Evening Star Newspaper, January 16, 1897, Page 16

16 THE EVENING, STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1897-24 PAGES. SHOPPING IN PARIS SS Pleasures Anticipated by the Newly Arrived Foreigner. WHAT THE REALITIES ARE! Some of the Drawbacks to the Parisian Purchases. AND WAISTS ed TAILOR GOWNS HE dents LADIES—RESI- and tourists— may be heard com- plaining regularly the shops of offer nothing than do ours me, a few such cialties as gloves hatiste wear alone excepted; often speak ill of Parisian dressmak- as Insincere, high-priced and again they will deride 1 the Louvre as wilder- p and commenplace, and their own chosen Bon y cheap in articles one does yet sure as week succeeds to d bargain-day to bargain-day, the t fair may be expected to for- get their injuries and hasten back with willing feet to the deceitful counters. Or is It not, perhaps, that they have been se- vere, ungrateful and a bit exacting In this matter of the shops, as they are tempted to be—in their quality of tourist—about ing abroad which does not continue ulate their jaded senses up to the enthusiasm of their first sight-seeing weeks? Some cheap theorizing must be laid art to hold together all the ontradictory acts and sayings and not week, a inconsiste want; ters and our cousins and our au let loose among the treasures of the far-famed capital of style and chic. They come expecting great things—and they find them. Undoubtedly their first few days are full songs of twitterings of happiness and thankfulne Immediately they gloves—such gloves—for nothing dream of gloves! And I have heard such hymns of praise for real silk petti- coats! They are in every pattern and color and so cheap that any lady may become as of brilliantly kaleldoseopic as Loie Fuller. they discover lace. Hurrah! They by day and night, comparing and “bargains.” things “picked up.” and gurgling melodiously over the ab- surd and heavenly cheapness of them all. What a sitting up at night it is, what slip- ping adventurovsly from room to room through the dark midnight pension halls! What mysterious crackling and rustling sounds do penetrate through walls to bach- elor ears! What excited, gasping whispers, purctuated by unmeaning giggles, testify to the contentment of these first bright ays of Paris These are fac Yet how soon t as changes to a dole- ful, “Is that all?” e: in the tone thei brothers use when they have seen sights” and the re: ion begun to set in so unreasonably. With the more sensi- ble a middle judgment sets itself up in ccurse of time. Cheap Merchandise. “After the first novelty wore off,” a lady has just b ing to m began te look on the grands magasins with some- thing almost like disgust. There seemed to be so much trash! So much cheap mer- chandise Pes no one would desire to have at any price! But I have since dis- covered that you can get very good quality in these establishments when you learn to seck At the Bon Marche you can hare ning you ask for.” She is pleased with their polite little at- tentions. “The other day I found a small hole in one of the handkerchiefs that I had bought. The initial had been embroidered on it and all; yet when I took it back to them they gave me another without a word. ‘Then, in an honorable way, they asked me if I would accept that damaged one at a reduction. They threw off fifteen cents, and I obliged them.” “Then are there no bargains except in gloves?” “The marking of handkerchiefs is cheap all embroidery. And this is not so un- rtant as it may sound. en working E women may wear ate and pretty un- der garments i As to prices and quality in gene I think they are not so of Franc y used to in they us at home. Fifteen years ago, mber. shopping in Paris was like a reve- lation to us Americans. Nowadays the dif- ference has rather to do with little polite- nesses s the handkerchief incident Take the matter of ready-made coats, for example. At h: if a coat does not fit, they say, ‘We will alter it for you—at so much extra.” Here they say, ‘We will make you another—without extra charge.’ And such a one will always appear to be hand- somer than the original. ! think they are more liberal than are our own big shops at home." Ready-Made Costumes. “How about the ready made party gowns that are so much in evidence? Certainly they seem to be wonderfully good and cheap.” “That depends on what you call cheap. A ready-made silk skirt costing $40 is not so much of a bargain after all. Undoubt- edly they display some very beautiful cos great pleasure to walk through them, and strangers who are not in the secret of the latest styles may pick up what is to them Precious information. Nevertheless you will usually find that the very nicest things are almost—I say almost—as dear as at a good Paris dressmaker’s; and that the others are cheap because they are just a trifle behind the day. That may not per- haps make so much difference ‘to ladies living outside of Paris—though in America, especially in the smart sets of our greater cities, we are astonishingly up-to-date. In this