Parisian sights and French principles, seen through American spectacles

Preface

I WISH to take off my hat to my reader. A French bow would be more graceful, but it will take more time, and a greater flourish. I prefer to make his acquaintance with the plain but sincere Yankee nod. In bidding him good morning, I have only to say, that if he read these pages, he will find some truths frankly told, and some opinions frankly expressed. I have admired Paris, the Magnificent, but I have also inquired its cost. I have asked why Republicanism was a curse in France, and a blessing in America. In short, having some leisure hours during the past winter, I employed them in not only examining the outer world of this modern Athens, but in endeavoring to solve its inner life. The result is the following chapters ; abruptly various, and full of contrasts like their topic. I commenced my notes for my own amusement. I publish them without being asked for two reasons ; firstly, to tell the friendly public what I can make known to them in no other way, and secondly, because I have the curiosity, vanity if you please, to try my hand at making a book. Having brought you, gentle reader, to the threshold of my apartment, your courtesy will not allow you to do less, for my hospitality, than to take off your hat also, and walk in.

Paris, June 1. 1852.

SECTION OF A PARISIAN HOTTSE.

PARISIAN SIGHTS

AND

FRENCH PRINCIPLES

Chapter I. Sundries

The different manner in which the Anglo American and the Gaul build their family nests, is pointedly brought home to the former the night of his arrival at Paris. We live in perpendicular strata ; they in horizontal. Our houses stand side by side, each like a tub on its own bottom. Theirs, so far as they relate to families, are spread one upon the other, like a pile of gingerbread. With the exception of the principal hotels, and a few recently constructed in the English mode, Parisian houses are arranged after the following fashion. In general, they form a hoUoAV square, allowing a court-yard of sufficient size for a carriage to turn. This shape admits of two ranges of apartments, equivalent in accommodations to houses with us ; the one facing the street, the other the court-yard, the kitchen and other conveniences being the two cf nnecting arms. Houses thus constructed accommodate two families on each floor, and are from five to nine stories high. The ground floor is devoted to shops, stables, and he porter's quarters. It is entered by a huge " porte cochere,"

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH PRINCIPLES.

which is always guarded by the family of the concierge, who acts as agent for the proprietors in letting their apartments, and watches all the outgoings and incomings of the mansion. Each range has its wide circular staircase for the gentry, leading as high up as what was once considered the only abode of genius ; and another — small, dark, and narroAv, like the worm of a ramrod — for the use of domestics.

The porter must be on the ''qui vive'' at all hours of the twenty-four, to slip back the bolt of the outer door, by means of a string connecting with his office, upon the warning ring or cry, " Le cordon, s'il vous plait." Those who enter after midnight, bestow a trifling gratuity upon this Argus, to compensate him for his disturbed slumbers. He replies to all questions relating to his charge, pays postages, receives and distributes all letters and parcels that have owners within his domain, uses your fuel as if it were his own, and is always ready to do the amiable — for a consideration.

The floor above the entrance is called the " entresol," being, as its name indicates, between sun and earth, and it is generally inaccessible to the former, at any season of the year, except in the widest streets or avenues. Being low, it rents low, compared with the floor above, which forms the apartment Number 1, in height, finish, and decoration, and is, consequently, much the dearest. They then progressively decline in price each story, and also in quality, until they terminate under the roof in a series of little chambers, for the servants of the mansion, two or more of these rooms belonging to each apartment.

The apartments themselves are of every variety and size, to meet the wants of the diversified positions of the inhabitants of this metropolis. Some are of sufficient grandeur and sumptuousness to rival the interior of the more pretending hotels, while others dwindle to the means of the most economical bachelor or money-saving grisette.

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FB,ENCH PRINCIPLES. 11

This mode of building has some prominent advantages over ours. Externally the houses are more uniform, of greater size, and being built of a soft gray sandstone, admit of more architectural ornament. They economize also in ground-room and material, consequently in rent. All the rooms of a family being on one floor, much of that stair-work of which our ladies complain, is saved. In enumerating these advantages, I have enumerated all, unless it may be considered one to be able to bring together the different branches of a family under one roof.

