Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-26
PAUL PRY IN PARIS.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH coNTRASTED
The GauIs Are Great Bread Eaters Gran deur of the louyre-ObserVa-
 tions on Art.

portez-VouS? Je Su1S trluS-plen, coihpre- nervous?
 Now. when I amein Turkey 'I do as the Turkeys do." When I'm in France you see I speak French, of course, though we've decided we don't like French news papers, don't like their morals, so we don't read them at all When we care to see what's going on we purchase copy of the New York Herald (Parls ech- tion), that suits our taste better. We don't like to converse much Ill Farls eilh- CT. We are very exclusive. when we care to talk we just converse with one another in our own little party. It's much safer you know. Then we've decided it's very much wiser to depend on our baedeker than to ask questions or every one you meet, particularly the con- ductbrs on the 'busses They are so dull and slow of comprehension it is really fatiguing.
 We'll. the first difference we observed in the English and French was in the manner of their service. When we ar rived at Dieppe the train did not start for a half hour, so almost every one went into the cafe at the station to get coffee and a roll. There were two long tables full of people to be .served-quite a crowd. Now in London the walters, or maids, serve you quietly and With the most implacable dignity. l don't think anything could hurry or frustrate or dis commode them and it really adds to ones comfort and is restful. As we entered this French cafe though we were seated with a rush. and I only saw one man to wait on the entire crowd. He was small and dark, the typical Frenchman. He had coffee pot in one hand and simi- lar pot of milk in the left hand. He rushed like a whirlwind frantically call ing Cafe lait," and dashed coffee in your cup and milk as frantically In after it. Bread and butter were on the table. Positively we were so amused we could not eat. The precipitation dripped from his face while 1t grew redder and redder with the great exertion. He dashed around frantlcally, but he waited on that entire crowd very promptly. We liked to have never distracted his attention from the "Cafe au lait" long enough to settle our account. l think his arms had as- sumed an automatic, unconscious move ment by that time. We were proud of our first settlement in French money. for centimes to make 1 cent of our money Is a little confusing at first, though we soon got accustomed to it. Well, l don't Know when I've seen such complete waste of nervous energy, though 1t reminded me ludicrously of some of our "maids' CD att our church suppers at home in Birming- ham. They waste a great deal of ner- vous energy I can tell you.
 Then I believe the next difference be- tween the two nations is their respective horses. In London you see the most tremendous horses. the Normandle breed. They cost from $500 to 5000 each. They are in all their vehicles, reminding one very forcibly of the sturdy, hearty Englishmen; in fact can at last under stand the ruddy, round, apple faces Dickens speaks of in so many of his books, with the rosy checks I used 10 dream these horses were trampling on me every night, had such a horror of being overrun by them; while in France we see the small, slim, frail-looking horse again that reminds me of our American horse. I tell you we feel more at home in Paris anyway; we may be nearer kin to the English but the French women have the good taste to fix their hair just like ours is arranged, and 1t somehow makes one feel more satisfied and at home. A great many things in Paris remind us very forcibly of Amer ican customs but in regard to morals and their taking Sunday for a regular cleaning up day haven't a word to say. It is very shocking to see shops all open and being secured out, houses being bullt, etc. all on Sunday. However, we brought our morals with us and won't complain too much. But what a comfort it is to get enough bread to eat again. l believe we Americans must be like the French great bread eaters-or the English don't eat any at all; but then I don't wonder, for at the Westminster palace we We're apportioned a tiny brown round affair. presumed to be bread, but we almost needed a chisel to break it; in fact we learned that in London the bakeries don't sell bread until it's about two days old. They can say what they please about our hot biscuits, but I'm of the firm belief that a good biscuit is worth a wagon load of their stale, dark, dry bread and even then 1t was difficult to dnaptifV Now. here in Paris at the Hotel Central, we have regular Eiffel towers placed in the nap kin on the table. and we deVour yard of bread" at each meal, while we ob- serve it's the custom to drink wine in stead of stout, as in England. I believe Paul Blouet says that in America our men prefer whisky straight" with ice water dashed after it. l never saw any myself, so of course don't know; but 1 do know one thing, and that IS, they would have a hard time flashing ice water over here.
 After our first days outing we noticed on every wall and building. in enormous letters, Defense DAficher, and one of our girls. not noticing closely, said: Well, Defense of the affiicted;' they certainly take good care of the afflicted in this country" We laughed heartily and it has been a great joke with us since. CompreneZ-vous?
 Those who have seen the French quar- ter of New Orleans can have a very good idea of Paris. In London the houses are all dark, somber colored, very large, tall and substantial looking, as if they would last for centuries, while here in Paris so very many of the houses are white or cream color, low ones, high, slim ones and many jagged, funny shapes, as If streets had been cut through and torn away half of them. But Paris is a beauti- full city and we are charmed with every thing we see. The ride from the Louvre and the old site of the Tuilerie, through the Tuilerie Gardens into the Champs Elysies, past the Place de la Concorde,
 and Napoleons Are de Triomphe," on to the Bois de Boulogne, the most beauti- full park in Paris, is certainly the grand est sight my eyes ever feasted upon, and in the late afternoons the entire way is thronged with sightseers and the car riages of the notables of Paris. This Bols de Boulogne is part of the old extension Foret de Rouveay and was long in evil odour. being the especial haunt of deuellists, suicides and rob bers, and it was only in 1852 that it was presented to the municipality and con verted into this very + >Vtiful park, and now the fayOrite prom <de of the Pa