Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-07-03
THE IOILEKS OF PARIS.
4 Near View Of the Working
Glasses Of the Ere nch Capital
A People Who Arc FoWd Of Wine end
ee0g and Careless About the Hu-
turs - Their FssIiag Toward
Boclety.

In order to study the working classes
thoroughly NJ. Henri Leyret, literary
man, started business as marchand
de vim. or publican, in one of the most
crowded districts of Paris, says writer
in the London Telegraph. lie has en-
bodied his experiences as a mastroquet
in . book entitled: EN- Plein Fau-
bourg," which has lately been pub
lished by Charpentier. NJ. Leyrct,
after having denounced the bad drink
supplied to the working classcs-not
always through the fault of the public
ans, but, rather, due to the wholesale
merchants-gives it as his opinion that
those who live by the sweat of their
bad payers and those who vast drinks
chalkcd up are the exception, and it Is
needless to say that they are the idlers,
the loafcrs and The confirmed drunk
ards. These men neglect no opportu.
nifty Of sponging or of obtaining drink
ON credit, without the least intention
of paying for the absinthe or wine sup
piled to them. As rule the laborious
people avoid the tavcrns wherein the
loafers assemble. The author also al-
ludes to = discussion ON lola which he
overheard. One Of his customers, while
gazing At y portrait Of the novelist,
maintained that the working classes
had been libeled in the "Assommoir. "
''Is the workman" asked the anti
Zolaist, ITO be represented as an cter-
nal drunkard because he drinks glass
now and them" The listeners ap-
plauded this speech, but another man
stood up for lola, saying that If the
novelist had exaggerated little 1t WAS
done in the interest Of the working
classes, whose vices were to be attrib-
uted to the bourgeoisie.
M. Leyrct met . confirmed absinthe
drinker ota curious type. This man
was one-T the best carpenters in the
district, and when sober was never out
of work. For weeks he would refrain
from touching = glass of the green
fairy, but, suddenly forgetting his good
resolutions, would launch forth into .
carouse on his favorite beverage, never
going to bed until he had swallowed
twenty-four glasses of absinthe, with
copious draughts of wine in between.
HC SutuOE HUGE VIM viz evCEUBc
faubaurien workman Is generally
more given to eating than drinking.
He eats meat, II possible, At luncheon
and dinner, the former meal being the
more substantial. He is careless
about the future, and looks forward to
dying straight off when he shall be no
longer strong enough to toll.
Abiding to the pleasures Of tho peo-
pie, NJ. Leyret is glad to state that
Beranger's songs have not yet lost their
charm for the toiling masses. As to
the relations of the exes, the author Of
"En Plein Faubourg" says that free
unions are increasing among the work.
ers, domestic arrangements being
made on family basis. The girls who
leave their shops and factories for the
Champs Elysees or the main boulc-
wards are, however, Stunned and de-
spised by the faubouriens. NJ. Leyret
concludes his interesting volume by
some observations on the feeling of the
working classes toward the anarchist
and revolutionist movements in their
midst. At present, he points out, ma
terial exigencies and the necessity of
living keep the average workman re-
signed, but desire of revenge turks in
his breast against n society in which he
has to toll without the hope of what no
considers an adequate reward for his
services, and without any security that
after life of labor he will enjoy some
repose with moderate competency.