matter every one must use her judg- ment, for what will do for one will not do for another. This costume I have on,” re- marked the lady, smilingly, because she TRYING FOR A PERFECT FIT. fect from the first trying-on; the prices are kept up so high that the makers must do something to justify them. “In Paris every one—even the French— wears them, almost exclusively, for street attire. And’ they seem wonderfully cheap. You can get the best, from such establish- ments as Manby’s, Redfern's or Saddler's, for 365, and even a trifle less. The big shops, like the Louvre and Bon Marche, also attempt the taflor gown, and do nice work at considerably lower prices. But thelr product lacks the cachet of the real tailoring houses. Still, I have known some of our best girls"—here she named a Cali- fornia heiress—‘‘to go to the Bon Marche for some. Wherever bought, they are the knew it “went her’—as they say in French | one true solid comfort, without drawback, —so well, “this costume I have on Is not in the full style, yet because it is ‘indtvidual,’ not common, intrinsically pretty and a general success in every way, I am con- tented -with it. It was a good bargain at $100, all made and then altered to me. The skirt is really very good silk, the corsage is fine brocade, and the trimmings are of the first quality. Look at these buttons. They are like fine jeweler's work. The skirt is lined—as they always are in Paris— | with silk. And this lining—as does not al- ways happen in Paris—is good silk. Now, as I said, the design of this costume is original—‘individual’—and while it is not exactly dernier cri, it is, of course, quite sufficiently in the present mode. I suppose, as a matter of fact, it fs a conscientious and able copy of a costume made two months ago by Doucet or some other grand for a valued customer—because it is really artistically conceived. It has been stolen and is now being duplicated by this grand magasin. But what does that mat- ter to me? I am not likely to meet any ene else wearing it. But that would be awkward, wouldn't it?” Parisian Hats. And so she smiled a bit uneasily and changed the subject to Parisian hats. This lady has been buying a great deal of late, and if my story seems to be scarcely more than an interview with an unknown, it is pure and from the fountain head. You cannot get a pretty hat in Paris under fifty francs,” she said. “And, again, you can get as good bargains at the Louvre, the Bon Marche, the Trois Quar- tiers or other great shops as anywhere else. These grands magasins have pre- sentable-looking hats, in the latest style, from as low as six dollars up; but it would not be true to say that one can really be satisfied below ten dollars. But perhaps I am misleading you even here.” “How?” I asked, wondering. “In this way,” replied the thoughtful, helpful creature. “Just as there are hats of different price, so there are different wearers for them. Many a nice girl, thinking herself lucky to get to Europe under any circumstances, will view all she sees with an enchanted eye. To her the fact that every woman in Paris wears a Paris hat—yes, think, a Paris hat!—is in itself a wonderment, as was the fluency with which French children speak so diffi- cult a language a coniinual wonderment to—was it not Mark Twain? These hats become glorified to her, and any one of them will suit. Now, there are others— ladies who have bought their Paris hats ; at home—imported hats, direct from Paris, signed by the great makers—all through their soft, luxurious years. To such a trip to Paris causes no excitement on the score of hats. They will study the new styles and store their minds with useful information, but will buy no hats, or few, in Paris. They know that the great milli- ners in this deceitful, tourist-exploiting capital have two prices—one for foreign- ers—especially the English and Americans —and rich, high-class Parisians, the other for their ordinary, middle-class compa- triots. That is to say, Parisian ladies of good bourgeois stamp, as well-to-do or better off than, say, the average traveling American, can step into the choice, select establishments, and make what we would deem great bargains. But—and this ap- plies peculiarly to hats, and hats alone, though I cannot at all imagine why— Americans can never learn the trick. It has often been tried. Ladies have cliqued At the Perfumery Counter. together, ladies capable of giving really splendid orders, yet have failed. The grandes dames of the Paris high world also pay these fancy prices, but, I am told, for an understandable —they buy on such long credit. Americans ap- pear to be charged away up simply be- cause they are Americans. Knowing this, our rich Americans who have experience prefer to buy these same hats in New York, fair and square, where they will pay, perhaps, five dollars more apiece, though this is even doubtful, and in re turn buy to advantage, having leisure, new motives of comparison and freedom from the danger of excessive ideals. I have known | “to sit down i li —she