The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-07-30
INDUSTRIAL. EUR o !. !.
!. As seen by 4 YANKEE
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hi uLlu III II IHuNll
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number Of drinks increases, until the
first drink in the morning and the, last
at night: is--absinthe. ..
- Jean Goes Home.
While Jean has been earning his
wages, Jeans good wife has not been
idle. She may have hurried to a neigh
boris house and earned a few cents
helping with the cleaning or the wash
ing: or, more ambitious, she seeks a job
in store or restaurant. If children tie
her to her two or three-roomed home-
a state Of affairs which most French
women have learned to prevent-she
Attempts some humble occupation that
will at least provide sufficient means to
pay for bread. The wine bill Is beyond
her power of meeting.
Nine. Hand has prepared the evening
meal over her charcoal fire. M. Jean
has worked hong, if not very vigor-
ously, and is tired. If he does not eat
he cannot work. There Is first brought
on the soup-soup always and eternal
~. Generally it is good soup, for Jeans
wife knows how to cook. Then comes
the meat, usually a stew with a veget-
able or vegetables; possibly also a salad
With olive Oil to give 1t flavor; bread,
cheese, perhaps, but always a bottle
of wine. Without the wine the meal
would be incomplete: Besides Jean and
his wife, the children also drink wine.
Even the babies are allowed to take
sips.
jeans ADJUSTMENTS.
And now, having worked and supped,
Jean is ready to be amused. He is not
usually a home body. In fact, his home
has none of the trimmings" if the
word is allowable, that make the home
a source Of pleasure, or even a resting
spot. There are bed or beds, to be
sure; table-perhaps two, and a few
chairs. The floors are bare, the place
may be lighted with a kerosene lamp:
it Is more than likely that candles fur
nfsh the only artificial illumination.
But Of what use to. Ferenchnaen are
carpets, or pictures, or musical instru-
ments, or the scores Of little extravag-
ances to be found in the homes of me-
chanics in America? Hasn't the gov
eminent provided out doors free sets
everywhere? Aren't the galleries full of
the best creations OF artists and sculp-
tors, and which may be seen without
price? Isn't the green grass in the
parks, on which the children may roll
and tumble, better than the finest rugs
Besides, the bou]evards themselves,
with their electric lights, their crowded
sidewalk, restaurants at which all Paris
seems to sup, are pictures in themselves.
So Jean leaves his home and goes
out and sets on some street corner
which has been preempted by some
| cafe, orders his bottle of wine, cup Of
coffee or glass of beer, and gazes and
talks, and talks and gazes. Late In the
evening he rises, pays his bill-a few
sous only, for he has made his one
! order last till the end-and goes home.
In a Workinaman's Theater.
Or, needing something more lively.
Jean, instead Of going to a. cafe after
supper Wanders into. one Of the num-
eronset heater cafes; as they ares5scalled:
The doors are wide open. There; are
| neither ticket sellers nor tickt takers,
inside the arrangements are much like
| those in an American theater, except
u
tened to the back of the seat ahead, is
a shelf to hold glasses.
The curtain goes up and out comes a
man singer who MARBLES of love. APP
plause, more singing Of love songs, more
applause. The enxt singer is a woman,
and she, too, harps on the theme of
love. But is it love? From the sug-
| gestive words and gesticulations, is it
rather a mater of passion? Half the
audience consists of women, who laugh
as loudly as the men at the story of
how the wife fooled the husband, or how
the lover captured the affections of
some confiding girl.
| Meanwhile a waiter has made the
rounds to take orders for drinks OF
CONNECTIONS, and later a cashier col
lects from each visitor 20 cents OF
less, which pays for both seat and re-
freshnents. At the intermission
everybody goes out to walk the street
or crowd the drinking places near by
and then go back taking the old seat
to see the conclusion Of the perform
ance, which is usually a one-act play
Its theme-love.
Hatless Women Not the Exception.
In the theater, as we'll as on the
streets, hatless women are in the great
majority. asked a friend who has
for halt a decade lived in Paris If this
was a new fad. NO." he answered
II doubt 1T some Of the women eve,
owned a hat. They were first bare
headed from necessity, and it has
now become a custom. With them
the expenses OF living do not include
the cost of Partisan trimmed bonnets
They; would hardly know what to dc
with hats II they had them.''
II these women had no hats, they
generally had something more beauti.
full; gntficent heads of hair, such a.
F'antine's, which she sold that Cosette
might have medicine to carry hel
through her supposed sickness-tht
fairy story Of the Thenardiers to &
distracted mother But that all is tolt
in Victor Hugo's LES Miserables."
i It seemed to- me that these cheaI
: theaters were neither morally or in.
Ft41laef,1al1v elevate T<uyo +hix, a.,