The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-29
.PARISiANS NOW
 SEEK GAY LIFE
 FAR FROM HOME
London Is Mecca of Many Pleasure Loving Residents
 of French Capital.

London, July 29.-One of the para doxes of the war IS the visiting of Parisians to London for a bit of ex- cftement and gaiety. Paris is noth- ing like. its old self, for its theatres are closed, motor buses at the front. most of it's taxis laid up and large number of it's hotels closed. But London has sacrificed but little of its old life. Hotels are full, tea-rooms theatres, especially the. music halls and revues, we'll attended, and the Hyde Park and upper Thames have their usual crowds of holiday makers.
 But this does not mean that Lon-f don does not feel the war. The hotel guests are mainly purchasing agents for the allied powers, visiting at taches on official business and agents for American factories looking for supply contracts. Comparatively few ionable tea, places and restaurants were civilian clothes. Khaki is also the prevailing color among the men at the revues. The 'tPiccadilly knut' as the young men who set the fash ions are called, has largely disap- peared from his old haunts.
 London's gaiety is in one sense largely kept up by the war. Men living the hard routine of duty at the training camps or life Of con- danEST find a complete change and rest of mind in frivolous show as in noth- ing else. The first idea. of a wounded man on getting out of the hospital is a round of restaurants and variety halls. Officers and enlisted men with arms in slings and on crutches are sights too common there to attract more than passing notice.
 Curiously enough, the new dramas based on the war, except 9, few spy plays, have had no support at all and were soon taken off Yet a French company giving series of short plays nightly has met a great success be- cause of it's thriIlers-tales of con fcentrated horror. Comedies of the light society kind have failed to at tract, while those with real humor and we'll drawn characters have en- oyed uninterrupted runs. A season of Russian and French opera came to an early disastrous close, and the popular priced evening orch estra1 ''proms'' in Albert Hall werej discon- tinued for lack of support. Concerts on the whole do not seem, however, to have suffered greatly from the war.
 Fashionable life has merely trans formed it's activities. Instead of pri- vate affairs, society gives benefits, formanees with royalty present to garden fetes. It is quite cosmopoli- tan for it's object Is the raising of funds not only for British charities but fer Belgian. French. Russian, Serbian and Italian relief funds
 While London has lost it's German and Austrian colony. it is so filled with Belgians that Flemish and French signs can be seen in shop windows all over the city. Many There was a long season of French Belgian comedy, played by a. com pany from Brussels with the best talent Of the country. Mime. Rejane and a Partisan company had a sue eessful run in repertory and other French company now has a theatre The tea-rooms of the fashionable hotels were never better attended, largely by officers off duty. But the mass of London takes it's pleasures more. cheaply. The band stand in Hyde Park has lost none of it's popu- larity of evenings, but the character of the crowd has changed. Before the war, the band enclosure was the rendezvous of the foreign element, the men mostly of the waiter and small clerk class. Hundreds, and on Sunday nights, thousands Of young Germans used to be Eout- These times, the Germans, Austrians, French and Italian young men are otherwise employed. but there is a foreign element from Belgium, HEAIGG ana neutral cOUAIIAGS. 1nCSt oe the men seen are British soldiers in training. with as sprinkling of Bel gian soldiers.
 Boating on the upper Thames is one of London's main summer plNas- ures. Tea gardens, cottages and house boats line the banks, and every bright Saturday and Sunday after I noon still finds the river full of ! punts, canoes and wnerries. But in stead of white, flannels and striped l jerseys, most of the men wear khaki. l War scenes still feature the nu- merous moving picture theatres of London, but most of the film plays are of American production.
 It is true that London is, darkened of nights but it is no darker than the average provincial city. It's bright spots with their electric signs and shop windows are no more, and hotel blinds must be lowered. But off the main thoroughfares, the Lon doner is not consci ous of the hghting g restrictions.