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What I Saw and Heard in Noisy America - By THE CHEVALIER DE FOUQUIERES The French Arbiter of the Elegances, Back Home in Paris, Tells How He Had to Live Up to New York’s Imported Idea of Him, and Reveals Impressions Politeness Made Him Keep Suppressed While Here. T HE Chevalier Andre de Fouquleres. the Parisian Arbiter of the Elegances, who recently made an interesting voy age of discovery to the United States, is back in Paris, lecturing to large audiences on hit American experiences. Here is his first address to his countrymen> the text ot which has been furnished exclu sively to this newspaper: By the Chevalier ANDRE de FOUQUIERES M Y early Impressions of New York were startling. From my window I saw the famous Fifth avenue, which was former ly the most aristocratic thoroughfare of the city, but is now entirely invaded by trade. Enormous and splendid stores with dazzling displays in their windows are taking the place of private houses where the most select so ciety once lived. Fifth avenue is, in fact, un dergoing the same fate as our Avenue des Champs Elysees. How shall I describe to you the agonizing sensation of the noise that filled the streets, of that noise which became an obsessing ac companiment of every hour of every day, that noise In which the hammering of metal in many tones, the roaring of mechanical trum pets, the shouts of harsh voices mingled in a sort of deafening, discordant futurist music. Broadway is a human kaleidoscope whose ever changing figures symbolize mad haste. I see before me now a vision in which human beings appear as the Image of struggle incar nated. of that struggle which is here not a means, but an end, the only end of life, for here no one ever rests. New' Yorkers do not know the delightful Parisian habit of “flanerie,” that habit which consists in Just strolling along th$ boulevards and saying amusing aud useless nothings. The New Yorker not only ignores the habit, but he would be ashamed to admit that it had any attractions for him. He pretends to be busiest when be has least to do. I can hardly describe to you how pitifully homesick for Paris I became at times iu this feverish life of New York. About an hour after my arrival T went to lunch thirty-five miles away witli Mrs. Clar ence Mackay, in her beautiful French chateau of a style so exquisite. I did not omit to pay a visit to the simple little wooden house hid den in the park of this grande dame, the mis tress of hundreds of millions of dollars, where she amuses herself by writing dramatic works which are greatly admired in the United States. On the evening of the same day I attended a great dinner organized in my honor by a leader of New York's most elegant society. At the dinner table I found that the Americans do not indulge in general conversation, but everybody talks exclusively and continuously with the person next to him. This custom, in my opinion, detracts from the intimacy and gayety of the dinner party. On the other hand I had no occasion to re mark upon any lack of gayety when the din ner was over. As soon as we had passed from the dining room to the salon, a pianist began to strike the latest popular airs, the haunting airs which the workmen whistle in the street ears and the American man of business hums while concluding a contract which may change the business of the whole world. Then comes the turkey trot,, that maddening delight, that Joy, that passion of the forty-seven States of the American Union. The turkey trot will cer tainly succeed the "cake-walk," the "grizzly bear" and the tango in the popular preferences of Parisians. If 1 dwell so much upon this dance It is be cause Its popularity is so extraordinary that it hag taken the place of bridge and five hun dred. What will you say when I tell you that the Americans turkey trot at tea time? No spectacle can be more extraordinary than that which presented itself to me when I saw a whole salon full of fashionable Americans suddenly carried away by enthusiasm for the turkey trot. Everybody seemed to be smitten with a sudden madness and began to dance this fascinating measure with fierce energy. Dignified dowagers and millionaire bankers took part in it, with the same reckless en thusiasm. It Is no uncommon thing to see an austere magistrate, an Illustrious professor lrom the universities, or a trust magnate noted for his haughty reserve and monopolistic coldness, melt into youthful recklessness un der the influence of this wonderful dance. Never is the American so interesting as when turkey trotting. Never is he so typically American and^ yet so unlike his everyday self. He does not 'dance with the gay abandon of the Latin when executing a somewhat cory- bantic measure, lie throws himself into this performance with a desperate solemn energy that has in it something of the terrible. When I went away from Paris, several Parisian journals dignified me with the sin gular title of "Ambassador of Fashion.” Per haps they did not say this without a certain malice, but I bear them no hard feeling on ac count of it. I was astonished to find on my arrival in New York that the Americans took tliis title with the utmost seriousness.