The entire
interior has been "efficiently" wrecked. It is as systematic a work of
destruction as I have ever seen. Not a thing was stolen, but not an
article was spared. All the bottles full of things to drink and all the
glasses to drink out of are smashed, so are counters, tables, chairs,
and shelving. In the barber shop there is a litter of broken porcelain,
broken combs, and smashed-up chairs and boxes among a wreck of hair
dyes, perfumes, brillantine, and torn towels, and an odor of aperitifs
and cologne over it all.
Every one pretends not to know when it happened. They say, "It was
found like that one morning." Every one goes to look at it--no one
enters, no one touches anything. They simply say with a smile of scorn,
"Good--and so well done."
There are so many things that I wish you could see. They would give you
such a new point of view regarding this race--traditionally so gay, so
indifferent to many things that you consider moral, so fond of their
individual comfort and personal pleasure, and often so rebellious to
discipline. You would be surprised--surprised at their unity, surprised
at their seriousness, and often touched by their philosophical
acceptance of it all.
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