1t is an easy journey even with the
wagon-lit drawbacks which described yester-
day or perhaps the day before. Accuracy about
details Is not what you come to the Riviera for.
What you come for is. rule. either gam
bling or health. The Riviera is half hospital and
half hell. To some very good people II seems all
hell This year, for some reason or other. there
has been less cutlery about Monte Carlo than
usual. Possibly It was thought indccorous TO
protest against the wickedncss OF place 80 near
to which Her Majesty the Queen Of England Is
residing Some things at some times have to be
ignored and sermons. though often excellent,
are not always in season. The truth IL. OF
course. that gambling goes on just az regularly
at Nice and Cannes-though on n less scale at
Cannes-as at Monaco The scandal Is less be-
cause the publicity is less | do not like gam
bling. but I always thought that the complaints
about Monte Carlo came with an Ill grace from
the moraliss OF a country where gambling on a
far greater scale and with much more publicity
is carried on during n season longer than that Of
Monte Carlo. Yet Nice is held to be. by com
parison with It's neighbour respectable. because
the gambling clubs OF Nice don't haunt their vice
IN open day and AL day and all the evening long.
You may often hear such dialogue as this be-
tween men who have to be careful about the
comments OF their neighbors:
| Where have you been all this timer"
| AT Nice"
| "But heard OF you at Monte Carlo"
| eyes, but you know we always call 1t Nice
And whether you call 1t Nice really matters
very little, since from Nice to Monte Carlo Is
but half an hour by rail- and the railway com
pany considerably provides an express service
by which the Pharisee In Nice may spend all day
| long in Monte Carlo and return after the tables
are closed. All day long means, of course, in his
dialect. while the rooms open. The rooms
whatever they may be morally. ntolerabe 70
anybody who thinks pure air condition OF
enjoying life. They are crowded,-and such a
crowd-overheated. ill-ventllated. and altogether
abominablc ! once lived in Monte Carlo, amid
the fires Of the he'll itself. for some weeks. and
don't think l ever went to the rooms except
with friends. nor ever stayed half an hour. The
spectacle Is interesting. very much as one OF NJ
Zola's novels Is interesting Life turns out is
worst side TO YOU and you may study 1t at your
leisure. But the atmosphere OF 'LArgent"-
| which Is far from being the worst Of NJ Zola'f
perfomances-and the atmosphere OF the estab
lishment over which NJ Blanc prcsides or did
preside are much the same: fctid and altogether
foul.
At Nice. however. though you may gamble e
your hearts content. and 10 the emptyng OF
your pocket not less rapidly than at Monte
Carlo you are not obliged to know that the pas
time IL going on. There s no one central spot
devoted TO the pursuit. The place does not live
by gambling alone. nor II It ruled by q Prince