The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-13
PARIS AND FRANCE.
Life I'm the Great City Not the True
French Existence.
(From the Hartford Courant.)


(From the Hartford Courant.)
Paris is France. Paris has always
been France" This is sentiment so ia
miliar that it impresses man. people as a
truism. No other city in tue world has
ever seemed so representative of nation
as Paris is believed to be of France. His
tory, medieval and modern, is filled with
incidents which tend to strengthen the
view. One can name hardly French
ruler from the days of Hugh Capet to the
time of the third Napoleon who did not
work for the good name of the city on
the Seine. Versailles still reflects the
magnifcence of the Paris which existed
before the Revolution. Is there name in
French literature since Abelard lectured
to his Hook of students that has become
renowned in France disassociated from
Paris? Every French lad of pluck sees
Paris sooner or later-it is the Mecca OF
his ambitions aK-all the notable French
men have not lived in Faris one might
think that they Had died thereafter a
stroll through Pere Lachaise.
There is, however, another aspect to
the city. Paris Is the most cosmopoli-
tan place under the sun. For genera
tons, even for centuries, it has ca
tered to the tastes of strangers Its
boulevards. its cafes, ita theatres, its
galleries. in a word its gaveties and It's
vices have been sought by foreigners.
This has been true for so long time
that Paris is looked upon as preten-
tious. city. of mere display-beautiful
perhaps, but vicious and in reality uu-
lovely. Parisians have boosted OF vice.
even VI. Jules Cambon admits the fact
The bouevards display 1t, as everybody
knows. Foreigners will seek it and in
any case always hnd evidence of it,
In an address last week before the
students OF Columbia University NJ.
Cambon urged it upon his hearers that
they endeavor, if they were planning a
visit to the Worlds Exposition this
summer, to see something of the less
crowded parts of Paris, and above all
TO get a glimpse of the provinces-those
parts OF France not adjacent to the big
capital. Avoid the boueyards. said the
French Ambassador in substance; stroll
along the quays Of the Seine. or through
the park of Buttes- Chaumont: mingle with
the working people as you find them in the
suburbs of st. Denis or in the side-streets
of the Quarter Latin; get. if possible, a
glimpse OF the colleges OF Paris-the Ecole
des Charles, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
and the Ecole du Louvre. But know a
little about the larger France.
Apropos OF this view of NJ Cambon
the thought of an American traveller is
brought to mind. Zone of the chief
results remarked the American. ''of
my visit to Italy and France was TO give
me less and less patience with the notion
prevalent in England and the United
States that the Latin nations are degener-
ate-played out in fact-and that all hope
for civilization in the future centres in the
Anglo Saxons and Germans. One cannot
taryel long through France
and see the life of the people without feel
ing that they know quite as much about
the art Of living as do the people of any
other country II can never be forgotten
that France is a country not primarily OF
cities but of farms. As the single great
centre of France Paris has
assumed consequence Its dis
play and extravaganza may appear char
acteristic of the whole French people Thi.
is not the truth, as most Frenchmen know.
Economy is one OF the typical French
traits How could France have recovered
from the Revolution. from the war with
Germany. and paid its enormous debts. had
it been otherwise Lyons may be unnter-
esting by comparison. 1t is certainly more |
typical of France than Paris. The great |
Revolution itself began in Dauphigne. !
Such cities as Marseiiles and Lyons are to- |
day of large political Importance Indeed |
that most careful student of modern !
IduIc, outright lldL
France has rarely accepted the political |
lead Of Paris.
The history of the country has illus
trated that proposition from Thermidor, |
when Robespierre found vain the shelter
Of the Hotel de Vile and the protection OF |
the Commune. to the coup d'etat of Louis |
Bonaparte. when the nation condoned the |
shooting down of the politicians of the |
The fascination of Paris to the visitor is |
very great. Its life. however. is not the |
best French life. The strength OF France,
like the strength of most progressive
countries, rests upon the quiet home life |
Of thousands of families scattered through |
the land, who strive to make an honest |
living and sustain the simple virtues
which. the world over, make existence
sweet.