Their disadvantages are more palpable. Each floor having its separate kitchen and drains, contributes its quota to an assemblage of odors, based upon the fragrance of shops or stables beneath, which, in spite of locks and bolts, penetrate with an impartial distribution into every room. This nuisance is not always perceptible, but it is a daily liability ; and the plain truth is, that there are few of these gregarious habitations that do not give offense to sensitive nostrils more than once during every twenty-four hours. This fact has doubtless some relation to the enormous consumption of perfumery, which, not unfrequently in the street, overpowers all other smells, as the scented individual goes by.

Again, no amount of cleanliness in one story can always be proof against a want of neatness in the next. If one family cooks onions, the neighbors above and below are brought into unmistakable cognizance of the fact. If there be a frolic overhead, the family beneath participate in the noise, without the fun. There lived in the apartment below me a young lady who, for five months, with scarcely the intermission of a day, practiced on the piano, from four o'clock until midnight, and often until two o'clock in the morning. She played and sang delightfully, or otherwise I should have wished myself deaf In a city where revolutions have become as periodical and necessary as measles, chicken-pox, and the hooping-cough to childhood, this species of

V2 P_^JSIAN SIGHTS AND FE>ENCH PRINCIPLES.

family roosting has inconveniences sometimes of a graver nature. A few shots fired on the 4th of December last, upon the soldiers, from the upper stories of some houses on the Boulevards, caused a return of ball, grape and musket shot, which lasted an hour, broke in their fronts, riddled them in every part ; the inmates escaping as they could. One individual has it in his power to compromise a hundred lives.

Although this multiplying of families under one roof may be considered as a species of architectural communism, it is very far from being a social one. 'No one knows his neighbor. There is no door-plate on the several landings, to satisfy curiosity as to who is to be found within. Somehow or other, the occupants never seem to meet on the common stairway. Of the seven

families beside my own that occupied No. — of Rue de , foi

six months, I knew nothing except that one was English, and another Russian. I could not have distinguished a single member of them all from a casual visitor. It is said that tw^o friends lived for a year in the same house without being aware of the fact, until they accidentally met in the street, and inquired each other's address. An amusing mistake occurred to a friend of mine : He started to call upon a lady with whom he was intimate; after reaching her house, not having taken sufficient notice of the flights of stairs he had ascended, he entered an apartment in the story above, believing himself to be in that of his acquaintance. He found the plate all out, and a display of refreshments, indicating expected company. As his friend did not then receive, he thought this a little strange, but gave it no further consideration, and, with a liberty which his relations with the family warranted, helped himself to bon-bons and fruit. He soon heard a lady's voice, which he supposed was his friend's, calling from her chamber, the door of which was partly open, apologizing for not coming out immediately ; to which he replied, " Do not disturb yourself Madame, I pray you. I will wait.''

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FIIE>X'H PRINCIPLES. 13

He had scarcely uttered these words, when she entered the room, and, to his consternation, he found himself in the presence of an utter stranger. She looked equally amazed, as she had supposed it was a gentleman she was expecting. " Madame," said he,

" is not this the apartment of Monsieur ?" " No ; that is

on the floor below." " Then, Madame, I have to throw myself at your feet for this intrusion ; thinking myself in the apartment

of Madame , I have been eating freely of your refreshments,

and can now only oiler the humblest of apologies. I am M.

de ." The name was one well known in Parisian society,

but he says the lady looked but half convinced, and followed him to the door, keeping one eye on her plate, and the other on him. He afterward met her in the apartment below, and they had a hearty laugh over their mutual surprise. It is unnecessary to add that by this system, duke and laborer, countess and lorette, saint and vagabond ; the great, good, bad, and indifferent ; w^ealth and poverty are often brought together under the same roof, alike unknowing and unknown.

