OUR LADIES' LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4313, 22 December 1876, Page 4

OUR LADIES' LETTER.

Paris, October 28. Only think of that terrible satirist Balzac, whom we all thought had been sent iato thia world to specially laugh at society and hold it up to the linger of acorn, but was positively the most amiable of men. His letters just published clearly show he was the most dutiful of sons and the most affectionate of husbands. Not a line in that long series of anatomical novels, collectively called "The Human Comedy," but he read over to and discussed line by line with his mother and sisterf, and the great genius, after his series of Waterloos, found unalloyed happiness only in matrimony ; but that he was destined only to eujoy for a few moutbs with tbu Rusbiaa princess he adored for years, and who at last rewarded his devotion and fidelity. I really feel inclined to deposit a wreath of immortelles on his tomb when, like so many others, I pay my annual series of visits to departed friends who sleep in the well-kemptbivouacßof the dead around Paris. The fdle des mo ta is at hand, and everyone is preparing their mourning for the sad pilgrimage. The very poorest manage to hire if they cannot purchase the trappings of woe for the visits in question, as to be seen in a cemetery in any other garb would be as indecorous as mirth at a i'ureral. Then it is refreshing, consoling, while being melancholy, to observe the crowds so solemn and reverential, silently bent over the graves, and for half an hour running through the history of their lives, and wishing for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still Tbe religion of the dead ia the culti that everyone in Franco belongs to. Let ui change the subject and deaj with one that is legs triate, It n maintain.*} that the

reason why there are so many separations in France—query, are there more than in other countries where legal facilities exist for effecting them ?—is owing to the fact that young couples have no means of estimating each other's temperaments till after n>atrimoiy. Perhvps this is true, but deferring court.-hips till after the wedding does not the less prevent the husband and wife from at once understanding ', the necessity of practically taking each other for better, for wcrse. In France a bachelor has no opportunity of a tile a-tcte with the lady he intends to propose for; she is never absent from her mother's eye an instant, whether in ballroom, promenade, or at church. A gentleman admires a young lady ; he makes inquiries, very frequently through an "agency," to find some respected ! and sedate lady acquaintance or relative of the family, to whom he explains his wishes aud position. If. these be approved he is J introduced to the young lady and her family; the notaries on both sides aro set to work, so as to conclude the business in the course of three or four weeks. When accepted, '. he young man asks permission of her parents to embrace his intended bride, which is granted ; and till he receives her at the altar it may be said they are never left alone together. The gentleman is expeoted to visit daily ; if his suit be declined, it is effected in the quietest manner, and every effort is then made to marry the young lady at once. After the marriage ceremony the bride and bridegroom call upon the aged relatives who were not able to be present, and then they set off for Switzerland or It ly. It is now becoming the custom to hold the banquet on the day of the celebration of the civil ceremony. The religious portion takes place next day, and is the occasion for the mustering and presentation of the friends of both houses. The person who negotiates the marriage expects a present, more or less costly, according to the match, a:id is the first to be called upon when the married folks return from their tour, French brides as a rule have fortunes, but these are well tied up, and not more than one-third of it is paid down on the weddiug day ; the remainder becomes due on the death of the wife's parents, for in France parents never ruin or induce themselves to start the children in life ; the aim is to ever have the paternal home attractive, the better to bind the children to it although removed elsewhere.