B679 <=> B681 [BTG XXXVII France, p. 680]

“’At home in America, however, things are very different in this respect. Everything is done there for cash, and every work is judged by its measure and weight. Name, talent, genius, and that kind of merchandise, is cheap with us and therefore dollars are acquired in America with great difficulty.

“’But fortunately for me, our Americans have many other weaknesses and among them is the passion “to see Europe.”

“’Owing to that same passion, every American, even depriving himself at times of essential necessities, tries hard and with great difficulty to economize little by little the dollars he has earned, only to have the possibility of visiting Europe and of course the “capital of the world” . . . Paris.

“’That is why there are always enough of my compatriots here, as is said, “to sink a ship” – this is the first reason. And the second reason is that, as our Americans have still another exaggerated weakness, namely, vanity, their imagination is flattered that people will say that they have learned the fox trot not in some Philadelphia or Boston, but in Paris itself, where fashionable novelties for all the Earth originate, and as the fox trot is a fashionable novelty, the “Paris fox trot” is then for them, so to say, the result of the last word in civilization.

“’And so, thanks to these two ferments in our Americans, I, a poor dancing teacher, always have a sufficient number of Americans here who pay me well.

“’It is true, they pay me in francs and not in dollars, but the money-changers must also earn something – they too have families.’

“After this explanation of his, I asked him further:

“’Tell me also, please, my dear sir, is it possible that your compatriots come here to the city Paris and stay here so long only to study this fox trot of yours?’