IX.

In the evening, we repeat the stroll down the Allée d'Étigny. The lights twinkle brightly down upon the street; the shops are open, the hotels lit up, the cafés most animated of all. Here on the sidewalks, around the little iron tables, sits Luchon, sipping its liqueurs and tasting its ices. It is the café-life of Paris in miniature,—as characteristically French as in the capital. To "Paris, c'est la France," one might almost add, "le café, c'est Paris." France would not be France without it. It is its hearthstone, its debating-club, the matrix of all its national sentiments.

There is an "etiquette" of Continental drinks. By the initiate, the code is rigorously observed; each class of beverages has its hour and reason, and your true Frenchman would not dream of calling for one out of place and time. In the cafe-gardens of the large hotels you will see the waiters' trays bearing one set of labeled bottles before dinner and another after; one at mid-day, another in the evening. There is also a ritual of mixing; syrups and liqueurs all have their chosen mates and are never mismated.

From, an intelligent waiter in Lyons, a double fee extracted for me on one occasion some curious if unprofitable lore on the subject, since expanded by further queryings. The potations in-demand divide themselves, it appears, into two main classes: apéritifs and digestifs. The former are simply appetizers, usually of the bitters class, and are taken before meals. The latter, as their name shows, come after the repast, for some supposed effect in aiding digestion. These liquors are often, exceedingly strong, but it is to be remembered that the quantities taken are minute; when brought not mixed with water or syrups, a unit portion might hardly fill a walnut shell.

The favorite apéritifs are:

Price in centimes.[[29]]
Absinthe,mixedwithOrgeatandseltzer-water, 50
Bitter,""Curaçao""50
Vermouth,""Cassis""40
"""Curaçao""40
"""Bitter""40
"""Gomme""40
Amer Picon,""Curaçao""50
"""Grenadine""60
"""Sirop ordinaire""50
Madeira, Malaga, Frontignan, Byrrh, Quina or Ratafia, unmixed, 60

After meal-time come the digestifs:

Price.
Curaçao Fokyn,unmixed,60
Maraschino,"60
Kümmel,"30
Kirschwasser,"50
Chartreuse, " (yellow or green,). 60 or 80
Anisette, with seltzer,80
Menthe, (Peppermint,) unmixed, or with seltzer,50
Mazagran, or goblet of black coffee, with water,40
Café noir, or small cup of black coffee,35
" with Cognac,50
Limonade gazeuse,40
Bière, bock or ordinaire,30

Later in the evening, the ices come into play; returning from concert or promenade, one can choose from the following to recruit the wasted frame:

Price.
Sorbetau Kirsch,80
"" Rhum,80
"" Maraschino,80
Bavaroiseau lait,60
"à la vanille,70
"au chocolat,70
Glace vanille or other flavors,50 and 75
Café glacé,50
Grock or Punsch.60

And last, the inevitable

Eau sucrée, with orange-flower,35

The above sketchy division may perhaps add to the visitor's alien interest in Continental café-life, showing something of its system and rationale. These elaborate and varied concoctions, noxious and innoxious, are not, it must be understood, tossed off in the frenzied instantaneity of the American mode; before a tiny glassful of Curaçao or sugar and water, the Gallic "knight of the round table" will sit for hours in utter content, reading the papers, talking, smoking, or clicking the inoffensive domino. Intoxication is almost unknown in the better cafés; their patrons may sear their oesophagi with hot Chartreuse, derange the nerves with Absinthe, stimulate themselves hourly with their little cups of black coffee and brandy; but they never get drunk. Frenchmen are temperate, even in their intemperance. An English gin-mill and probably an American bar causes more besotment than a dozen French cafés.