Evening journal., 1900-03-06
TRICKS WITH MONEY
TOURISTS TO EUROPE MUST
HAVE a sFiAR9 EYE.
The American Woman in Paris Writes
That England Is Bad Enough, But
Worse When You Get to Paris-Ths
Bad Five Francs.

Bad Five Francs.
I'm England the woman wrote
back from Paris, lit is the half crown
you have to look after and the two
shilling piece. There is so little ditfer-
ence, you see, In appearance, at least,
though there is the difference Of SIN
pence in value The half crown is two
shilling and six. There is Il cross on
one of them; but when you are IN
hurry who is going to stop to look Tor
crossesl Nobody. And that's where
they get you.
This is their little game. You lay
a half crown down on the counter ana
unless you keep your finger glued TO
it, saying meantime in a loud voice,
This is a half crown they snatch 1t
before you can blink an eye and de-
clare you have given them a two shil-
ling piece. which naturally being two
shillings only, leaves you siNpence
short The trick is an old one. II Is
played principally on Americans, those
rich Americans who come over here,
scattering their money broadcast and
leaving the trail so difficult for us
poor creatures who have to look out
for the pennies while the pounds n.y.
1T is bad enough in London, but
here in Paris YOU must keep your eyes
skinned all the time. The I yn Is
flooded with bad money. Thele are
bad francs and had half francs; there
are francs dated before the Republic
that are consequently no good and
there are francs dated after the Re
public that are worse. If Napoleon the
Third has a crown on the money is all
right; if he hasn't it is all wrong.
"They nailed me, too; but not at 3
o'clock in the morning. This was how
it happened: You see, | spend all my
spare change and more on that kodak
of mine. 1t is strange the hold ko-
dalS gets on you. Many a time | have
walked miles TO save up sufficient cah
fare for a set of filas ! rarely take q
cab. | so on top of those elephant
'busses, where it is cheap. or | foot
it for the sake of the kodak. l had
paid ont so much money for toning
baths that | put in mile complaint
to the girl who waited on me at the
Place Vendome.
" The machine will break me,
said This is the third time in three
weeks that / have bought toning
baths at one franc fifty the bath. At
this rate | shall shortly become \
financial wreck. / wish l had never
seen the thing
Aware Of the fact that q small for
tune had passed from my hands t.
hers, she put on look that was
grieved She thought awhile, then
suggested a remedy There was tor
ing bath that I could mix myself she
said, a very reasonable toning bath.
Imagine my delight Now / could ar
ford a candied pear, maybe or one
Of those little cherry pies in the win
dow OF the delicatesscn near the pen
sion that are worth their weight in
gold She gave me the address Of n
chemist in the Rue de In Pepeniefc.
That little old chemist | went gaily
along the boulevard. buoyed up by
hope turned the corner and entered
his shop light Of step and joyful Of
heart. You see, I didn't know. He put
the gold up in a bottle about the size
Of my thumbnail. the hypo in q small
square paper, and charged me two
francs fifty / knew about that fifty.
| expected it. Like .he poor, 1t 4 al
ways with you in Paris, just as in
England, everything Is one and six.
two and six, FIVE and six or seven and
six. They couldn't take off the six IL
they tried. If you descend to pence it
is sixpence and three farthings Those
farthingsl
Il handed the little old wretch ten
francs in gold He gave me a large
and festive five-franc piece with a
few other francs, and / went on my
way rejoicing Later, at the Bon
Marche, the iive-franc piece was re-
jected with scorn.
Nest pas bon said the man at
the desk with a shrug that brought
his shoulders up somewhere about his
ears. Nest pas bon said anotl er,
taking It and peering al the lady with
mistrustful eye. A crowd gathered
The atmosphere thrilled with: Nest
pas bons / tremhied in my bottines;
for they cast suspicious glances on
me. l looked around raut'o1sly fearful
of gendarmes, and I had reason for
fear II Is against the law 10 pass bad
money in France II You get caught.
"The man at the desk gave me back
the money without calling the gen
darme, for which | was thankful
Hastily Offering him the contents OF
my purse | retired to a quiet corner
and took look at the i've francs my
self. True. 1t WAS bad. In fact It was
just about as bad IS Il could he. The
lady was sitting Gown. on the way
home | counted up the cost OF the
cheap toning bath Tint was to last
me forever almost Two francs fifty
ana five had francs made seven francs
fifty. | groaned But ] was TO groan
some more According TO directions !
had filed two large bottles with wa
ter, put the precious gold into one and
the Inexpensive Typo into the other
Both had dissolved so | couldn't tell
tother from which Then l had hi l0en
them under the bed out of har'a'-
way. for Madcmoiseie, a young thing
of sixty, who keeps the pension loo &
with eyes askance upon tie various
and sundry bottles containing my ION.
ing baths. my developing laths and
other baths belonging to the outfit Of
that kodac of mine
Upon my arrival ] found that tho
femme de chambre-thats what they
call the girl who pre'ends to clean
your room over hei'-had knocked
over one Of the bottles and broken ii.
OF course il was the bottle of gold.
on the bottom of il / found floating
three undissolved grains. Seven francs
fifty for nothingl And the time / have
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