Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1912-04-19


YOUR Brockton made shoe, he will un-
rrlngly single you out as a fellow
'ountryman abroad on pleasure bent.
herefore fish for his net. He may be
Working on one of the three COM
noner "lays"-the touch" the loan"
or. the guide" In other words, he
nay brazenly ask you for small sum
of money with which he may obtain
'ood or lodging, he may tell you a
hard luck story about a mythical de-
aged draft and ask you for loan to
tide him over. or he may offer to
guide you around and about Paris
at so much an hour or a day. 80
The pleas Of those after a loan"
ire in many cases both heartrending
and plausible. A 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
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 1t again.
The beggars are nuisance, the bor-
rowers are 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;
hey scan the columns of the newspa-
pers for the names and addresses Of
the newly arrived Americans; they
haunt the vicinage Of the Grand no.
tel; they hail you as you leave the
Credit Lyonnais after cashing draft;
but possibly of all places their favor
lite 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
help you. You hail with delight the
coming Of the interpreter-guide who
Ispeaks your language, for are not the
sights and mysteries Of Paris as an
open book to him?
His rates are only louis day and
Expenses, but even this sum can be
shaded should you plead your inabil-
lty to afford that's sum. Should you be
unable to afford half-louis, or even a
measly five-franc piece, 1t 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-Tll tell you what I'll
10: 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 It would II you tried to get
around alone-and- take 1t from me
the Apaches are pretty bad this year
and 1t isn't safe for an outsider to
pike around Montmartre without a
guide who knows all the ropes. What
do you say? Will we start now"