- in deed many of them seemed to believe that I had an official mission from the French Gov ernment to promote French fashions in America. Since T have completed my voyage of dis covery, I have found that the duties of an Am bassador of Fashion, though seemingly frivol ous, are of the highest importance. It is not, therefore, solely with the object of turning a Jest to advantage that I accept this title, and glory in it, but really because the duties it involves are of the greatest value to our dear France. Fashion is the only French industry which is still predominant in the United States. The lead which our great automobile makers once took in America has been entirely wiped out by the enterprising manufacturers of New ^ ork, Pittsburgh aud Chicago. The same is true of many other French industries. Parisian fashion, however, still preserves all its su- prauacy in the best society. Nowhere can ym see such a mad desire of luxury, such rivalry in the arena of the styles, such sub jection to the despotic fantasies of fashion as in America. No American woman worthy of the name would transform a dress of last season Into the style of to-day. She recognizes and wears only the new. She observes with minute at tention tho smallest transformations invented by our dressmakers. Audacity attracts her and it is upon New York that our artists of the Kuo de la Paix always try their most audacious creations. An American woman is never quite in the style of Paris but always a little ahead of it. The style of Paris is always a little quieter, a little less eccentric, a little slower, if I may venture to say so, Than that of New York. The revenues of a queen are spent every year upon the toilette of many an American woman. Too often the real queen does not spend her revenues on dress. Many of our most famous French dressmaking establish ments owe more of their prosperity to their American customers than to the royalty and nobility of Europe. u q a o a o e n d o u ii a imi o o o o n o a do to o o fl o n u o DO 0 D U 0 Of) flflu o o o o a o o o o u ii a t.n iiiit m n i II 0 0 (1 II ODOM Mono l-a,i 1 0 n 0 0 0 0 0 0 I 0 anna l -M "Most American millionaires are capable of buying an historic French chateau and setting it down in Wall street as a counting house. Says M. de Fo-iquieres. This Illustration from a French Paper Shows How •ho Frenc.i Think Such an "Outrage" Would Appear if Perpetrated. A Drawing from the Witty Faria Magazine, "Tho Butter Dish," Illustrating the French Idea of tho “Deadly Earnestness” with Which We Dance the Turkey Trot, an Earnestness in Which M de Fouquieres Finds "Something of the-Terrible.” But there is a mean, paltry movement to dethrone this supremacy of France from New York to San Francisco, to snatch this enor mous source of wealtli away from us. it was by combating and ridiculing this movement as Ambassador of Fashion that I was able to act with advantage to my country. Competition in tho field of fashions is, of course, fierce and constant. It comes especial ly from Germany, which numbers in the United States a thousand representatives to one Frenchman. The new movement alms to make these German fashions supremo. The inodes invented in Berlin and Munich have never been accepted by tbc New York aris tocracy, the famous "Four Hundred,” to which entrance is so exclusively guarded. The new millionaires, moreover, they who form a bril liant society side by side with the older set, are too careful to follow the examplo of the others to give their paitronage to any coutur iers but those of Paris. The great American middle class, however, which disposes ot a large part of the wealth of the country, has begun to pay attention to the seductive cata logues which speak of Parisian novelties, but originate with German houses. It is desirable that pur dressmakers should make their creations better known m America. The American woman must be taught not only to love French fashions, as she does already, but to distinguish between real and imitation French fashions. French dressmakers make too little effort to maintain the tremendous prestige of our ele gance among a nation that loves every form of luxury. The American attitude toward French fashions is really the highest compliment that can be paid to us. it Is a recognition of that cult of good taste and good manners which perpetuates the most brilliant side of our his tory, the most glorious in the world. The American woman unconsciously pays tribute to the greatness of France when she insists that her gown shall be "the latest thing from Paris.” Let us take care that she gets what she asks for. The war is between the art of France and the industry of Germany. We must combat that tireless industry, that appalling applica tion of the Teutons. Let us expose the pre tensions of a people who put pink flowers on red hats and propose to create fashions for the world. Let them stick to the work of making strong, serviceable garments for the laboring man. France alone is afile to clothe lovely woman in a becoming manner. This / was the great truth which I sought to im press upon Americans, and I flatter myself that I have enjoyed not a little success. There is a similar contest between German and French cookery. Tho. Germans perpe trate the cooking iu the hotels ami restau rants of America to an incredible extent. They are a people capable of making ice cream with pork fat and stuffing lobsters with strawberry jam. Of course, all the su perior establishments are conducted by Frenchmen, but unfortunately