The evening times., 1898-08-16
NO LOAEING.

A Frenchman Complains of Ameri-
can Activity.
The old complaint that Americans, ex-
cept those of foreign birth, do not know
how to take their ease and make life
pleasant is made by Frenchman who
replied to a question from a representa-
tive of the New York Commercial Adyer-
tiser:
Il do not find loafing irksome. / came
over to loaf and to have a good time in
an easy way. and what makes me rest
less is that am not able to get what I
want There is no possibility of loafing
I'm New York. A man is able TO do moth
ing if he desires. But doing nothing is
not loafing, merely the absence of activ-
ity. There is no system here which en-
ables a man 20 loaf with pleasure and
profit.
In the first place. you have no leisure
class of intelligence and refinement. In
your country it is deemed immoral TO stop
gathering money after you have enough
So the richer you are the harder you
work-you work at your business all day
long and at night go TO bed. or. If you are
young, rush about JUST as actively in
some form of social excitement. / have
noticed that almost every American 1
know is restless is he is not doing some
thing as he calls 1t. / have noticed, too.
know is restless II he is not doing some
thing else than what is occupying him at
the moment. He is always between times;
doesn't live in the present. but for the fu-
ture. You catch him always between two
states and wish that you had found him
or little LATER YOl
call us French people nervous. So we
are in some ways, but know no French
man who can't be content to do nothing
pleasantly on the boulevard for long
hours at time without wondering ner-
yously II there were not something more
productive that he might be doing.
''rhe way you Americans drink is an
other manifestation of what l mean. The
custom is not TO sit down quietly and
talk placidly with friend over glass
of wine but to rush up inconrtrently- to
a bar, drain of a glass. and then rush
off again to another bar. and keep 1t up
until each man In the crowd has drank
more than he wants and more than he
ought to. for you Americans have an
abominable habit of treating. You seem
to make it a point of honor to drink as
rapidly as possible, to pay for as many
drinks as you can. and insist that every
body else should have the opportunity of
paving for as many more drinks than he
wants as possible. And you drink as
| strong things as you can ger. You want
| to gulp quickly, and to gulp something
significant It is another instance Of you.
| wild passion to energize. to be doing
| something strong. You don't care for the
| taste, for the flavor Of thing; You only
care to do it. Enjoyment. peace. and
| pleasure in looking at things and having,
| genial talk is far from your national tem-
| perament. Charles Lamb was an Eng
iishman, but he was not an Anglo-Saxon
of America. or he could never have said
with conviction: "A man can never nave
| too much time to himself or too little to
do The word pleasant is In i'll repute
in New York When we say that man
is pleasant we mean, in Paris. that when
he is not definitely at worx he is able t.
| convey the idea to those with MIN tha; he
| doesn't care to work: that he likes the
breadth and freedom of the boulevard
and doesn't know or care Just what time
| It Is. or whether he has an engagement to
which It is possible he may be late.
s.It seems silly to an American 70 zee q
grave and reverend Frenchma1 slipping
his book and playing jon.inoes with
friend on the boulevard. You don't have
any open-air cafes here, except in the for
| eign quarters, and It Is only the foreign.
ers and iitterateurs who go there. The
foreigners 60 because It is in their blood
to do that sort Of thing and the littera-
teurs 70 because their trade makes them
| contemplators to q large extent and In
spires them with sympathy for the peace
full loafer. Perfect expression Is incom-
patfble with constant nervous activity