The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-06
PROPERTY IN FRANCE.
THE AMERICAN MIsCoNCEPTIoN OF
THE REAL STATE OF THINGS.


Ex-Attache in the New York Tribune.
so very French" is an expression which
one hears constantly used in this country
in order to indicate utterances, behavior,
literature and art that are indicate and
calculated to offend the sense of propriety
that prevails on this side of the Atlantic
People who employ this form of speech are
probably ignorant of the fact that identi-
caly the same meaning is applied in
France to the words "ben American"
which may be rendered as 80 very Amer
ican." and to those who may feel dispos-
ed to doubt the truth of this assertion it
may be pointed out that within the last
fortnight popular sentiment at Paris has
forced the authorities there quietly to pre-
vent the appearance in living pictures at
the Theater des Folies-B ergere
of an American girl, who
after deserving her princely
husband and her children had been di-
worced under circumstances sufficiently
sensational to render her an attraction to
resorts of the music-hall order. No harsh
measures were employed by the project of
police. But after having in vain appealed
10 the ex-princess for the sake of her chill
dren to abandon her projected debut on the
stage, he summoned the manager of the
theater, and informed him that if the APP
pearance of the lady gave rise to even the
smallest demonstration on the part of the
audience he would instantly have the Fo-
les-Bergere cleared and closed on grounds
Of public morality. True, she had previous
" failed in her attempts to secure engage
ments on this side of the Atlantic, New
York impresarios who have their forefin-
gers on the pulse of public taste and senti-
ment being of the opinion that she would
not prove a draw" But that only goes
to prove that in spite of the widespread
impression to the contrary, based upon
misconceptions the national sense of pro-
priety is much the same in both the Unit
ed States and France, and that it is i'm
mensely superior TO that which prevails
in most of the other civilized countries of
the world.
With regard to the misconception that
exists in France concerning the American
standard of good taste and delicacy, it is
attributable in the main to the amount of
independence of American women, and es-
pecially of American young girls, in
1ntely superior to that enjoyed by their
French sisters. The latter do not under
stand this or make allowance for it, and
when they see married women from across
the ocean arrayed in frocks that are con-
about unescorted, flirting and attending
theatrical performances at the Palais
Royal, and the Athenee Comique, they
straightway take it for granted that the
American sense of propriety must be i'm
measureably inferior to their own. They
do not realize that the flirting is of the
most innocent character, that the indie
pendence is neither boldness nor brass"
but merely the result of the different So
cial conditions that prevail in this coun-
try, and that if American misses are
seen at theaters to which no French
mother, be she "grande dame" or petite
bourgeoise," would bring her unmarried
daughter it Is because they are utterly
incapable of fathoming the true meaning
of the indicate but witty play upon
words which constitutes the chief and
only Objectionable feature of these enter
tainments.
Then, too, it cannot be denied that
Americans, like their English cousins, al
low themselves a considerably larger
amount of latitude abroad than at home,
with regard to the convehtionalities of life.
They look upon the trip to Europe or the
stay there i'm the light of holiday, and
their exuberance of spirits sometimes gets
the better of their discretion. English
people, for instance, will go to the races
and even to the theater on Sunday when
abroad, whereas they would hold up their
hands with pious horror at the notion of
doing anything of the kind at home. So
II is with many Americans on the continent
of the old world, who cross the Atlantic
with the feeling that among strangers,
away from the observant gaze of their
fellow-citizens, and, above al. free from
the prying eye of the American press
which constitutes so healthy a restraint
upon their behavior-they can doff for the
nonce their Strait-waistcoat of ultra-re-
spectability and enjoy themselves like boys
and girls out for holiday and for real
good time" This, to, is not understood
by the stay-at-home French, and all
serves to wrap their comprehension of
the correct standard of American propri-
ETY..
With regard to the misconception that
prevails in the United States concerning
Gallo morality and deiicacy, it is the
French themselves who are greatly to
blame, although some responsibility doubt
less attaches itself to scribes of the class
OF the brilliant young American author
who, after six weeks residence al Paris,
spent, according to his own admission, in
Longing on the boulevards and haunting
resorts such as the Foles- Bergere and the
Moulin Rouge, wrote a book about the
French metropolis in which he gravely as
serted that the most degraded and aband-
oned woman of the American colony on
the banks of the Seine could never descend
TO the depths of moral infamy of the best
and most respected Of the French wives
and mothers.
But the people who are chiefly RESPONSE
bic for the reputation with which the
French are undeservedly saddled in this
country are a band of more or less distin-
guished Partisan novelists, playwrights
and journalists. If the French have one
fault Il is that they are wanting in hos
pitallty In the American sense of the
word. They do not throw open their
houses TO the stranger, or admit him to
the intimacy of their family circle, even
when warmly recommended by mutual
friends. The consequence Is that the real
French society-and by that Is meant not
only the fashionable world, but also the
bourgeoisie-remains a terra incognlta 60
The American, whose only knowledge
thereof Is derived from Partisan novels,
pays and newspapers. Now, knavery is
always more interesting than honesty,
while virtue and morality present less at
traction to literary palates accustomed to
hghly seasoned dishes than vice. As
books are written 10 catch the taste Of the
reading public, and plays are produced to
win the applause and the good will Of the
theater-goers. IL naturally follows that
Nhe theme OF both Is invariably intrigue