Evening star., 1915-12-12

tering in the cafe-restaurants of the
I boulevard between the Cafe Cardinal
and Maxim's. Three hundred foremost
! walters serve 5000 Paris specialists of
i all things-theatrical managers, mer-
chants. man milliners, senators, depu-
ties, professors. notaries, fences and
sworn appraisers.
So Gustave or Adolphe can send out
their clerk and get in two days the
true inside dope on any subject-infor-
nation worth anything from thank
! you" to $4,000.
These walters are wonders of slick
intelligence.
1t is a hard and special trade, it re-
! quires uncommon virtues, great en-
durance and willingness more or less
sincere. a disdain of contingencies. a
science Of things. a cast-iron polite
ness rooted in contempt, a pessimistic
philosophy, an Indifference to all, even
to the tip. If need be; a secret disgust
for compliments and satisfaction in
ones self, which are not, to speak frank
ly. in the otherwise rich appanage of
woman.
Lucie, at the Cafe Regence, puts it
in her own way.
1--WE girls are only temporary" she
says. I'VE shan't last beyond the war"
Why" l asked.
Because we do not wear whiskers"
A philosophical girl. rara avis in ter
ra. Lucie is engaged to be married to
waiter, which perhaps explains her
wisdom. Yet you will guess she is not
succeeding enormously.
Thus runs her theory:
A few years ago-before the Germans
started out to conquer" their neigh
bors' land and money-every one was
k,o, Il
men went out hunting artificial trouble
The cafe walters of Paris got it into
their heads that they were downtrod-
den in the matter of whiskers. 1t was
against the rules to wear hair on the
Iace.
Only one Partisan waiter, at that
moment, wore a beard. mustache or
whiskers. He was Frederic, serving
pressed duck at the Tour d'Argent, and
he wore all three kinds. He looked
very much like Ibsen. Hairy was no
name for him. When he concocted duck
sauce at their table. ladies wondered
yet they dared not say tiff those
whiskers were in tighter than they
were the last time And young lovers
counted hairs that fell into the sauce
pan: He loves me, loves me not"
Walters. on their day off. crossed half
Paris to see Frederic's whiskers, which
they envied him for possessing and
blessed him for wearing, because Fred
eric was not only proprietor of the
whiskers. but the cate also. That red
dish regalia was the badge of clear
eyed freedom-hair.
Hair, more hair. They craved to
wear mustache, goatee. imperials, IA
vorites, neck wniskers. Why? Be
cause it was forbidden.
x <
So. one sweet evening there was a
cry in all the cafes: Aprons off. To
the work of our emancipation. Meet
ing at the Bourse of Labor"
Think, what folly, They had better
weeded out the German spies among
them.
The strike was successful. In six
days the cafe proprietors yielded to
whiskers.
During those six days no restaurant
or cafe could obtain staff Of walters.
Customers, spoiled by perfect service,
would not accept dummies" The
Paris public stopped frequenting the
establishments for this reason, but it
looked like sympathetic strike, to
help their friends, the walters, win the
right to wear Nbeards, pointed, parted,
curled and perfumed. and mustaches.
dyed. waxed, oiled, enameled, without
limit or restriction.
yes says Lucie. "but the Paris pub