Evening star., 1902-08-23
STARVED To DEATH
The Fate of a Young Ameri-
can Girl in Paris.
THE LOTUS-EATER LIFE
CHARMS OF THIS PARADISE FOR
LAZY WOMEN.
Planning Work They Never Finish is
the Real Spirit of the
Colony.
THE LOTUS-EATER LIFE
al Correspopdence OF The Evening Star

| Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star
PARIS, August Q, 1902
The ladies Of our colony in Paris have
let young girl of their own race starve
to death, in their very midst while feeding
her on bonbons and thin five-o'clock tea.
The gentle tragedy, although 1t made
small stir-because the girl was very proud
| In life and now is silent in her grave-di-
rects attention to the one great stable in
| stitution of the colony-its teas" That
| they are insufficient to sustain life will be
| gathered from the painful case OF our
young country woman; but that they new
| ertheless sum up the vague benevolence
| and lingering social instincts Of the lotus
eaters of the Lazy Woman's Paradise will
come out clearly in what is to follow.
The girl who starved to death had come
| to Paris Ito write for the magazines" as
she told everyone she met. There was no
| lack Of truth in the pretentIon; she had
really come to Paris with that
! purpose. AT the start she had
some funds and lived upon them. She fourd
| almost every girl she met engaged in do
| ing something; even rich girls went TO the
life classes to perfect their drawing, or
else to Marchesi's to perfect" their sing
ing, or to lectures at the Sorbonne, to per
feet their French. The atmosphere was
lively, CHEEKY and progressive. The new
girl breathed in hope and confidence. Sue
cess would come to her at last, if she
worked conscientiously; meanwhile she
spent her money and established a wide
circle of acquaintance that could not but
be useful
Poor innocent! She found too late that all
the CHEEKY atmosphere was that of pc
culiar CHEEKY laziness that gains on the
newcomer like malaria. 1t is the malady
of Paris. All the colony has caught it,
Live five years among these Iotus-eaters-
whose delightfully."- deceptive dream is that
they are engaged in doing some thing-and
you will be fit for nothing ever after.
Artlsts-painters-fou in this poison
Gus atmosphere of cultured dnly-dally;
they make the unique exception; and the
new girls friends were not real but pre-
tended artists Just as they played at
singing, drawing and "perfecting'' their
French. so she learned to kill time plan
ming work she never finished, and the fatal
habit of the afternoon tea fastened itself
on her She could not dream that a trag-
edy awaited her at the end of SO much care
less kindness.
She had two rooms and a scant supply Of
furniture; she did not entertain, and it was
no ones business how she lived. Theoret-
ically she had long been doing her own
cooking. but as the anaemia. physical and
moral, grew upon her, she came to rely on
afternoon teas for her sustenance.
Tender Hearted, but Blind
The colony is tender hearted. 1t is now
told how it's generous, indulgent ladies used
to turn their heads and pretend not to no.
tice when the girl slipped surreptitious
sandwiches and cakes into her pocket Was
that not tender hearted? Tender hearted
to Indulgence, they refrained from wound
ing her by asking what might be the mo
tive-as if it might have been kleptomania!
So she weakened gently, dwadling in her
very starving, dillydallying in dying, true
to the last to the spirit Of the colony
q cal hDt chr n Tod afJ Jahflf
and lack of stamina; but there are ladies
Of the colony who whisper TO each other
with pale, worried faces, that they let her
starve to death.
The "teas" so on. They hold this unreal.
makeshift, temporary, nOn-committal
Franco-American life together. At home
we look on such perfumed pinll-lit func-
tions of the cleaning completely femi-
nine and futile, not to mar the last hours
of his day for any busy man. In Paris
strong men, full of what remains of their
old energy, intrigue for invitations like so
many girls, keep their day books as con-
scientiously as dowagers, and make believe
to sniff the perfume of the samovar like
devotees. Teas, inexpensive. non-commit-
tai, generous teas-they link these helpless
lonely uitlanders together, loosely but suf-
hciently-until one of them starves.
According to the Paris idea every lady
has her day" The moment she learns
the Importance of it, no little limited-ex-
pense music student no planning tourist
mother with two daughters, no miserly
old maid intent on art and cruelty to ami
mails finds herself too poor-or too unac-
quainted-to set up her day" She will
write "Wednesday" on her cards or ''the
first Wednesday of each month. from ) to
T. or from 3 to g." and folks may come
or stay away, but 1t will be her day"
She orders sandwiches and little cakes and
candied chestnuts from the place around
the corner. gets in Malaga and port al
GO cents the quart from Felix Potin's and
lights up the FURNISHED samovar.
When French family asks A mercans to
its day you may be sure that there is
an object in the background Climb five
flights of stars-Parisians are used to it:
they think it does good to their hearts and
lungs; and it develops young girls calves
extraordinarily. A little maid receives you
offering to take your coat and stick: but
do not offer her your hat as weIl In the
salon you will find every man engaged in
watching his high hat-on the riano, on
the floor beside him, in his lap or on a
chair from which it must be lifted later.
What They Say.
The lady Of the house presents YOU TO
her daughters. Guests are never fntroduc-
ed one to the other; but they talk to-
gether.
Have you been long in Paris?' "Oo You
amuse yourself?" Have you good
French teacher?' do you read Anatole
France?"
The French girls will be lively. arch and
frank, with naive questions to at once dis
pei our preconceived ideas Of their secfu-
sion and their lack of social habit while
at the same time giving fine examples of
French young girl innocence, ;inWorIdlin-
ness, frugality and modesty. The CONVEX
sation always ends with symposium on