spoke earnestly— acred privacy of their boudoirs and really boude—for ‘boudoirs’ com: from ‘bouder,’ which means to sulk, pout and worry—at the fact that their hats, bought in Paris that seemed exactly right in th nm at- mos’ at all, at all, in our more serious, worthy and sincere home circles. They were | beautiful, but loud.” “But does not that thought apply to all this Paris shopping?” ‘One would think so,” she answered, with sweet patience, also taking time, I think, to make up some excuse for not having thought of it before, “and, to be frank, she went on now, quite easily, having evi- dently found the road, “and to be frank,” she said, “there are ‘such dangers to be more particularly when selecting ing tollets. Happily, the modern street costume does not present that difficulty.” ‘The Tailor-Made Gown. “May I ask why?” “Because of the tailor-made gown. Now you come to a real Paris shopping advant- age at last, and one in which we Ameri- cans take the purest delight. Tailor gowns are almost haif-price here in Paris. It is complained by some that they do not fit 4s well here as at home. Yet others say they do. It is certainly true that with these makers, as with all dressmakers here in Paris, the gowns must go back and back again before they fit. You will hear this complaint on every side, and patience is the only remedy. It can scarcely be at- tributed to shiftlessness on the part of the workers, because everything in these tailor- made gowns is beautifully finished and well made. The materials are always good. Per- haps their cutters and fitters do not know the American figure.” “Does this difficulty about fitting amount to a serious drawback?" “Oh, no, of course not. There is always the chance that all will go well with any given gown. I was only speaking of a tendency. Perhaps it is because tailor- tumes at the Louvye and the Bon Marche at the beginning of each season. It is a made gowns are still in the nature of lux- uries at home that they come to us so per- phere of gaudy glitter, would not do | deceit, illusion or regret, to cheer the American shopper always, lightening the gloom in which at times she seems to walk, and compensating her for many ship- wrecked aspirations.” “That is very beautiful,” I answered, hastily, because I saw what I feared might be a last bright sputtering out of her in- formation before it should burn dry and I be incidentally left to walk in gloom my- self toward the conclusion of my story. “Very beautiful,” I said, “and true. But how about these new rare, radiant silk Caught. waists, which for two months past have been so gloriously lighting up our morning hours, till pension lunches come to be so many gaudy gardens and our winter prome- nades profusely picturesque with every color of the rainbow?” Colored Silk Waists. “Those silk waists have come to stay. They are beautiful and novel, with strange tints, absolutely stunning, quite unprece- dented, altogether lovely, desirable. They must have them by this time at home, so you will not need to describe them. For the most they are taffetas, though they are also made in velvets. When they come from Charvet's—the swell men’s chemisier —they have the nerve to ask us $15 apiece for making them! Of course, the silk is very expensive—you could not buy a pat- tern for $10. Some houses have them as low as $15; and the Bon Marche and Louvre | are offering hideous travesties for thirty francs. Nevertheless, you may rest as- sured that we have seen the last of the old shirt waist, that we loved so well, and that next summer will see, at home as abroad, a flowering out in these new wonderfully colored silk waists that will astonish young and old. The Tourist Girl Drought the shirt waist to Paris. Paris gives her in re- turn the flaming waistcoat.” STERLING HEILIG. ee Successful Buyers. From Scribner's. A good buyer who year after year in- creases his business and the reputation of his department, who leaves for the semi- annual inventory a clean and desirable stock—one who, in fact, has the genius of money making- paid a salary in the big houses of from 100 to $10,000, and often a percentage on the yearly increase of his sales. In some of the largest departments a number of the most capable buyers thus receive as much as $30,000 a year, and are regarded as cheap at that—a fact which can be readily understood when it is re- membered that in a single department of a great shop selling, say, a million dollars’ worth of goods a year, a difference of 5 per cent in the profits, which may be the result of a good manager as distinguished from a mediocre one, amounts to $50,000. On the other hand, in the lower-class stores, buyers in many of the departments are paid as low as $25 a week, with no percent- age. If the large incomes are the great ex- ception, it is also to be said that the op- portunities are more numerous than the men with the ability to take advantage of them. eee An Example. From the Chicago Tribune. “Speaking of the thorny paths of ‘itera- ture,” remarked Rivers, “the one that runs beside the bonnie brier bush appears to be a pretty comfortable sort of walk. —— New Patent Pneumatic Costume. For Disliked Drummers. vom Fliegende Blatter. Bek ’ S - a a a ABOUT THE NEWSBOY Seas As Seen in thé:Ledding Cities of This or . 