The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-27
THE TEA ROOMS OF PARIS.
The Tea Drinking Habit Among tho
 French, Men and Women.


 French, Men and Women.
 I have read in American papers and heard American people say that o'clock tea was only an English custom. which had never really taken root among the French. This is as erron- eous as most statements mde from hearsay. Afternoon tea-or afternoon chocolate-is quite as popular an instl- tuition here as it is in England, and the tea rooms in Paris are more nu- merous, more luxurious and better equipped than they are in London. The one difference appears to be that the French take their tea earlier, from to 5-and that they vary it, especially as summer approaches, with ices or choco- late But the custom of gathering either in friends houses or in the fash ionable tea rooms in the middle ot the afternoon for a cup of sustaining drink and muffin or cake is as universal on this as it is on the other side of the channel.
 In both countries it arises from the lateness of the dinner hour. When we get more civilized in the far West and know how truly barbarous it is to dine at 6:30 instead of at 7:30, then we, too,
 will become addicted to the tea habit, for we will feel that the aching void between lunch and dinner must be fill ed Moreover, tea in these easy-go1ng and comfortable countries is the most attractive function of the day--a rest in the heat and turmoil of the alter noon a cheerful meeting of friends where one may sit and really talk Tor half an hour; a gathering without 1of- malities or stiffness. Our awful idea or the same repast as an entertainment to which the people hungrily herd, gorge and then depart, without having speech of one another, without saying any thing but How do you do?" and "Goodby'' to their hostess, is form of festival abhorred of al men in these lands where no one hurries and enter talning is still looked upon as some thing pleasing and agreeable
 We all know that in England the men take their tea as seriously as the women. Some of them are much more particular I mind me of a relative of my own who always has the footman appear with two brown-pottery tea pots sacred to his own particular brew, from which, if you were good, you were Invited to participate But I was sur prised when I found that in Paris the custom had also extended to the stern CT sex. The popular tea rooms here have as large a masculine as feminine attendance, and those attractive, smart Frenchmen of the upper class-thin, dark keen of eye, little dignitied in appearance, but handsome just the same-are not the sort of men one would suppose would find much inter est of pauancy In the cup that cheers but not inebriates A cynical friend of mine told me they sought the tea rooms to see the pretty women who congregate there but I am inclined to disbelieve this, for, as rule, they don't take half as much notice of the pretty women do of them, l think myself that the boot is on the other leg; it is the pretty women who come to the tea rooms to see the good looking men.
 All the fashionable hotels have their tea rooms now, and these places are quite brilliant in the hour from to D. The Ritz has the prettiest and I think the most chic in the city-a long, mar row room, like a passge, with a line of windows looking out on long, mar row garden, prim and French, with its pebbled walks and clipped trees. In summer one takes tea out there at lit- tie tables, but as it never seems to stop raining in Paris, I should think each little tble would have to be pro- vided with it's own umbrela. Outside festivities In these humid lands are fearful joys, especially if one has on one's good clothes.
 The smart hotel, the Elysee Palais, ha set up a big tea room just in the middle of the ground floor. Doors and passages open into it from evry side; indeed, it is a sort of rotunda, which has simply been converted into sale de the, This is the most pretentious Of all the places of the kind now run ming. It has band dressed In red coats, and that, now and then, bursts into song anda colored man in Oriental costume, who wanders about among the tables with small trays of Turkish cof- fee in cups the size of eggs. At half past five lovely women begin to stream in. and one may sit and see all the new spring fashions even better than "chez les grandes couturieres," for the wo- men are, as rule, better turned out that the models" Men come drifting in. too-tal, languid men, with black coats and high hats, and not infre-