OUR PARIS LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3961, 4 November 1875, Page 2

OUR PARIS LETTER.

Pabi«, Septem iber 4. The sailing out of every miulified m; m aged twenty-eight to learn soldiering for four weeks during the current mont hj, has create* 1 a kind of little revolution in social Irabits and calculations. It was well-known that in accordance with the law for compulsory military sendee, the “lads” of twenty-eight years standing, and forming the army of reserve, would have to learn drill, but the meaning of that patriotic appeal, and where there is no option, has only been understood since it has become u reality. At the age of twenty-eight men have become somewhat settled in life, and dwell in the bosoms of their family ; thirty is also an important etage, as, according to Young, man then “ suspects himself a tool.” The rtiservitta cannot be replaced; from the Prince—and every French duke’s son is that by courtesy—to the peasant, all must “fall in” and meet like parted sti earns, mingling and in peace. The soldier’s life, in campaign too, becomes the common lot of all. The hero of a salon may be told off to the cantine, and the idol of a coterie attached to the stable-yards; the stronger men will be converted into gunners,

and the frailest may he ordered to the ambulancon. The four weeks will chiefly be occu« pied, .like the troops of a former king of France marching up hills and marching down again, with aham fights among vineyards anti turnipfields, and hoard and lodging provided! accordingly, The members of the “ upper ten ” who have to do duty are sadly put about, for their hair munt be cut like a Zouave’s, and their faces shaven as clean as a monk's, the moustache excepted. Absalom and Apollo without their locltt will bo strange sights when returning to dream or battle fields no more; the first effects of t.he irritation are visited on the railway companies, where the conscripts avail themselves of their military privilege of travelling to their depot, in first-class carriages, at a reduction of three-fourths the ordinary fare. September is' a very gay mouth in the Provinces ; counlti y mansions are full of visitors to enjoy sporting excursions, the vintage, and long promenades tliu'ough woods and glens ; in the evening private thoatr cals succeed, and these ere the occasiaus whore the reservistet will create a blank. But there aie other blanks more serious, where the husband and father has to leave his wife and family. For the necessitous, the Government and Municipal

Councils will do much, and if employers unanimously adopt the rule —like the banks, mercantile houses, railway companies, &c., that of paying salaries in .‘full to married men, and the moiety only in the case of bachelors, the suffering will bo diminished, and men will go into training with light hj earcs, and fare sumptuously on their black bread and Spartan soup. On such occasions relal Ives come to the rescue in kind ; thus a relative will invite the distressed family to spend one day per week, another, a second, and so the burden is lightened and relief kindly bestowed. It is this same “cooperative” principle tihat is adopted at weddings, especially amo n g the artizans and the petty bourgeoisie, win j.ie each “ invited” pays his quota of the break fusts, dinners, dances, and carriages, the roytleiing being maintained for three days—three days being also the standard for many other important events in the usages of the count ry. _ The mothers-in-law then return the “ civilities” by giving a dinner in their houses gratuitously ; then the happy couple invahe the com jinny in batches, driving them off according to their means. Where, as is ofi.cn the custom, the son in-law takes up his abode with his wife’s parents—it may be for yexrs, or it may be for ever—a second dinner is expected from said parents. With these economical arrangements, and the hiring out of the bride’s toilette, as well as the bridegroom’s costHime, French marriages, being thus joiut-stook operations, pass off not only men ily but with, .eclat ; the institution of the honeymoon is extending with the general taste for travelling. Persons of limited means in Franco have hardly any occasion to hire eh her articles of dress or furniture. Very honestly conducted establishments exist where they can obtain "substantial credit for a certain sum without sureties. • Suppo.se a servant wishes clothes to the value «oif LIOO, she obtains a bond from the establishment for the full amount, and with it may enl'er any of the chief shops in the city, make her purchases, and deliver the bond, just as if she paid cash. The repayment is made by weekly instalments, a collector calling to receive them, and to judge by the, number of these agents, dressed in the same uni term ns the employes of the gas company, their business must be as extensive .sii is brisk. This is apparently the way that working Paris furnishes house and provides clothes, and the latter with the natural tasto of the Frarcaiscs , coupled with their heavenborn gift of a graceful carriage, make them pass as grand duchesses. In reference to the general remark, that French female servants are never slovenly, it must be borne in mind that their work is peculiar: what disturbs other households is unknown in France ; here apartments are so complete and united that no labor is wasted; there are no staircases or corridors to scrub and brush—the house porter has charge of that; there is no washing done on the premises—the laundry cart conveys the soiled linen into the country once a week. Be* member French ladies are just as fashionable in their underclothing as in their jupons and tunics. Then there are no heavy and elaborate meals to bo prepared ; everything is light and elegant, everybody has enough to eat, and nothing is wasted. Where pantries are so many cornucopias, the temptation to steal becomes stronger. A. French servant has less work to do, and she does it neatly, well—almost ladylike. But the drawback is in the marketing. If she purchases for cash she will have a good market penny ; and if weekly or tnonthly accounts are kept with tradesmen the fleecing is greater, because she must have her commission ; and that comes out of your pocket, not the tradesman’s. He does not increase the prices, but he falls back on inferior goods, and has a short memory respecting weights and measures. Then occasionally hia arithmetic is wrong ; his mistakes in addition, never against himself, are a strong argument in favour of compulsory education. Ladies returned from the sea-side complain that they never passed a duller season in their lives. The wi ather being so capricious, gentlemen on settling their families at a watering place apparently forgot their existence, so far as visits were concerned; hence the absence of gentlemen generally made such residence the dullest of affairs. Ladies had ' nothing to fall back upon but talking chiffon », and even discussions over toilettes with friends or maids become, like all prolonged debates, tedious; novels palled and boating is notan amusement French ladies indulge in; balls are melancholy placts without and in Paris, after doing the season, ladies know wsll what such reunions are, wlmn gentlemen prefer their club, their billiards, and their cigars. To return to the cardial will he as great a joy to them as if the Republicans had obtained the dissolution of the Assembly ; the country is so tranquil, and gets along without accident when the Government lets it alone that one is inclined to believe the philosopher’s stone is to be found in the abolition of both legislature and ministries.

Thero ban afluuei nbroad at the idea of •h<?" "hereilit.iry foe" a pilgrim pro« session t.» tiitvci'pt' i T raiicc, su th:it even devote French Catholics bogged liny miybt be spared the honor of the nsit, these will

not pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, nor lighten the taxes consequent on paying the countrymen of Aiminius five milliards in cash. Educated French society, to use an expressive phrase, is "backing out of the pilgrim business," and there is remarkable slowness about the erection of what is called the political cathedral of the Sacrt Oceur on Montmartre. It is whispered that the Pope is not very enthusiastic about a structure that will be used as an emblem of difference-between the profession of a common faith. This is only another instance of where Pio Nono is wiser than his admirers. ' Another building in which the public takes > a far greater interest is the new fall of Legislature now in course of erection at Versailles. It promises to be the most handsomely decorate! building in France, and that is_ saying much. ' iNo wonder, tljeu, every ninety-nine men in the country are candidates for the fceventy-five life senatorships to bo filled up. Exhibitions promise to be perpetual in Paris Next year one is to bo opened in honor . of electricity and its application* ; steam will ** follow in due course, and by varying the theme the ball can be kept going for ever. The citizens da support all these kind of monster shows, and bo do visitors, whose first duty after ogling the ruins of tke Tuileries, and admiring the staircase of the new opera, is to flock to the Palace of. Industry, the enly structure associated with the name of Prince Napoleon. {To le continued.)