New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Crowds .Surging Into
Opera House Show
Little Sign of Nation s
Strain; Hard to Re-
alize Verdun Is Near
Most of Hurrah Is Gone.
but Not the Determii-
nation to Fight On Un-
til Permanent Peace
Is Assured
By Haywood Broun
(Just back from, France)

M
w to get into the Opera House
to hear Battistini sing, it is hard to
realize that Verdun can be reached in
an afternoons journey. London is on
the battle line, but Paris is rest bill
let. Of course, things are not as thew
were before the war. Paris has to
scheme and strain a bit to keep UP ap-
pearances. The food director, for in
stance, decided some time ago to pro-
hlbit the sale of ice cream in order to
save sugar. The ice cream makers
laughed at him.
why, we haven't used sugar for
months" they told him.
"Well, then, it will save eggs" he
said.
Again they laughed. "We have used
substitutes for eggs for more than &
month";" they explained.
AT any rate" persisted the food di-
rector "my order will save unneces-
sary consumption of milk"
There isn't any milk in our prod
uct any MORE" answered the ice cream
makers, sadly; "we use a substitute
for that, too"
And SO the director permitted them
TO go on. Atfu'-so Paris life .es, IN.
Many Of the ingredients are missing.
to be sure. but it will suffice. When
there is disaster such as the German
drive into Italy the war weariness of
Paris gets even into the boulevards,
but for the rest of the time it is around
the corner and down at the end of
little streets.
There are not many grievously
wounded men in the streets of Paris,
and, indeed, the visitor may live in
Paris month and feel no sudden tug
at his heart if only he keeps awav
from the railroad stations. Even the
Parlsians cannot hide their sorrow
when men go back, but they live fast
and they live fully until train time.
Comedies as Gay
As in New York
There are as many musical comedies
and as gay ones to be seen in Paris as
in New York. There are two opera
companies and several vaudeville the
atres. ~
Restaurants are crowded in spite of
the fact that the more rashionabIe ones
charge prices which would abash even
a New York headwaiter on New Years
Eve. 1t is possible, however, to dine
we'll and cheaply at the little cafes
which are to be found on every block. !
Some people in Paris are underfed, but
propaolv not many more than before
the war Nobody is starving and there
Is practically no begging
The upper class and the middle class
+ frenchman eat more than the average
American in the same circumstances,
The American, of course, gets off to a
head start with his big breakfast, but
the Frenchman catches up with fish and
two kinds of meat for lunch and two
more meat courses in the evening.
list OF comm odity prices in Paris
sounds appalling, and yet one can get
q, satisfying and sustaining meal for
three Or four francs if only he is will
ing to eat in q small restaurant.
Housekeeping is difficult, for eggs
cost $1.30 a dozen; butter is about
$1.40 a pound; chicken is 70 cents a
pound and sugar "a. But you cannot
spend much for sugar at that, since it
is obtainable only under card system
WillCu allows cuCn lnQlNlQOal ABOUT
pound a month. In December even this
allowance was cut off
Potatoes cost Is cents pound.
steak 35 cents and oranges are 20 cents
apiece. But If oranges are expensive,
opera is cheap. What matter if bacon
does cost 81 a pound when one can
hear Battistini, the greatest of barry
tones. for a minimum of so cents and
maximum of So?
Ten Operas
Given in Week
There are four performances a week
at the big opera house and six at the
Opera Comique. The opera is not up
to the high standards of the Metro
politan, to be sure, but Paris has
never seen better performances than
in this the fourth year of the war
The outstanding feature is BATHS
tint, marvellous Italian, who has
been singing in Russia for the last ten
or fifteen years. Although more than
voices in the world. Nobody wears wears
evening clothes to the theatre, but the
big opera audiences are colorful for
all of that. The women make no show,
but the men glitter and blaze in ali
the uniforms of the many Allied
armies.
One sees good many American SOL
diers at the opera, but rather more at
the musical revues. Next to the
French the Australians seem to be the
most steady patrons of opera.
"If French soldier or officer walks
down a street with his arm around
a girls waist nobody ever takes the
trouble to turn around and look at
him. British enlisted men are just
as informal. His majesty's officers are
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