Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The more opulent students resemble their poorer brethren in one respect:
they are early risers. Some breakfast as early as seven o'clock; others
betake themselves by six to their _ateliers_, or lectures--or pretend to
do so--returning, in two or three hours, to a later meal. This is of a
substantial character, consisting of two or three courses, with the
eternal _vin ordinaire_. When living in a hôtel, the student breakfasts
in the midst of those congenial delights; the buzz of conversation, the
fumes of tobacco, and the click of the billiard-balls. By means of these
amusements, and sundry _semi tasses_ and _petits verres_, he contrives
to kill the first two or three hours after breakfast. Cards and dominoes
are also in great request from an early hour, and present to an
Englishman a curious contrast with his own national customs. In England,
he is accustomed to find card-playing in the morning patronized only by
the most reckless; in France it is the commonest thing in the world to
see a pair of gentlemen with gray hairs and every attribute of
respectability, employed, at nine o'clock, upon a game of _écarte_,
enlivened by little glasses of brandy and the never-failing pipe. If a
young Englishman in London, instead of an old Frenchman in Paris, was to
addict himself to such untimely recreations, he would probably be cut
off with a shilling.
When the heat and smoke of the _café_ become too much even for French
students, they drop off by twos and threes, and seek the fresh air. The
Luxembourg Gardens are close by, and here they principally congregate.
Amusing figures they look, too, in their present style of costume, which
is a burlesque upon that of the Champs Elysées, which is a burlesque
upon that of Hyde Park. The favorite covering for the head is a very
large white hat, with very long nap; which I believe it is proper to
brush the wrong way. The coat, is of the paletôt description, perfectly
straight, without shape or make, and reaching as little below the hips
as the wearer can persuade himself is not utterly absurd. The remainder
of the costume is of various shades of eccentricity, according to the
degree of madness employed upon its manufacture. As for the beard and
mustaches, their arrangement is quite a matter of fancy: there are not
two persons alike in this respect in the whole quarter: it may be
remarked, however, that shaving is decidedly on the increase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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