3 ie HIS EXTINCTION THREATENED Causes Which Hav Diminished the Ranks of Thése Sfreet Characters. A LOCAL INSTITUTION Written for The Evening Star. TAH YEAH!” IS A sound of the streat he remembrance of which the Washing- tonian carries with him around the world. The writer, sleeping in a Chi- nese village inn, has heard it in his dreams, and he has counted the revolu- tions of steamship propellprs to its fancied sound. It is the mcst insistent, liquid, mellow call of the pave, the most fetching, persuasive newsbcy cry to be heard on the globe. Washington ts one of the few American cities wherein the newsboy remains an im- portant institution in the eye and the ear of the streetfarer. One reason perhaps is that he has remained honest and not fallen into habits that have brought his kind into disrepute in other cities. Elsewhere, notably in the major commercial cities, the newsboy, like the bootblack with the portable kit, is passing, and he has become so-compara- tively scarce as to tender unnecessary the drafting of any municipal laws for his guidance. In these cities the street corner news stand, the “L” railroad news stand, and, firally, the news girl, have combined to pull the cobbles from beneath the news- boy’s feet. in New York city, for instance, there is but a remnant of the rapid, shrill-voiced, dime-novel brigade of newsboys, those ver- itable Gavroches—fungi of the war—sud- denly crganized more than thirty-five years ago to meet the requirement of a time; to cause men and women to hold their breath the while they shouted vic- tory or disaster through the streets with eqval unconcern. Even this remnant is un-American. The boys do not howl head- lines in clear English, sharply enunciated, however butchered. Instead they shrick the names of the newspapers they purvey in a weird patols, partly Yiddish, partly German; of south European a modicum, of English hardly any. “Woil!’ “Choinal!” “Hoil!”—thus the New York newsboys an- neunce "their presence in the Tenderloin and in the neighborhood of City Hall Park, the two districts to which they are prac- tically restricted, owing to lack of patron- age elsewhere in the city. Prospect of the Future. It is the samé in Chicago, in Philadel- phia, in Boston, in St. Lo..s, in San Fran- cisco, in a majority of the great cities on this continent. It is not unlikely that in some of these cities ten years hence the newsboy will be as eftinct as the dodo. Not that he is being deliberately crowded to the wall. He is & every possible show in all of the cities mentioned. Wash- ingten is the only city in the United States where there has appeared to be any neces- sity for curtailing his. opportunities or di- rectirg bis busia methods. It is plain competition to which he is succumbing in the big citles. The news stands found at the leading points in cities has reduced the opportuni- ties of the newsboys. The sentimental or gallant man in New Xork or Chicago has of late years gotten into the habit of taking his morning or evening paper from the lit- tle, shriveled old woman, or the bright, pretty young girls who take up jammed points of vantage In those cities. The St. Louis man has effected his relief from the necessity of halting and diving into his pockets for change to buy news- papers in a peculiar way. Almost to a man the St. Louis newspaper readers subscribe for their papers, and have them left at their doors, so that the St. Louis newsboy depends in the greatest’ measure upon transient custom. St. Louis newspapers are beaten only by the Washington Star in the number, proportionate to the respective populations of the two cities, of newspaper readers whose names are inscribed upon the local subscription lists. As Found in Philadelphia. Mark Twain said, a good many years ago, that the city newsboy is an index to the character of a city’s people. That epigram has now lost some of its force, but it still holds good to a certain extent. The Phila- delphia newsboy of the present day, for in- stance, is the most quiet, subdued, respect- able young person in the news-vending line to be found in the United States. He is really dignified; sometimes embarrassingly polite. His face and hands bear distress- ing indications that he understands the use of soap and water. His shoes are often brightly polished, and he has a penchant, which he frequently gratifies, for collars and cuffs and cravats. He calls his printed wares in the smallest, mildest, actually modulated tone of voice, and he does not move around at all. He establishes himself upon a corner and stays there. No other boy is unprofessional enough to infringe upon territory thus taken up. Not even an “extra,” containing startling news, arouses the Philadelphia newsboy to action. He retains his stand upon his corner, and in a