AN "ENGLISH RESIDENTIAL HOUSE" IN PARIS. pro THE EDITOR OF
THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—The scheme for the erection of a Paris Brabazon House marks the extent to which the employment of Englishwomen in the French capital has increased during the peat few years. There are many homes for Englishwomen in Paris, the admirable G. F. S. Lodge foremost among them. Pensions de familia and rooms hired in private houses are also largely inhabited by professional Englishwomen. But for the woman who, after working here as teacher, typist, nurse, &e., for some years, feels the need of a little home of her own there is scant accommodation. Lodgings as we know them in England are unknown in France. The hired room gives no facilities for the preparation of food ; meals must be taken out. The French system of living in flats under the dominion of the concierge presents difficulties and inconveniences groaned under by the French themselves ; for the stranger, more or less unfamiliar with the ways and language, these difficulties are double. And the rents, even of shabby logements at the top of many stairs, back stairs, dark and dusty, are increasingly high. Servant help is an impossible expense ; a charwoman at intervals is all most self-dependent professional women, either French or English, can possibly afford. The good offices of the concierge, be he willing to accord them, must, like each ray of sunshine reaching a Paris flat, be paid for at an extravagant rate. Hurried in the morning, tired out at night, the woman who would have her own hearth and home must keep it clean herself, do her own cooking, is alone in weakness, in sickness, alone should death take her unawares. This aloneness does not necessarily mean loneliness. Englishwomen working in Paris are surrounded by friends. A great deal that is both misleading and ungrateful has been written about the loneliness of English girls and women at work here. The solidarity among members of the English colony, the mutual kindness, the sympathy and kindness of the French, are very marked. English residents of influence, the clergy) &c., are always ready with help and counsel. And as Englishwomen who come abroad to work do so generally, in the first instance at any rate, from choice, and for the sake of a presumed benefit to themselves, they have no right to complain unduly of certain conditions incidental to a residence far from home. The morbid woman will feel lonely wherever she may be. But the aloneness of single women working independently here in Paris is a fact to be faced. A Paris " Brabazon House" is the ideal remedy. The proposed "English Residential House" is to be organized on commercial lines, to be worked by a company ; it is expected to prove a financial success. To get the plan in working order,
however, a certain sum of ready cash is needed. Until this is raised little can be done. Thanking you on behalf of the promoters of the scheme for your kindness in inserting this
letter.—I am, Sir, &c., F. S. WOLFF. Paris.
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