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Show immmim mm mm the Place de la Repub-, ', '. , AjfA , W h v 'I'll I 1 Uque, along the Champs :' 1 1 ' ' r' ! 1 fM' 'I iVH'1 Vfe' FT Elysees from the Arch to 1 '' 'MM. ' ' 'W'sfl T $TlAut S tiZ1 M -3 the Obelisk, in little bras- , , , ,'3M W 1 4Vffa I T series along the Seine, -in. . V - i tT4--S( I ) - " ,M lhe 80-called "American:,-, :)r,A nrni felkA ' , Id 10 Vr bar" of the Opera quar- YXiM' f f, fe-- IV VV " i i &n ter in the pastry shops ... ; 'hH'&iy I ) s ' CIB j U$ along the Rue de Fau-7 - .' fM $ ''OHtt. L'-tV &f- bourg SL Honore, at the ' . . Z3 . , PV'J lV' 1 prix fiXB ' i ',',,..''' ..-; -'- 1 " tables d'hote along the Boul" Mich of the Latin quarter in fact, In almost any of the twenty aron-dissements aron-dissements within the fifty-six gates of the French capital, will be found the ubiquitous American Ameri-can grafter. Attracted to you by( either the American Ameri-can roll to the brim ' of your derbv nr. your Brockton made shoe, he will" unerringly un-erringly single you out as a fellow-countryman fellow-countryman abroad on pleasure tent, therefore fish for his net. He may be working on one of the three! commoner com-moner "lays" the "touch," the f'loan" or the "guide." -In other words, 'he : may brazenly ask you for a smajll sum of money with which he may (obtain ; food or lodging, he may tell jyou a hard luck story about a mythical delayed de-layed draft and ask you for a lpan' to-tide to-tide him over, or he may offer to; guide you around and about Paris at so much an hour or a day. 1 1 Grafters working the "touch' plan are easily got rid of. A small piece' of silver and a decided refusal to give more will usually suffice to sendl them on their way, although your nanie and, temporary address will be passed around sooner or later, together ; with a "tip" as to the amount you gave the; first begging countryman. , ' ' ' The pleas of those after a , tloan" are in many cases both heartrending and plausible. A cable message' '' is often displayed which may read:; "Sot:-, ry delay. Draft for thousand, first mail." Who could refuse a clean-cut young fellow from Milwaukee j after he had told you of the clothing locked up at his hotel, of two sleepless nights passed in walking the streets, of Paris? With tears in his eyes he assures as-sures you that not a morsel of food has he swallowed in eight and forty hours; then he exhibits the cable mes-; sage, and you part with 50 or; 100 francs never to see it again. .,;,, The beggars are a nuisance, the bor- ( rowers are a pest, but the so-called American "guit's" of the great French city are most unquestionably ' the worst of the lot, in that their dealings with American visitors, while apparently appar-ently straightforward, are as crooked as the proverbial ram's horn." Graft, under a thousand different cloaks, enters en-ters into their propositions. , They toil not, nor do they spin, yet few tourists eat better food, drink better wine or wear more fashionable attire than do these buccaneers of the boulevards. boule-vards. -' ' ' - . ' They pounce upon you as you leave your train at the Gare St. Lazare; they scan the columns of the newspapers newspa-pers for the names and addresses of the newly arrived Americans; they haunt the vicinage of the Grand hotel; ho-tel; they hail you as you leave the Credit Lyonnais after cashing a draft; but possibly of all places their favorite favor-ite stamping ground is along the northern side of the Boulevard des Capucines. Here, upon every hand, particularly during the late afternoon and evening, you will encounter the American "guide" airily swinging his rattan stick, his shifty eyes looking for the telltale American derby. Naturally, if it be your first visit to Paris, you desire to see all Paris, both before and after dark. He will help you. You hail with delight the coming of the interpreter-guide who speaks your language, for are not the sights and mysteries of Paris as an open book to him? ; s His rates are only a louis a day and expenses, but even this sum can be shaded should you plead your inability inabil-ity to afford that sum. Should you be unable to afford a half-louis, or even a measly five-franc piece, It is more than likely that the guide will yawn, gaze up and down the boulevard, and then deliver himself substantially as follows: "Well, I'm sorry.' Times are pretty slow over here and I'm not very busy. But look a-here I'll tell you what I'll do: I've nothing on today or tonight, and seeing that you're from Little Old New York