sort of expos- tulatory, pleading tone informs passersby that the newspapers he carries under his arm contain information of a really re- markable character, well worth the buying. But the Philadelphia newsboy knows his gait. He knows that if he indulged in vo- ciferous bawling the mild Philadelphians would turn from him with disgust, and he would sell no papers. Appeals to Sympathy. The New York newsboy is a tawny, foxy little fellow of no particular race, but with something in him of all races. He is an accomplished actor, and depends as much upon his capabilities for arousing sympathy for a livelihood as upon the sale of his “poipes.” On a wintry night he will curl up at the base of a statue In a public square, or huddle at the foot of an “L” stairway, with a bundle of old papers un- der his arm, and feign sleep, carefully scru- tinizing pedestrians from the tail of his eye, however. The scheme hardly ever fails to work. here is money in it. Elderly ladies happen along, shake the poor little pitiful outcast, who awakes with a start and in fgars, and moans over the bitterness of being “Stuck,” the certainty of his being whipped within an inch of his life when he goeg “home,” and so on. The tale, skillfully tgld and pathetically elab- orated, almost invariably wrings a quarter, a half dollar, and often even a dollar, from the sympathetic-old lagy or the mellow man who has just dined pretty well. There are a dozen curly-hegged Iittle New York news- boys, with Raphael jfaces, who make a business of working this scheme, and have never been known to buy newspapers to sell them. ‘The ,decline of the New York newsboy is In good measure ascribable to swindling practices in which some of them began to engage a few years ago. They would sell week-old papers, neatly folded and sprinkled to give them freshness, to rushing men of business, who failed to dis- cover the fraud until the swindling boy had disappeared. ‘Those who had been cheated made it a poift afterward to patronize news stands. The Cnicago newsboy is a hoarse, bellow- ing youth who lives, when he is not making the day and night hideous, in the unspeak- able “Levee” of the city by the unsalted sea, He often lands in Joliet, for the “Levee” teaches him evil ways, the most common of which is the “rolling,” or rob- bing, of drunken men who stumble their foolish way along the Chicago streets, and get themselves led into the ambush of “knock-out” dives by a class of newsbovs always on the lookout for such opportunt- ties. The Illinois state prison is fall of ex- newsboys who declined to submit t6 the un- derminirg competition of news stands and newsgirig and took ‘to highwai robbery, and till-tapping as a more profitable, if less safe, means of livelihood. A Chicagu newsboy some ‘time ago mar- ried a girl who was the heiress of millions. He did not appreciate his luck, and fell into dangerous practices. He is now as- sorting the soiled clothing of convicts in the laundry of Joliet. This is not to say that all of the newsboys of Chicago are a bad lot. But they are all exceedingly im- pudent, and a good many of them derive a peculiar satisfaction in selling a clean- looking paper of June 3 to a much hur- ried man on November 23. Whereby they cut their own throats, for no citizen Is ever fooled twice in this way. A Ravenous Crowd. The new boys of San Francisco are a Tavenous crowd, although they make more money than the newshoys of any other American city, for there are no pennies on the Pacific coast, and newspapers, bought by the boys at about the same rates the Papers are sold to them in eastern cities, all cost 5 cents. For all this, the San Francisco newsboy will follow a man who appears to be a stranger in the city a dis- tance of blocks in order to compel him to purchase a paper, talking all the time, and giving purely fictitious accounts of the amazing things the papers contain. The newsboy thus on the stranger's trail will pay no attention whatever to his de- rials, good-natured or angry, and makes himself such a positive nuisance that in nine cases out of ten the pursued man will dig Into his pockets for a nickel to throw at the boy, often without taking a paper in xchange.’ The farmer from the interior of California suffers at the hands of the San Francisco newsboy. They form a ring around him on the most prominent thor- oughfares, especially on Market, Kearney and Sacramento streets, and practically hold him up. He has either got to buy one or more newspapers or suffer a merciless guying for squares. The San Francisco po- liceman stands and watches this kind of thing with a grin. The newsboys of New Orleans are a pic- turesque lot of brown boys, not unlike those of Washington, who put : degree of soft- ress in their handling of the difficult word “Pick’yoon” that is pleasant to hear. They are all eminent as crap shooters, and most of them as sprinters, for a combination of the two accomplishments is as necessary in New Orleans as it is in Washington. A Musical Call. The newsboys of St.Paul and