A VOICE FROM FRANCE my dear cousin after many cares troubles and tribulations of all kinds without counting seasickness I 1 am at last arrived in paris that modem babylon that city of cities that palace of the arts and music which sends senda daily towards heaven its breaths fin de siecke which rising towards the stars seem trying to create a dense cloud that would hide from the eyes of the gods the painful spectacle of its vices and of the atrocities of its refined civilization sight it is id true eclipsed by the beauties that one meets at each step in that city laud land of marvels celebrated for its greatness renowned for its wickedness but before proceeding further my dear cousin standing as we are just juat now in the fear of a universal war JL 1 wish to say that I 1 have eare carefully fully investigated vesti gated the feelings that the government of prance france and its people entertain for america and I 1 have been struck by this fact that the newspaper articles have no knowledge whatever of the relations that exist between the two countries of prance francq and the united states td convey my idea and the result of my I 1 need the me language of the poet and ana more redundant phrases than those afforded me by common every day prose prance france and america mereca have been and shall remain forthe ages to come as two aut sisters the one fair and noble wh bolde n hair hand in hand with heip hai breast darker but smaller friend wrap pC the tricolor french mantle and tors To raver er standing in close union ahw aegis of the mighty united sag s star siar spangled standard and they shall 1 I tread secure and unmolested fearless and daring over the republican baldis of universal freedom and bring to suffering slave stricken mankind the word of love that must shower its numberless unpolluted flakes of snowwhite equality over men and overthrow the rotten crumbling pillars of olden and decayed royalty doomed by the fatal red blooded hand of fate to sink forever within the abysses of mens vense vengeance ancel these are the sentiments which every frenchman has in his heart and the government also would never do I 1 am sure anything against the united states but I 1 pray you to pardon this digression and as this is not intended to be a political letter lefter to you I 1 shall presently resume reaume my first subject in the beginning I 1 spoke of all the vices of the great paris but my dear cousin dont imagine that I 1 am a pessimist and that I 1 wish only to see the wrong side no certainly no but I 1 want you to understand well once for alt all that as a traveler I 1 have a perfect right to seek the discovery of the faults if on the other hand I 1 notice and take in ml all good qualities and I 1 can assure you that those who go to paris to learn have plenty of work laid before them yes really one has hap here no need of going very far in search of beautiful things or great deeds one has oaly only to walk straight ahead to admire an all he wants but it is true that at the vary very moment when some beautiful spectacle well made for moving the most stern heart strikes your eyes at that very moment I 1 say when you fall under the spell caused by some trait of grandeur you discover right close to it some unwholesome piece of dirt and it would even seem that this state of affairs would be necessary for the development ot ideas because without any doubt the good people wish to allow the rascals to take example of them who by the way must surely be much better than all the other good ones of the world because they succeed in avoiding all temptations that parisian life sets be f fore ore them from day to day there is no city in the world where it is possible to live so cheaply as in paris but on the other hand there is no place where money can be so easily spent and in such quantities too in the anted states if a traveler stops at a hotel the whole cost is 5 that is all in paris it is otherwise and you must pay for everything you get and for instance those who stop at grand hotel or terminus hotel or continental hotel the three fashionable hotels of paris one is obliged to pay separately first for their room of which the price varies according to the story second for two meals the breakfast at noon and supper at six because in france early elaborate breakfasts as we have them in the united states are not custom ary and if they eat something it to la only a cup of coffee which is by the way counted extra on your bill third they must pay tor for the service that its to say the help employed by the hotel also tor for the candles in a word for all and it surely is a very disagreeable custom for us americans moreover it if you wish to take a bath you must order it in advance and then it Is a whole heap of trouble the boys of a bathing establishment carry right into your room a bath tub and you are often obliged to keep it there for two or three hours that is until they come back to remove it last of all but not less disagreeable if you are cold you have to buy wood or coal yourself and it costs very dear therefore many americans here rather than take so much pains prefer keeping their overcoats in their rooms and literally freeze steam heat Is almost unknown and it is very hard to keep warm here during winter I 1 am exceedingly cee astonished not to see in paris more sickness and especially more colds but upon my inquiring several doctors replied that cold rooms were better for the health now after 1 having enumerated and brought before your eyes the inconvenience and faults of parisian life I 1 must change my theme and I 1 shall also show you its radiant splendors you see nee in paris no elevated railroads no wires as in new york it Is quite different the french people have sacrificed everything to looks to sy metry to beauty there Is nothing here that could destroy the even harmony of the sets of houses all in line and it to Is really an admirable sight to be enabled to contemplate that magnificent rue de divoll straight wide immense with its houses not higher one than the other what lucky people are the parisians Pari they would be so had they only their boule boulevards I 1 you cannot dream of anything prettier more grand more lofty in appearance and variety an and from the opera square to the saint denis street you can walk without having any consciousness of fatigue entranced as you are by the marvels spread as by