As Seen By Me

ent to London first, and had my first great a

ence you will, provided you submerge it in poetry and flowers"; this exponent of outward observances, where a gentleman will deliberately push you into the street if he wishes to pass you in a crowd, but where his action is condoned by his inexpressible manner of raising his hat to you, and the heartfelt sincerity of his apology; where one man will run a mile to restore a lost franc, but if you ask him to change a gold piece he will steal five; where your eyes

along the boulevards and in the parks with their whole families, yet you dare not trust yourself to hear what they are saying. Believe that they are cynical, and fin de siècle, and skeptical of all women when you hear two men talk, and the next day you hear that one of them has shot himself on the grave of his sweetheart. Believe that politeness is the ruling characteristic of the country because a man kisses your hand when he takes leave of you. But marry him, and no insult as regards other women is too low for him to heap upon you. Believe that the French men are

ant will appall you. Water is the most precious and exclusive drink you can order in Paris. Imagine that

ilks and velvets are bewilderingly inexpensive. But cotton stuffs are from America, and are extravagances. They make them up into "costumes," and trim them with velvet ribbon

ted in tiny shop windows, set forth in high glass dishes, as we exploit chocolates at home. But well

mouthful of food is taxed. This produces an enormous revenue, and this is why the streets are so clean; it

urdly hoisted dresses will expose to your view all varieties of trimmed, ruffled, and lace petticoats, which would undeniab

nce of a bath-tub in her mistress's dressing-room: "You must not blame madame la marquise for bathing every day. She is not mo

hing, to which the maid replied, in a tone of meek justification, "But if madame

f the aged mother. When they drive in the Bois they smile and have an air of enjoyment quite at variance with the bored expression of English and Americans who have enough money to own carriages.

we had a delightful dri

e have come!" I said to my sister

felt like bowing right and left to the

I saw in London. I never saw such

one beautiful boulevard were enough to set one wild. I always wished that my neck turned on a pivot and that I had eyes set like a coronet all around my head. My sister and I were in a constant state of ecstasy and of clutching each other's gowns, trying to see every one who p

rian. When I see a white gown I always wonder if it will wash. If I see lace on the foot ruffle of a dress I think how it will sound when the wearer steps on it going up-stairs. But anything would be serviceable to wear driving in a victoria in the Bois between five and seven, and as that is where I have seen the most beautiful c

paths through tiny forests, right in Paris, for equestrians, and on each side the loveliest trees-trees everywhere except where there are founta

interesting. When a funeral procession passes, every man take

on. They were all in white, bareheaded, except for their white veils, white shoes, white gl

edom which is apt to throw a conservative American into a spasm of laughter. Indeed, the frank and candid way that love-making goes on in public among the lower classes is so amazing that at first you think you never in this world will become accustomed to it,

fit of some kind. Perhaps, though, he was only a beast. Most of the cabmen here are beasts. They beat their poor horses so unmercifully that I spend quite a good portion of my time standing up in the cab and arguin

eath, as we were going downhill on the Rue de Freycinet. I screamed at him, but he pretended not to hear. The cab rocked from side to side, the horse was galloping,

lungs I shrieked at the cabman, but the cobblestones were his excuse, and he kept on. So I just stood up and knocked his hat off with my parasol!-his big, white, glazed hat.

sed muster with a Paris cabman for a smile, and begged hi

merica we have no such vulgar institution as their rince-bouche-an affair resembling a two-part finger-bowl, with the water in a cup in the middle. At fashionable tables, men and women in gorgeous clothes, who speak four or five languag

e it goes with every course, and without the pretended decency of holding one's serviette b

will relate the price paid for the husband, and who the intermediary was, and how much commission he or she received, is to make you turn faint and sick at the mere thought, especially if you happen to come from a country where they once fou

killed, and I also thought it a pity that Frenchmen never married without a dot. But when it comes to meeting the people who had thus bargained, and the moment their gorgeous lace and satin backs were turned to

ed young people cause a scandal?" I asked,

mmission to the intermediary," was the airy r

a radiant, a triumphant beauty, and probably would have acquired the insolent manners of some of our spoiled beauties. Instead of that, however, she