Minneapolis are a bright lot of distinctively American boys, who have an odd habit of traveling in pairs, and of singing, soprano and alto, or tenor and baritone, the names of their papers in a sweet, musicianly style that is really pleasant to the ear. ‘‘Pi-o-ne-e-er- Preh-eh-es” is sung as a kind of anthem by the boys, thus working in pairs, a slow and gradual descent being made on the word “Press.” They make five or six bars of sounding music out of the call, ““Min-ne-ap- o-lis Tri-in-by-yoon.” They do not lose any- thing by thus purveying in company, for their calls attract attention, and the paired boys take turns in disposing of their pa- pers. The newsgirls of New York and Chicago, who have only made their appearance with- in the past three years, are a merry-eyed set of young women of great assumed demureness, much addicted to the wearing of grotesque costumes of the poster and Yvette Guilbert order, in order to .attract attention to themselves. They make good incomes. Two girls, sisters and twins, about nineteen years old, both dressed ex- actly alike, with enormous black ostrich- plumed hats as the chief article in their make-up, stand at the uptown and down- town elevated stairs at 23d street and 6th avenue, in New York, and take in handsful of money every day. The pretty young Spanish woman who stands at the corner of State and Madison streets, in Chicago, dressed in an outtit that makes her look like a petite Carmencita, is said to own a block of dwelling houses on the west side of Chicago. a ens A RELIC OF ROYALTY. The Feathers of Wales Still Waving in St. Paul's Church, From the New York Times. ‘Though few are aware of the fact, mem- bers of the congregation of old St. Paul's Church, at Vesey street and Broadway, gaze every Sunday at the arms of the fu- ture king of England. On the canopy of the old-fashioned pulpit, which is of the Ppepper-box style of a century ago, are the three ostrich feathers and the crown that for many generations have constituted the arms of the Prince of Wales, the heir to Britain’s throne. The feathers stand out gracefully in the center of the oak canopy. ‘They are of carved wood, handsomely gild- ed, and form an attractive ornamentation to the pulpit. With these royal arms over his head, the minister who officiates in St. Paul’s Church on Sunday reads the zervice of the American church. It is strange that these royal arms have survived the storms of the revolutionary days. An incensed mob traveled through New York city when independence hal been declared, destroying every sign that represented the monarchy from whose ckains they had cut themselves free. Noth- ing was regarded as sacred by this mob. The royal arms were everywhere at that time; on the windows of stores whose pro- prietors had been proud of this means of reminding the public that at one time they had supplied his majesty’s ships with sait pork er hardtack; on the lampposts at the street corners, and swinging from the front porches of the old inns. Windows on which the royal symbols appeared were ruthless- ly smashed by the mob, the lamppos?s were hurled to the ground and the inns ceprived of their signs in short order. It was a time when to be a client of royalty brouzht a man into dangerous prominence, and many wise storekeepers escaped mob violence and saved the destroying party the trouble of smashing their signs by doing the work themselves. The royal arms of England were hard to find in New York city when the mob aad completed its tour. Some few signs escap- ed the ruin, but not for long. They were smashed as soon as attention was called to their presence. ‘The relic in St. Paul’s Church was passed unnoticed, and has survived to this day. It is certain that the mob somewhat over- looked its existence, for no respect for the sacredness of a church edifice would kave deterred it from laying the pulpit in ruins had the presence of the feathers and crown of Wales been pointed out. oe They Were All There. From the Cincinnati Tribune. The wild-eyed gentleman paused and looked long and earnestly at the little wheel ventilator which was whizzing around in the window. pane high over his head. “Can it be?" he asked, half aloud. Placing une finger in his right ear he closed his eyes thoughtfully for a second. “No,” he said, with a sigh of relief, as he moved on again, “‘it isn’t one of mine lost from its place. They're all there.” Unlike most men, he could count his wheels. ——+e-—_____— Pleasant Labor. From the Chicago Record. “Nan, doesn't it trouble you for Jack to have rheumatism in both arms?” ‘Well, when he calls I have to do part of ris work for him.” SS Reversing the Looking Glass. From Fliegende Blatter, After twenty-five years. . THE BUSY MAN’S HELP. se dntoegeetpegnsoedetongedeto gntongnipede cece ctongnipngeepcmtntp cesecelonteinterte Sold by all news- dealers =-also at the business office of The Evening Star, llth & Pa. Ave. moe ssendengesgengongondontontongegees % mateo FRANCE’S ARMY CRITICISED. A French Officer Says That Half the Force Exists Only