Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-05
MINDS TAINTED
BY PARIS AIR
DESTRUCTION OF AMERICAN
MENTALITY
Men and Women Do Things Tha,
Would Make Their Hair Stand
on End II Mentioned
at Home
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald
PARIS, Nov. 4.-what becomes of
Americans in Paris? Numbers dlsap-
pear annually so as to cause the ut
most concern to their friends at home.
ana even to Frenchmen who have the
Ialr fame OF their country at heart.
rev OF the cases are brought up be-
Iore the police, for they do not result
from battle or murder or sudden death.
Inc disappearances are not physical
but mental, altering people SO that
their best friends think themselves de-
oeiVed by a resemblance on meeting
them by accident in the Paris streets
after separation of few months.
There are, OF course, many Ameri-
cans who are not inflicted with eccen-
tricity simply because they have come
to Paris. The tourists who do" Paris
IN three days and return home know
ing enough about France to stagger
the natives In an argument, are far
from being lunatics In any sense of the
word. Also, the Americans who marry
into French families in this circle help
Ing them to know the same class of
people that they would frequent al
home, remain purely and charmingly
American. The duchesse de la Roche
foucauld, who was Matte Mitchell OF
washington; the comtesse Boni de
Castellane, who was Anna Gould; the
comtesse de Chambrun, Senator Long
worths sister; the contesse de Con-
taut- -Biron Ambassador Leishman's
daughter, Martha; and many others
who could be named, have lost moth
ing of their American simplicity while
acquiring the French grace of word
and manner. and are glad to entertain
the Americans who are, or were, their
real friends though they may some
times be criticised for not welcoming
all the stray compatriots who may
claim fictitious acquaintanceship. But
as the tourist element represents the
vast majority of Americans coming
each year to Paris, so the element with
French ties of marriage or friendship
forms the infinite minority. Between
the two stand the legions, some poor
and some wealthy, some good and some
bad, some artistically talented and some
socially ambitious, seeking study or
amusement, as the case may be, and
for the greater part not only growing
un-American with startling rapidity but
developing traits which leave serious
doubts as to their sanity.
Though the forms taken are different,
1t is in these two sets, the social colony
and the artists quarter, that the extra
ordinary eccentricites break out. The
French can scarcely be held to blame
for this, first, because Americans out
of one Of the two colonies remain per-
fectly sane, and, secondly, because few
French people, and none of any conse-
quence, mix in these colonies, whose
members generally learn not word of
French and leave Paris after a resi-
dence of many years without knowing
any language other than good Amer
lean.
But the traditions of the colony are
none the less handed down from gener-
alton to generation of passing Ameri-
cans, who soon think 1t perfectly
natural to do things which would make
their righteous hair stand on end IL
even mentioned in America. 1t Is
hardly an exaggeration to say that one
cannot enter the disgraceful Butler ball
or the unmentionable Tour d'Argent
restaurant, or the notorious Meximes
without meeting several parties of nice
American girls who know perfectly
where they are, but merely consider
that they are seeing the sights of Paris.
Gray haired old ladies are often with
them, or at all events their fathers and
brothers, the entire family thinking