The apartments usually taken by strangers, for limited periods, are let furnished with every necessary for housekeeping, except linen and silver, which are hired separately. Inventories are taken on entering and leaving ; the lodger being responsible for all damage, other than ordinary wear and tear. These inventories embrace a list of existing damages, including grease and other spots on carpets, table-cloths, cracks or fractures in the glass or porcelain, all minutely detailed, as well as injuries to the furniture, &c. If any are added, they are to be paid for according to the tariff of the landlord, which is not of the most liberal character.

French kitchens are more like a ship's caboose in size, than the domains of an American cook. What room there is, is mainly occupied by numerous little grates, raised upon a brick platform, and adapted in size to the various copper, " casserolles,"

or saucepans, so necessary for the preparation of the indispensable " entremets,'' of French cookery. A Yankee cook would be as much at a loss in one of these kitchens, as she would over a locomotive. One half of the ingenuities of our American furnishing warehouses, would be equally as inexplicable to a French housekeeper. A good broom is not to be found in Paris. Carpets have been introduced into the apartments rented to English and Americans, but the French make but comparatively little use of them, preferring the waxed oak floors, which are cooler and cleaner, but require no little care, at first, for a stranger to preserve his equilibrium. The French use much less fuel than we, warming themselves more by extra clothing and foot-muffs, than by lires.

The search for apartments, which to a novice is a matter of amusement, soon becomes a fatiguing and embarrassing employment. He is ushered without ceremony into any which are taken for a short tirhe, without regard to the convenience of the occupiers; led through disordered bedrooms, unarranged cabinets, and ushered into all the privacy of family matters, lucky for his and their modesty, if among the scattered articles of toilet, he does not pounce upon some fair one in matutinal dishabille. At first, I hesitated upon these domestic thresholds, but the unceremonious " Enter, Sir," soon convinced me that the right of the landlord to exhibit his apartments, was superior to any considerations of delicacy. It was amusing to contrast the coolness and indifTerence with which French tenants underwent this scrutiny, often saying a word in favor of the lodgings or landlord, and always frankly courteous ; whereas, with English or Americans, one was evidently looked upon as an intruder into their temporary castles, from room to room of which the ladies — like quails seeking cover — dodged about, to avoid meeting a man more frightened than they were themselves.

Investigations in the unoccupied apartments are of course

PARISIAN SIGHTS A^^D FRENCH PRINCIPLES. 15

pursued under more favorable auspices. But, to believe tbe assiduous porters, there was not one that had a single fault, or wanted a single comfort, or even luxury. All of any pretensions had just been vacated by Russian princesses, or English " milords." One proprietor, after a pompous eulogium on the merits of a spacious apartment, whose faded gilt furniture and tawdry splendor, seemed to have descended untouched and almost undusted, from the days of Louis XV., said, as a climax, "The

Princess has just been to look at them, and was perfectly

charmed; she wished to take them at once." "Pray why did you not secure so noble a tenant ?" " Because she could not deposit the required security for rent," was the reply. Having just seen in the paper the arrest by the police of a Greek prince, for forgery, I came to the conclusion that the title " prince" was no better security for contracts or morals in Europe, than " colonel," in the United States. 1?y

After ascending and descending, in the course of a month, perhaps a thousand pair of slippery stairs, and repeating the same questions, until the thorax is pretty much in the condition of that of Maelzel's automaton baby, whose language was restricted to " Mamma" " Papa," according as the right or left arm was lifted, the lodging hunter growing desperate, affixes his signature to a paper, promising to pay from 10 Of to 120 Of per month, in advance. In consideration of this sum, he finds himself, in one case out of two, in the possession of an apartment, in the inventory of which no mention had been made of smoky chimneys, and various facilities for the circulation of cold air, or odors M^hich savor not of Araby the Blest, but which have now become his heritage for the period stipulated in the contract.

