The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-22
Mildred Stanley. in the Ir


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 tives of the gayest capital in the world. Now, If the thousands of Frenchmen pouring into 1t annually from the provinces cannot make Paris French, much less can the mere handful of Amer ican living there make it American. Yet at the Art Students league a young west ern girl with more enthusiasm than infor- nation was heard to say the other day:
 My parents have at last consented to let me study in Paris next year. There are such crowds of Americans there that I'm sure it won't seem strange"
 Her second delusion was appalling. She had saved up $500, out of which she ex- pected to pay her passage and remain year abroadl Every one says living Is so cheap over there, I'm sure-I can do 1t"
 She probably got her impressions from some of those glamorously incorrect vol- tunes on the gay life of the Latin Quarter, where all the young men and women are happy on a franc a day. It Is just such American bred descriptions of cheap clothes and the magic word opportunity that work mischief among the women stu dents who hope to complete their educa- tion there.
 Emphatically, Paris Is not a cheap place to live. Statements to the contrary ceased to be true in 1900. when rents went up for the exposition-double and more-never to come down again. And in no section did they go higher than in the American Quarter. Though a single room or a small apartment may still be hired for less than in New York, the price includes neither heat, light, hot water nor bath room.
 As for cheap restaurants, there Is scarcely one left Even the little cream cry restaurants can no longer serve dinner for l franc 25 centimes, whereas over here plenty of good dinners may be had for quarter. One pays rather more than that in Paris student restaurants for eating from dirty slabs of marble, guiltless of cloth or napkins, and In room unheated in winter save for the heavy smelling steam from the kitchen. The American Girls club in the Rue de Chevreuse. once quoted as the cheapest living place. can no longer give board for less than s8 a week. Paris boarding houses, or pensions, charge from v up, but heat, light, hot water, etc., ara extra.
 Nor is clothing cheap. Certain wholly luxurious articles, such as hand embroid- cred waists, hand made underwear, laces, silk stockings and pretty neckwear cost
 
 student needs for every day wear-street costumes, simple dresses, shoes and stock ings-cost as much in Paris as anywhere. Gloves are the only Indispensable item of apparel that is cheap.
 Any way you look at it, Paris is for the girl with a comfortable sum at her dis posal Only she who is willing to accept a freless, candle-lit room, insufficient food, no bath, and. in general, shame less shabbiness, can live there cheaply. Such are the women who become the sub jects of the stern, but in this country carefully concealed, tragedies of the Quar- ter
 They have gone there with a few pitt full hundreds to keep them for six months or more. And 1t generally is more; for Paris casts its spell over them and the freedom of the Quarter, which Is by word to the rest of the city, is irresistible to certain natures. A girl of this sort figures how she can coax her little store to cover twice the time originally planned. Soon she Is boasting that she can make a franc a day buy her food She con- fides to you that she finds the French custom of changing bed sheets once month good enough for her. As her funds grow lower she runs up bills with the tradespeople. When her credit with them is worn out, borrowing right and left commences until in some cases her suffering compatriots are forced to appeal to the American consul to buy her ticket home. No use to give her the money outright, for she would only stay on.
 Some women with a we'll planned scheme for touching their friends are able to-stay on for years. They study the Herald register for the arrival of nome folk" who are promptly appealed to and who usually respond most generously.
 The road of sslf-support Is difficult