The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-13
FRENCH "FEEE O'CLOCK
ATTEMPT OF THE PARnsIANS TO
INITIATE A SACRED ENG
LISH CUSTOM
COULTER AND PAr1ssER1E
Curious to Mark the Gradual Tram
sitiOn From English Afternoon
Tea to the French
Fashion.

! Cor. LONDON star.
Nous allons shopper ct puts nous
! feeveo' clockerons vers quatre heures ct
! demie.'' So says the beautiful Parisienne
! to the mother, cousin or aunt who is up
I from the country for few days. And
| then the two ladies get into the carriage
! to explore the wonders of the Rue de la
| PaiX, and end with the ''feeve o'clock
/ at Seraphin's, where tea, toast and
marvellous cakes are exchanged for sums
| beyond all proportion to the size of the
repast. But, except for the rev word in
! her dictionary, France owes little to
England in the way of afternoon tea.
! Here in Paris, where every one "dines
! late" to 5 p. m has for years been
! the hour of nondescript refreshment, and
bereft OF its concomitant Indian tea the
'feeve o'clock is only the old "gouter'
masquerading in go ahead circles in a
| foreign dress.
| 1t is curious to mark the gradual
| transition from English afternoon tea
| to the gouter-which Larousse, guilty
| herein of the sole anachronism to be
found in his admirable dictionary,
describes as '1eger repas qu'on fat entire
| lie diner ct lie souper" In the triangle
between the Louvre, the Opera and the
Place de la Concorde are huddled to-
gether many tea shops. They are things
OF recent growth and wear something of
suburban air, but at any rate they
provide real tea-not the straw and warm
water of the cafes-and real bread and
butter, and the only objection to them
is their terrible abundance OF CAN
glaises in the least to be confound-
ed with EnglishWomen, though I'M
| fortunately they are the only type Of
our sisters that get into the French
illustrated papers.
a halfway house between afternoon tea
and the gouter, between England and
France, comes Seraphin's rightly so
called. Here one sees the most beauti-
fully dressed women in the world re-
freshing nature after shopping. There
is a curious sense of mixture in the air
The meal is called tea, and, indeed, real
tea is provided to drink But there is a
Frenchl-e1 air alb u tle whole bust
ness; one is not the least deceived as TO
the history of the would-be English
bread and butter; many little sand,
Wiches are eaten which are delicious
mouthfuls, but not sandwiches; and
though the ladies have learned to hold
their cups and balance their food very
prettily on the edge of saucers, one
doubts if they are altogether enjoying
themselves. Besides, they stand about
as they eat and drink which, of course,
no English woman, except the pourer
out, ever does. If you have the honor
OF knowing any of Seraphin's clients you
Will see how much happier they are
chez Giles" drinking tea made with I'M
boiled water, frequently serving coffee
alone without the parent alternative. and
spreading little lace table napkins on
their knees
A further march into French land
brings us to the families where Eng
land is only known as the birthplace of
Sir Dickens" and the country which
was defeated at the battle of Bouvines.
Here the hostess herself brings her Wis
itor glass of sherry. The glass rests
comfortably enough on a Frenchman s
knee, but it makes an Engl1shman in
tensely wretched. He has not vet
learned to drink in the presence of Ia
dies; he only understands sherry when
there is a mahogany table to stretch
his legs under; finally, an empty teacup
looks all right anywhere about the draw
ing room, but an empty wine glass never,
not even on the mantelpiece. With pos
sibly the addition of the most crumb
producing biscuit extant, this glass OF
sherry forms the "gouter' of high life,
and "leger repas enough 1t is, heaven
knows for the child of a race that
looks to range among twenty different
plates of cake at o'clock. The young
of a French household take far more
satisfying meal. See them In the
Tuileries gardens in gathering autumn
when the sun lights up the Ing, fiat
Cygnes'' with red and gold. The "nou-
nous in their long, flowing cloaks and
quilted caps in gaudy streamers call
their charges about them. Then bread
and chocolate are served out to the big
ger children, while the timer ones, still
in arms, imJbibe deeply at natures
fount. All this naturally reminds tile
Englishman that dejeuner took place
long while ago. But fortunately it is
never far in Paris to one of those beau
tiful combination boulangerie-patiss
and here one may take his "gouter" in
real French middle-life style. The great
staring window is cut down the center
by the door; on the one side are dis
played the most wonderful set of cakes
that ever fathered Indigestion, on the
other innumerable breads" from the
stodgy pain noir'' and gritty pain de
menage" to the dainty torpedo-shaped
bread of two SOUS, or the succulent and
buttery "croissant." This end of the
shop Is for cheapness and solidity; in
they rush, the customers, one after an
other, the "calicot' from the hosiers s
next door, the lawyers clerk from the
second-foor fiat opposite, the 'blanchis-
seusse'' or the little milliner, going hat
less on her errands. Each chooses a
"croissant" from the window and a
stick of chocolate from the glass jar on
the shelf, filings down the necessary
COpp6rS, anu TuSnSS out, always IN q
hurry like the whole of the nation At
the other end proceedings are more leis-
urely. We choose what we please, and
perhaps, we select a tartlet, and then
one Of the shop girls offers US a plate,
knife and spoon. One cuts the tart up
with the spoon and puts it in his mouth
with the knife.
There is a beautiful ''patisserie' in
street close by the Odeon. Pleasant
memories hang about the shop of Satur-
day rambles in winter time with
strange Bohemian creature who used to
maintain that the 125 franc meal "prix
fXe'' in the PalaiS Royal was the best
dinner attainable in the world. One took
the "bateau mouche" up stream with the
Seine in flood driving round the piers of
the bridges, and the eternal fisherman
catching nothing, near the steamer pom
toons. At the Jardin des Plantes one
threw bread to the bears, which is exact
ly like dropping stones down we'll, be-
cause the pleasures of gustation are even
less apparent in the countenance Of g.
bear than of an elephant. And then one
wandered back through the Quarter
Latin to the ''patisserie.". There the
"gateaux mocha dedicate rings of
pastry full of custard just burned to the
right extent-and a dream: and the
almond paste potatoes prove conclusive
ly what a pull art has over nature The
only objection to the "patisserie'' is that
one can never remember the names of
the cakes he has eaten. But madame at