In a city like Paris where every domestic want can be supplied almost as it were impromptu, house-keeping is divested of the greater number of inconveniences and vexations attendant upon it in the United States. Labor of any character is at instant

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FUENCH PRINCIPLES.

command, paid for as soon as completed, and the transaction ended. The sole responsibility of the housekeeper, provided she has made a good selection of domestics, is to give her orders and examine her accounts. Families that intend to make a lengthened stay in Paris, if they would consult comfort and convenience, should proceed at once to housekeeping, but, for a short period, the restaurantlife is preferable, as affording an insight into French manners and cookery to be obtained in no other way. Besides, one meets with, not unfrequently, spicy and agreeable interludes arising from the mistakes and embarass-

(. . AT VERY's.

ments ot novices.

Very's, Trois Freres Provenfaux, and Vefour's have a world-wide reputation, or, at all events, one co-extensive with the

love of good eating, and wherever the words gourmand and " gourmet" are still understood in their legitimate signification. These

|M

AT VEFOUR'S.

are the places

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH PRINCIPLES.

to test the renown of French culinary art, and the depths of your purse. But one meets mostly strangers at these places. To see the French eat one should visit the restaurants of lesser magnitude and fame, particularly of a Sunday, where the rush to dinner, as no one dines that day under his own roof, is absolutely fearful to a lover of a quiet meal. Infants, dogs, and nurses, all have a seat that day, and the amount consumed would indicate considerable preparatory fasting. Eating and drinking, for the moment, becomes the only business of life. The preparations bespeak the seriousness of the operation. A family enters, consisting of father, mother, maiden sister, two children under five years of age, and a dog. All the tables are filled. They turn to go out. The restaurateur rushes forward, intercepts their retreat, and promises a table " toutsuite." He sees one party have called for their bills, hands them their change, and plumps the new comers into their warm seats, with an array of broken bread, dirty glasses and all the debris of the previous meal before them. Once seated, with bonnets and hats hung up, they are corwidered as secure as fish fairly hooked. The "gar9on," with a dexterity and rapidity peculiarly his own, whisks away the soiled table-cloth and dishes, and in an instant has replaced them with snow-white linen and porcelain. Now commences the "tug of" eating. Each member of the party, except the dog who gravely occupies his chair, too well bred to manifest impatience, plants a napkin under his or her chin, of the dimensions of a moderate sized table-cloth. The females pin the ex- A FAMILY PARTY, tremitics to each shoul-

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH PRINCIPLES.

der, so that in front they have much the appearance of being in their shrouds. The " carte" is studied, orders given, and content and pleasure reign. At these family feasts children arc literally crammed, indulged vi^ith wines and all the delicacies called for by adult taste, their parents delighted in proportion to the quantity they consume. Eating, under almost any circumstances is to a looker on a vulgar operation.

In one of these restaurants it is certainly an amusing one to a veteran garcon. traveler, whose sensibilities have

long since had their edges blunted. The waiter has a dozen calls at once — the same dish perhaps ordered dressed in a dozen different modes — he is to remember each mode and each table — to supply every change of course, omitting nothing required, and at the end of the meal he has to recall every dish, the quantity and

quality — and there may have been twenty different articles called for at one table — that the " addition" may be made out. What wonder then, if in the confusion of orders, he at times mistakes his napkin for liis handkerchief, and unconsciously wipes the perspiration from his brow, performing with it the next instant the same service for your plate, or rushes in from the " cuisine" with six dishes piled pyramidically in his liunds, a roll of bread under each

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH PRINCIPLES.

arm, and the latest called for " addition" between his teeth. I was exceedingly amused at an incident that occurred at a well known cafe, in the Passage Delonnc. The order " Chef, uii bifstake Anglais, toutsuite," was heard, and the article as promptly prepared. The garden who brought it in vainly sought an owner. Each table supposed its neighbor had ordered it, and the "bifstake" went the rounds unclaimed.

