Finally, and herein lies the proof conclusive,
he is spending a good deal of money and is getting very little in
return for it. Well, then, what better evidence is required? Any
time he is paying four or five prices for what he buys and does
not particularly need it--or want it after it is bought--the average
American can delude himself into the belief that he is having a
brilliant evening. This is a racial trait worthy of the scientific
consideration of Professor Hugo Munsterberg and other students of
our national psychology. So far the Munsterberg school has
overlooked it--but the canny Parisians have not. They long ago
studied out every quirk and wriggle of it, and capitalized it to
their own purpose. Liberality! Economy! Frugality!--there they
are, everywhere blazoned forth--Liberality for you, Economy and
Frugality for them. Could anything on earth be fairer than that?
Even so, the rapturous reception accorded to a North American pales
to a dim and flickery puniness alongside the perfect riot and
whirlwind of enthusiasm which marks the entry into an all-night
place of a South American. Time was when, to the French understanding,
exuberant prodigality and the United States were terms synonymous;
that time has passed. Of recent years our young kinsmen from the
sister republics nearer the Equator and the Horn have invaded Paris
in numbers, bringing their impulsive temperaments and their bankrolls
with them.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224