LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 444, 16 November 1875, Page 4

LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

(From n correspondent oj the Press,') The calling out of every qualified man, aged twenty-eight, to learn soldiering for four weeks during the current month, has created a kind of little revolution in social habits and calculations. It was well known that in accordance with the law for compulsory military service, the “lads” of twenty eight years’ standing, and forming the army of resurv , would have to learn drill, * nt the meaning of that patriotic appeal, and where there is no option, has only been indersfood since it has become a 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 stage*, as, according to Young, man then “ suspects himself a fool.” The reserristi s cannot be r eplaceel ; from the prince—and every French duke’s son is that by courtesy to the peasant, all must “ fall in,” and meet like parted streams, mingling and in peace. The soldier’s life, in campaign too, becomes the common lot of all. • J lie hero of a sulon 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 be ordered to the ambulances, The four weeks will chiefly be occupied like the troops of a former King of France, marching up hills and marching down again, with shamfights among vineyards and turnip fields, and board and lodging provided accordingly. The members of the Upper Ten who have to do duty are sadly put about, for their hair must be cut like a Zouave’s, and their face shaven as clean as a monk’s, the moustache excepted. Absolom and Apollo without their locks, will be stiange sights when returning to dream of battle fields no more; the first effects of the irritation are visited on the railway companies, where the conscripts avail themselves of their military privilege of travelling to their depot, in fiist-class carriage, at a reduction of three-fourths the ordinary fare. September is a very gay month in the provinces, country mansions are full of visitors to enjoy sporting excursions, the vintage, and long promenades through woods and glens ; in the evening private theatricals succeed, and these are the occasions where the resenistes will create a blank. But there are other blanks more serious, where the husband and father lias to leave home and woik, with but little provision for 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, &e, that of paying salaries in full to married men, and the moiety only in the case of bachelors, the suffering will be diminished, and men will go into training with light hearts, and fare, sumptuously on their black bread and Spartan soup. On such occasions relatives 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 that is adopted at weddings, especially among the artizans and the petty hovrt/eoisie , where each “invited ” pays their quota of the breakfast*-', dinners, dances, and carriages, the roysteiing being maintained for three days—three days being also the standard for many other important events in the usuages of the country. The mothers-in-law then return the “civilities,” by givingadiunerat their houses gratuitously, then the happy couple invite the company in batches, dining them off according to their means, where, as is often the custom, the son-in-law takes up his abode with his wife’s parents —it may be for years, or it may be for ever—a second dinner is expected from said parents. With these economical arrang 'meets, and the hiring our. of the bride’s toilette, as well as the bridegroom’s costum*, French marriages, being thus jointstock operations, pass off not only merrily, but with eclat, the institution of honeymoon is extending with the general taste for travelling. Persons of limited means in France have hardly any occasion to hire either articles of dress or furniture; very honestly conducted establishments exist, where they can obtain substantial credit for a certain sum, without sureties. Suppose a servant wishes clothes to the value of lOOfr, she obtains a bond from the establishment for the full amount, and with it may enter 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 uniform as employes of the Gas Company, their business must be as extensive as it is bask ; this is apparently the way that working Paris furnishes house and provides clothes, and the latter, with the natural taste of the Fran• ciises, coupled with their heaven-born 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 ; whatdisturbs 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 perter has charge of that; there is no washing clone on the premises, the laundry cart conveys the soiled linen into the country once a week ; remember French ladies an* just as fashionable in their underclothing as in their jupous and tunics ; then there arc no heavy and elaborate meals to be prepared ; everything is light and elegant, everybody has enough and nothing is wasted ; where pantries are so many cornu copias, 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 monthly 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 prices, but he falls back on iuferioi goods, and has a short memory respecting weights and measures ; then, occasionally, his arithmetic is wrong; his mistakes in addition, never against himself, are a strong argument in favor of compulsory education, To accept bills unreceipted, to never tot them up and across, to lose a receipt as, by shortness of memory again, accounts are occasionally presented a second lime, would be the quickest road to ruin. Ladies returned from the seaside complain they never passed a duller season in their lives ; the weather being so capricious, gentlemen on settling their .families at a water ing place apparently forgot their existence, so far as visits were concerned ; hence, the. fjbsenQS ol gentlemen generally made such.

