Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-06
AMERICAN BAR
CAUSESFRENCH
TOLEAVE CAFES
Vets More Interested in
Bottlefields Than
Battlefields.
BY GRANT GORDON
sscisi Correspondent OF Great Fails Tribune
.epyright. 1922. by The Great Falls Tribune

Special Correspondent OF 6ftat fdft sFtpuha
Cepyright. 1922. by The Great Falls Tribune
Paris, Noy. 5.-A resident of Paris
is somewhat puzzled by a letter from
an old crony in America who says he
is coming over to visit the bottle
fields Of France" He is wondering
whether the spelling was Intentional Or
accidental.
THE trouble is" declared the re-
cipient of the letter, that if he is
coming to visit the battlefields won't
see much of him. for | have never
had any curiosity to revisit the places
that | last saw in November, 1918. II
he really wants to visit the "bottlefield'
will be only too delighted to refight
the battle of Paris with him."
And it is curious thing how many
Americans who come over saying they
are going to visit the battlefields, man
bottlefields. There are those. to be
sure, who go out to the front, but they
are fewer than most people suppose.
Whereas bottlefields are near at
hand, and plentiful.
Many Ways to Drink
There are many ways to drink in
Paris, of which the worst is to visit
the Ameican bars. And that, let it be
said regretfully, is the way most
American visitors seem to choose In
the region that lies between the opera
and the Madeleine and for couple
of hundred yards round about, there
must be Il don't know that anyone
has ever counted them) at least fifty
of the said bars. And new ones are
constantly opening.
Some of them have American bar
tenders. Others have English bar
tenders Il few have French bar
tenders. Most, however, seem to have
bartenders that only rash nature
would attempt to guess-men who
with slight foreign accent that de-
fies analysis. Each of these bars has
it's throng of habitues who seem to be
unionized on the eight-hour basis.
Whence do they draw the wherewithal
to buy Scotch ut five francs a throw?
Apparently they have some business
that occupies them. You hear them
whispering together in groups, and
enough trickles out to reveal there is
some business deal at stake.
Some of the bars are pretty close
to the original American article.
Others are not. Not infrequently the
latter will have row of high stools
along the front like a soda fountain.
usually means that there is string
of women habitues who belong to the
oldest profession in the world.
That is one way to drink in Paris
and as / say, it is the least attractive
Why SO many American visitors adopt
1t is mystery.
Another way, and one would think
more alluring, is in the regular French
cafe, an even more numerous institu-
ton. Although since the war some
of the most fainous cafes in the boule-
Yards have disappeared to make room
for branches of banks. it is still true
that most of the big corners in
Paris are blessed with cafes. The
most famous, of course, is the Cafe de
la Paix, right place de L'Opera 1t is
here that the legend started that you
will see everybody you know in
Europe pass by, if you sit long enough.
AT all cafes one gets more than
drink for the money. One sits com
fortably and reads paper or talks to
ones companion, or stares at the
people at the neighboring tables, or at
principal ways to drink in paris-I am
speaking of casual drinking during the
day. The latter is, of course, the
French way, although the bar habit is
growing among FrenchreD, and the
cafe is no longer the institution it
used to be.
But while the cafe is passing, it is
far from past. 1t is still possible to
have ones fayorite cafe and favorite
table, and to spend an hour there
before evening playing dominoes,
checkers or backgammon, if one pre-
fers the inside.