Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-02-01
SAYS PARIS OF
PAST GONEFOR
TIME AT LEAST
Writer Observes Underlying
Change Defying Customs
of Old.
NIGHT LIFE THRIVING

NEW YORK. Feb. when by gov
eminent edict an engineer pressed but
ton New Years eve and flooded Paris for
the first time since the war with her old
pre-wa8- electrical brilrance, the or
oheStras on the boulevards and the Mont
martre fairly burst themselves trying to
do justice to the occasion and champagne
corks popped as they had never popped
since 1914
Taxis honking on the streets outside
took up the refrain and students in
the Latin quarter went singing in ser
pentines around the lamppOstS-just as
they did before the war.
At that moment Paris from the stand
point Of surface appearance once more
became the gay old city of tradition.
But in the real sense, it was not the
same Paris. 1t was a new Paris, going
through many of the habitual gestures
Of the old.
For the old Paris, as hundreds Of thou
sands Of American tourists and students
knew it and loved It, is gone-gone for
q generation at least. The war changed
the people who made Paris and not IN
til these people are gone and another
generation has taken their place can the
old pleasure capital be herself.
PHYSICAL REVERSION
TO 1914 COMPLETE.
Physically, Paris has completed her re-
version to 1914. Menus are no longer
stinted. The wine caves are full. The
guides of the night" are back on the
Place de rOpera with their most inter
esting show around the corner" The
bOulevards are fragrant with feminity. So
far as the Cooks tourist knows it's the
same old city revived.
But the "old Timer" knows that the
people he sees are dinsrnt from his
erontes Of 1914 and Frequently even a
new type Of Frenchman altogether.
First, the 81. c. of L. has lifted the
price scale between 800 and 400 per cent.
Parisians, who IN 1914, could afford 70
dine with their families in the cafe, no
longer people the boulevard restaurants.
Their places have been taken by newly
rich and foreigners with high exchange
rates.
LOngchamps, where Frances elite used
to display its finest gowns, has been
virtually boycotted by the real arisroc-
racy. The only fashion show there is at
the races now is kept up BY fashy par
venues" or women Of easy fortune.
The war worked q remarkable psyche
logical change in the French people. 1t
AIduS LAEAA q AabAOA u SASACSs
NEARNESs To WAR
CHANGED FRENCH.
While the glsmous Of the crusade on
foreign soil unlocked the emotions Of the
British and turned staid London into one
of the most demOnstrative cities in the
world, the long years of trench warfare,
midst the mud of their own country,
among the ruins Of their own homes, de-
VelOped in the Frenchman a logged self
restraint that he had never been thought
capable Of.
Hundreds OF thousands wept IN White
Hall on Armistice day. Paris crowds
looked on in almost expressionlesS silence
as their unknown pOiIu was escorted TO
the Arc Among the multitudes who de-
posted wreaths I do not remember see
ing one shedding tears.
This new mentality has seized the en-
tire nation. 1t is reflected IN all classes,
for all were in the war.
Behind the bright eyes that invite you
so appealingly on the bOulevRrds, often
throbs a broken heart Of a youthful
widow or fJncee who lost her lover out
there. A surprising number Of the
merrymakers IN the really Latin rendez-
vOus Of MOntmrtre wear mourning or
their cOatsIeeves-
Thus Paris could not. even II she
wsuId, be the old carefres ELUSIVE city
of pre-war days-not for 4 generation, at
least