The waiter had evidently a mysterious beaf-steak, distinctly ordered but universally repudiated. At last it was discovered that a wag of a shop boy near by, possessing a touch of ventriloquism, had been amusing himself at the expense of " mine host's" kitchen.

The French from early habit frequently make themselves very much at home at restaurants and cafes, spending their evenings at the latter, reading the journals, and playing chess or dominoes, paying for the same by calling for a bottle of

beer or glass of brandy. I have myself seen a woman who had come in by herself, after finishing her repast coolly throw herself back in her chair and proceed to take a comfortable digestive nap, apparently wholly oblivious to the existence and manifold trials of the race denominated "unprotected females.'

At the same time a Frenchman having completed his meal, washed his hands and face in his goblet, used his napkin for a towel, adjusted his hair over the table, rubbed his hands with lemon and bread, and finally picked up a lump of sugar not required for his coffee, wrapped it in a paper and put it into his pocket. We Americans are not open to the charge of over refinement, but I trust it will be some time yet before we arrive at such free and easy manners.

An Englishman dropped in, and in stentorian tones, called out in his Anglicised French, " Garden, don beefsteak, avee beaucoup da poommes da terres." " Oui, monsieur," replied the w^aiter, " avec beaucoup de plasir." " No, no," roared the Englishman, " avec beaucoup da poommes da terres." French politeness was proof even against this trial of risibleness ; but I must confess to my own inability to withstand smiling.

At the risk of incurring the charge of mentioning trifling matters, I relate incidents and difierences of custom which, after all, are those which come home closest to a traveler, for it is upon such trifles that his comfort mainly depends. To the experienced, they are doubtless flat and unprofitable ; but previous to that experience, the knowledge of what to expect would have been decidedly convenient. Besides, it is by comparison of national customs that improvement is evolved. Whatever is better done abroad than at home, should be at once engrafted in our own stock. A traveler may, by telling what he sees, find the result in improvements that add vastly to the aggregate of comfort or convenience of his fellow-citizens. Among them are always found some with ears open to friendly hints.

The omnibuses of Paris are superior to all others that I have seen. Each passenger has a cushioned seat, with arms to himself, which of course prevents crowding. As soon as the seats are filled, a sort of weather-cock sign, on top of the omnibus, with the word '* camplef,^' is elevated, which can be seen a long distance, and announces that no more can be received. Their omnibuses are Avider than the American ; the central part of the roof elevated so that a passenger can pass to his seat without smashing his hat ; and he has also an iron rod to steady himself and keep him from disarranging his fellow-passenger's knees and toes. They have also a system of " correspondence," by which a passenger, without additional charge, is transferred from one line of omnibuses to another, when necessary to reach his destination.

There is as much diflerence of opinion in regard to the relative merits of the American and French systems of hotel charges, as between their modes of dining. A Frenchman views with disgust the Anglo-American method of mixing meats, vegetables, and sauces upon one plate — mingling flavors that should be kept distinct, and destroying all the delicacy of a repast. He prefers to change his plate as often as he changes his diet ; and be it what it may, he never allows but one article on his plate at a time, devouring in the intervals of the changes quantities of bread. For my own part, I have learned to view his fashion as more rational and healthful than our own. So of the system of paying only for what one has at a public place, instead of our plan of lumping charges by the day or meal. A bath with us is a simple 25 cents affair. The reader will be as much struck as I was, with the following list of baths and charges I copied from a French bathing establishment. It illustrates, to a nicety, their system of division of charges :

Baths, Single 18 sons.

" Complete.. ..2/10 " '' Single Bareges 2 " 10 "

" Complete '' 3 " 15 "

Baths, Without smell 3 f.

" Chemical 3 "

Aromatic Baths 3 "

Russian " 3 •'

and four others. In all, twelve sorts of baths. The items of charges, at the option of the bather, were as follows. I should mention that he is invariably locked in ; there being no latch or

PARISIAN SIGHTS AiND FRENCH PRINCIPLES.

handle on the inside, he can only obtain an exit by ringing for the "garcon :"

Gelantine 2/'.

