Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-03-09
Hotel Continental,
8 Rue Castiglione, Paris,

January "a, 1871.
My dearest Mother:
have just come in from "Au
Printemps," the largest department
store in Paris. 1t is by far the hand
soonest place of the kind I ever saw,
and must be the best in the world.
save seen New York's best, and Lon
.don's best, and they are not IN the
same class with eau Printemps."
Three buildings occupy the point
where three streets come together;
the interior of the prettiest of the
three is circular, and standing on the
first floor you can look to the top and
practically see everything in the
building. Each floor is like the gallery
of a large theatre and each is a de-
partment to itself. At the extreme
TOD is the "Salon de Tea" which l was
told was the best in Paris, so l make
it my business this afternoon to find
out. While it is probably the largest
/ do not agree that it is the most ele-
CANT. In fact know of several small
er places far more attractive to me.
You can find tea rooms all over
America, but I assure you compared
with these, they are regular bur-
lesque. Our people have not caught
the idea in the slightest yet, and when
they do and the right sort is started,
somebody will find the long talked OF
"bonanza.n The first requisite will
be to learn to make tea, and then fol-
low that up with French pastries.
We are equal to the toast and
bread side of the proposition, but
these pastries are marvel to me.
You seldom see two alike and the
mystery is to try and figure out what
they are made of. When it comes to
cooking and the art of wearing
clothes, Paris can beat the world.
Many of the spring styles are already
displayed and 1 can tell now, what
the fashionable young girl will be
wearing neSt summer in AsheVlile' .I,
The windows here are decorated with
the touch of an artist; never very
,,,,cb and are not crowded and JAM
med as in New York, and even the
inside of the stores have that effect
of breadth and space which only an
artist could arrange. 1t almost seems
foolish to tire yourself out looking
at tombs, cathedrals and relics OF
dead and gone ages, when life is pull
sating around you in every attractive
form Everybody seems to lead lazy
happy sort of existence; nobody eats
breakfast and there is no reason Tor
getting up, for if you do you will
have the whole of Paris to yourself.
No business opens until nine o'clock
and dress makers start at ten. II you
YOU go to a cafe before twelve, you'll
probably be the only person IN lt'
and everything decidedly unready Tor
business.
We went to the Eiffel tower today
nocated in the Champ de Mars), but
did not go to the top; it seemed such
a tame sort of thing for mountain
GERS. and was lots more fun to sit IN
the gardens putting questions to
Frenchmen and then figure out at
leisure their replies. 1t is strange
chattering sort of nation, saying as
much with gestures as with words
vet always very polite. We met with
one today who had been staying IN
Wales and spoke English very well.
He seemed so proud of it that ne
wanted us to move to his hotel SO ne
could have some one to talk with,
as though he had gotten above his
native tongue.
Paris has the biggest Opera in the
world and we are anxious to go, SO
today we went to the ticket Office, all
the time wondering how we would
ever get located or find out the de-
tails of time, price, etc. Imagine our
pleasure when we discovered an In
terpreter ready to take care of US
and arrange things. She was quite
a young girl yet she spoke five Ian
guages, and turned from one to an
other with equal ease whenever need
ed, and did it we'll, too. l suppose
she must be high priced helper anc
the magnitude of the place demands
such an assistant. Seats must be pur
chased at least week in advance ane
even then am afraid we got poo,
selection, but it only cost six franc
fabout forty-fye cents in our mon