Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
How Strangers There Found
Out the Customs.
WELL-SPICED RED WINE
WITH 1T GOES BoUDIN AND HOT
CHESTNUTS
But for American Tastes the Whole
Feast Was a Dreadful
Failure.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
PARIS, November %, 1902
Do not believe all that you are told. We
believed what we were told about the re
yillon" ofThristmas eve In Paris, and made
"a mistake.
The "revillon" is the gay after midnight
supper which, in every restaurant and bras
serie along the Paris Boulevard-and in all
parts of Paris and all France-continues
with great noise and great good nature veil
into the early hours OF Christmas day.
When you and have gone to bed and had
our first sleep we viii wake and hear them
rolling home, with songs and shouts, In
, cabs as late as and a.
The "revillon' is great feast. nice
French family told us all about it, so we
were resolved to take it in.
This feast" madame explained, de
ponds, by old custom in all parts of France,
upon the midnight mass of Christmas eve.
The people, being out late, feel the need to
take some supper. Being Christmas time,
1t is a joyful supper This is very proper.
Even in our virtuOus French provincial
towns and villages the town and country
people flock to the hotels and wine shops
when the midnight mass is over to make
merry over hot splced wine and the tradi-
tional old Dishes"
What are those dshes?" we asked, wish
ing to do everything correctly.
'Mulled wine and boudin and hot chest
nuts" answered the whole French family
In unison. "Boudin is black sausage, you
know; and the chestnuts may be boiled or
roasted The wine should be red wine, we'll
spiced and sugared. and mulled with the
red-hot end of poker that has been stuck
in the open wood fire; but perhaps you can
not get it done just so In Paris added
monsieur.
Nonsense" said madame, I'VE have ev-
erything in Pars,' Then she told us there
were other dishes, truffled goose and cold
stuffed turkey, though she did not recon-
mend them.
Therefore when we started down the
boulevard that Christmas eve a little after
midnight with three nice girls from Amer
lea We were prepared to do the proper
thing.
Entering Poussets gorgeous brasserie
restaurant, ablaze with lights and colors
and already well filed with a hundred
laughing, chattering supper parties, we
found a good table, at the price of tipping
the head waiter half a dollar. 1t was all
new to the girls. They dubbed with ex-
element, taking in the scene with eager
eyes and paying no attention to George
when he asked them formally what they
would have.
"Oh, anything" they said, as some girls
do-not all! And they continued rubber
Ing
Look at that sable ulster. Dorav'
Are her pearls real? There, in the party
Just beyond the pillar, the tall blonde girl
in the pearl-gray and pale-cherry colored
costume. She has certainly not been to
church In such get-up!''
order for us! answered Mamie. Then
she turned to take in the sights with the
others.
''Boudin, hot chestnuts and hot spiced
wine!' spoke up George.
The smart waiter took the order with
showing of respect. though he looked star
tied. "A punch bowl of spiced wine?" he
hesitated
Certainly" said George
Boudin ct PURGE de marrOns." he wrote
On his order slip. We did not know the DIFF
ference between mashed chestnut sauce
and the hot roasted chestnuts we imagined
we had ordered. Had we made him under
stand it he would soon have told us that
nobody ordered such a countryfied thing.
Had to Take It.
The bOudin was served-with a brown
mess. like discolored mashed potatoes, on
the side.
1t was something awful.
Boudin. as we now know. is ''black-pud-
ding" such You have read of In old sto-
~. Composed of the blood of pigs and so
forth. highly spiced and cooked till its stiff