ty!" I said to my co

-. One of the prettiest girls in Paris. Not a sou, however; conseq

hy aren't all the men crazy abou

demoiselle. I am an expense to myself. My

mebody will want to marry

her. No one in her own class will marry her, so"-a shrug-"the conven

one through fire and water for her, and who, although they have no title to give her, would have made her adoring and adorable husbands,

h things are common in France, but I do assu

as what, ma

tering," I said. "Amer

e, in that dress which cost a fortune? Do you see how ill she carries it? Do you see her unformed, uncertain manner? H

te in spite of his

international marriage, and the most vulgar of the whole lot. Listen,

uld not speak French, and as she was as you see her, her success could not be said to be great. No, but that made no difference. The Duchesse de Z-- was determined that her son should marry the rich heiress. As she expected to remain here a year

that ended the affair of the Duc de Z--. When the other impecunious young nobles heard that the Duchesse no longer had any claims upon the American's money they got together and said, 'Somebody must marry her and divide with the rest. We can't all marry her, but we can all have a share from whoever does. Now we will draw lots to see who must go to America and marry her.' The lot fell to

id. "I wonder if that girl kn

was rich and she was plain. How could she hope to gain

could have know

ed the marriage, would it,

don't know whether it would or

Here it would have made no difference. When a great amount o

ost upon him, "believe this, whether you can underst

aid to him, but education along this line takes too much time. I

uty to lead up to a climax. But what a disappointment Dinard is to one's enthusiastic anticipations! This famous watering-place has to my mind not one solitary redeeming feature. It has no excuse for being famous. It has not even one happy accident about it as a peg to hang its fame upon, like some writers' first novels. Dinard simply goes on being famous, nobody knows why. And to go there, after reading pages about it in the pa

o the Eiffel Tower; not that either is particularly interesting, but they had heard of these places before they came over. The only really interesting thing within five miles of Dinard is that, off St. Malo, on the island of Grand Bé, Chateaubriand is buried. But as this really belongs more to the attractions of St. Malo than to Dinard, and nobody who spends summers at Dinard ever mentioned Chateaubriand in my presence, or ho

re is nothing to do except to bathe mornings and watch the people win or lose two francs at petits chev

From that time on you do not have such a bad time-that is to say, you do not suffer so acutel

of the happiest moments in my life was the day when I left Dinard for Mont St. Michel. Mont St. Michel is one o

mnibus and a hay-wagon. You scramble to the top of this as best you may. Nobody helps you. The Frenchman behind you crowds forward and climbs up ahead of you and holds you back with his umbrella while he hauls his fat wife up beside him. Then you clamber up by the hub of the wheel and b

upon this rock, street above street, like a flight of stairs, and house piled up behind house, until on the very top there is one of the most famous cathedral

ar as the eye could reach! It would require superb courage in an enemy to come within reach of that grim sentinel of France, manned by her warrior monks. What secrets those awful dungeons

r a week after you have seen it. Nowhere in all Europe did I see a place which impressed its wonder and its history of horror upon me as did the cath

lete with possible and probable misery and a

mbing the uneven stairs of some vast and roofless ancient palace, upon each floor of which dwell families who have come in and roofed over the suites of room

I often had to stand up at afternoon tea with my cup in one hand and my chair in the other, to let a straini

main street; you simply step over the threshold as you hear the beating of eggs, and there, over an immense open fire, which roars gloriously

r and nearer. The shrill voice of Madame Poularde screams voluble French at her assistants. She boxes somebody's ears, snatches the eggs, gives them one final puffy beating, which causes them to foam up and overflow, and at that exciting moment out they bubble into the smoking skillet, the handle of w

n it is almost done she screams at us to take our places. The red-faced boy rings a huge bell, and we all tumble madly up the narrow stairs to the dining-room, where a score of assorted tourists are seated. They get that first omelette because they behaved better than we did, and were more orderly.