they are too few in numbers to make their influence felt throughout the country. French cooks and restauranteurs should go to the United States In larger numbers and strive to make the delights of our cuisine ap preciated In every hamlet in the country. A chef who is comparatively obscure here might become a great ana wealthy person there. Do not let me be understood as casting mean aspersions on the German. He may be inartistic but he is usually honest and fright fully industrious. He gives you a solid arti cle, "your money’s worth,” as the Americans say. and they are very eager for solid re pasts. Tho German dish may give you indi gestion, hut the Americans are used to that. My dear countrymen, if I may venture to say so, are too prone to sell a delightful airy nothing for a high price. I arrived in America at a moment when society was threatened with a great revolu tion. The installation of President Wilson in the White House marked the triumph of the Democratic over the Republican party, the triumph of the party of sin^liclty over the party of wealth. Many persons were debat ing whether the appeal for simplicity made by tho new head of the Government would not find an echo among the lovers of luxury and tarnish the splendor of those magnificent American fetes which have been the wonder and the envy of Europe. If American society should become austere and puritanical, it would no longer be the America we have known and loved for several years past, and French fashions would surely suffer. I am happy to be able to inform you that there is no such danger. The world of fashion ami the world of politics are com pletely divorced in America. An American millionaire may live more extravagantly than one of our grands seig neurs of the old regime, but if so he is not in politics. Should he decide to go into that useful vocation he sells his furniture and pic- CSC2T* “***' O^Qrv. iasx> o 'l Chevalier de Fouquieres in Persian Costume. The "CourtUle”— from an Old French Print of 1860. Thu Dance, Says M. de Fouquieres, Is the Grandparent of Our Trot and Tango—Only It Has Lost All Its “Splendid . Gaiety and Innocent Joie de Vivre” i. During Its Development Here tures, buys an ill-fitting suit of clothes, turns up his collar and makes himself look like one of “the plain people.” I have known many cases whero a states man lived like one of "Hie plain people,” while his wife moved in fashionable society. Such arrangements cause much unhappiness, for tile husband’s political plans are injured when his wife’s splendid entertainments are mentioned, while the wife is still more seriously embarrassed when her fashionable guests catch sight of her democratic hus band. Wealth In the United States will, as a rule, continue to flow in the direction of luxury, of splendid entertainments, of objects of art and of beautiful dress for the women. For this reason this country offers a vast field to tho artistic Frenchman which he has not yet thoroughly worked. If the luxury-loving American public gave me an excessively flattering reception, if they surrounded my arrival with unusual pomp and circumstance, It was because they were eager to hear me champion that elegance, that luxury, that chic which are the life and breath of fine society. They wished to hear me tell them that there should be no return to the simple aud ugly life, no striving back ward toward the conditions of the cava dweller. I told them, and they showed un bounded delight. The reputation which preceded mo front Paris had a singular effect. The American* expected, mo to he dressed in an extraordinary and striking manner. They examined every detail of my appearance in a rather embar rassing way. They wished to know the exact form of my shoes and the mysterious reason which had decided me to wear in a visible manner a white rather than a colored hand kerchief. Some of them were surprised that I did not wear a silk hat with a flat brim, trousers large at the top and tied with a tape at the bottom and other peculiar gar ments which American caricaturists have been in the habit of attributing to Frenchmen. Strange to say, although the Americans go to France in large numbers, they always expect (he Frenchman to bo as tradition has depict ed him. Nevertheless, they seemed to be pleased with what they discovered. It was indispensable to them to learn the name of my tailor and the number and shades of all the neckties I wore. They are a good-natured but an inquisitive people. How to Eat to Keep Body and Brain Healthily Balanced By FRANK A. REXFORD, Teacher of Biology at Erasmus High School, and a Leading Expert on Food Stuffs. A GREAT many people are dying of slow starvation in this world- Not because of lack of food, but because most per sons In tho world lack knowledge of food values. Their brains work badly, their bodies wear out early, their efficiency is diminished, because they do not know what to eat, or how little—I will not say how much—to eat. There are only two reasons for eating. One is to repair the waste; the other is to supply energy. There is no trouble about the build ing material. Practically every one eats enough, or too much, of body Duilding material. The great sin of diet is a sin of omission. People do not eat enough of the energy-produc ing food stuffs. Lacking energy they do not do their share of the world s work, and what they do, do