LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 37, 13 July 1874, Page 3

LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

(From a correspondent of ilia Press.) May 10.

Spring has at last arrived, a little late it is true, indeed it presented itself with such an outrageous warmth that it was received with suspicion and coldness; the consequence of the slight was a condemnation to four weeks of pains and penalties under the lune rousue, which, as all great events in Franco are based on a triuity v of something or other, whether of colors, coalitions, coteries, or constitutions, comprised nor’-casters, hail and rain, in honor of the fusion, and “hoary ” frosts divested of all veneration. It is notorious that lunacy and its companion failing suicide, arc less rare among rurals than citizens, yet agriculturists in presence of frost-bitten fruit trees and vines nipped in the bud would be justified in considering, like an old Roman, the beauty of sudden death by one’s self, and there was the chance of being treated according to the latest fashion—the application of cremation to all suicides—superior to a grave at a cross-road with a stake driven through the remains for a tomb “ stone.” Did a farmer ever commit self-destruction in consequence of the “ state of the crops? Arc his growls against wireworms, caterpillars, May bugs, turnip fly, phylloxera, &c., &c., the natural outpourings of a heart sorely charged, or the shibboleths of his calling ? Ten days ago we were assured the vines were killed outright, that the era of vintages, like monarchies, was passed in France ; and now it appears very little damage has been done. This assurance may explain why the number of balls now given arc being doubled ; little time also being left to keep wax lights burning in presence of a sun that rises at nearly four in the morning. We are imitating the English in a few things, running our “ season ” further into spring, and ordering music to play during dinner —nothing more charming than the cadence between the sounds of an orchestra and the coups do fourchette. The Grand Hotel intends to try the fashion at its table d'hote, and a French doctor has opened an establishment for treating all human infirmities by means of musical instruments —bassoons and bass fiddles, trumpets and trumboues, fifes and flutes, clarionets and concertinas. He has already cured an old lady of catalepsy, and labels her restoration to health and length of days as other operators do respecting Pius IX. and a miraculous farine. Beyond doubt the most splendid ball given during the season was by the Baroness Adolphe Rothschild. Each gallery was illuminated with lights of varied shades, and her husband seemed to have an anecdote for every guest. His path among his friends was marked by the smiles and laughs his wit and gaiety produced. His lady is unequalled for her skill in horsemanship ; her sister-in-law in drawing; apd her niece, with a Peabody fortune, has publicly graduated as a schoolmistress, and report says she feels inclined to become an M.D. Were she to take out her diploma in the healing art, she might prescribe after poor Goldsmith’s remedy—a pill-box filled with sovereigns, to be taken as required. A provincial director was among the invited to drawingroom theatricals given by a wealthy relative. Sometimes “ professionals ” are engaged, sometimes the “ company” is limited to amateurs, ” on other occasions it is “ mixed.” Not knowing “ who’s who,” he was so struck with Mme Rothschild’s acting, that he made her a liberal offer for his theatre at Lyons, and considerably added to the evening’s amusement by his “mistake of a night.” Parisienncs are excellent swimmers, and the floating baths on the Seine afford to Nereids of the stream all the necessary opportunity. By the ingenuity of a citizen, a tunic lined with “ piping”—an article in common use in ladies’ dresses —but of indiarubber, can be inflated at will, and floats you like a life-buoy, and while it prevents you from sinking, it at the same obstructs Venus rising from the bath. It makes a capital top’ coat for an aeronaut, and if the pockets be well filled with air, promenades can be made to mermaids’ caves ; ladies can walk along the bottom of the bath with an electric lamp, perhaps the honest man for whom Diogenes spent his life fruitlessly searching on dry land, may yet be discovered in “full fathom five.” It is significant that contemporary with the return of the deputies to Versailles, people rush off to the country for the sake of tranquility, and politics have become such a

downright nuisance that ladies refuse to inscribe as partners in their dancing tablets, any gentleman either with definite, indefinite, or provisional notions about the future of France; they agree with the Comte de Chambord—all that belongs to Providence.

