OUR PARIS LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4102, 20 April 1876, Page 4

OUR PARIS LETTER.

February 19. The severe part of the winter being over, society is resuming more and more its visiting duties, and taking note of the killed and wounded among friends, for the very trying i frosts and snows, with sudden transitions to i a wind not unlike a mistral, which roasts you in the sunshine and freezes you at the same time in the back, have all had an unusually fatal influence on the very young and the very aged. Doctors remark that rheumatism and gout have been on the decline this winter. Is it that the patients have been cured, or that sufferers have disappeared ? The prospects of the year commence now to be everywhere bright; trade is brisk and work constant. Intellectual life never was so active; the young men are thinning themselves into literary and Scientific pursuits with an ardor akin to love, n' f to live by these professions, but to enjoy .2* advantages they can confer in every d/ th , e ment of life requiring the applicatior '? art ' intelligent, cultivated, and libera’ ‘ • a i U The conferences are overcrowded ■ L muKlnow as regularly a daily institu' tbey are theatres—after instruction, rec T . fc i? n as tlemen of first-class ability h j? * ea^ lo P- Lening for their spedalile ; one i jV£ j -ir even ’ tions affecting public and ' "ft ***■ another with the books r f P^ lv , K health, out the best and their a^ po ? ties; while a third '„■> mgmshmg beauthe plays brought l or al review of Then there are fre „ A ■, the vfliimr md V ' e a ? ni schools for l ? Je adults ’ where in > addition R's-?he mr“ nts of three and the wF Can . stu f y drawing, design, mental a/ - i<de ( * omam °f natural and experiS th7r nCe^; furthep , every department i •date-fine arts, music, the military schools, are open to him to coin pete and win a sizarship. Thus, the W-ellectual status of the inhabitants of tbe Cities is of a very high order, while that of the rural districts is the reverse; happily the peasants supply this want of acquired knowledge by a large fund of natural shrewdness. The new Legislature will likely this year carry a scheme of compulsory national and gratuitous education, leaving parents free, of course, to select the school, but subjecting all schools to official inspection. With a free press, the right of public meeting, of forming associations for legal ends, France has a brilliant future before her.

It is useless to dwell for any length of time in the political situation of the country, especially with respect to its past two years’ where the Governments since May, 18/3, have been hostile and treacherous to the declared desires and wants of the nation to found a Republic, not from any abstract preferences for that form of constitution, but because it could serve as a refuge from the competitions and intrigues of the three-Pre-tenders. The country has now the Republic legally; it has its own Senate to counsel it to march with prudence and moderation ; in almost a few hours it will have its own Chamber of Deputies, for the elections hy the universal suffrage vote are expected, even by opponents, to be an ovation for the Republic; a short fortnight will sec an equally happy event, the .dismissal of the present unpopular Ministry, which has ■forked -against the consolidation of the

Constitution with beak and claws, and made open alliance with the Imperialists ; a good clearing-out of reactionary functionaries must follow. With these, and perhaps the weekly prayers of the clergy for the safety and welfare of the Government, all will be well. Beaten shamefully in the senatorial elections, the Bonapartists, even when allied with the Monarchists, could only obtain thirty seats out of 300. Their importance has been over-estimated ; their bubble has burst; and the election for the deputies is expected to prove their coup de grace. The new Ministry will be men of unquestionable conservative instincts, moderate and liberal in their views, and friendly to all practical reform. They will hasten slowly. But above all, they will be ancient Homans in exacting obedience and respect for the laws and institutions of the country from friends as well as foes. The Japanese ambassador gave his first reception a few evenings ago. It was an event, and his salons were crowded with the curious, who expected a representation of Yokahama and Yeddo aristocratic life, with wonderful costumes in bird-embroidered silk and printed paper, and a supper where the oddest of delicacies of a Japan season would figure. No disappointment could be more agreeably profound. The Japanese, of both sexes, were completely Europeanised in dress, customs, and manners. Their features only betrayed their relationship with the Empire of the Best. Some Chinese were present, no more changed than their great wall.

The French clergy in the rural districts, like perhaps many pastors in other places, owing to the absence of doctors, have to occasionally practice, for temporary purposes, the art of healing bodies as well as of curing souls. They demand no fees. However, some clergymen do charge actual expenses out of pocket, and a few have made fortunes by discovering a patent medicine. Wneabbe in Paris is an occulist, and has been blamed for charging excessive fees. Patients subscribe to his treatment, ordinarily extending over six months, for a sum of 3,000fr., the moiety payable in advance An odd book has appeared with the keys of heaven on the title-page, and, desiring to convey the impression, it is as orthodox as the Vatican. It is named the “ Livre iV Or of the Parish Priest.” A few of tb.u cases set forth may not be worthy of remembering :—To stop bleeding at the nose : Put a piece of white paper, the size of a shilling, below the tongue, or swallow a spider fried in vinegar; for jaundice, wear a live eel round the neck for twenty-four houx-s ; to heal an ulcer, no matter of how long standing, cover it with a living earthworm ; for cancer, use a pomatum made from the head of a sheep; (N.B.—Do not employ the horns !) For a lead-poisoning, drink holy water.

The “opera" balls (all masked) are weF, attended, and those to open promise to be more so ; but the truth must be confessed- - the light of other days has fled from tber a. The crowds that formerly loved a wild fres hness of morning life no longer exist, or hr tV e become reformed. But all this does not x ne . veut us from having our cakes and 'ale. What really French parties in high life ; most require are gentlemen who will <b mce. Partners with this qualificatian are as rare as nearly a King in France. It is this 1 which makes the ladies regret so livolv the absence of the Empire, with its balls at the T tvdleries. All this fiddling and dancing, and almost roudy Court life, France had “to- redeem by an invasion, and a terrible ran som.