40 COFFEE. 



glass ; while a " mazagran " is coffee taken with water instead of 

 milk. The coffee, which is exactly the same as that of the " demi- 

 tasse," is served in a tall, narrow glass, and a decanter of cold 

 water is brought along with it ; the customer does the mixing 

 himself. It is said that, after some glorious achievement or other 

 in Africa, near the city of Mazagran, neither milk nor brandy 

 being forthcoming, the French soldiers were compelled to use water 

 with their coffee — hence the drink and its name. The " demi- 

 tasse " costs generally from thirty-five to forty-five centimes (from 

 seven to nine cents), with a "pourboire" of ten centimes (two 

 cents) to the waiter. 



It is a curious and endless study for a foreigner to observe the 

 Hfe at the cafes — either at the Grand Caf^ and the Cafe de la 

 Paix, under the Grand Hotel, on the Boulevard des Capucines, 

 the chief rendezvous of the fashionable floating population ; or at 

 the Cafe de Madrid, on the Boulevard Montraartre, where lawyers, 

 journalists, and Bohemians most do congregate ; or at the Cafe du 

 Helder, chiefly pattonized by artists, students of the military 

 schools, officers, etc. ; or at the Cafes Kiche and Gretry, where he 

 will hear no end of talk about the Bourse and the "cours des 

 valeurs ; " or at the Grand Cafe Parisien, near the Chateau d'Eau, 

 the largest of all these establishments, although not the finest ; 

 or, indeed, at any of the thousand and one cafes scattered all 

 over the gay metropolis, and which go so far towards giving it its 

 peculiar physiognomy. It has been well remarked that Paris 

 without cafes would be a landscape without water, a bride without 

 a veil, a thing incomplete and disfigured. The cafe is indispens- 

 able to the Frenchman, and especially to the Parisian. He may 

 submit to having some of his liberties curtailed, even to seeing his 

 favorite newspaper suppressed by the authorities ; but if govern- 

 ment should lay hand on the Arch of his mos't cherished associa- 

 tions and affections, he would die fighting in its defence. Life 

 without the cafe would be a mockery to him. It is there that, in 

 the morning, he often takes his first breakfast, consisting of a 

 large cup of " cafe au lait " with a crisp rusk of bread, and perhaps a 

 little butter. There he may possibly return for his second break- 

 fast, the mid-day meal. To the cafe he will certainly apply again 

 for an appetizer before dinner, or, it may be after the repast, for 