residence the dullest of affairs ; ladies had I nothing to fallback upon but talking chiffons, and even discussions over toilettes with friends or maids become, like all prolonged debates, tedious ; novels palled, and boating is not an amusement French ladies indulge in ; balls arc melancholy places without partners, and in Paris, after doing the season, ladies know well what such reunions are, when gentlemen prefer their club, their billiards, and their cigars. To return to the capital will be as great a joy to them as if ■ ho 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. There has been a flutter abroad at the idea of the “hereditary foe” sending a pilgrim procession to traverse France, so that even devout French Catholics begged they might bo spared the honor of the visit. These processions will not pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, nor lighten the taxes consequent on paying the countrymen of Arminius 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 Sacre Occur 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 professors 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 ball of Legislature, now in course of erection at Versailles ; it promises to be the most handsomely decorated building in France, and that is saying much; no wonder, then, every ninety-nine men in the country are candidates for the seventy-five life senatorships to be filled up. Exhibitions promise to be perpetual in Paris. Next year one is to be opened in honor of electricity and its applications; steam will follow in due course; and by varying the theme, the ball can be kept going for ever. The citizens do support all these kind of monster shows, and so do visitors, whose first duty after ogling the ruins of the Tuileries, and admiring the staircase of the new Opera, is to flock to the Palace of Industry, the only structure associated with the name of Prince Napoleon. Respecting visitors, they were never more numerous than at present; no less than six four-in hands leaves the city every morning to make the journey around the most interesting parts of the suburbs, all full inside and outside. The davers must be becoming men of property, as every day they lend their plazcd hat, happily with a patented iron-clad mown, to be sent round at the moment when passengers are in the gushing mood, and small contributions are not general. But what a pity the lady visitors cannot show off to advantage their toilettes; the materials are rich and costly, but all are cast into the shade the moment an ordinarily dressed lady passes by. Why not place themselves for once only unreservedly in the hands of a French modiste; it is interfering with her that leads to such sad breaking down in point of taste, ladies occasionally persist in following the latest fashions, totally regardless of its individual suitability. At the present moment the matter is important, where plaids ami plain tissues require so much judgment to be mixed; never let the squares be too large, nor the colors to glaring ; the plaid pattern over a plain jupon, in different shades, is very elegant—elegant are at present also made to be useful robes ; cashmere and vigogne are materials generally worn, a uniform silk dress is hardly to be met with, it now only forms the jupon. Jet is very much worn, as also gale on in various designs, mixed with silver, steel, and gold ; white beaver hats are trimmed with corresponding jet; the hats are flower-pot or tyrolian, and are “ filled” with flowers and fruits ; but the the most ladylike trimming will ever be found in grapes ; and the coarse straw hat trimmed with the richest lace, a muslin scarf, or an Algerian gauze, has more admirers than ever, it is good for travelling ; the pouch and Joan of Arc belt, with ribbon interlacings, continue to be in favor, as also the cuirasse corsage and the Bulgare puff. It is said that there are no more old ladies nowadays, no more than there are no children, the latter are so precocious, and the former so rejuvenated by the dressmaker, the perfumer, and the dentist; certainly, white or grey hair is becoming a rarity with ladies on the shady side of fifty ; absorbed in so many anxieties to make herself young, the old lady is rapidly losing her acquired character of being amiable; a charming causcur and a wise counsellor, and yet if history be not maligned, the most influential and respected women have ever been old ladies. One young-looking lady is about disappearing, the wan-faced damsel that represented the Republic on the postage stamps; instead of one, there will be henceforth two dear creatures, supporting a globe—the demoiselles Atlas—on which will be engraved a large figure representing the value of the stamp ; it is an illustration of how the more one changes things in France, the more they remain the same. Bad as the Napoleon family is now held by many, the country is not wholly ungrateful, thus the tomb of the first Napoleon—it will be a long while before the nation erects a statue to the third—is to be covered with a glass screen, to have all its beauties scanned, instead of the present close iron railing. As we can never get on without some kind of rowing, the most troublesome home question is, not employing Bouviers to forge indictments against Republicans and applauding the functionaries for being tricked, but the struggle between the tram cars and the cabs, the latter will not keep off the rails, despite blasts from horns, suggesting the trumpets of the last day. This would be no harm if the public were not run over, or passengers left in the tram, pending that the driver runs after a butcher’s cart or a cab. Policemen generously come to the aid, and drive the tram to the nearest bureau. There is an agitation on loot to reduce the salaries of actresses who arc ranked as stars ; so exorbitant have become their demands, that while they roll in luxu ies managers are packing up for the bankrupt court. The Chiffonniers have duly honored the anniversary of their old chief ; the “ scavengers ” are to give a Billy O’Rourke’s banquet to theirs.