Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-21
THE HISTORY OF
 PARIS 35 B. G.

dollar. Then we have the same word
 in our language but applied in a diff
 ferent sense. you say, T like that
 man, he is frank" and honest" ["
 meaning there is no deceit about him,
 ae has a friendly disposition And 1t is this friendly, open-hearted disposi-
 ton of the French nation which has at
 tracted so many people to their great capitol and made Paris in the time of
 Napoleon and even today one. of the
 most attractive cities in the world. Al
 SO l will say this Is why the French
 have succeeded with their colonies,
 and why they are at present managing affairs so well in Algers and Morocco
 in Africa which l visited early in the
 year.
 Honesty is fairly well the rule in
 France today. In London in every
 public place I saw the sign posted,
 Took out for pick-pockets," and the
 first day in the city a man of our party
 lost his watch, but never see a sign
 of this kind in France. The French na-
 ton has always had good credit with
 the othcr nations of the world. In
 1870 when the German armies were
 in possession of Paris and when Bis
 mark. Make and others demanded
 that France pay fifty million francs in
 gold as indemnity of the Franeo-Prus- sian war and five million in cash, then
 It was that France began work in hurry How long did it take to raise the money? In twenty-four hours the loan had been negotiated and the cash was ready for payment-the quickest war loan and payment in the world Like many other nations in Europe in the middle ages, in the Renaissance and even one hundred years ago, France Ened lots of blood in wars among her own people-in fact the people were their own worst enemies-because so many men were killed in the foreign and home wars is why the world has heard the cry So long about the low birth rate in France. In the period of one hundred years France had three great wars with other nations,i besides this was the ten years of the French revolution and the Communist rule in 1871, both of which carried of over one hundred thousand men and worn- en. h addition to this the reader must remember that there have been all this time, and are now, thousands of priests, nuns and sisters in the church es and convents who are not at the heads of families bearing children to increase the birth rate The wonder to me is that the birth rate has kept up so well with the destruction of men and women in the wars and that France today is rapidly recovering, even more so than Is generally sup posed Now few words about the social customs in France which have come down from the old time. Two business men in Paris meeting every day in their engagements will invaria- ply shake hands in meeting and part out so completely in any other country. French people stillpractice the custom of kissing but only in the family and with the blood kin, and on the cheeks and not on the mouth. The men kiss each other in the same manner as they kiss the women of the family. In the hotel one evening there was din ing by family with the representa- tives of three generations, the grand parents, parents and the grand child ren. All except one were eating when the son, a cavalry officer in the army came in late and on entering he In turn kissed on both cheeks his grand Oarents then his father and mother lastly his young man brother. As a boy had seen my, father kiss his father who was then eighty years of age, had followed the custom in kiss ing my own father and my own brother | after we were grown men, though only l after a long separation and here in l France I have seen the origin of the l custom. It came from this vine-clad l