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Letter to Editor
April 2, 1874
Fair Play
Sainte Genevieve, Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri
What is this article about?
A Paris letter to the New York Times cautions American girls in Europe to follow local customs, describing how two unaccompanied women were denied ice cream at the respectable Cafe Tortoni, causing embarrassment, and advises against promenading Paris streets at night without a gentleman protector.
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OCR Quality
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Excellent
Full Text
Caution to American Girls in Europe.
Last night I witnessed the discomfiture of two American ladies who had evidently gotten themselves into a mess by not understanding the customs of the country. They entered the Cafe Tortoni, Boulevard des Italiens, unaccompanied, and the waiter declined to serve them with ice-cream. They were politely told that it was the rule of the establishment not to serve ladies alone, and they were obliged to pass out under the gaze of a large number of ladies and gentlemen sitting at the tables. Their faces showed that they were honest girls, and that they were intensely humiliated. They thought that they could enter here and eat their ice as comfortably and securely as at any establishment on Broadway.
The Cafe Tortoni is one of the most respectable places in Paris, and its ices are famous. They are found on the tables of the aristocracy and official world at all grand dinners, and, in a word, they are delicious. This is one of the few places in the city where gentlemen go with their wives. This reputation for respectability could never be kept up except by making it an inexorable rule not to serve ladies unaccompanied, for if one were allowed, there would be no excuse for refusing another, and as all the habitues of Tortoni's are rich or well-to-do, the demi-monde would soon make that a favorite rendezvous. On each side are cafes where a dozen women of the boulevard can be seen at all times, and it is just for that reason that no American woman would enter there. The respectable places are only kept so by making this rule inexorable.
American girls are apt to think that they can take care of themselves in any part of the world, and that may be true if they conform to the customs of the country in which they are; but here two American girls cannot go out unaccompanied at nine o'clock in the evening, to get ice-cream, without being liable to a mauvaise quart' d'heure. In fine, with all due deference to those who think otherwise, I do not think that American girls should promenade the streets of Paris at night without a gentleman protector. I may render a service to some one by saying that the respectable cafes do not serve ladies alone, and I cannot imagine that American girls would enter the other sort, except by error or ignorance. Accompanied by a gentleman they are just as free from insult or annoyance as in their own houses.
-Paris Letter to the N. Y. Times.
Last night I witnessed the discomfiture of two American ladies who had evidently gotten themselves into a mess by not understanding the customs of the country. They entered the Cafe Tortoni, Boulevard des Italiens, unaccompanied, and the waiter declined to serve them with ice-cream. They were politely told that it was the rule of the establishment not to serve ladies alone, and they were obliged to pass out under the gaze of a large number of ladies and gentlemen sitting at the tables. Their faces showed that they were honest girls, and that they were intensely humiliated. They thought that they could enter here and eat their ice as comfortably and securely as at any establishment on Broadway.
The Cafe Tortoni is one of the most respectable places in Paris, and its ices are famous. They are found on the tables of the aristocracy and official world at all grand dinners, and, in a word, they are delicious. This is one of the few places in the city where gentlemen go with their wives. This reputation for respectability could never be kept up except by making it an inexorable rule not to serve ladies unaccompanied, for if one were allowed, there would be no excuse for refusing another, and as all the habitues of Tortoni's are rich or well-to-do, the demi-monde would soon make that a favorite rendezvous. On each side are cafes where a dozen women of the boulevard can be seen at all times, and it is just for that reason that no American woman would enter there. The respectable places are only kept so by making this rule inexorable.
American girls are apt to think that they can take care of themselves in any part of the world, and that may be true if they conform to the customs of the country in which they are; but here two American girls cannot go out unaccompanied at nine o'clock in the evening, to get ice-cream, without being liable to a mauvaise quart' d'heure. In fine, with all due deference to those who think otherwise, I do not think that American girls should promenade the streets of Paris at night without a gentleman protector. I may render a service to some one by saying that the respectable cafes do not serve ladies alone, and I cannot imagine that American girls would enter the other sort, except by error or ignorance. Accompanied by a gentleman they are just as free from insult or annoyance as in their own houses.
-Paris Letter to the N. Y. Times.
What sub-type of article is it?
Informative
Persuasive
Social Critique
What themes does it cover?
Social Issues
What keywords are associated?
American Girls
Paris Customs
Cafe Tortoni
Unaccompanied Ladies
Social Norms
European Etiquette
What entities or persons were involved?
Paris Correspondent
N. Y. Times
Letter to Editor Details
Author
Paris Correspondent
Recipient
N. Y. Times
Main Argument
american girls should respect european customs by not entering respectable cafes unaccompanied at night to avoid humiliation and maintain safety, as illustrated by an incident at cafe tortoni where two ladies were denied service.
Notable Details
Incident At Cafe Tortoni On Boulevard Des Italiens
Rule Against Serving Unaccompanied Ladies To Preserve Respectability
Contrast With Cafes Frequented By The Demi Monde