LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 530, 29 February 1876, Page 4

LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

{From a correspondent of the Press.')

Paris, December 25.

Any foreigner compelled by business, or induced by pleasure, to spend the last fortnight of the year in Paris will certainly return home convinced that the French merit the reputation of being the politest people in the world, apart from the fraternal fist-shakings between deputies at Versailles to emphas.se argument. There reigns in every class of society a geniality and studied kindness not to be found among us outer barbarians. Servants obey every order of their masters with alacrity, wives cease to scold —that is to complain, and children forget to cry. Perhaps the foreigner, if he belong to the intelligent and observing class, will set down this social millenium to the Republican constitution, that already some politicians who voted it believe to be too aged after ten months’ existence. Let him prolong his stay, however, till New Year’s Day and his illusions will be widely dispelled. This mildness of manners is but a sign of the times, destined to vanish for another twelvemonth after the exchange of etrennes, the familiar name for free-will offerings, levied with a kind of pistol at your head, and to the demand of your money or your happiness during the year of grace, 1876.

This system of making presents is audacious plundering ; a poll-tax levied by every inferior on his superior through every stage of the social system. The poor bachelor is most ill-treated, and which may perhaps explain why his order is less long-lived than married men. He is plucked by his landlady, by her servants, by the waiters of the restaurant where he takes his meals, and by the garcons of the cafe where he spends the evenings of his life over a game of dominoes and a glass of sugar and water of Mahometan strength. He must also present a box of bonbons to every lady acquaintance, who, during the last year, has invited him to her house, where, instead of a substantial lunch awaiting him, to recompense bis sacrifice, he finds nothing but a table piled with glittering trophies, wrung from his brethren in misfortune. Financially friendships thus do not pay in this country, “ Wrung” is not too severe a word to apply to these nabob tokens of respect, which must be obtained at some renowned establishment. Chocolate and sugar abominations must be purchased at their weight in gold. A lady will not accept a valuable jewel, but will be very punctilious to exact a sac of sugar frosted chesnuts, costing 100 f., the material of the sac being the centre piece of a costly Indian cashmere shawl.. This year’s bonbons will he given in caskets, closely resembling the fashionable bonnets.

This system is based on the belief that it tests not only the manner in which the donor has been brought up, but is also a proof of generosity of the heart. Beneath the sugar plums is often concealed a present of serious value. Between ladies, the itrennes exchanged consist almost always of objects of toilette, jewels, fans, lace, and coiffeurs. Some ladies offer only bonbons, but on a valuable plate in china, porcelain, Japan, old Sevres, or ancient Rouen, all tied up in fantastic paper and gold cord. The young folks are not to be forgotten, and will take good care not to allow themselves to be so. No rag baby will satisfy Mile. Jeanne; her doll most be a close imitation of some celebrated actress, and the toilette bearing the “ Worth” hall mark. Her brother Alphonse clamors for an entire army of leaden soldiers a foot high, provided with batteries of breach-loading Erupps, and demanding real gunpowder. These costly knicknacks tend to go. out of fashion, for parents are becoming more inclined to reward their children in bard cash, inducing them to guard it as carefully as the gold guinea pocket money of the Yicar of Wakefield’s daughters. Even this system, however, has its drawbacks, as last year Baron Rothschild’s son, on visiting his grandmother, complained “ Nanny” had only given him “ an ugly old picture,” and he threw the morsels on the floor, while crying bitterly. The fragments represented a bank note for IOOOf. The daughter of Dumas, fils, is perhaps a match for the “ Boy Speculator ” of California; Mile Dumas, aged twelve, has saved |up her monetary presents, which she has placed in a banker’s hands, and so well has that agent invested her “ capital,” that she is now quite a respectable shareholder in the shares of the Suez Canal. Finance is closely allied to the fine arts, in this country at least, for the best patrons of the artists are the stock-brokers—or jobbers. The aristocracy take very little interest in pictures, and thus the field is left free to the gamblers on change. Every stock broker thinks it is a duty to patronise the arts and to have his collection, and the middle classes enter into the spirit of this commercial aspect of the matter ; lately, when it was proposed to supersede the annual by a triennial exhibition of paintings, such a storm was raised that the authorities had to abandon the reform. Paris society finds food for thought and gossip in a picture by any “new” master. It is thus with Meissonnier’s monster tableau, “ 1807,” or to give its true name, with all respect for the Russians, now so much in favour, “The Battle of Friedland." For the first time in his long career Meissonnler has tried “ high art,” his picture measures seven feet by four—David formerly sold his paintings by the square yard—and is the result of ten years’ labour. He finished the picture in order to possess funds to complete his mansion, for one of the peculiarities of French artistes is to erect houses for themselves, and as a rule to exemplify the proverb that fools build houses for wise men to live in. The picture has been sold for £12,000, but art critics are of opinion it is not worth the moaey. “ Everything in the picture,” it is observed, “ is in cast iron, except the breastplates of the Cuirassiers, and they are in pasteboard”; however, Meissonnler has many rivals and few friends, and in any case he is more at home in microscopic or cabinet pictures, The pending elections have completely spoiled the season ; Ministers do their best to promote gaiety, but even their dinners are mere knife and fork politics, and their balls so many coteries for electioneering; the gentlemen will not be disengaged till March next, and then ladies can count upon finding partners at balls. These electoral occupations retain many families in the country, or compel them to return there, for dinners and balls go far in deciding those now paramount sovereigns, the voters, whose wives must be recognised and their daughters honoured. Thus the fashions are difficult to view, the theatres not being so well filled by elegantes as hitherto. A wedding, or a drive to the Bois, will at any time reveal the latest Much attention u given to i

