Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1903-02-05
THE TOILERS OF PARIS.
A Near View of tho Working
Classes Of the French Capital.
A People Who Are Fond OF Wine ano
Song and Careless About the Fu-
ture - Their Feeling Toward
Society.

In order to study the working classes
thoroughly NJ. Henri Leyret, literary
man. started business as marchand
de vim, or publican, in one of the most
crowded districts Of Paris, says writer
in the London Telegraph. He has en-
bodied his experiences as a mastroquet
in book entitled: En- Plein Eau
bourg,n which has lately been pub
lished by Carpenter. NJ Leyret,
after having denounced the bad drink
supplied to the working classes-not
always Though the fault of the public
ans. but, rather, due to the wholesale
merchants-gives it as his opinion that
those who live by the sweat of their
brow have an aversion to debt. The
bad PAYERS and those who vast drinks
challxed up are the exception, and it is
needless to say that they are the idlers,
the loafers and the confirmed drunk
ards. These men neglect no opportu-
nity of sponging or of obtaining drink
on credit, without the least intention
of paying for the absinthe or wine sup
piled to them As a rule the laborious
people avoid the taverns wherein the
loafers assemble. The author also al
ludes to discussion on lola which he
overheard One of his customers, while
gazing at portrait of the novelist,
maintained that the working classes
had been libeled in the 'Assommoir."
rs the workman" asked the anti
Zolaist, 'to be represented as an eter-
nal drunkard because he drinks glass
now and then?" The listeners ap-
plauded this speech, but another man
stood up for Zola, saying that if the
novelist had exaggerated little it was
done in the interest of the working
classes, whose vices were to be attrib-
uted to the bourgcoisie.
NJ Leyret met confirmed absinthe
| drinlSer q curious type. This man
was one|Cf the best carpenters in the
| district, and when sober was never out
| of work. For weeks he would refrain
| from touching a glass of the green
fairy, but, suddenly forgetting his good
resolutions, would launch forth into a
| carouse ON his favorite beverage, never
| going to bed until he had swallowed
| twenty-four glasses of absinthe, with
copious draughts of wine in between.
| The author notes that the average
lduDduTitn WoThludu 10 BchcIdily
more given to eating than drinking.
He eats meat, if possible, at luncheon
and dinner, the former meal being the
more substantial. He is careless
about the future, and looks forward to
dying straight off when he shall be no
longer strong enough to toll.
Abiding to the pleasures of the peo-
pie, NJ. Leyret is glad to state that
| Berangcr's songs have not yet lost their
| charm for the toiling masses As to
| the relations of the exes, the author Of
| EN- Plein Faubourg" says that free
unions are increasing among the work.
ers, domestic arrangements being
made on family basis. The girls who
leave their shops and factories for the
Champs Elysees or the main boule-
spised by the faubouriens. NJ. Leyret
concludes his interesting volume by
some observations on the feeling of the
| working classes toward the anarchist
and revolutionist movements in their
midst. At present, he points out, ma
terial eXigencies and the necessity OF
living keep the average workman re-
l signed, but desire of revenge turks in
his breast against society in which he
has to toll without the hope of what he
considers an adequate reward for his
services, and without any security that
after life of labor he will enjoy some
repose with moderate competency.