on Paper. A remarkable pampllet entitled “My Company” appeared recently in Paris. The author remains anonymous, signing him- self merely “A Captain and Company Lead- er,” but his statements regarding the army are youched for by Gen. Poilloue de St. Mars, who in the preface says that to his own knowledge they are correct in every respect. In view of the proposal to add several corps to the French army the pam- rhlet has special interest. ‘The captain and company leader com- plains that the French nation is deceived as regerds the numerical strength of its army. The army on paper numbers some 500,000, he says, but in actual military serv- ice there is hardly mcre than two-thirds that force. In some branches of the ser: ice, he contends, the proportion is barely one-half. He asserts that every soldier who can shirks his proper duties—drilling, marching, maneuvering and so on—and de- votes himseif to the work of the officer's orderly or secretary, or even to the tasks of the common workingman about camp or barracks. One day the author called out his company to drill, end found but thirty- seven of the 121 men at hand. Upon in- quiry he learned that the other eighty-four | were empioyed in work that had no direct connection with seldiering. The absent, list was not always so large, but rarely fe below sixty or seventy. In other companies the same state of affairs was common. The reader who questioned this statement might satisfy himeclf of its truth by questioning any company commander of his acquaint- ance. How completely this system of shirk- ing had taken possession. of the army might be learned from this letter, written but a few weeks ago by a general who recently had given up the command of an army corps: “In peace the officers take the privates to their homes to keep the houses in order, to go walking with the children, &c. The privates live with their masters, and wear civilian clothes. The regulations say, how- ever, that the officers may have at their service only a few privates, whose duty it shall be merely to keep the officers’ uni- fcrms and weapons in order. The abuses of this narrow privilege are concealed, and the more they are concealed the more they are multiplied. For the one purpose of personal service, about ten men are taken out of every company. “In, Germany the numerical strength of the peace army is fixed beyond the possi- bility of alteration by the officers. If one man goes, he is replaced at once by anoth- er. Thus the numerical standard remains unchanged. In France the number on pa- per is always deceiving. It includes many who are soldiers in name only. In Ger- many they Fave, as they aim to have, a certain fixed fighting force. In France we seem to exert curselves mainly to make a gcod showing cn pape! ‘The German correspondents in Paris are immensely pleased with these utterances, and recall the book of Major de Nercy, re- tired, who, writing on “The Next War,” urder the ‘supervision of Gen. Marquis de Galliffet, told the French people that, un- less the army should be reorganized and disciplined more strictly, the next war with Germany would be likely to end as disas- trously for France as did that of 1870-'71. ———_+02+—____ ECCENTRIC COL. HATCH. The Wonderful Invention of the Au- thor of the Anti-Option Bill. From the New York Sun, “Ex-Congressman W. H. Hatch of Mis- souri, who died recently, was regarded as somewhat eccentric by some of his friends,” said Thomas J. Murray, formerly proprietor of the restaurant in the House of Representatives. “He firmly believed that the death rate among the members of Congress was augmented by what he called ‘the cussed carelessness’ of Washington boarding house keepers, many of whom, he claimed, cooked the food they served to the nation’s lawmakers in unhealthy or poison-forming utensils. He often said a law should be passed compelling sanitary experts to inspect boarding house kitchens before the proprietors of them could take in a congressman as a boarder. His fear of injury to his health from eating food cooked in an untinned copper utensil be- came so strong that he took up the chafing dish habit and became an expert; but he invented one dish which caused many of his friends to decline, politely but firmly, a second invitation to partake thereof. The name of this dish was Oysters a la Hatch. It was prepared as follows “Two dozen large oysters, a tablespoon- ful of paprika, half a teaspoonful of salt and a bottle of ale. “One dose of this compound was all he could ever get a fellow-member to try. “Hatch was not much of a drinkjg man, nor was he a judge of whisky, although he claimed to be. He always insisted on hav- ing his favorite brand of Kentucky bour- bon sent unopened to the table. After a careful inspection of the cap and label, to see that they had not been tampered with, he would draw the cork himself; but the bartender in the House restaurant often fooled him by filling up the bottle with rye, a brand of whisky Hatch claimed was not fit for man, beast or devil. “He was very fond