coiffures at present, where tulle and Colville lace enter very largely into their cdtaposition. Velvet foliage enjoys at present a very leading position in the reigning fashions ; though a fantasy, it must not the less be uniform in colour, that is to say, completely black or white, cream or blue, according to individual taste. For dress bonnets velvet aud peluche are the favourite tissues, these being necessitated by the capote hat, an old acquaintance. Feathers are largely worn, and are so rolled around the bonnet as to form a train behind ; when the feathers are short they are formed into a plume ; cocks’ feathers are discarded —it is the fate of all cheap articles. Costumes are “superbly” trimmed with peacock and ostrich feathers ; thus a princesse costume is black velvet, the middle of the before and behind being cut en cuirasse, while the sides are prolonged in large square ends, as far as the bottom of the jupe, framing as it were the training tablier ; the borders are surrounded with a fringe of black feathers gracefully falling on a jupe of sea blue faille ; the sleeves are assorted to the jupon. A very elegant corsage was worn lately by a lady at the opera ; it was lowbodied and square, with a falling border of English point ; the peasant fichu, in Colville tulle, placed in the interior, a bouquet of mixed pansies and mignonette being placed at the angle ; Louis XV. sleeves of same material as the fichu. Pockets are as varied as the tastes of the ladies, but the absence of a pocket would be heresy itself ; the pocket may be either fictitious or real, and is commonly made in the same stuff as the robe, and ornamented with the same trimming ; it can be placed either on the side of the tablier or on every garment, even the “ Ulster,” or any other paletot. For the moment no other wrap is possible but the Ulster, which is undoubtedly cozy, pending the damp, cold weather. White or colored Surah is very mnch employed for dinner toilettes, and yellow or white satin for ball dresses.

A very popular lounge for ladies, especially on Sundays, the public show days, is the general auction mart. A pilgrimage to this well-known spot will not be lost time ; there are ever collections of pictures, objets d’ art, ancient, as well as the most elegant, modern furniture. It is an easy manner to make an acquaintance with the history of art. The treasures are sometimes very valuable, and consist not only of the weedings of collections, but are consignments from every part of Europe. No auction can take place in Paris without the presence of one of the fifteen licensed “ Knights of the ivory hammer,” and thanks to the code Napoleon, the guild is very rich, and charitable. This same code prevents a man from making a will as he pleases ; there can be no cutting off a scapegrace son or a strong-minded daughter with an “ angry shilling ; ” each must be accorded their share ; but when a man leaves for sole fortune only a few plated spoons and forks, with an arsenal of copper kitchen utensils—wisely kept for show —to be divided among some seventy sorrowing heirs at law, the only way to divide these chattels is to convert them into current coin. The most interesting work on this auction mart wrs written by Rochefort, when he was a youth to fortune and to fame unknown : he unveils all the mysteries of the institution ; a stranger can still consult the volume with profit, and will find therein many a hint ignored by Murray. Would it not be well to have a series of “ guidebooks,” red cover not being essential, instructing strangers not only how to see the capital, but how to live in it ? It is in this auction mart that one-half of the canards that are disseminated over Europe originate ; a “ Man About Town” cannot dispense with putting in a daily appearance here, if he desires to be well informed not only about the scandals of yesterday, but even those of to-day. It would seem that the articles as they are put up for sale suggest to lively imaginations the incidents for gossip: another advantage to be gained, you can brush up your French, and elbow the notorieties of the day; it is prudent to be prepared for a crushing, and ever to take the “ social pressure” in good humor : a joke or a witty observation will captivate a Frenchman, where all the displays of the purest logic would fail to convince him that you are not rather low down in the scale of creation.

The Princessede Bauffremont has as many enemies now as she formerly had friends. She has, of course, lost all the sympathy of the French, who sustained her in her “ Seven Years’ War” against her husband, by her becoming German, and she is not in the odour of sanctity, by marrying an old friend, when only separated from her husband the Catholic Church not recognising divorce. Before obtaining her deed of separation she led a very pious kind of life, devoted herself to curing the sick and aiding the needy ; all she claimed was to be legally emancipated from her husband, and to pass the remainder of her days in retirement, continuing her works of charity, and educating her two girls. Instead, she suddenly marries the Prince Bibesco who, on one occasion, for the sake of her beautiful eyes, nearly killed her husband in a duel. “ Was woman ever in such humor woo'd, was woman ever in such humor won?” The French Tribunal treating her simply as a simple femme infidele has ordered the sequestration of her property, and summons her to deliver up her daughters to be educated here, in the convent of the Sucre Cceur. What a position for two princesses, aged fourteen and twelve, legally prohibited from intercourse with their parents on account of the latter’s misconduct. The lawyers appear to be much occupied with the problem, those of France reproach the Germans with having connived at the legal adultery ; the German lawyers on the other hand reply, with long extracts from the French Coke and Blackstone, that the Princesse has done nothing more than profit by the rights recognised by international law.

Boys and girls are in high spirits, having obtained a few extra holidays. The theatres are placing themselves wholly at the service of the young people ; those who dislike the legitimate drama and the pupazzi can make a selection between the thirteen wild beast shows in the city. It is a general subject of regret that the latter were absent from Paris during the siege ; then they could have been turned to account.

A tall, slim-waisted woman, aged forty, called at the Court House yesterday and demanded to be registered as a voter. When politely informed that she didn’t belong to the voting sex, she struck the table with her fist, upset a bottle of ink, and said, ‘ I’ll vote if it takes me a thousand years !’ And sJw’U keep her word.