The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-30
THE MORNING NEWS: WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 80 1898

French believe TO be unequaled for size
and convenience by any others in the world
such a thing as a clerk working overtime
or curtaiiing his midday meal for any
purpose whatsoever has never, 1 am as
sured, been heard of. In the store, clerks
and accountants are Obliged TO attend to
their monotonous, but never hurried, du-
ties; the moment certain gong strikes
they don their glossy high hats, change
their short coats for the couruy length
required on the boulevards, and immedi-
ately seek their favorite restaurant or cafe,
where they become gentlemen of leisure,
RENTERS" and talk of political affairs or
the last salon with highly judicial air and
critical eye, as il there We're not yards of
ribbon and silk waiting for their hands
during the afternoon.
All this is very fine and nobody would
wish it replaced by different system, per-
haps. But 1t is not what we Americans
call business il is not I'm accord with
the persuasion that time is money; and
these polite lcungers, swaying and idqng
in their chairs while the sun on high Is at
tending strictly to his daily work do not
help TO give Paris the atmosphere Of bee
hive. The newcomers first impression Is
that every class of Parisians rest and recu-
perate and talk affairs" at least two
thirds of the day
For what is true Of large business houses
is equally so of the small tradespeople. If
you are coming to Paris to live for some
MONTHS be warned, and do not try to
have the affairs of your menage progress
between the hours of IL and ?. The char
BONNER will not bring your coal, the gro
Ger and butcher viii not deliver orders,
and the concierge, paid to attend to your
wants, will not bring up letters, papers
or packages between the limits mentioned
That interval almost universally and quite
inexorably belongs to each person, how
ever humble be his state, born in the free
and lazy air of France. The sun, as be-
fore limited, is the only cosmological ad-
iunct which agrees to continue business
The household servants are perhaps the
only exception, and they get indemnity
by going off every afternoon the moment
the work is done to take a polite prom
enade au soleil." Unless you allow your
servants this right" as they consider IL,
YOU will get but poor service and little
faithfulness from them. The very omnl-
buses go slower and are greatly reduced
In number; the great depots are deserted
and the resting locomotives snore softly
under the great iron arches, the long
bursting for those who are out yonder
in the green country waiting for the goods
they have ordered. But the freight trains
too, are waiting. waiting. waiting; and It
viii be or 3 o'clock before the warning
whistle blows once more. The factories
of the Gobelins and those at Sevres the
ministerial offices and the telegraph bu-
reau-al are wrapped in a siesta as deep
as ever c,asped in its dreamy embrace a
little Spanish town nesting near the
shadow Of the Alhambra. The bicyclist,
fearful of the rush of carriages on the
Avenue de rOpera during the morning.
when thousands of energetic strangers are
| going a sightseeing, finds no spice of dam
10, haG al f1a % ~ i'm
self. The winding Boulevard des Capuci-
mes is given up to sparrows and buzzing
| flies. One almost expects to find weeds
| growing up in the cracks of the pavement.