of making new and strange drinks, which he was wont to test on others. On Jure 22, 1894, he passed his anti-option bill after a hot fight, and he invented his anti-option tonic in honor of the event. This tipple consisted of a mix- ture of whisky, ice, two raw eggs, and The busy man of affairs is often at a loss for reliable infor- mation regarding perplexing questions that arise every now and then during business. he is wise he will have near at hand a copy of the EVENING STAR : ALMANAC & ; HANDBOOK. It proves of priceless value as a book of ready reference. || the comprehensiveness of an encyclopaedia with the concise- | ness of a manual is embodied in this Almanac. after page of matter not found | | in any other volume printed. lf Ail It contains page Get yours now. ee ieeedentotintines enough paprika to make a Mexican sneeze. If Mr. Hatch met a new member of Con- gress who started in to make friends through the easiest way of forming ac quaintances in Washington—for nobody re fuses an invitation there—Hatch would Promptly lecture the culprit. After telling him how useless were such acquaintanc he would lay down the rules which hb claimed should govern the drinking habits of a dignified statesman. These rules we First, never drink before breakfast; si ond, never drink anything but whisky; third, never drink whisky without diluting it with water; fourth, never get drunk two days in succession.” ROAST © — STER PARTY. A Pleasant Form of Informal Enter- ment. From Harper's Bazar. How does a “roast oyster party,” by way of an evening entertainment, sound to the girls? Oysters are in fine condition just now, and they are never so good as when roasted over a roaring hot fire. But the whole affair must savor a bit of bohemian- ism to make it a success. Too many gues: should not be asked at a time, as it is diff- cult, very, to roast any great quantity of oysters at once in a private house. Then another point is that the oysters must be eaten In close prcximity to where they are cooked. If you can so arrange it, have the table spread in the front basement One New York girl who will shortly give a roast oyster party has sent ou: her in- vitaticns in the most informal manner. and the number of the young people asked !s orly twenty. In her nctes, where the word m or “dancing” is generally put, yster roast.” The guests are in- d for haif-past 8. The first part of the ing she intends to have music haps a shor: game of progressiv. Then they will all descend to ment, where she intends to have a y at every person's place to hold the oysters as they are served hot from the fire in the kitchen next door, and a paper pail on the floor, at each place, in which to throw the shells. The only decorations for the table are to be small lamps, and in the middle this in- genious young woman has planned to have a centerpiece made of oyster shells, ar- ranged in a pretty mound, with feras Aa moss stuck in here and there to 190k like a rockery. This will be placed on a mirr and the effect will no doubt be very pret Saltines and thin sandwiches of bread and butter are all they are to have to eat, be- sides the oysters, and bottled beer is to be the chosen beverage for those who want anything of that kind. There will be no tablecloth on the table, but four bundles of bright-colored Japanese napkins, which will be placed at the corners, and the guests may take @s many as they choose. After we will mot dare say how many oysters have been consumed, they have ranged to dance a Virginia reel upstairs to end the evening. All the young people in- vited are looking forward to the evening with great expectations of a jolly time. seeseyee Then He Flea, From the Chicago Post, The man with the vapid smile chuckled. “Such a good joke,” he said. es?” returned the man with the heavy walking stick interrogatively, at the same time taking a firmer hold of the stick. “Oh, yes,” said the man with the vapid smile confidently, “best joke you ever heard. I'm going to sell it to a comic pa- ver for $5. “Irll be a whale of a joke if you 4 answered the man with the heavy walk- ing stick. “Well, it is, asserted the man with the vapid smile. “It's absolutely new and original, too. You see, it occurs to me that, in view of the fact that members of Congress get mileage and also an allow- ance for their letter paper and envelopes, they receive—” “Yes?” There was a menacing swing to the heavy walking stick that the man with the id smile did not fail to notice. hey receive,” he repeated, moving a little farther away, “both traveling and stationary expenses.” Then he fled, and wisely, too. Mrs. A. H. Crausby of 158 Kerr st., Memphis, Tenn., paid no attention to a small lump in her breast, but it soon developed best _ physicians in New York mediate — improve- ment resulted; a few ‘ \ . years. Books on Cancer free; address Swift Specifie URED BYZe= ca the most malig- nant type. The finally declared her case hopeless. AS @ last resort, S. S. S. was given, and am completely, and no sign of the disease has returned for ten