The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-21
THE LURE OF MAXIM'S

about 10 De SOiu.
 An American or an Englishman "uo
 goes 10 Paris and fails to see Maxim would be ashamed to confess 1t. All AnrIo-Saxons. with that naive simplicity
 for which they are wonderingly admired by peoples less fortunately able to de- eeiye themselves. believe that they go to Maxira's to study the higher Bohemian ism.
 Perhaps. At any rate they go there-
 the whole world. Whether the visitor pc
 man or woman of fashion or straight laced, prim product of a narrower ana very conventional sphere. Maxim IS the magnet. Once there was an old American lady of three score years, of a national reputation for good works and beloved
 for her simplicity and goodness.
 "There is one place in Paris I should like to go to-" she confessed when in the
 French capital That is Maxim's. l
 dare not of course be seen there, but
 She went there all right. In fact, she
 was there at o'clock the next morning
 with a party of friends and she entered into the spirit of the place with the zest and enjoyment of young girl. For nobody can carry dull care or sober, pensive spirit into this Bohemian rendez- vous All the world is there to be amused money no object. And amused they are.
 Through the crystal door, which spins like a top upon it's own axis, come nightly Russian grand dukes and princes; Eng lish, Italian Spanish, German and Aus trian peers and diplomats; Americans Of
 wealth and fashion; great painters and sculptors; lesser king or two; few cabinet ministers; some intrepid ex- plorers; the idols of the stage; the Span isn dancer who has captured the hekle heart of Paris for the moment; actresses who are immortal on the boards-the whole civilized world, with all the arts and professions and business of contN nents, is represented in the gay throngs which chatter at tables in Maxim s nightly.
 And all the time goes the pop, pop, | pop of the champagne corks. They take it for granted that one drinks champagne when one goes to Maxim's. Les danes de 1. chez Maxim knows how to drink 1t grace fully. And they can smoke a cigarette
 more prettily than any other women in the world-they've got all stage Carmens distanced in this respect.
 One can get anything one wants to eat and drink there, whatever the season. It
 costs. of course, but what of that? Max
 inns is the most successful restaurant in
 history. It's daily receipts are stupendous.
 The average world traveller and the
 average man or woman of fashion in
 Europe know the big and little dining
 rooms of the restaurant in the same way
 as the touring public knows the Tower of
 London These rooms, with all the tables
 close set and the batteries of champagne
 bottles; the maitres d'hotel, calm amidst
 the tempest of voices; the walters rushing
 with the 'biysteks la minute" with the
 'rognons Maxim and the deviled soles
 and other delicacies which the lady pa
 tronesses of the resort love so dearly
 who can forget them who has once seen?
 Aud the leader of the gypsy band. in his red and gold coat, twisting his mustache and playing his violin and twisting his mustache again. .q5t.t They remember, too, the pictures on the walls-it isn't necessary to describe them.
 And the little ladies in filmy dresses of
 lace and silk and satin and ribbons who,
 when the hour grows late and the tables are cleared away from the center of the big room, waltz until they are tired of turning and laughing.
 Maxim's had its first beginning as an Anglo American bar. It grew and grew. It took in more rooms and still more rooms. And it gathered it's patrons from all the lands of the earth. Maxim's has now clientele for dejeuner and for din- ner, as we'll as being the favorite Parisiarl resort for supper. Why? Because the chef there happens to be prince in his particular line.
 Most of the great fortunes being made in Paris today are going to restaura- teurs Parsans live in restaurants. They like to get their meals where there is life and movement and gayety. So they go to restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.
 There is no sense in one going to Max inns without being plentifully provided with money. Also one needn't go there with a long face. It is probable that a long face would never get by the six-foo. giant who wears what he believes to be the undress uniform of a Scandinavian field marshal and who guards the en- trance. For Maxim's is meant for life and gayety.
 In the summer time when the world of fo aud drxy aft dinner in the delightful Paris evenings iu the Champs Elysees and through the bois de Boulogne, crowds of diners sit on tha tarrasse outside Maxim's. They watch
 the moving throngs of pleasure seekers and Parisian idlers and they drink their wine and eat their rare dishes, while the gypsy orchestra plays its weirdly beauti- land.
 An Indian /maharajah drives up with his suite. Behind him comes . socialist member of the French parliament, dep
 uty from Algeria, full bearded wearing a
 great broad brimmed straw hat. These men fall into conversation, the prince and the socialist and they tell how in Samar-
 cand there is "Maxim's" restaurant;
 how a Chinaman is host of "Maxim's' in yladivostok. and how in one of the cities of the desert the Ouled Nael, 8 coffee and dancing house, is named after the Parisian resort
 And everything is paid rubis sur
 rongle," said the maharajah ''Or. as the Americans would say, they take only yaa1X