New-York tribune., 1900-12-02
VILE LIFE IN PARIS.
" NJ. CHASE THUS DESCRIBES THE
QUARTER TO WHICH YOUNG WOMEN
GO To STUDY ART.

The following conversation was overheard by q
Aalf seasick passenger last autumn board q
steamship bound for this port. The persons in
srama' consisted OF a matronly woman with a
tew gray ringle.s about her forehead, badly sun
burned daughter of twenty-odd years, son who
81, most OF his time asking questions of the
suartermaster. and fourth person. whose idenfity
OF no particular, consequence to this story, and
nav be called the outsider.
we went Europe last spring said the
mother to the outsider. Edith Bobby and J.
We went TO Paris first. of course. 10 see the Ex-
position, and wasn't it superb? oh. it was, IN
seed. Then. from Paris went 10 Switzerland
What a change from the hurlyburly OF the Fafls-
an capitall How those eternal mountains con-
lrasted with the fash and glitter OF Partisan ne
and their quiet with the incessant roar OF the
streetsi But Edith wanted so 10 study art ana
thought that in consequences we must return 70
Paris"
The half seasack passenger now pricked up his
ears and after bolstering himself in his steamer
chair, began 10 take more active interest," IN
Kbat v-as being said The half sick passenger oy
he way. CHANGED 70 be a New-York artist himset
whose studio is not many blocks from Fffty-nintn-
g. and sixth-ave. His name is withheld oy MS
own request
.sXHreI, .. continued the matronly looking woman
ottb the gray ringlets Edith said she must study
art and that TO study art best was 10 study II IN
Paris"
.eyes exclaimed the slender Edith. Il had heard
admitted 70 one OF the art schools imagined the
atmosphere OF those places was charged with
divine affiatus and that only TO breathe II was
enough 10 stimulate 10 suDerhuman efforts
On I dreamed OF doing 80 much in Farls' NY
friends al home In San Francisco sll told me that
simply going 10 Paris would bring me fame
s'Fsut II didr't" interrupted the small brother.
Yes Bobby" said the mother ssoothlhgy.
EFcdith aid not realize all her dreams IN Pans
<fhe mother continued:
'.yVeH after returning from Switzerland we Went
10 Paris and engaged rooms for Edith in the Latin
Quarter We found school and a teacher Tor her,
and then Bobby and went away for lew weeks
That's what we did raa Wasn't it bully that
beer?"
SOME IDEALS SHATTERED.
a.Hush darling" said the boys mother quickly
t'You should not use such coarse language Yes. II
was pleasant sojourn. and then, one day. lel'er
came from Edith. DO you remember that ietVei'
Edith"
.,oh. mammal" exclaimed the daughter, do you
know, when ] wrote you that letter I felt Ike
throwing myself into the Seine? My idols We're all
shattered. My ambitions, my dreams, my VISIONS
q the night al, all'-
AN gone 20 the dew" calculated Bobby.
why. Bobby. where did you learn to talk Ike
that?" interposed the mother. My dear, am
surprised! Yes, Edith, and then We came back 10
Paris and found YOU poor girl, sadder ana yet
wiser. Edith had soon found that the Latln quar-
Ter was anything but a fit place for young girl
The life there was the life Of the Bohemian where
regard for time was little nothing, where there
was no midnight and no noon. Here the stuoenls
who were there TO study appeared TO talk
about II far more than TO do any work Here, too,
were young American girls who had come there
from the best Of families living IN the same houses
with the uistresses Of fellow students. Many Of
the young American women appeared SO enrapt-
ured with this free and easy life that they dressed
In short skirts smoked cigarettes and drank varied
oolored cordials the hours Of the early morning
.'Oh. it was dreadful" exclaimed Edith, with
almost sob.
The conversation quoted above told to Trb-
reporter by the artist passenger is illustrative
Of many a similar and just rude an awakening
The craze the part of young girls 10 go TO Paris
10 study art has led 10 a widely prevailing senti-
ment that art can better be studied at home and
that FOR the little that be gained in Paris there
Is a sacrifice a thousand times of what Is best
and purest IN WOmanhood
Accordingly, a movement has been started by
several institutes II this country TO check this
exodus Of American art students 10 the French
capital. This agitation, VI hch al first was confined
90 the drawing room the studio. was not definite
ly put before the public until last Tuesday, when
a conference held in Philadelphia, under the
suspices of the Pennsylvania Academy OF the Fine
Arts II was decided TO ask the art schools through
out the country TO unite in a movement 10 keep
students on this side. The formation was also sug-
gesied or a National committee from American
schools to distribute literature relative 10 the ad-
aSIsses oI me AiT55fah ~ me @ =
SApIeSseu g3 4g me Fnaat - Piilo SQNSl'lo. Mel ~
II was learned that the entrance Of American
young women into the Latin Quarter in Paris be-
gan about fifteen years ago Before that time this
part Of the city occupied almost wholly by
men who had gone TO the capital 70 study art or
music. They soon adapted themselves TO The
peculiar kind Of French life which reigns in the
Latin Quarter-the so-called Bohemianism. They
ATTENDED art schools in the quarter itself such as
the BeaUN Arts which is a State institution, and
also private schools scattered throughout the other
parts OF the city. The only the Latin
Quarter al that time were not desirable associates
for pure young women.
THE FIRST TO THE QUARTER
Then went women from Scandinavia, England
and America. Few at first were bold enough 10
risk much, if all, for the sake Of art" They
were women who believed themselves pioneers
in their vocation and were thus blazing the way
for the more timorous 10 follow. The numbers OF
these newcomers accordingly increased from year
70 year, until at present il is estimated that as
many as seven hundred foreign young women 90
10 Paris each year 10 study art All OF these win
Few exceptions, md abode in the Latin Quarter
FIRST II Is tradition. How would il be possible Il
home Of the artist? Second it is convenient Ths
HTlost popular art schools are either in the
LSun Quarter. Third, IL is economical
Consequently, young American women from
own iis aiJ or subpor5ea 10y earnings of theil
thelr home among men whom custom has mad,
preserved esewRere IN nj s the og5 %oTs ana nd the Ideals
women whose only existence IS a continuous rouns
Next TO the influence OF such surroundings is IN,
IlaT Itnee 0j mixed mixed classes With the incoming o
lnools sasse h4Ee come 70 admit them into its mai,
sHuque but also from the living nude -
OPINIONS OF NEW-YORK ARTISTS
Carrol BeckWith. the artist OF No s West F,s,,.
hefehth-st- in speaking Of the mixed classes a
fa1san art schools. said 10 a Tribune reporter
so,S ne mixed classes such exist in Paris ar
re1s by ~ Hoihen LOT every just reason. They be
thal me working in association with sfror,
Is advantageou 10 weaEey n IS1hq among the mel
a. 1rl,foe