my home town I'll show you around for nothing, just for the sake of passing away the time. You pay the cab fares, the lunch, the supper, sup-per, and I'll show you everything that's to be seen. I'll save you money and keep you from being skinned. It'll coot you less if I take you around than it would If you tried to get around alone and take it from me, the Apaches are pretty bad this year and it Isn't sate for an outsider to pike around Montmartre without a guide who knows all the ropes. What do you say? Will we start now?" Who could refuse such an Invitation? Invita-tion? Nft the average American tourist tour-ist upon his first visit. True, with the aid of a guidebook he might find his way to the Louvre. His boarding 4 school French might even serve to get him , tfl yersailles, andback j again, . without' serleus. mlshapv or extraordinary extraordi-nary expenditure. But. nearjy all Ameri'cap visitors', 'both, .male. nd'fe-j male), desir? Jor, once, ln J.helr lives to witness "J the i jfarjained! , pear-naughtiness of Paris 'at'first hand, and that isvKere the iae'ebnies in. ; . VexsjaHles,nh4 JBols de Boulogne.'the , Louvfe,a dinner. jit. theCafe del Paris; followed b'y'a njght'a;, the Folles Ber-gi-re, might- suit a i small minority of the Amerigo,, visitors;, and ;a;;fiew of the' wonjen folik, after, , a, cheap! glg.ve hunting 'trip 'a, 'dayJiH 'the dressmak;' ingi -esfab-lkstiirientts in; the Rue de Ja Paix and a grenadine' at bne; cf the marble. .topped,-tables-along the Bouler1' yard, $e, Jtalien6,;feel. that; thes have ; seen air' that" is 'fit to 'see' of PaHs.V' Si Noitj sot 4t6"JeVer,'.'!with' 'the 'great ma?. , jority .Malp.a,nd female ialike. clamor for .tpulinipouge.the Bal Tat'a-. riri;' the. Abbay'e,' Max(m's. ,tbe Tjavern b;;t'he JRed' ' Ass,1 :the ' Rat ' Mt'ort arid lOther Iresoits o 'lesser '-tepUte.' They seek -tq , i$ainb jthe"-; naffowi streets of the Latjp Quarter, i that, they ,maiy s'ee Boheraia 'wim their pyn ,eyes. , iTheyV are anxious Id'' buy 'wine I "at the pome ior models wbd sometimes 'pose they.-da.notjrest.Mntil they.-da.notjrest.Mntil they have' visited the Bal Bullier, famous ,pn, five, continents. Hence the. guide for It,, is ian, easief matter1 for4 a multi-millionaire . to get by Sfc; Peteti than1 for an '"unsteered" stranger- tp find ."some, of 'these' establishments. estab-lishments. ,j ri ,-,);,)-, . vv . : M j '"When an, obliging voung, man, offers, to show you around town without any, expense to" yourself, what is more natural nat-ural than, for,. you ito. 'accept such a kind offer.: .,.n,f(,v; V) .rj! hnr. " Having accepted.. tfie gratuitous. of fer of 'the "American guide, you j map out i a ;tour' ifOp;the' ' afternoon 1 and, evening, eve-ning, we, wSlhsjty.v .Singularly enough, your .guide , is, not, satisfied , with' the first cocherj' , who .cracks his whijj and solicits " 'yout ' patronage :he' needs musfe goi-dowri''the"'-nne'''ahd pick out a certain driver. . f,A, A "Thts -teller's M, , the' level wlth-fil's' charges.' the guide explains as j you. drive "off. "I know him for a square cocher. Some of the others would most likely drive you off into some side street where the Apaches, would hold you up and split with hlny." o !.' , Having arrived at your destination by a more or less circuitous routed you pay the driver a sum which 1 seems, cheap, when compared with a. drive of the' same length in the States, and yet it is', usually twice or three times the amount of the legal fare!-. You notice that the guide seems to be Very friendly with the driver and that, when Jou dismiss the cabby he shakes hands, with the guide. Indeed, this' handshaking continues throughout the entire evening, for no matter where you' stop';to drink or eat or gaze the proprietors alwayB shake hands.wtth the guide Invariably at the moment you take your leave. - It seems quite unnecesary -to' add that from the moment you enter a resort re-sort a cWeful account is kept of your expenditures, and at the moment of your' lcavetaking a coipmission varying vary-ing from 25 per cent, to 50 per eent. passes from one palm to another. It is usually 50 per cent, in the resorts which'' appeal to the inner man, as well as at the show places and cabarets caba-rets of Montmartre. "ven - should you venture into a place where your guide is personally unknown to the management he still obtains his commission, for when you enter his first move is to whisper to the proprietor?, or manager these four magic words: "Je suis l'lnterprete." The commission, is added to the price, and rare.. indeed