The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23
THE FRENCHMAN'S SIDE
OBJECTION RAISED TO THE AMER
ICAN IDEA OF FRENCH MORALS.
The People of the Countries Have
Wrong Opinions of Each Other
Through Lack of Acquaintance.
Ex-Attache. in Washington Post.

! behavior, literature and art that are in
delicate 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 identically the same mean
! ing is employed in France to the words
'bien American" which may be rendered
| as so very American and to those who
ray feel disposed to doubt the truth OF
| this assertion it may be pointed out that
| within the past fortnight popular serti-
ment in Paris has forced the authorities
there to quietly prevent the appearance in
! living pictures at the "Theater des Folies
| Bergeres" of an American girl, who, after
| deserving her princely husband and chill
dren, has been divorced under circum-
stances sufficiently sensational to render
| her an attraction to resorts of the music
hall order No harsh measures were en-
| pioyed by the project of police. But after
having appealed in vain to the eX-princess
Tor the sake of her children to abandon
! her projected debut on the stage, he sum-
moned the manager of the theater and in
formed him that if the appearance of the
lady gave rise to even the smallest dem
onstration on the part of the audience he
would instantly have the Folies Bergeres
cleared and closed on grounds of public
! morality True, she had previously failed
in her attempts to secure engagements on
this side of the Atlantic New York i'm
presarios, who have their fore6ngers on the
pulse of public taste and sentiment, being
%, the opinion that she would not prove a
Draw But that only goes to prove what
intend to convey, namely, that in spite of
me very widespread impression to the con-
lIdty' DaSed upon misconceptions. the
rational sense of propriety is much the
same IN both the United States and France,
and that it is immensely superior to that
winch 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 delcacy, it is
attributable in the main to the infinitely
superior amount of INDEPENDENCE of Amer.
lean women, and especially of American
young girls to that enjoyed by their French
sisters: The latter do not understand this
! or make allowance for it, and when they
see married women from across the ocean
arrayed IN frocks that considered as
daring, and young girls going about unes-
corJed, nlftlng and attending theatrical
performances at the Palais Royal, and the
Athenee Comique, they straiShtway take it
FOR granted that the American sense of
propriety must be UNNECESSARILY inferior
to their own. They do not realize that the
| flirting is of the most innocent character
that the independence is neither bodness
nor brass, but merely the result OF the diff
terent social conditions that prevailfin this
country, and that if American misses
are seen at theaters to which no French
mother, be she 'grande dame or petite
daughter" it is because they are utterly in
capable of fathoming the true meaning of
the undelicate but witty play upon whose
words. which constitutes the chief and only
Objectionable feature of these entertain
merits.
FREEDOM OF BEHAVIOR.
Then, too, it cannot be denied that Ameri-
cans, like their English cousins, allow
| themselves a considerable larger amount of
| latitude abroad than at home, with regard
to the conventionalities of life. They look
upon the trip to Europe or the stay there
in the light of holiday and their exuber-
| ance of spirits sometimes get the better of
| their discretion English people, for in
stance, will go to the races, and even to
| the theater on Sunday when abroad, where
| as they would hold up their hands with
| plous horror at the notion of doing any
! thing of the kind at home So 1T 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,
| ana above all, free from the prying eye of
! the American preSS-Which constitutes so
! healthy restraint upon their behavior-they
! can doff for the nonce their straight waist
| coat of tra-respectability and enjoy them
| selves like boys and girls out for a holiday,
! and for real good time" This too is
not understood by the stay-at-ho French,
and all serves to warp their comprehension
| or the correct standard OF American pro-
With regard to the misconception that
| prevails in the United States concerning
| 0dIlIC IDOEdllIy ana QOlCdcY, II is the
| French themselves who are greatly to
! blame, although some responsibility doubt
| less attaches itself to scribes of the class
| or the brilliant young American author,
| who after six weeks residence at Paris
! spent, according to his own admission, in
| lounging on the boulevards and haunting
| resorts such as the Folies Bergeres and the
| Moulin Rouge wrote a book about the
| French metropolis in which he gravely
serted that even the most degraded and
| abandoned women of the American colony
| on the banks of the Seine could never de-
| scend to the depths of moral infamy of
| the best and most respected of the French
! wives and mothers.
But the people who are chiefly respon-
! sible for the reputation with which the
| French are undeservedly saddled in this
| country are a band of more or less dis
| tinguished Partisan novelists, playwrights
| fault 1t is that they are wanting in hos
| pltality in the American sense of the word.
| They do not throw open their house to the
| stranger, or admit him to the intimacy of
! their family circle. even when warmly rec
| commended by mutual friends. The conse-
| quence is that the real French socety-and
| by that / mean, not only the great world
! but also the ourgeosie-remains a terra
| incognita to the American. whose only
! knowledge thereof is derived from Partisan
| novels, plays and newspapers. Now knav-
| cry is always more interesting than honest,
| while virtue and morality present less at
| traction to the literary palates STONED
| to highly seasoned dishes. than vice.
FROM THE OUTSIDE.
AS books are written to catch the taste
of the reading public, and plays are pro-
duced to win the applause and the good
will of the theatergoers, it naturally fol-
lows that the theme of both one and the
other is invariably intrigue and immortality,
and to such an extent is this the case that
the foreigner ends by believing that French
life must necessarily be as it is portrayed
on the stage and in novels, that is to say
corrupt and rotten to the very core. This
impression is still further strengthened by a
perusal of the Partisan newspapers. Dur
ing the reign of King Louis Philippe, and
subsequently, throughout the eighteen years
of Napoleonic sway, the press kept
under very strict control. and the utmost
| reserve was displayed in touching upon any
scandals of society, the Emperor in partic-
ular holding that the publication of unsaV-
DRY news concerning the great world was
calculated to impair the moral tone of the
masses by showing them that those whom
they had been taught to look upon as their
were unworthy of their consideration and
respect. That, according TO Napoleon,
served to sap the very foundation and bull
wark of the social system now consti-
papers have been practically free from any
sort of censorship, and scandals that thirty
| years ago would have been merely limited
at in the most vague manner even If in
deed referred TO at all. are now shouted
| in stentorian tone from the very houSetopS
with a revolving abundance of detaiL A
| large portion of the newspaper reading
public likes to learn evil about its neigh
bors. its friends and its acquaintance, and
| things have come to such a pass that the
| looked upon as piece of news for the
press. Politics and the ordinary intelli-
gence domestic as well as foreign. are re-
stricted save in the case of the Temps and
l H. M 4 Ice ,,,l