And
So The Paris Population Have Worshiped Saint Denis Ever Since.
Both as a saint and as a citizen he filled the bill.
He would not
throw anything away, whether he needed it or not.
Paris - not the Paris of the art lover, nor the Paris of the lover
of history, nor yet again the Paris of the worth-while Parisians
- but the Paris which the casual male visitor samples, is the most
overrated thing on earth, I reckon - except alligator-pear salad
- and the most costly. Its system of conduct is predicated, based,
organized and manipulated on the principle that a foreigner with
plenty of money and no soul will be along pretty soon. Hence by
day and by night the deadfall is rigged and the trap is set and
baited - baited with a spurious gayety and an imitation joyousness;
but the joyousness is as thin as one coat of sizing, and the brass
shines through the plating; and behind the painted, parted lips of
laughter the sharp teeth of greed show in a glittering double row.
Yet gallus Mr. Fly, from the U.S.A., walks debonairly in, and out
comes Monsieur Spider, ably seconded by Madame Spiderette; and
between them they despoil him with the utmost dispatch. When he
is not being mulcted for large sums he is being nicked for small
ones. It is tip, brother, tip, and keep right on tipping.
I heard a story of an American who spent a month in Paris, taking
in the sights and being taken in by them, and another month motoring
through the country.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 181 of 341
Words from 48764 to 49029
of 93169
