Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-03-12


erringly single you out as fellow
countryman abroad on pleasure bent,
therefore fish for his net He may be
working on one of the three COM
moner "lays"-the TOUCH" the loan"
or the guide" In other words, he
may brazenly ask you for small sum
OF money with which he may obtain
food or lodging, he may tell you a
hard luck story about a mythical de-
Iayed draft and ask you for a loan to
tide him over, or he may offer to
guide you around and about Paris
at so much an hour or a day.
Grafters working the touch" plan
are easily got rid of. A small piece
OF silver and a decided refusal to give
more will usually suffice to send them
on their way, although your name and
temporary address will be passed
around sooner or later, together with
a tip" as to the amount you gave the
first begging countryman.
The pleas of those after a loan"
are in many cases both heartrending
and plausible. cable message is
often displayed which may read: "Sor-
ry delay. Draft for thousand first
mail" Who could refuse a clean-cut
young fellow from Milwaukee after
he had told you of the clothing locked
up at his hotel, of two sleepless nights
passed in walking the streets of
Paris? With tears in his eyes he as
sures you that not morsel of food
has he swallowed in eight and forty
hours; then he exhibits the cable mes
sage. and you part with so or 100
francs-never to see it again.
The beggars are a nuisance, the bor-
rowers are a pest, but the so-called
American guides" of the great French
city are most unquestionably the
worst of the lot, in that their dealings
with American visitors, while appar
emily straightforward, are as crooked
as the proverbial rams horn. Graft,
under a thousand different cloaks. en-
ters into their propositions. They
toll not, nor do they spin, yet few
tourists eat better food, drink better
wine or wear more fashionable attire
than do these buccaneers of the boule-
wards.
They pounce upon you as you leave
your train at the Care st. LaZare;
they scan the columns of the newspa-
pers for the names and addresses of
the newly arrived Americans; they
haunt the vicinage of the Grand ho-
-. 10; 81
Credit Lyonnais after cashing draft;
but possibly of all places their favor
tie stamping ground is along the
northern side of the Boulevard des
Capucines. Here, upon every hand,
particularly during the late afternoon
and evening. you will encounter the
American guide airily swinging his
rattan stick, his shifty eyes looking
for the telltale American derby.
Naturally, if it be your first visit
to Paris, you desire to see all Paris,
both before and after dark. He will
coming of the interpreter-guide who
speaks your language, for are not the
sights and mysteries of Paris as an
open book 10 him?
His rates are only a louis day and
expenses, but even this sum can be
shaded should you plead your inabil-
ity to afford that sum. Should you be
unable to afford half-louis, or even a
measly five-franc piece, it is more
than likely that the guide will yawn,
gaze up and down the boulevard. and
then deliver himself substantially as
follows:
We'll. I'm sorry. Times are pretty
slow over here and I'm not very busy.
But look a-here-I'll tell you what I'll
do: I've nothing on today or tonight,
and seeing that you're from Little Old
New York-my home town-I1l show
you around for nothing. just for the
sake of passing away the time. You
pay the cab fares, the lunch, the sup
per. and I'll show you everything
that's TO be seen. I'll save you money
and keep you from being skinned. It'll
cost you less if | take you around
than il would If you tried TO get
around alone-and take IT from me,
the Apaches are pretty bad this year
and it isn't safe for an outsider to
pike around Montmartre without a
guide who knows all the ropes. What
do you say? VIII We start now?"
Who could refuse such an invita-
ton? Not the average American tour
ist upon his first visit. True. with the
aid of a guidebook he might find his
way TO the Louvre. His boarding
e~~-~-~-~~~o~c-~~-~N~oc~> soc~cSo~>-c~c-~~~c-o-