LADIES’ LETTER.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 58, 6 August 1874, Page 4

LADIES’ LETTER.

1 FROM A CORRESPONDENT.J Paris, June 13. In Paris, girls or women of the period have their finishing governess, and such is a necessity if they desire to out-shine their sisters by possessing the earliest, or the latest, the fullest and the newest intelligence about every event that is likely to make conversation attractive, and social intercourse a distraction. How is it possible for a fast young, or middle-aged lady, with half a dozen visits to make daily, to dejeuner here, dine there, put in an appearance at two or three balls of an evening, grant audiences to tradespeople for orders, never to settle accounts, act as a lady patroness of a charity, Show herself at some artistic exhibition, occupy her logo at the Assembly as she does her box at the opera, grace the 'parterre of the grand stand at the races, take the obliged drive in the Bois; and, in addition, be marvellously well informed of the leading news in the journals, the gossip of the studios, the small talk of the coulisses of the theatres, the striking passages of a book only a few hours in the publisher’s windows, the calamities of prominent households, &c. ? The finishing governess is the vadc mecnm , the multum in parvo ; this invaluable creature by birth and connections has her entrance in all circles nearly assured ; she makes herself up in all kinds of stop-press information, and retails it to the grande dame as she sips her chocolate, or is having her hair dressed ; and if these ambulatory professors of things in general can earn a reputation for supplying good jokes, or smart epigrams, they can command their own terms. Fashionable gentlemen have members of their own sex for coaches, and a well-known Marquis, dead since three years, had two very worthy members of' the needy aristocracy in his salaried employment to retail him the news ; thanks to the prevailing practice everybody in Paris knows everybody’s affairs, and the newspapers seem to reflect this phase of manners in the peculiarly personal character of their intelligence, which resembles very much a relation of family matters, and for a stranger there is more simplicity than naivete in the arrangement, for the French believe the eyes of Europe are fixed upon such descriptions. One sad innovation is making way in the French character, namely, the desire for keeping up appearances ; the absence of this, the heroic manner in which heads of families cut their cloth according to measure, never blushing to avow they could not afford this expense and must draw in their horns under other circumstances, was admirable, It had a 'relish of Sparta about it and strongly pleaded in favor of the modern Gaul being the descendant of the ancient Greeks. There is an ugly rush at present, because often followed with fatal effects, to not only equal your friend or neighbor, but to surpass them, and summer is just the period when this endemic bursts forth like other maladies that flesh is heir to. Not contented with a villa in the Suburbs there are ambitions that insist on having a residence deep in the providCes, in addition to a few weeks at the sea side* For them the war in Germany must have been a deliverance as it justified their absence from Baden and such watering

- places, perhaps the ex-Empire has much to answer for in this respect, in making life one i vast vertigo ~where people seemed to have money at command and were only troubled as to how to part with it as quickly as possible; and those butterfly times may explain why there are so many miserables, to quote Gambetta’s latest phrase, that has become popular, who desire the return of Imperialism. French ladies have no greater admiration for bathing than for sea voyages, but that does not prevent them from going to the sea side, where if they do not dip they can display toilettes, and participate in talking parties, but some say they have the secret for making conversation attractive, a distraction ; you retire pleased after a good chat, and feel that after all you are not unfitted to hold a position in society. A great improvement in such relations would be effected did the French take to the institution of a picnic. The few who do comprehend its romantic side enjoy it very much, but for the majority it is pronounced an absurdity to transport half the kitchen, and the whole of the pantry, miles from their natural home to enjoy a meal divested of so many conveniences. Nothing can be duller than French country life before the season for autumnal visiting arrives ; the monotony is weariness to the flesh, and the inmates of such dull houses are something like prisoners, in default of an education that would develops a taste forjout-of-door sports. In consequence of the late -arrival of spring, the tail of the Paris season will not completely disappear till the close of the month. This is fortunate, as it does something for depressed trade, which is sadly in want of a stimulus other than political talk without' political wisdom, and traders and work people would enjoy deputies calling each other names, and shaking their fists at each other’s noses to express differences of opinion, only the necessaries of life exact precedence of its amusements. It is satisfactory to observe that while one half of the deputies are endeavouring to form a Government with an intelligible name, and the other half are doing their best to prevent so rational a project, the wives of the representatives devote their energies to charity work in general, and which may atone for the sins of their husbands. A Fancy Fair has been held in the Champs Elysees, where the noblest ladies of the land, as well as of foreign countries, presided at stalls, and made at the rate of a thousand per cent profit on tooth picks, lucifer matches, sugar plums, and beer. The success of the fete is due to the Princess de Metternich and the Countess de Portales — whore those ladies lead, the fashionable world will follow ; the former is all wit without beauty, the latter all beauty without wit —hence why they are such fast friends—they can never be competitors. The Princess, however, has taken for task to cut all politicians who rat, and if they want satisfaction they are at liberty to call on her husband, who is willing to leave his theological studies and fiddling to cross swords or exchange shots. Theatres are provided with stoves, but not with refrigerators, which makes these places of amusements next to unapproachable when the thermometer ascends and shows but little inclination to fall. Cabs and railway carriages are heated by foot pans. Could not a box in a theatre be cooled by any portable agency? Verdi ought never to forget that the greatest tribute he ever received in his life was that of Parisians crowding to hear his magnificent “ Requiem” in a small theatre with a temperature of 100 degrees, each spectator secretly believing that at any moment he might become a fitting subject for the Mass, What a happy

