Nasby in Exile: or, Six Months of Travel in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, with many things not of travel
John Locke · en
The Professor's guardianship will not be of much use to the
pleasure-seeking youth. Professors have curiosity, which they generally
gratify, in one way or another. Poor humanity!
The café is the Frenchman's especial resort, however. They are
everywhere and of all classes, and from six to twelve at night are full.
The regular Frenchman sees his friends here; business is transacted
here; the political questions of the day are discussed, and here nations
are made and unmade. In foul weather the inside is crowded; in fair, the
little tables on the sidewalk under the beautiful trees are all
occupied. And these little tables outside afford never-failing pleasure,
to any one, native or foreign. There is a constant ebb and flow of
humanity along the streets; there the costumes of all nations and the
manners and customs of the world are reproduced for your benefit.
Americans, English, Germans, Turks, Tunisians, West Indians, Carribeans,
Russians, and Polanders. If there is a nation on earth that is not
represented in the Boulevard des Italiens or any of the principal
streets, any fine night, I do not know of it.
[Illustration: THE CAFÉ SWELL.]
And here sits the Parisian, hour after hour, watching this human
kaleidoscope, and thanking heaven that he is a Frenchman, and above all
a Parisian.
[Sidenote: THE RELIGIOUS AFRICAN.]
The electric lights shine through the foliage of the trees, making
figures of rare beauty upon the faultless sidewalks; there is the
constant procession of vehicles more beautiful under this light than at
noonday; opposite him are the brilliantly lighted shops with their
wealth of beauty in the windows, and all around him is bustle, stir, and
life. There is nothing dull or stagnant on the streets of Paris at
night. The Parisian will not have it that way. The glitter may be very
thin, but he will have the glitter. He lives upon it.
Paris by day is beautiful--Paris by night is superb.
The faro bankeress is getting ready to go home. She has well nigh done
Europe, which is to say, she has explored every shop in Paris and
London. She may go through Switzerland and Germany with us, but we hope
not. We are praying that she will go home from Paris, and she can't
start any too quick. That she is making preparations for a start, she
confesses. She is afraid of sea voyages; she has a mortal dread of
water; she remarks that she always lives very correctly a week or so
before she sails. She says her prayers regularly, attends church every
service, and does nothing wrong that she knows of. She will not go to an
Opera on Sunday; she declined to go to the Mabille at all; nor will she
even play cards any day. This for ten days before sailing.
"And after you land safely in New York?"
"O, I ain't on the water then, and it don't differ so much."