Bran 1/.

^ do .- 10 sous.

Starch If.

Cap 2 soits.

Towels, hot 2 sous.

Inside sheet 5 "

Cake of soap If.

Boy 4 sous,

[or what you please.

What shall I say of servants ? I found as good as I could — after having been cheated for the first week to the tune of about fifty per cent, on all supplies, by a Swiss Protestant cook. Upon being confronted with her accounts, and the original bills, which she had accidentally left in her account book, between which the above cash discrepancy was figuratively obvious, with the naivest innocence, she said they were intended for some other person, though made out in my name, and she would bring the correct bills, agreeing with her entries, from the grocer. It is customary here for the cooks to do the marketing, and procure the general supplies, settling accounts with housekeepers periodically. This allows considerable scope for pickings, which the uninitiated, in due season, discover to their cost, if they are unable to speak French, and rely solely upon their servants to purvey. The British Ambassador, but a few days since, in arranging his accounts, previous to his departure for London, discovered that his steward had defrauded him of upward of $15,000. To those who go to housekeeping, I would say, ascertain first the prices of all staple commodities, and then, when orders are given, the correct cost can be known. In all cases require the original bills. Even if it be your good fortune to fall into the hands of " Boutiques de confiance," you must take it for granted that your domestic has a commission for your custom.

The trained politeness of French domestics is worthy of all commendation. It begets good feeling between them and their employers, and inspires a personal interest in their welfare, because,

PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH PRINCIPLKS.

as with coarser natures, there is no fear that kindness will encourage insolence. A French domestic always uses the third person in speaking of or to any member of the family, even the youngest children. " Will Monsieur give himself the trouble to have his coat brushed ?" " Will Madame have the goodness to give her orders for dinner?" are invariably the style of questions ; and, " I thank you, Madame, very much," the response to directions.

At New Year's they expect, with all the rest of the world, that have ever been paid for services rendered, the gifts of the season ; but, unlike the rest of the world, they are generous out of their scanty resources, in making the little ones about them happy, by tasteful presents of their own make or selection. I was greatly amused on this anniversary, after having given the customary contributions of money and good Avishes, to teacher, domestics, porter, porter's child, letter-man, newspaper carriers, and I do not know how many others, to see the stately Suisse of the Madeleine, march in with a bun on a silver waiter, by the present of which he modestly hinted, that he was not above the love of filthy lucre, at all events, once a year.

The politeness I have alluded to, is characteristic of all classes whose situations bring them into immediate relations with the higher grades of society. It is no derogation of self-respect, for a seller or an employee to express his thanks in a tone and manner, which makes his patron regret it is not in his power to oblige him or her by still further custom. Courtesy calls for

CALLS AT NEW YEARS.

courtesy in return. True, one may be cheated, and know it all the while, but the vexation is more than half neutralized by the politeness of the operator. A Parisian shop-keeper plays with a customer as an angler does a trout. He goes upon the principle of risking nothing, by asking a high price, as he has always on the tip of his tongue a load of reasons why, in your individual case, he should depart from his fixed rule, all of which are most skillfully directed point blank against your amour propre. I M^as asked two hundred francs for a picture, which, perhaps, was not greatly overvalued, but, being in the mood of testing the abating qualities of my virtuoso, I put on an air of indifference, and offered him much less. *' It is impossible. Monsieur, to take less, it is a real gem, all the w^rld comes to my shop to see it. I shall really weep when it is gone." He finished, however, by taking one hundred, " because," said he, " I wish the honor of making Monsieur's acquaintance." Shop-keepers, at times, carry this so far as to send their boys into the streets in pursuit of a customer to accept a price emphatically declined over their counters, on the score of principle. Strangers must make up their minds to pay much dearer than natives, and to buy their experience at a larger cost. As a general rule the sum first demanded is very wide from the selling price.