not as well as they should. The wand’s advancement in the arts, the sciences and in business and ethics is immeasurably retarded by the lack of knowledge which re sults in this lack of energy. Since we have established our experiment station among the 200 pupils of the Erasmus High School, we have emphasized the fact that it is among the people who, as we are In the habit of saying “live best,” ia which this sin of diet is greatest. Here in Flatbush, where many own their own homes and most dwellers are in comfortable circumstances, we have big, dreamy boys and girls. Why? Be cause here and in most subui communities the children have plenty, indeed they have too much, meat and too many egg3, the expensive articles of food. Of vegetables, which con tain the energy stuffs and are cheaper, they do not have enough. Go over ou the East Side, and the reverse is true. The lean little folk who play on the swarming sidewalks cf that quarter have a superabundance of the energy-malting stuffs in their food. The light-footed, wide-eyed, scrawny child of New York's East Hide lives largely on fruits and farinaceous stuffs. The little East Sider expends three times as much energy in a day as the Flatbush dweller, but in a very Lot Summer, or a very cold Winter, be yields easily to the adverse conditions. Coffins are then carried daily out of the tenements. The little bodies that were no long on energy were loo insufficiently repaired. The bricks that had not enough straw' crumbled. A mistake made by the enlightened ignorants is that ajppetite is a guide to the selection and amount of food. A normal appetite is—but few persons have a normal appetite. The appetite has grown aud grown until, as an enormous tumor, it makes undue demands for space and sustenance upon the body. It is far from true that we should eat what we want and eat when we want it. Eating has become for some per sons, especially In New York, a means of pas time. If a person is "blue” he fancies he must eat to send up his spirits, if he is lonely he eats to keep himself company. He eats when he has nothing to do, eats to amuse himself. As fast as he can he is eating himself into his grave. The other night I dropped into a res- .taurant in New York after the theatre, and a veterau waiter, pointing to a woman, high colored and of ample build, said: “She's going the way of lots or New Yorkers. ,iey think it’s the drink that kills them, but isn’t, it's the eating.” ; Not overeating so much as the wrong food is billing more than half the people of the world long before their time. The intelligent would govern their diet if they knew hove. The edu cated are educated in every respect besides this. That is the reason I set about learning what my pupils’ families live upon, and to cor rect, so far as I could, their errors by sugges tion. People will eat the right foods if they know what they are, and I am endeavoring to show them what these right foods are. The body, 1 have explained to them, contains five chief materials, water, minerals, fats, car bohydrates and proteids. It is our business to replace these materials as they wear out, as in a building you would patch up broken timber with a now piece of wood, or when the cement between the bricks begins to crumble you fur nish fresh cement. No guise in which food is served can change the fact that real food must contain these rebuilding substances. You may lunch in an uptown restaurant on truffles and what accompanies it, while I am sitting peace fully on the curb with my loaf of bread, meat cakes and pint of ale, but the fact stands. We are made of the same stuff and need the same kind of nourishment. Water and min erals need not be discussed at this time since they do not change in the body, and a sufficient amount of minerals enters the body in the forms of parts of various foods. Of water noth ing need be said except that we should drink three quarts of it a day. Proteids, fats and carbohydrates are the es sentials, and upon them we should concentrate our interest, for upon our supplying them in sufficient quantities depends the length of our lives and the degree of our efficiency. And now attend, for (his is the rudiment of the food question. The alphabet of food contains three letters, proteids, which are found in greatest quantities in lean meat and eggs; fats, which we deTlve from the fats of meat, and from the oil of fruits, as the banana and all nuts; aud carbohydrates, which furnish the body the fats and sugars it requires. Cereals and the vege tables supply us with carbohydrates. Rice is an example, corn, wheat, beans. Amplify the classification yourself. When you sit down to order a meal at a restaurant be sure to supply your need of the three Or, if you are a housekeeper, keep them constantly in mind while you are giving your order to the grocer aud planning uexl day’s meals. No mail can lay down an eating rule .or an other. The general truths I have enunciated must guide you. They and this other, that there are seven essential foods, and that it is in the others, the trimmings, so to speak, that you are likely to err. These essential foods are meat, which supplies protein; potatoes, fur nishing starch; bread, that supplies starch; eggs, more protein; milk, a fat; butter, a fat; vegetables that are carbohydrates. There have been arbitrary rules that each person requires two ounces