The Washington herald., 1919-04-13

NOW take the matter OF hats, say
Paris hats The windows are filled
these days with the new Easter styles.
And so one knows that Paris still
mourns For the hats stiIl are SOM
Der; at least the hats in the windows
are plain, unhowered, still drab and
gray. Often one sees dark blue, sober
greens and browns. But silver grays
are about the gayest predominant
colors that bedeck the show windows
OF the boulevards- But back of the
wtndows-on the quiet, bootlegging, as
one might say in a dry town-there
may one find color; splashes OF color,
great swooping red plumes and green,
and daring things in purple and blue.
And sometimes at a private dinner
these bold colored flashes flare out.
But never at the opera, never on the
boulevaFds. One hears that after
Easter they will appear, that Paris
will bury her dead then and be gay.
gut all the long winter Of the armis-
,<ce Paris has been gray and quiet.
1 The spirit that made the hats of the
bOulevards has colored the life OF the
town. Public dancing has been taboo
4 the Americans have danced at the
Aviation Club all winter and little
dances have been concealed in certain
French homes; but dancing in general
Z has been considered bad form. So
also the lights in the cafes have not
4 been bright; for one thing. coal has
Il been scarce, and the streets of Paris
Il have been gloomy all winter. Every
H thing closed up at and by or 10 a
i PompeiaR- stiffness reigned. At II the
Il show crowds hurried home through
the gloom; all cafes were closed; no
food or drink was sold; home was the
only place open. Paris isn't much for
the lid; il covers very little, but there
Is this about the Partisan lid, il never
-lesks. And cUriously no one Erum-
bles. The Partisan papers have moth
ing to say about the lid: the restrict
Cd sale Of lIquors-restricted as to
hours for all liquors and prohibited
as to hard liquors except during meal
hoUrs-provokes no clamor as II would
IN America And in Germany. when
the Americans put the lid on there
and restricted the sale OF liquor in
the territory occupied by the Ameri-
can aTmv, the Germans screamed theil
heads of. The order came just after
Christmas. Christmas eve. Christina!
night and the night after Christmas
the Americans raised great white cleo
tric-lighted crosses over their area in
Germany. The population marveled.
They tried to read some sort OF po-
liticaI significance into the cross; and
+hcn-bluey,-out of the clear sky tn,
American order came limiting the
hours in which liquors OF any kind
even beer. might be sold in the Amer
lean sector. and Germany hissed at
the hypocrisy Of the Americans, rails
ing the cross of brotherhood and cut
ting their brethren out of their dear
est rights, But IN the end the Ger
mans Cbeyed, even as the Parisians
have obeyed the order all these long
years Of the war.
Food Is Scarce.
Food IL still scarce in Paris ant
wine is high. A luncheon at any gooC
hotel costs from 81 to 81 without wine
and wine can scarcely be had to ac
company such a meal for less thai
the price of the meal. Which littl
circumstance makes it soft for tn
Americans. who upon the whole ar,
unused to wine with their meals. They
drink water. the pure white juice o
thc Seine and make the Swiss walter;
in the Partisan restaurants exceeding
" weary. For a walters tip is proper
tionate to the size OF the patrons bill
Dinner at the middle class hotel
ranges from Sc to s., without wines
these prices are table d'hote. In res
taurants where one cares to eat fairl,
srsringly one may get a decen
fjncheon or dinner from $50 to $50
without wine. In the Duval restau
rants where the soldiers and the Re-
Cross ueopIe and Y. NJ. c. A folk go
restaurants much like the Child
chain OF restaurants in America-on
nav get a meal for 81, but not fol
much less! There are, Of course
cheaper places than these, but at then
one suspects that the soup is horse
the fish IS stale and the plates dirty
Yet Paris lives in restaurants, ant
how the poor live one cannot see
Meat Is 70 cents to $50 a pound. Ffsl
a. 75 cents for the cheapest kinds
FTgs and prunes are s. to 70 cents 1
FOUND and eggs 10 cents each. They
vere % cents all winter: no one evel
bought a dozen. Butter is comini
down with eggs now and can be haC
81 for 90 cents a pound, with milk at 6
corresponding price. A good appl
costs a dollar; fairly good cooking ap
1Ies NAV be had for 20 or 90 cents {
niece. but they are mouldy and badl!
specked. Good oranges cost 20 cent!
each and the cheapest one can do 1.
two or three for a quarter. at tht
stret vendors carts. Nothing 4
cbeap. clothes cost more in proper
made soldiers uniform costs s75 ant
from that on up to the roof. Rent:
are high and are mounting ever!
month. Nothing is stable; yet will
all the terrific rise in the price o.
things, Paris hides her suffering. Lux
ury is more in evidence to the for
eigner than poverty. Hundreds o
thousands of men and women in Pari!
are working at from 81 to 81 a day
skilled workers get more; but worl
for them Is not plentiful. And tn,
wonder Is how the poor working peo
pie live: also how the rich get 1t
Where does it come from, this vas
display of wealth that is foreve
.rut bed under ones nose in Paris
And when one wonders where the ricf
get their money and how the poor ge
theIr food in a land. that land may
well begin to fear the wrath of God.
OF course one answer is the war
France has not taxed herself heavily
suring the war. And that Is an in
leresting story, a footnote OF the
oeace; IL is BART OF the soul of Paris