The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-09-19

have passed many idle hours in from
of the Cafe de la Paix you canno
have failed to make the acquaintance
Of the stranded American, writes
The Paris correspondent of the New
York Sun. He haunts the big hotels
The restaurants and the boulevards
ever on the alert for the unwary.
He has reduced the spOtting of hi:
prey to a science He recognizes ;
possible victim in the bluff, genia
gentleman who loudly proclaims t6
bystanders in the hotel lobby the fac1
that no bartender in Paris can make
cocktails like those to be had on the
coast and that the show at the Moulin
Rogue is disheartening to those ac-
customed to entertainments offered
by the Orpheum circuit, in short that
America is the only country to be con-
sidered anyway. The stranded Amer
lean knows that it will be the fault
Of his oratory only if the Westerner
doesn't give some substantial evil
dence of sympathy after listening to
his we'll planned tale of overdue re-
mittances.
If this benefactor were to return
the following year he would probably
encounter the identical petitioner,
perhaps trif1e more shabbily
dressed, plying his trade along the
Avenue de IOpera or the Champs
Elysees. And the Westerner would
then realize that this business of
fleeing the unsuspecting is an estab-
lished occupation for many.
Long ago these men exhausted all
official and charitable resources.
Then finding that playing upon the
credulity of the public pays better
than any employment they could fill
they regularly Join the Society for the
Subjection of Easy Marks. They seem
to find their profession in the main
advantageous, although seasons Of
prosperity may be followed by times
of woeful depression. And when
these adverse times come. what hap
pens?
The stranded American gives up
his comfortable lodgings and moves
to some attic in Montmartre. Then if
hard luck continues he ceases to have
any address at all until the goddess of
fortune smiles on him once more.
During these off seasons he sleeps
on the uninviting benches of the
parks until he is asked to move on,
or he foregathers with the scum of
Partisan humanity along the quays.
An infinitesimal minority of these ex-
lied waits turn their steps toward the
ASHES de mutt" free night refugees
for the homeless and penniless of all
the lands, the last resort for the foot
sore and heart sore.
They who enter the severe portals,
topped with the protective three COL
ored flag and Liberty, Equality, Fra
ternity," must leave all vestige of
pride behind. Those grim institu-
lions are no respecters of rank or
person. Pickpockets and cutthroats
sleep side by side with clerks, pro-
tessional men and day laborers whose
only offense is that they have come
down in the world.
The American whom unkind cir
cumstances have led to one of these
homes finds that he must wait in a
bare hall, its only furniture benches
and giant crucifix, until an officer
takes down the names and the one
time occupation of all present. He
will then receive piece of coarse
bread and a mug of water
Then all will be ushered into the
basement and told to prepare for the
compulsory shower bath. After they
have donned the nightshirts supplied
by the institution their own clothing
is sewed up in separate sacks and
put through process of publication
by steam. Then in a dormitory fitted
up in monastic simplicity with iron
cots, each labelled with the name of
the donor, all forget the nightmares
Of the day in the kindly oblivion of
sleep.
BY in the morning each guest OF
\ night-the refugees hospitality is
limited to three nights for each Wis
ltor-has gone, and the dormitories
are subjected to the regenerative in
duences of sunshine, fresh air, soap
and water.
"The Americans who have slept
under our roof" The Baron de
Livois, president of the asiles, re-
peated the Sun correspondents ques-
ton. "Yes, certainly there have been
3 few from time to time, though we
have more South Americans. OF the
200 who registered here this year,
forty-six were Americans, and
should say that only ten or at the
most fifteen were citizens of the
United States.
You will understand that the