The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-13

but it is curious fact that the larger any establishment grows here the more i leisure has everybody connected with It..
 The young French clerk or bookkeeper would thorw up his position, even though such an act meant bread and
 water for years to come, if his employer dared to import what are becoming
 known on the continent as American
 methods" He wants to come down to his work certainly not earlier than nine
 o'clock-it is oftener ten that finds him
 before his desk-and if his two hours at neon are abridged by the smallest quar-
 ter hour, sulkness and surlness are the
 sequel. In positions just grade above
 his the incumbents stroll in at ten, lunch from noon to any hour they please
 the'r offices. This accounts for what is so often observed with astonishRent by Americans sojourning abroad. They
 wonder that the cafes are full at all
 hours of the day, with prosperous men
 whose conversation shows them to be
 engaged in what even the blue-blooded
 Frenchman is beginning to mention re- spectfully as Ia commerce." The ex- planation is now evident; these "mer- chants business man here is merchant over their affairs in the shade of cafe awning instead of behind the forbdding railing of pri- vate office Every one of them might be a literary lounger as far as his appear ance is concerned. Immaculate bo2ts, spotless linen and highly polished top hat-all proclaim that they do not by any means give all their time to "busi- ness" and that if all is hurry and ln- dustral fervor at their offices, they at least will not stoop to become part Of it for more than four or five hours a day.
 As for the proprietor himself. he is of- teHer than not a true rara avis at the establishment His head clerks and con- fidential men come to him in his pleas ant country villa or city palace when he desires information. He pays wages of superintendence and has forgotten, If he ever knew, the name of his book keeper
 l have so many large Paris establish- 'ents in my mind while writing this that mentioning one or two would be of no use. But in one of the largest soap and perfumery houses in the world, that fairyland of color and fragrance that looks out upon the Place de la Made leine, one of the severe reminders to the employees consists of sign hanging near the door, "Messieurs the clerks are prayed to recall that no more than two hours can be allowed during the sum- mer for dejeuner." And even in the large department stores, which the French believe to be unequalled for size and convenience by any others in the world, such thing as clerk working overtime or curtailing his midday meal for any purpose whatsoever has never, I am assured been heard of. In the store clerks and accountants are obliged to attend to their monotonous but neverhurried duties. The moment a certain gong strikes they don their glossy high hats change their short coats for the courtly length required on the houlevards, and immediately seek their favorite restaurant or cafe, where
 
 tiers" and talk of political affairs or the last Salon, with highly judicial air and critical eye, as if there were not yards of ribbon and silk waiting for their hands during the afternoon,
 All this is very fine and nobody would wish 1t replaced by a different system. perhaps. But 1t is not what we Ameri- cans call "business." It Is not in &C., cord with the persuation that time Is money and these polite loungers sway ing and idling in their chairs while the sun on high is attending strictly to his daily work, do not help to give Paris the atmosphere of a beehive. The newcom- er's first impression is that every class of Parlsians rest and recuperate and talk affairs" at least two-thIlds of the day.
 For what is true of large business houses is equally so of the small trades people. If you are coming to Paris to live for some months, be warned and do not try to have the affairs of your men, age progress between the hours of eIev- en and two. The charbonnier will not bring your coal the grocer and butcher will not deliver orders and the con- cierge. paid to attend to your wants, | will not, bring up letters, papers or packages between the limits mentioned l That interval almost universally and | quite ineyorably, belongs to each per- son, however humble be his stage, born | Tn the free and lazy air of France. The | sun. as before hinted. is the only cos- mological adjunct which agrees to con- tinue business. The household servants | are perhaps the only exception, and | they get indemnity by going off every l afternoon the moment the work is done | to take a petite promenade au soleil" Unless you allow your servants this right as they cons der it, you will get | but poor service and little faithfulness from them.
 The very omnbuses go slower and are greatly reduced in number; the great | 1epots are deserted, and the resting To- oomotives snore softly under the great l ron arches, the long freight trains be- hind them packed to bursting for those | who are out wonder in the green country waiting for the goods they have or 1ered But the freight trains, too are waiting, waiting, waiting, and 1t will be wo or three o'clock before the warning whistle blows once more. The factories ,f the Gobelins and those at Sevres, the offices and the telegraph bu- 'eau-all are wrapped in siesta as leep as ever clasped in it's dreamy em-
 l