of protein, two ounces of fat, and two ounces of carbohydrates "to keep going.” That and all other arbitrary rules are liable to be misleading. The truth is that a nervous, overenergized person, needs more proteids to repair the tissues, his excess of energy is too rapidly wearing out, and lie needs to diminish the coal that keeps his en gine driving with too great force. The heavy, phlegmatic person should revise his diet to in clude more fats and carbohydrates, which make energy and diminish the supply of his building material. This is a suggestion that can be safely fol lowed for it is conservative. For each pound a person weighs he should have a daily allow ance of one-eightieth ot an ounce of protein . If the person weighs 160 pounds he does well to eat enough meat and eggs to secure for himself two ounces of protein a day. The remainder of his food should be so apportioned as to keep him sufficiently warm, and above all to "keep him going,” and in a mood to “go.” Tbe fuol foods, that is, tats and carbohydrates, should be consumed in sufficient amount to make up a total of 2,500 to 3.000 calories. While I desire to simplify the subject as far as possible, cal ory has no synonym. It Is a unit of beat and energy, as pint is of liquids, or an inch is of length. It is sufficient to say that we have our allotment of 2,500 to 3,000 calories of heat and energy when we do not suffer from cold ex tremities, and when we are enjoying our work and doing it the best any one can. In a word, when we are at or above par. Nourishing food, by which I mean food con taining the proper food values, is not neces sarily expensive food. I asked my pupils to do their own marketing for the families with the food formulae I have cited as guides, and these two tables, each showing what a family ot ten lived on for a week, prove that one family spent twice as much as the other, and was no better nourished. In fact, the children from the family of ten who lived on sixteen dollars a week looked rosier and more energetic than the other. Compare the Items in the light of the working rule I have given and judge for yourself why. The family that spent thirty- three dollars a week spent, you see, three times as much for meat. It supplied itseif freely with pies, cakes and bread and buns, all from a bakery. The other made Its own bread: ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL. ECONOMY IN FOOD. Weekly Food Account. Section of* City—Bast New York. Quantities and Kind of Food. Cost. 2d lbs. meat at 20 cents $4.00 % bbl. flour 1-25 Potatoes 1-1? Canned goods 2.00 Vegetables 60 Desserts 1-00 1 lb. coffee 23 1 lb. tea - 60 7 lbs. sugar -38 Spices 25 3 lbs. butter 105 1 lb. butterine .25 Fruit 25 Cereals 26 Sauces and relish 30 12 qts. milk 96 2% doz. eggs 1.25 Fish - 30 Miscellaneous foods 1.55 Total cost of food for the week.... $16.03 ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL. ECONOMY IN FOOD. Weekly Food Account. Section of City—Williamsburg. Quantities and Kind of Food. Cost. Meats : $12.00 16 loaves bread (bakeryJ 1.6u Fish 72 Cereals 25 Pies (bakery) •. 80 Cake (bakery) 63 Buns (bakery) 40 38 bottles milk 3.25 Fruits 1-87 Butter and Eggs 4.00 Vegetables 2.00 2 lbs. coffee 68 (4 lb. tea 16 7 lbs. Sugar 69 Spices 20 Miscellaneous foods 4.27 Total cost of food for the week..$33.75 1 suggest a model menu for a day. and let mo add that the father of thirty-five years need eat no more than the boy of ten. Thera is an impression that the child should eat much less than the adult. Oil the contrary, my son who is ten, eats as much as I do, and some times more. In this I encourage him, for l consider that for every waste cell in my body I must resupply one; while in his case, ha must supply two, not only the cell that has been destroyed in the day’s wear and tear, but lie must furnish another for the growing body. For Breakfast: Fruit (apple, grapes, orange or berries, cooked or raw). Cereal (with cream and sugar. Buttered toast. One boiled egg. Cereal coffee or cocoa, with plenty of milk. This is an American breakfast, you see, in stead of a French one. If y»>u have work to do it is better to be well fortified for tho task. Dinner: Meat (ample portion, but not too much). Your judgment must tell you what is too much, A "stuffy feeling” after eating Is usually a warning. Potatoes (boiled or baked). Side dish of green vegetables. Fruit (preferably stewed). No pies nor puddings. With a breakfast and dinner of this sort we can make of the luncheon what it should be—• a filler and soother, under these conditions one does not require a heavy luncheon. Some thing warm will draw the blood supply to the stomach and rest tho head. A little nourish ment should be taken at midday, but not enough to tax the digestive system, nor make him drowsy in the afternoon. Hot puree of vegetable or mea^ broth. Unsweetened crackers, or Sandwiches (bread and butter, or nuts oi lettuce with mayonnaise). A final warning against overfeeding, but more particularly with the proteids: If you give the body more building material than It needs it will be like a finished house whose drawing room is filled with left over lumber. This excess of building material in the human body creates waste matter in the form of urio acid or other poisons. These, cast into the blood, are harmful, and by causing overwork ot the kidneys are even dangerous.