more charming place for a honeymoon. Indeed, for a newly married couple, for boy and girl, for spinsters and bachelors, ay, even for Darby and Joan,

e. We really did Blois in a spirit of Baedeker, for we were crazy to see Velor, in order not to miss an inch of the good times which we knew would riot there. But virtue was its own reward, for as we were looking into the depths of the first real oubliette which I ever had seen, and I was just shivering with the vision of t

h which one greets intimate friends in Europe. I believe that travel in Europe has done mo

a most ghastly history. The murder of the Duc de Guise and his brother, by order of King Henry III., took place here. They show one the rooms wh

for the horrors which overshadow them. How fitting that Marie de' Medici should have been imprisoned here, and my ancient enemy, Catharine, that queen-mother who perched her

me American horses. They were new horses and young, and the Marquise said that Charles found them quite unmanageable. Jimmie watched him drive them around a moment o

ld that's the matter with those poor brutes is

ld boy, you don't like the dratted language any better than I do. Steady now, boy! Giddap!" Whereat the pretty creatures pricked up their ears, pranced a little, t

is." "Ne dites jamais 'doucement' aux chevaux américains. Dites 'whoa,' et ils arrêteront, et quand vous dites 'Giddap,' ils marcheront bien. Savez?" At which Charles obediently

und ourselves in the billiard-room of Velor, with a big open fire, in front of which l

-chairs, and here everybody came to read or write or sew or play billiards. And as to afternoon tea! Not one of us could have been hired to drink it in the salons up-stairs. In fact, so many of us insisted upon being in the billiard-room that th

sed least discomfort to those sitting uncomfortably near the table. A dear boy, that Dunham! He had but one fault, and that was that he would wear cerise and scarlet cravats, and his hair was red-so uncompromisingly red, of such an obstinate and determined red, that his mother often said, "Come

the women guests, and when, the next morning, Dunham came in complaining that he couldn't find any of his red ties, lo! every woman in the room wa

tted him!-it was bought by the old miser Nivelau, whose daughter, Eugénie Belmaison, was the girl Balzac wished to marry. In a rage at being rejected by h

e to visit some ancient chateau, such as Azay-le-Rideau, Islette, Chinon, or the Abbey of

by daughters of kings or women of none but the highest rank, and these noble women

tevreault, but the abbey i

II. and of my beloved Richard the Lion-hearted, who are both buried at Fontevreault. To go to Fontevreault, we were obliged to cross the river Vienne on the most curious little old ferry, which wa

t stationed there, and had altogether a perfect visit. I have made many visits and have been the guest of many hostesses, most of them charming ones,

the taint of worldliness, her nature as unembittered by her sorrows, as if she were a child just opening her eyes to society. One

must be protected from all the minor trials of life. She has rescued the most of them from some sort of discomfort, and their gratitude is boundl

isfaction of being ardently prayed for all the time we were there, and of being complimented occasionally by her maid, Marie, an old Normandie peasant seventy years old, for an act on our part now and then which savored of real Christianity. And once when we had private theatricals, and I dressed as a nun, Marie never found out for

high up on a bluff overlooking the town, and beneath it in an open square is the very finest and most spirited equestrian statue I ever saw. It is of Jeanne d'Arc, and I only regret that the photograph I took of it is too small to show its f

Marquise had arranged an American Thanksgiving dinner for us, sending even to America for certain delicacies appropriate to the season. It was a most gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner, for, asi

lothes or to eat. But when one has got all the clothes one can afford and is no longer hungry, having acquired a

he newness is worn off one discovers that it is the superficiality of it all that palls. The peo

st, and six months of Paris have only intensified my longing to get away-to get to

g letters so filled with his sayings and doings that I must move on or I shall die of homesickness. I hav

y consternation, they revolted, and gently but firmly expressed their determination to go to Egypt by way of Italy. S

o put "everything any mortal could possibly want" into one trunk, with what seemed to me supernatural skill and common-sense, calmly sending the other two to be stored at

rew out what we considered "plenty of French money to get us to the German f

when we came up Jimmie was grinning, a

the extra luggage," she whispered

I said, severely. "Now I

came up with my

cs extra luggage

nk?" How grateful I was at that mo

en't got near enough! You'll

ing extra luggage. Just think of buying your clothes once and then paying for them over and over again in every foreign country you tr

ed to draw the most invidious comparisons between French sleeping-cars and the rolling palaces we are accustomed to at home. I am ashame

t I heard her restlessly tossing around in

k they have arranged the knobs in the

the news broken to us about eleven o'clock that our luggage would be examined at the German frontier at five o'clo

nion put her seal-skin on over her dressing-gown, and perched her hat o

things if they un

and watched her. She selected her victim and smiled on him most charmingly. He was tearing open the trunk o

ng to declare, m

d he bounded forward to help her. Then she smiled at him, and he blinked his eyes and tucked the strap in and chalked her trunk, with a shrug. He hadn't opened it. She kept her eye on him and pointed to my trunk, and he chalked that. Then seven

s officer was still looking after my

Pardon!" (which partially reconciles you to being walked on), and knocked into by monstrous Germans, who sent us spinning without so much as a look of apology, and both of whom puffed their tobacco smoke direc

