 | An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|French life in town and country (1917).djvu/50}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
CHAPTER II
PARIS AND PARISIANISM
The exaggerated Parisianism of the foreigners
who settle in Paris is one of the things
the French of to-day profess to resent; it is one
of the reasons of the great Nationalist cry,
"France for the French!" as the Chinese yell
more murderously, "China for the Chinese!"
Such a feeling of resentment ignores the tribute
paid by these foreigners to the indescribable
charm and fascination of Paris. For it is not the
affairs of France that the foreigners meddle with,
but exclusively those of Paris. The provinces
are much like other provinces, and you might
live therein a half-century and fail to find out
that there was anything particularly catching in
French politics,—anything absorbing in the questions
of the hour. I have known foreigners
established for years in Florence, in Venice, in
Rome, who have never once opened an Italian
newspaper; who take not the slightest interest
in anything that concerns Italy beyond that
which picturesque Italian peasants and noble