are, the shops or resorts re-sorts which do not make it "worth while" for the man who. accompanies yoiu - - j- - ' - ' Indeed, some of these self-styled "Interpreter-guides" have been residents resi-dents of ..Paris' for such short space j that their French vocabulary is practically prac-tically limited to those four words. In the early hours of the morning, after the guide has shaken . hands with the last cocher in front of your hotel, you thank your companion for his kindness in helping you to pass an enjoyable evening. You may even take pity on him on account of the dull state of his business and surreptitiously surrep-titiously slip a half-louis into his receptive re-ceptive palm, lie will not object He has spent twelve hours, more or less. with vou. and seems to have been well, acquainted wherever you went. You are confident that he has saved you money, and naturally you feel grateful toward him. ; The fact of "the. mattei1 is that he abas been driven all. over the city at your expense;, he has lunched ' and dined with yo'ul to say nothing of the Jmld.nlght bite at the Cafe Weber; and if you have' spent ' the sum of 200 francs during the afternoon and evening eve-ning you may rest assured that gold and silver amounting to some 80 or ,100 rtancs-r-once yours is safe in one of the pockets of the guide's fashionably fashion-ably cut' trousers;- ' ' - If, was one ;the privilege of the writer1 writ-er1 to' listen to the absinthe inspired confidences of a number of American '"guides" and, panhandlers. A young man wearing' a' frock coat and well ,lroned silk .3ppper j approached the table and begged for the privilege of a few words with me. His linen was potless-r-his -iStory seemed flawless. He had, so he said,, been, robbed In Montmartre while seeing the town a few1 nights before. , He had cabled for funds, but a heartless ' landlord bad oQked'.up his ' ten suits' of clothing and turned him into the street. Would I kindly come to his relief with a small loan ifot-'a' few days' Until' the arrival of hisraft,? ' .He exhibited a typewritten typewrit-ten cable message which looked promising,! prom-ising,! nd' the1 tears came to my eyes as , 7thoUgh,tj of, his predicament and overpeppered my bouillon. '' "I'm sorry I can't help you out," I told him. "You see, this happens to "ee my third 'isit to Paris, and I've heard all about these heartless laud-lords laud-lords and delayed drafts before. Those1 sleeve buttons of yours' ought to fetch enough at the Mont de Piete to tide you over for a few days should you ,be on the level." K The man in the frock coat was labout to slink away, when I asked him 'to join me and have an aperitif. Over .an..,jibsinthe-au-sucre- he" waxed confidential confi-dential and told me his story, v "You're wise, " said he, as he surveyed sur-veyed the' opalescent contents of his gla,ss. "There sure is a bunch of American grafters over here; having al!pretty' soft ' time. , I'ye only been over, here 'two months,' but some of the, ,puBh, have been, here for years." He;helped, himself to my cigarettes and continued: ,, , . p , : ' ".'Paris is a cheap place to live in. A perfect dinner costs very little.' The rent of 'a nice; room is about half what , you , have to , pay in New York, less than that once you can speak French and know' how-to . make a bargain. Clothing. Qf live .best sort can be had 'for i song, "and a two-horse carriage can jbe . hired for about twice the price .of a carfare in. the states. ' ! "Pickings ' are good during the tourist tour-ist 'season, and the only' kick that the boys have is on the French shoes and cigarettes. ,; Several of the bunch import im-port their own smokes. Of course, the favorite 'graft is the American tourist.' He always has money, and is over here to spend it and have a good ;tlme..; If, we spin a good yarn about hard luck it's pretty easy to make a "touch" , for a louis, and 'most any New Yorker wall fall for a five-franc piece.'.' orl :. " ;''Ij.used to keep a set of books in Cleveland," another American grafter told me over a glass of Algerian "Bordeaux" "Bor-deaux" in a little brasserie In the Rue Vignon. '"I'd saved a bit of money and felt too strong to push a pen any longer, long-er, so 1 came over here to take in the sights. 'I, went broke the third day after my arrival, and as I found so many people, willing to help me I've stayed here ever since. Paris is all right after you've lived here awhile and know the ropes. I'm here going on seven years now, and 1 expect to live here the rest of my life." "' ;.' ,'i . i : |