My companion was lying down in my berth. We still had nineteen hours of travel before us with no pros

e meek little American husband of the gray flannel and curl-papers, whose fu

ne to bed again in the

e managed his diversion, led me to watch him. He looked tired and cold and ill. It was still dark outside, and the jolting

blamed country for all

hing worse than "blamed," I gave a shriek of delight, and my co

can and you are S

How did

our a

re pictures by Raphael than he could have painted if he'd 'a' had ten arms and painted a thousand years without stopping to eat or sleep. I've seen more 'old masters,' as they call 'em, but I call 'em daubs, all varnished till they are so slick that a fly would slip on 'em and break his neck. And the stone floors are so cold t

h. I ain't happy over here." And a sharp voice said, "Well, you've said enough. Don't talk any more at all." Then she let him out again, but he did not find me in th

ng over the cathedral

omfortably, see the cathedral, and take the

stily consulted her indicateur and assented. W

ndow," she said. "I've seen other peo

"You will break my toilet b

n just at daybreak, perfectly delighte

ic notes of the organ in a Bach fugue, and found ourselves at early mass, with rows of humble worshippers kneeling before the high altar, and the twinkle of many candles in the soft gloom. As we stood and watched and listened, the

of the organ shook the very foundation of the cathedral, we forgot that we were there to visit a sight of Cologne,

ted with myriads of tall chimneys of factories, which reminded us wh

a in my life. Coming straight from Paris, from the theatrical, vivacious, enthusiastic French audiences, with their abominable claqueurs, this first German audience seemed serious, thoughtful, appreciative, but unenthusiastic. They use more judgment about applause than the French. They never interrupt a scene or even a mus

too often is in America; but the German point of view of Americans is quite as much distorted as the French. That statement is severe, but

te it. Its Brandenburg Gate is most impressive, and I wanted to make some demonstration every time we drove under it and realized that the statue above it has been returned. Their statue of

ly too well, and as they will not give us any of the sidewalk, we are obliged to admire them from the gutters. The only way you c

mpared to the way we are treated in America; of less in Franc

ifference I noticed was that Billy's were smaller than the live ones, although French soldiers are small enough. That portion of the French army which I have seen-at Longchamps, Chalons-sur-Marne, Saumur, and at various other places-are, as a rule, undersiz

nkle to turn them into perfect Russian blouses. But English and German soldiers not only appear, but are,

stand first. But uniforms and gold lace, and bright scarlet and waving plumes, make a vast difference in appearance, and every country in the world recognizes this, except America. I wish that everybody in the United States who boasts of democracy and Jeffersonian simplicity could share my dissatisfaction in seeing our ambassadors at Court ba

eventy millions of people, is in some sort of uniform. If it really were Thomas Jefferson whose administration inaugurated the disgusting simplicity which goes by his name, I wish the words had stuck in his throat and strangled him. "Jeffersonian simplicity!" How I despise it! Thomas Jefferson, I believe, was the first

house, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary representing seventy millions of people! Not even in his uniform of a general! The only man in the room i

ambassador except the American has a furnished house given him, and a salary sufficient to entertain as becomes the representative of a great country. All except ours! Yet n

power the

els as ithe

Berlin than in Paris, because the glory of a Co

tting down to earth gracefully or gradually. I have not polished off the matter by a

gantic, imposing, impressive. I had had no intimate acquaintance with linden-trees-and I wouldn't know one now if I should see it-but I had an idea from the name-linden, linden-that it was grand and waving; no

out sufficient energy to grow into real trees. They are set so far apart that you have time to forget one before you come to an