a faires wand before your dazzled eyes on each side there are numberless cafes multitudinous restaurants overflowing with luxury but at the very next door of the sumptuous establishment only made for the rich the clicking of the large glasses overflowing with the red wine the poorer classes nectar can be heard in a place that seems just as elegant but it Is only to deceive the eye because because in such a place the drinks are ch cheaper espert and although everything around looks nice these cafes and restaurants cater to the trade of the lower classes and it can be said that on the boulevards in paris all representatives of modern society can be seen close to each other the full dress suit in all its severe cor ness mingles with the ragged and shiny coat of the poor and modest working man who after having earned three francs his days salary comes also just as the gentleman just as the millionaire just as the prince to drink aso also hi his absinthe or an appetizer of some orae other denomination and by the swa way 7 france can be said to be the greatest country for appetizers rs however in the respect of absinthe I 1 must say that all the very numerous lies we have read in the trashy and cheap lit grature sold under yellow covers seem i to me now that I 1 can see for myself still more false and surely the authors of these vile books never saw paris you no doubt think just as I 1 used to myself that all the french people arg ar regular sots and drunkards of the lowest degree it is not so however and I 1 can affirm that I 1 have not yet seen a man under the influence of liquor ia the streets nor anywhere else since ray my arrival here moreover although r r might be taxed with exaggeration I 1 feel secure in stating that absinthe la not drunk in such quantities in pat paris as in new york we generally coia cow mit a mistake in the united states when we consider the word ward cafe as aa 1 a synonym of restaurant A cafe is a place where only liquors i while a restaurant serves only meals nothing being drunk except wine and this only at meals in america it la Is a habit to drink wine between meals but in paris it is not the same witte wine is used only on the table and outside of meals it would be considered very ill 5 bred to use any there are many per sons who have been in paris only dur dm ing a few days and they judge the country by what they believe they see and these people very often come back to america with wrong impressions and you must not belleve believe them because they know nothing about it yoa yo ought not either to believe those wh who P have been in france an and who will as sert that they have taken en board in fan families nilles of the highest aristocracy v as they say this is impossible by tho foe very fact that even the french belonging to the middle class revar would condescend to take boarder boarders boar derm they would not board even frenca people and by no means would they receive in their home strangers they dont know and I 1 defy anyone tk ta find a truly respectable french bams fambo ax to board them family life in france Is burro surround ea by an atmosphere of ho goriness and d of at respect and love 0 of BUIN subi limity of character that unites all tw members of a whole family andert er mighty everlasting aegis that death self canot banot break and it is for this is thaia if one of the members of a dies die his place will always rema there at the fire fireside elde of the paternal stal house bouse under the watchful eye ot of t tae good mother who supervises those thome re ma inIng but who gives also her thought to those who oan can be no n mora seen the invisible ones whose presence and influence Is yet fett As in amer tea lea and everywhere every whre else there to Is go sorrow borrow in every house but in france it seems to be more keenly fett fel H n ftc the little brother who dies die and wh ahou each one me can yet see in his t thou playing with the huge black tom who with a white spot right in middle of his head la Is purring slowly thinking perhaps of his little friend who Is in no more there but whom he shall see again perhaps who knows at other times it is a little sister who to is regretted she was five years old when she was taken away and it if she had lived she should now be seven at that recollection a beautiful brilliant tear more precious a thousand times than the most pure diamond appears tn in the eye of the young mother sometimes also it is papa who passed away and then everyone has to depend only upon that tha poor nisma guama so good and so devoted she will have to put everyone to bed this evening she ahe will aws each one of them good night she ebe will calm quarrels and shall preside at the eveni ing prayer which shall always be ended with a beautiful verse composed purposely and recited religiously for papa who for sure can see ee his dear little ones praying for him some other times the most often at it Is mamma poor mamma herself who Is dead think of it she was not f quite 30 years old and has left three i i children almost infants two boys and I 1 girl the two boys are there think ing of no nothing thine and are amusing them P selves in a corner of the room the S father in his gre great at arm chair his eyes r lost in space seems as if he was seeing r and looking at something something very charming indeed for just now he eremites ere mites to the invisible one and at that moment as a consolation his charm tang clug little girl who has not yet forgot ahten mamma already a woman by the lf roer serious lous expression of her face comes gently on an the arm chair and steals the lips of her father her good young still whose hair has turned tamed almost white since little mamma has departed this pure kiss of love 5 that he be was intending for the gentle y eom companion panion of his life whom he had saben in a moment of ee ecstacy stacy this is my dear friend the atmos bere e iere of purity and of simplicity that rs breathes in french families and I 1 could be still more lengthy on the but I 1 notice that my letter is dready quite long fand in weighing it af pf 3 am aan struck with horror at the thought t t the postage I 1 shall have to pay extra 3 I 1 shall nevertheless write to you hext week again and give you details sand appreciations on the life of thy tho M trench women married and dunmar aw ay iy V I 1 your tour forever devoted cousin 1 JULES CAMBON