people the French are when unanimous. Could they but agree upon the Septennate, the Monarchy, the Empire, the Eepnblic, or anything political, in the same way as they do respecting the marvellous beauty of the maestro's newest work of genius, Israelites might really consider Paris as their new and Gentiles as their abiding city. Verdi has brought awfully home to us what the terrors of the Last Judgment must be like; the music haunts, saddens, and gladdens you at once, and it is certainly destined to eclipse all other masses. Not only was the music stamped as a chef d’ceuvre, but the simplicity of its author was not less admired as he directed its execution; chefs d’orchestre might undertake a journey to see him, not so much wielding the baton as conducting the measure with a look and a smile. Operatic managers received anything but compliments, They are in the habit of telling us season after season that a cautatrice is as extinct as some of Darwin’s species, while the two lady artistes, Mmes. Waldmann and Stoltz, are perfection itself in singing, and have been something like wasting their sweetness on the desert air. Now so long as managers make their voyages of no-discovery their commercial speculations, few encouragements remain for art. A wealthy speculator of Paris has offered to purchase from Verdi all the operas he may hereafter write, on his own terms, leaving him full liberty to select the artistes to interpret them, and to spare no expense in bringing out the works. The music of the future is looking practicable. The consumption of horseflesh is making such rapid strides as to suggest particularity henceforth in the selection of a restaurant. Perhaps it is in the interests of the stomach rather than of the army that the Government has voted money to prevent the supply of horses from disappearing. The horse-but-chers are now so numerous as to form a distinct corporation, repudiating all connection with those old fogies who deal in beef and mutton; a “Jewish” horse-butchery has been opened, as it displays the usual Hebrew sentences on a signboard suspended from the forequarter of an ass. In self defence delicate stomachs must have their beef steaks cooked before their eyes, and, to add to the uneasiness abroad, an ex-cook of the first hotel in the city is about publishing “ Confessions of Cookery.” In the interests of public tranquillity the authorities ought to'suppress it, as it must be a work disturbing “moral order ” or creating “ social peril.” The author, like Jules Favre when he left the National Guard their muskets, ought to “ demand pardon from Sod and man ” in advance. Coincident with the Birman ambassador’s visit to Paris is the opening of a Chino-Oriental tavern, with some chopsticks for a sign, arranged in a love-of-the-triangles fashion; the sole thing celestial about the establishment is a waiter with a pigtail, and the only new dish a preparation of halfhatched eggs. The swallows’ nests soup is no longer a luxury; any restaurant will serve it in the course of ten minutes.

If the pilgrimages are on the decline this season to the several adorable localities—likely the piety of last year has been rewarded or hangs fire—there has been an increased observance of the several fetes of the Church; the bishops never confirmed so many children, and never were so many children accompanied by their “ fathers” —their mothers as a matter of conrse, for the latter arc rarely free-thinkers. The Fete Dieu, which closes the season one may say, was remarkably well observed. In this respect Bordeaux is the Vienna of France; there each family considers it an imperative duty to honor “ the procession of the Redemption.” The trees, the gardens, are stripped to form carpeting for the ceremony, and the ladies are so pious that they make a little Longchamps of the occasion to display new fashions and new toilettes, and many business transactions are fixed for arrangement after the ceremony ; in Paris these processions are confined to the precincts of the church, to avoid disturbances ; Protestants do not pay any great attention to the fete, so long as they are not compelled to close their shops when the Host passes, and Free Thinkers have no illwill against it, provided the clergy would not mis themselves up with politics. There is some confusion abroad respecting the Leopold -Robert head dress, which many ladies estimate as a bonnet, when it is only simply an elegant coiffure , admirably adapted for the theatre, for visiting, or for a wedding ceremony, but out of place on a race course or at an exhibition ; however, there is strictly no mode for for hats but individual taste; the round shape does not appear to be in great favour, and while some ladies wear the hat, in Italian straw, very much on the back of the head, and boldly, others prefer the opposite ; hats are perhaps a shade less charged with flowers—the gardens and the fields now compete in attention. As a general rule, for travelling, as well as for negligee costumes at the sea side, mohair and light woollen materials are in favor, while for country toilets ecru, Oxford linens, &c, are essential, being cool and fresh-looking. At the Friday evening concerts at the Champs Elysees all that is fashionable in Paris is certain to be there : a lady was very much admired who wore a robe of black and white lace, the tunic and the corsage the same, with bands of black velvet ; hat, in straw, trimmed with pale roses and blue ribbons, with a veil charmingly covering the head. Another lady wore a robe of white muslin, corsage of blue silk with blue ribbon descending from the waist to the feet, straw hat ornamented with ears of corn and roses, with blue ribbon ; another distinguished toilet was composed of black silk with white muslin sleeves, hat black, A medical gentleman pointed out that the best barometers are ladies, as their nervous system is so subtle as to be sensible to the slightest atmospheric change, their vision becomes troubled, their sense of hearing affected, their sense of smell sharpened. The fair sex are not alone ; the secretary of Francis I, flew from the table the moment apples were placed upon it. Gretry conld not bear the perfume of the rose, and Mdlle Contat fainted at the odour of a hare ; Mbry sang the beauties of garlic as the cook of Lucullus might his famous seasoning of assafoetida, and that Orientals still employ in sauces ; young ladies have been known to have a weakness for the smell of old books, and some philosophers for that from manure pits. The Greeks adored perfumes, and burned them during their repasts; Plancus was traced by the soldiers owing to his weakness for perfumes ; Richelieu loved them till he destroyed his sense to know them ; and at St Helena every one is aware of the extravagance of Napoleon each morning in the matter of eau de cologne,

M. Depret in his 480 maxims—very much read by ladies—among others lays down, “ All tastes are debatable, but taste never discusses. The most detestable ennui is that made from the instruments of pleasure. Bad taste loads to crime. The best manner to wish well is, perhaps, to not know why, as is the manner with the ladies.”