Paris is rapidly assuming her summer physiognomy ; every day from five io seven o’clock, the elegantes go to the Bois de Boulogne to display their new toilettes, and respire a little fresh air along the alleys newly clothed with verdure. Later in the evening the concerts and the restaurants of the Champs Elysees, with their brilliant lights, impart a grand animation to this privileged promenade. Then there is the circus, a beautifully ventilated establishment, where one can admire an acrobat mounting on a ball, rolled by his feet up a zig-zag incline to the theatrical seventh heaven ; if your nerves arc weak, shut your eyes to the possibility of a hrcak-ncck accident, and await the coming of the four horses to dance the irrepressible Madame Angot music. In the day time there is the Exhibition of Art and historical curiosities, for the relief of Alsacian immigrants, and the annual collection of new paintings. The most visited tableau is that of the Prince Imperial, a masterpiece of bad painting and offensive snggestivcuoss, for it is better to allow France t wenty years at least to forget Sedan, and two centuries to wean her longings after Alsace. It is at these gatherings that all the reigning beauties and the glories of the toilettes arc to be encountered, and which have superseded the walking dress show of Longehamps of other davs. With the existing fashions it is admitted that all ladies are pretty; all have a rose and lily expression; the costumes arc charming; the not over-laced figures graceful. It is truly to fashion that it is necessary to attribute the fact that there are no more plain persons in Paris. The predominant color is bine, which of course delights all features fresh and young; the bruncs prefer the pale blue, and the blondes its deeper shade. The cut of robes continues to be actually the same as existed throughout the winter, and with so much success; and light materials are trimmed with embroidery or colored taffetas; but fairy fashion has apparently wished this spring to exhaust all her powers oti hats. It has been affirmed, and philosophers have even corroborated the point, that woman is headstrong; providentially she is so, or she would never bo able lo support the enormous loads that prevailing tastes inflict on her cranium. Perhaps it is a question as open as the work whether the hairdresser or the milliner contributes most to make the hat of the moment; after the coiffeur has exercised his patient art —why not say the patience of a coiffeur rather than the patience of Job ?—the modiste arrives, not with a bonnet, as in the days gone by, nor with a light straw and a few flowers that a baby might hold in its hands, but with a corbeille that would decorate an epergne. It is no longer a rose that decorates a bonnet, but a “ rose tree in full bearing’’—no longer a bunch of grapes, bnt a Hampton-Court Vine no longer poppies and bottle flowers, but a whole corn field, where partridges might feel at home, and sportsmen claim the right to shoot over. If fashion be for us ladies a subject of high diplomatic importance, involving an exchange of notes, gentlemen must not consider themselves exempted from every rule of tenne. Let me tell them, in a stage whisper, that at marriage ceremonies full dress is no longer fashionable, except for the “ best men,” that grey trousers, dark blue cloth vest, blue and short tunic, and blue cravat, arc de rignevr. In a summer a white vest is preferred, and that under no circumstances ought he to appear in, or on town, without the high crowned hat, of sufficient turret loftiness, as if not afraid of M. Lorgercil’s bill, to tax hats according to the perpendicular inch. It is said that ladies arc trivial, not serious. Now a gentleman will fall in love with a beautiful toilette, a duck of a bonnet, and a Cinderella slipper; but no lady ever displayed an affection for a cravat, or a guinea hat, or a Wellington boot. However, human nature’s gamut of the affections has a large range ; its love-scale varies from statues and trees to even ideas, and one’s self. The exhibition of paintings, our Royal—that is, our “ Septcnnal,” wind and weather permitting —Academy, is a kind of vast out-of-door drawing room. The lady or gentleman who cannot put in an appearance at this common try sting-place must be on the road to min, or conspiring with the Rights, the Centres, and the Lefts, or composing poetry, or drafting a petition to the Assembly, describing a new discovery of taxes ; the only petitions, it is mmonied, that have a chance of being read. There is a story told of a certain duchess —though no longer young she is yet handsome—who, having commanded her portrait, found the artist unduly long over its execution. “Hasten, Monsieur, I pray you,” said she to him after a sitting, “ to finish my portrait while I yet resemble myself.” There is a pincushion war going on in Paris between ladies about 20 and those over 30 ; the latter, in addition to wit, have found out a few of the secrets of Diane de Poitiers and Ninon de TEnclos to preserve their good looks, and to carry off the gentlemen at routs and balls—which is a violation of Communism pure. A witty lady, who had the art of looking young, once observed that the poorest swimmer could manage to descend the current of a river, while it was ever difficult to return against it. Let ladies in their teens not lose confidence in the homage their youth exacts, and not trouble themselves about the struggles of sisters, double their lustres, who are struggling back against the stream. Another war still raging, and in which gentlemen have a deep interest that of the healthy conspiracy fco put down extravagance in dress ; the battle is being waged hilt to hilt, and the Nothings-to-wear are charging the Dorcases with a Saracen energy, giving no quarter. It was under Louis XV. that the privileged classes enjoyed the “ privilege” of ruining themselves by their extravagance, while what may be called the bourgeoisie toiled, spun, and saved. The former, with the advantage of experience, are trying to save the latter. Madame Coignet has made an exhaustive examination of the enfranchisement of woman. Her conclusions are very hazy and not at all precise: she must know that Frenchmen give very little attention to the matter, and those who studied social philosophy deeply, are now completing their studies in New Caledonia ; she claims that the youth of both sexes bo as much as possible educated alike, so that when they grow up and become married, they may be the two hearts beating as one. Whatelcy observes, that hard upon bard makes a bad stone wall. Madame Coignet. does not confer an insignificant service by disclaim-