Christmas dinner alone in a strange country, and in a hotel at that, so we started out shopping. Not that we

did not notice the flight of time. When we had bought several heavy things to weigh our trunks down a little more and to pay extra luggage on, I happened to glance at the sun, and it was just above the horizon. It looked to be about four o'clock in th

n glanced a

k by my watch. I couldn't have wou

r I wind it, I have to hit it with the hair-brush

ler," she said. "We can't travel

take us half an hour to get back to the hotel. Don't you think we oug

in and got a light luncheon. Then we went back to the hote

I said, firmly. "Mamma told m

er. She was looking at th

ck has stopped

ock struck twelve. Then it dawned on me, and I

. "Our watches were all right and the sun's

much astonis

eon because you felt so faint," she

to a fearful sense

l anybody,

etorted, with dignity. "I

your letter to the a

I suppose he won't bother about two

aid. "I never heard you refer

sn't such a thing as Christmas! I wonder

marks a word. 'What did Billy say when he saw his tree?'-nine words

didn't think she

ght to have champagne

e stuff. It makes me

ristmas, and very expensive, perha

he door made

ador of the United States

d Mrs. White, and Lieutenant

t and dashing for the wash-stand, thereby knocking t

with them an invitation from Mrs. Allen for us to join them at Christmas dinner

of them, one and all. I say this because one hears many humiliating anecdotes of the mistakes made by the men and women sent to foreign Courts, appointed because they had earned some recognition for political services. Those of us who have strong national pride and a sense of the eternal fitn

and whose wife understands better how to cope with croup and measles than with wives of foreign diplomats who have been properly trained for this vo

their expense, for they have all held the same office before and are well equipped by training, education, and native tact to bear themselves w

en his gorgeous-liveried footman came to announce his presence, the hotel proprietor and about forty of hi

through lovely colored-glass windows upon those recumbent marble statues. The dignity, the still, solemn beauty of

far had ordained that the American mail should arrive that day, and behold! there were all

! how long it seemed to get the doors unlocked and the electric light turned up, and to plant ourselves in the middle

here was to be a Christmas Eve entertainment in the main dining-room that evening, a

wo sides of the room. A row of Christmas trees, covered with cotton to represent snow, occupied the middle of the room, and at

ervants of the hotel, of whom th

mon. Then another hymn. Then the manager made a little speech and called, for three cheers for

produced, and three hundred and fifty plates full of oranges, apples, buns, and sweetened bre

from the tree, and that ended the festivity. But so typica

t day, so we had but just time to reread our precious letters when the clock struck twelve, and with much solemnity my companion and I presented each other with our modest Christmas prese

nsulted my taste, and had tried to remember to send those I wanted. But I am of a frugal mind, and thoughts of the extra luggage to be paid on bound books would intrude themselves. However, I made no remark over the first ten, but before the day was over I had received twenty-two books and one pen-wiper, and my vocabulary was exhausted. My companion

ndiplomatic thing in the world, for that is the one time when you can cease to be diploma

colony for Christmas carols and a tree. Immediately after the ambassador arrived the children marched in and recited in chorus the verses about the birth of Christ,

most beautiful Christmas-tree I ever beheld burst upon the

remains of the Christmas turkey for supper, and there was as little ceremony about it as if it had been at an army pos

hich wasn't at all necessary, but which illustrates the

iking contrast to the forlornness we had anticipated, we had been taken into the fa

early and went to Potsdam to

here he pleaded to be buried with them. The guide had no idea that he possessed a certain dramatic genius for pathos, for, parrot-like, he was repeating the story he

without even a headstone. Without even their names, although they saved the great King from death and ga

terrace facing the palace, and,

his own. Therefore, he placed a comma between those two words 'Sans' and 'Souci,'

g, "How is business?" Seeing how much pleasure it gave the poor fellow

companion

it and wha

d quite finish

f, was it? It must have been

. He said to me-" And then we would get the whole th

money into each of them. It seemed to me that fifty servants were between me an

r the price of your ticket, and here you pay for each separate necessity, to say nothing of luxury, and your ticket only permits you to breathe. But the annoyance of this continuous habit of feeing makes life a burden. One pays for everything. It is the custom of the country, and no matter if you arrange to have "service included," it is in the ai

ed across from the Grand H?tel to the opera without even a scarf for a wrap, and the woman was so disappointed that we were handed from one attendant to another some half dozen

shameless in their greed, and look at the size of your coin before they thank you. In fact, the

madam," or "I thank you a thousand time

l rather than have a scene, you give them all they ask. I have followed in the footsteps of a Fr

nk you and never look at the coin before your eyes. Perhaps they know from the feeling of it, but even if

our checks, you fee the street-car conductor who takes your fare, you fee every

have neglected to fee so

ey do not we