Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10
miRrYRs TO ART IN PARIS.
OVcryorl< mud starvation Kiils Mi
f..mrn LIrln

Ovcr,yori< mud starvation Kills Nine
American Girls.
PARIS, Nov. 15.-There arc n
drcds of American girls studying art I'm tho
Latin quarter OF Paris. The majority oil
these are poor, many Of them are i'll, al o!
them overworkcd. a few succeed, Three
differ Mt ways Of living have been adopted
by his colony of students: One is to sicen
in a studio or furnished room and 60 to
small restaurants in the nejghborho1d for
meals; another is to stay at the American
Girls club in the Rue Chcoreusa, and the
third is to beard with % French family.
In each case the average cot a month
is about $35.
The life is like nothing in the United
States, for what in New York, Chicago or
any of the large cities would be a tenem mt
house, in price and surroundings, in Paris
Is an old studio, under crumbling red
tiled roof. 1t has a balcony reached by an
uncertain stairway from the court below,
where the concierge clatters about in wooden
sabots, brushing away the autumn leaves
that have drirted in from a near garden
whose odors come on the damp, misty ar
of Paris that filters into the veins Of and
possesses men, making them, from one n
Grafton to another, commit every folly,
every sacrifice for art.
IT H. Bittcr Life.
Studios may be rented in the Lain quar-
ter at all prices from 500 to $50 a year.
bur for no less time than a year, Several
rooms and a kitchen are included for the
higher price. hut for the more mod st sums
girls content themselves with a small bal
cony at one end Of the atelier which trey
arrange as a bedroom and manage to keep
in order with the aid of a femme de me-
,,,1p oh n b1,t e., ICr
services as chambcrmad
The winter days dawn cold and damp
in Paris and the American student his
neither furnace. register nor steam heat,
nor running hot water to disguise th7 fact;
art is preceded by domestic duties; she
makes a fire on rising; she heats wate~;
through the door she slips in a small bottle
of milk two rolls, a dimnutive pisce of
butter left on the stairway at an early
hour, and with some coffee which she CX-
tracts from cupboard full OF pai1ts,
brushes, canvas, turpentine and groceries,
she prepares her morning meal at a cost
of cents.
1nnumorahe Americans whose day has
begun IN this way assemble together with
Russian, Swedish, German and French girls,
between and O'clock. at the different
schools which are open all day and all even
ms. The NEST popular of these are Julian's,
Cclarcssi's aud Willis, where the best
French masters criticise once or twice a
week. The average cost for drawing or
painting in the life classes is S6 a month
for the mornings, afternoons or evening IS
or 50 for any two classes. The Whistler's
school is for painting only, and it is impos-
slblo to enter it for less than three months
at q cost of $2S Raphael Collin, Courtois
and Daguan Bouveret also have private
classes which are more expensive. The mod
els pose for fifty minutes, rest for ten and
at the end of the morning seance the stu
dents make their way to one of the cheap
restaurants of the quarter where they lunch
for. about 20 cents; item for example: Nap
kin, l cent; beefsteak, s cents; bread. 2
conts; potatoes, cents; dessert or coffee,
4 cents; fee, l cent. Total, 20 cents.
Some of these places are frequented by
masons teamsters, workmen Of all sorts.
The marbletopped tables, surrounded by
small, straight backed chairs, are nailed to