Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-26
A PARIS MOVING DAY
A JanitOr's Reflections When
a New Family Comes.
P ECUL LIAR D0INGS
EACH MEMBER CRITICISED, EVEN
THE CHAMBERMAID.
Front Balcony and Its Flowers and the
Back One With Its
Bottles.
P ECULIAR D0INGS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

pairs from their new landlord. Such a
moving family is just coming into our
apartment house. 1t is the first disturb
ance of the kind the house has had since
we, ourselves, moved in two years ago. Our
janitor, who has performed his duty of
"sizing-up' the newcomers furniture with
conscientious interest. said this morn
ing: They Will be quiet. They will not
give dancing parties and L doubt If
madame will have a day. There is a bird
and a poodle; the furniture is old but good;
there is a fourteen-year-old daughter who
stays home, and son at college"
you We're obliged TO study their furni-
ture?' 1 said. You studied ours in the
same way when We moved In, now, didn't
your"
He said yes, 1t was his duty.
Every tenant is obliged by law to keep
his dwelling apartments 'garnished with
sufficient furniture to answer to six
months rent If sold at an auction" he eX-
planned Il am obliged to look at a new
family's goods, If for this reason only.
Once in, family that has little to lose
can make things very troublesome and
expensive for the landlord. Therefore.
when see worthless furniture, / am obliged
to act"
Howl
Il might stop the first load going up.
under some pretext, while 1 sent word to
the landlord-that would be an extreme
proceeding. | should certainly notify him
between the first and second loads. Then
it would be the landlords business to ar
range for a deposit or security"
Il see you let these people take their
things up in the elevator" l said and YOU
let them run it all day, to the incon-
venience Of the other tenants. Yet only
last week you refused to let my valet bring
a basket of champagne up in it. Are these
new folks favoriteS of yourS?"
MY 1anitOr smiled and shook his head.
Folks move seldom" he said land the
best way is to let them get through their
moving quickly. 1t is bad enough to have
the house upset two days"
Two days? The house has been troubled
for three weeks past by the painters, by
the plumbers. by the electricians. the gas
company, the telephone lineman, the paper
men and plasterers the carpenters and all
the rest. The new family will move into
an apartment that is new and fresh TO
its most obscure closet.
know what they pay. For this fat OF
one ante-salon (wide entrance halD one
salon, two bed rooms, dining room, bath
room, kitchen and one servants room I'M
der the roof, they pay in pure rent $40
City taxes. charges, etc, amount to $50;
central electrical column, Sc, and the ma
tional taxes, s44. This makes in all $546 a
year or $40 per month for a smart resi-
dence in new house in the fashionable
quarter Of the Champs Elysees, On the
fifth floor. 1t Is true, but with an elevator,
electric light, sanitary plumbing and a
bath roomi
The new family is strong on plants and
flowers" said my janitor.
Balcony Uses.
It is a popularity of the Partisan fat and
family. Every apartment has it's long bal
cony, either back or front On the front
facade the balcony runs every other story
for architectural effect, and these balconies
get wider you go up higher Their true
purpose to let you take the air-to walk. a
nice long walk of twenty steps and back-tn
the morning air to get an appetite Or you
can sit on the balcony of evenings with
friend or two and smoke cigars. or chat
with callers If you be a lady-and look al
the stars. But the PariSi2nS ignore these
Uses. The front balcony is for the plants.
The back one is for the empty bottles.
Madames boudoir is Uttered with plants;
the salon is often bower of greenery; the
hall has plants; while the dining room, bay
window is sometimes banked with them.
The smart chambermaid and the poor
Observation-Disclosures alike pant and stagger as
they lug them morning after morning to
the balcony for air and water. Magistrates
courts are full of cases based on complaints
of water dripping from ba cony to balcony
and to pavement. Our neighbors one flight
below had such a case last month A gen.
tleman was walking on the pavement three
floors down below and his silk hat was
wetted by their drip. He swore in court
the hat was new and got % francs-S4E
damages. Besides, the family had a fine of
So and costs.
Have you seen the new family's cham
bermaid?" asked my janitor, very respect
fully. Il think she is too smart and giddy
for such middle-class family-une GENTLE
frfmousse "a sweet little mug)-she will
make talk"
1t is one of the denominations of the Paris
ian fat system, the miserable housing of
the servants and their unprotected state
The flats themselves are as separate as If
they were miles apart: and each famiiy's
privacy is absolute. Folks seldom know
their neighbors But the poor servants
must live huddled in score or more of
tiny rooms in the mansard, all together on
two long halls-the mansard being one i'm
menSe servants apartment for the whole
house. The pretty, timd chambermaid.
candle in hand, must run the gauntlet of
coarse compliments as she goes to her poor
bed. Her room is a tiny box, often as
not without even fireplace. She may not
leave her window open through the day,
for fear of clouds Of SCOT being blown in
from the nearby chimneys. If she fails
Ill such a room is not fit for her. This
makes an excuse to send her to the hospi-
tai.
This one makes me think of Nine. Fon-
taine's chambermaid," remarked the jani-
tor.
Nine Fontaine, her chambermaid and her
apartment In general still form a topic for
the gossip Of this house. When Nine Fon-
taine left-by request-I think there was
not lady among the tenants who did not
ditOW ZIG JdLllOT WIG TO leaQ ler through
surreptitious tour Of the abandoned
apartment The furniture. carpets hang
tngs and bric-a-brac were worth seeing
Madame's dressing room and madame's
toilet room and madam's bath room made
them exclaim "Oh!"
They Know Things, Too.
When a man has lived. say, ten years in
Paris. he begins to understand that the
Parisians are not SO much behind the times
as he had imagined. Take the question of
the absent bath rooms; it is a fruitful SUBJ
ject for the tourists jeering. Until saw
Madame Fontaiine's bath room 1 confess
the whole philosophy Of the difference had
not dawned on me.
In middle-class England and America the
bath room is commonplace feature You
know what 1t is-a tiny room, Just big
enough to hold the tub and built into the
house for the purpose. In the great mass
OF Partisan apartments this bath room does
not exist. Because the mass Of well-to-do
Parisians do not battle? No. 1t is because
for more than half of them such a DOOR
miserable little bath room would not be.
sufficiently luxurious.
Therefore they do what Madame Fontaine
did; and the house builder. not to waste
space, builds no special closet with bath
tub in 1t. They have a fine big bath tub
put into one Of the bed rooms which is