ing the desire of ladies to become apothecaries and even doctors, and that it is better to leave to man, not the right of universal suffrage, but that of making Arctic voyages and expeditions into Central Africa; of commanding armies and acting as soldiers, reclaiming waste lands, building ships, and Titanic jobs generally. She is very strong, however, against excluding females from the higher branches of the postal service. She is tolerant enough to allow men to fill, as thousands do in France, the duties of housemaids, laundresses, and sick nurses. Not less interesting will be a few notes supplied me on the manufacture of Belgian straw. Since the fifteenth century the valley of the Geer has been celebrated for the strength, whiteness, and suppleness of its wheaten and barley straw, which is mown before the maturity of the grain, to secure pliability, and so guard against breakage. After drying by exposing to air in the field, the ears arc detached, and the straw extracted from its envelope—an operation demanding address and judgment; the part of the stem selected is that between the first two joints, which is cut into lengths of seven inches, enclosed in a box, and subjected to sulphur fumes to bleach ; each straw is then passed through a small instrument, which divides it into as many “ splits ” as the fineness of the plait may demand ; after being moistened and pressed between light wooden cylinders, these bits of straw are given to women, children, and old men, to plait. France continues to be good and bad at the same time, and so is not unlike other civilised nations. A great many suicides arc taking place on the part of the unhappy of both sexes ; females commence to show a fashion for self-shooting, and sadder still, no explanation can be found for the mania—not even disappinted love, which, like chanty, covers a multitude of sins; likely to make life more attractive, the institution of rnsieres is extending, which aims at rewarding young girls born of “ poor but honest parents,” and of model character, with a crown of roses, a fortune of a few hundred francs, and a husband. When advanced in life they arc to have a prescriptive right to the position of box opener in the new “ moral theatre,” that Paul Feval has praised in a pamphlet and sang at a conference, without giving either a moral public or moral shareholders the slightest idea of what way stage naughtiness—arc we really worse than in the time of Molicrc?—is to be corrected. However, a Frenchman in his prolific schemes for making the world better than Providence has fashioned it, never considers solutions indispensable. The Prophet Isaiah upbraided the daughters of Israel as being the cause of the ruin of their nation in the making themselves more beautiful by adorning their ears with the gold of Phoenicia and the pearls of Ophir. It is not clear if French ladies are not as bad in producing all the down-hill tendencies that arm-chair and port-wine philosophers discover in a nation that has paid five milliards without wincing, and works and saves almost unconscious of that feat of legerdemain, and which brings tears to the eyes of Bismark that he cannot command a second performance. Well, the reigning caprice in ear-rings is extravagant above all in point of taste, which, for an elegant lady, is almost worse than a crime. Every animal in natural history, every article in an ironmonger’s or upholsterer’s shop, serves as models for jewellery designs, Juvenal held that the sight of gold and silver corrupted the eye of woman ; officers’ wives wear ear-rings in the form of epaulettes and swords ; those of editors have only to fall back on ink-bottles, pens, and printing presses. “ Shop” jewellery is open to all.