THE CLUB'S OF PARIS.
.has been m. the,’hands of the thp' ordinary- phases of life received 1 strange developments. “Clubs,” tbe 77wf6 ? l:oiTespbh(lenfc‘in'PafSr : ‘*‘ are cropping up on a! hsfdes—clubs for discussion of. .political affairs, clubs,.for disseminating iuftarhniatdry and irreligious sehjtinjfents, clubs for.men and’ clubs for w omen. - Theie bave appeared in 'corners of several lie 1 newspapers of late short notices, that places of meeting' would shortly' be established, where ‘ s itit'/ennrs might, congregate,’ and letf off ' the ; stesfhi ’of • their ' enthusiasm. Wiihiii tbe’ last webk'the'plan has’'taken a tangible’form ; certain, ladies mak? & qifeuit of' the different arrondissements, . laying down their articles of faith, and' inviting a'd women to join in a commtth’cause. ” 1 / The writer invaded one of the •’assemblies of women V—l 'got into’ a'icarriage;yesterday evening with f a friend, accompanied by a female nswsvendbr, who occupies 1 one of the kiosks upon the Bohievar^s,/her mission being'to; smiiggle us into the'place under her protection, and defend us ffom rabid eitisencssfs in crsO of danger. ' The meeting was to be held on the Boulevard d’ltalie, in the lowest quarter of Paris—some distance beyond iMontrougei After a drive of three quart era of an hour we reached a kind of outhouse, Uirmourited by a fed flag/arid through the carefully-closed shutters of which came raurVnuis of subdued voices arid Ibiig’sfrfeams of' light spreading'across’ the road.'"- We entered the building without 'knocking, and found ourselves n/ a filthy : rbom, reeking with evil odorirs, and ( crowded with' women and - children of every age. Most" of them appeared tp belong tp the lowest order of society’ and wore loose, uufidy jackets, with white frilled caps upon, their heads. At the end of the room was a table littered- with and book's, and behind it sat a row Of women, with red scarves over their shoulders and ted'belts about their waists.-” : 4frine took much-police of the intrusion- at first, being tOo 'milch occupied with the ofatOry k>f 1 ' a fine looking youtig woman,-Witli streaming black hair and’flashing eyes, wbo'dilateA upon the rights of women amid ejaculafiouS ah'd'shakings of the'head, arid approving pinches if ■Shhfl; from the occupants of the benches near us “ ‘Mcu.arc laches' she cried; ‘they call themselves the masters of creation, and arc a set .of dolts. They complain of being made to fight, and ate always grumbling overb their woes—let them go and join the c; aven"band at Versailles; and w'c will 'defend the city ourselves. We have petroleum, abd we - fliave hatchets and strong hearts,'and are as capable of b'earing fatigue 'as they. Wo wilfiman tha barricades, andtshow-them that we will be no longer trodden down by them. ■ Such as still wish to fight may do so side by side with us. Wbmbn of Paris, tb the front! * She safrdown out of breath alid rathet ebrt fused, having had to bear up against considerable tittering oh account of-the imperfection bf her French and the strangeness of Jicr-sihriTes/phut she looked* veVy hdhdgohle, ’ auihftlight'have sat •fof’tho portrait of: one of'the upfoirids of the
Firs't'ReVdlutioii; but there wftls thitiu Ler eye which, made metbink; as Flocked-at her, that 1 should "not like 1 to" husband. The next speaker "dfegfenera.feiTMttiq rant, attacking the priesthpod generally, and the confessional, niimiekiiig tnAactforis used at mass amid the laughter and bravoes of the throng. One old lady becaihe estafcic, and continued digging ma violently in tlje back with her elbow;• until the tearararixhiwn her face and mixed with the snuff that_ lay scattered over her * countenance, ‘ Ah, the priqpts !’ murmured another from under the heavy frills of her cap, a lady of a serious turn of mind, who nodded 1 her head slowly from side to side, as though; it were a pendulum. ‘Those priests! i have. seen them too closely, ia canaille f ’ ” • ■ V ■. .. In another letter we read; of one of these club discussions which was held in a church. The correspondent says the audience was immense, tilling every nook .and comer, even of stauldiug loom, in a very large building ; ho does not say which church it was :—“They stared about and- whispered to each other, evidently l/alf apmsed, ihalf awed, at ’fiudiug f -d* ..1 yr-h :G'- •»ii
themselves, perhaps for the first time in their lives, in a church without having come there to pray. I heard one of my neighbors (a woman) whisper, almost as if she were {ri'ditenccl, to a friend, 1 Ccln me pyoimf, ini' dr ole,' and when her little hoy pointed to the men sitting and lounging about with their hats on, and remained in all innocence that *he thought people came to church to pray,’ she told him he mifdit say his prayers if he liked, and seemed rather relieved when he had done so. The oratms, volunteers, and nearly all amateurs, spo.ee from the pulpit, and two or three natural.y had their kick at its former occupants, and contrasted the truths they were themselves uttering with the lies taught by the priests. The audience took these sarcasms, 1 thought, rather coldly, though they cheered very heartily a gentleman who declared that ‘Christ was a Republican.’ One good-look-ing young fellow—a soldier, who had evidently primed himself for the pulpit by an extra glass or two—introduced for a short period some liveliness into the meeting by proposing that tbe assembly should tnen and there vote whether women should not be • elected members of the Commune.’ There was'at first loud and long cheering, or rather clapping of hands, on the part of tun numerous women present; but, this excitement over, I was rather surprised, after all i had heard and read about the, ‘ ciioyenne movement* and after the fiery appeals made by the Commune to the. wives and sisters of its warriors,' to find that the .proposition was treated as, i* joke, and, as such, resented somewhat sternly by the more serious portion of the audience. The youthful champion of woman s rights met with so ixiauy interruptions and calls to order, that he had to leave the pulpit, and was succeeded by an elderly Philistine, who was allowed to repeat, unopposed and even applauded, all the stock arguments about • ‘ woman’s sphere,’ which excite so much indignation in the gentle breasts of the lady orators who, in England, preside over meetings in favor of female suffrage.
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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2633, 26 July 1871, Page 2
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1,046THE CLUB'S OF PARIS. Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2633, 26 July 1871, Page 2
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