LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 732, 24 October 1876, Page 3

LADIES’ LETTER FROM PARIS.

{From a corresvondent of the Press,")

Paris, September 2. A short fortnight of tropical weather has been abruptly followed by heavy rains, and the fall of thethermometer|from the regions of 100 degrees down to 40; we seem to have passed from the middle of August to the end of November, in skipping over the months of September and October; the change may not be a permanent one, but its effects will be lasting. So far as the fashionable world is concerned, the summer of 1876 is finished; the moment is come to reside in one’s castle, to shoot over preserves, superintend the vintage, and organise excursions in the forests. Before we bury the past, the lodg-ing-house keepers of Trouville deserve a parting word ; they are wailing like captive Jews, so much so as almost to drown the voice of the ocean ; a late spring and a fleeting summer have destroyed their harvest, but to do thes: land sharks justice, it must be confessed they did their best to profit by the sunshine and to make their August visitors pay for the shortcomings of Dame Nature. Their plan was the same as followed of yore by the vendor of the Sybilline books —three, six, or nine—the price remained unchanged; Indeed some of the Trouville Lirippers even went so far as to ask twice as much for three weeks as for three months. According to his custom, the Prince of Wales spent the race week at Trouville, the most fashionable of all watering places, the Biarritz of the Republic ; taught no doubt, by a dearly purchased experience, he dispensed with the Normand hospitality, and very wisely employed his yacht, Hildegarde, as his hotel. There is a story told about a member of his suite, Lord S , a novice perhaps at Trouville ; he took a spacious set of rooms in a first class hotel ; on the third day of his stay, the landlord asked him in an inquisitive manner if he “ did not expect his family soon ?” “No,” replied his Lordship, with a halfrestrained ejaculation at “ the fellow’s impudence.” His wrath, however, had greater vent when, on returning from his bath, he discovered a Parisian family in possession of his rooms, and his goods and chattels transferred to a closet on the attic story, “ Did you,” said he, shaking his hand, closed in anything but a manner suggestive of peace, “ think that I was too poor to stand being cheated by you ?” Boniface drew himsetf up with an air worthy a descendant of William the Conqueror; “Learn.” was his answer, “ that my house is one of confidence, where cheating is unknown ; in milord’s hands the rooms did not bring in their proper value ; they are family rooms, and milord can have them if he is willing to pay like a family, and not as a single man.” History does not relate if his lordship was willing to pay sevenfold for his bed and board ; likely he adopted the orthodox course, said something very hasty, supplemented with a grumble, and paid, Baron Rothschild in a similar circumstance neither grumbled nor paid ; the proprietor of a furnished villa thinking doubtless that nothing was too dear for a millionaire, demanded 18,000 francs for a fortnight’s letting. The Baron smiled, repeated the figures before some friends on the point of leav ing for the sea-side. Many of the well known faces were missing this season on the frequented plank walk, leading Irom the casino to the bathing cabins. Hard times were not the cause of the absence, for money is never wanting in France, when individual or national glory is in question ; but many distinguished leaders of fashion are in mourning, and black is a color tabooed at Trouville. Indeed death is very busy in all ranks of society, and a M. de Lavergne has created quite a sensation by asserting, with a column of figures to him, that the French population, like the frogs, is marching backwards, and that in a few years hence, she will be so much left behind in the matter of increase of the inhabitants, that all idea of retaking Alsace must be abandoned, since Germany alone has a quadruple augmentation annually in her net births, as compared with France. The Republic, which is now captivating even old royalists, and surpassing monarchies in the maintenance of order and the development of riches, ought to take in hand this social obstacle to national prosperity. A death that has very much astonished the fashionable as well as the literary world, is Leon Duchemin’s, better known under the nom-de plume of “ Fervacques;” he devoted much of his time and talent to initiating the outside world into the splendors of Court life; his chrojdgues were eagerly devoured by ladies doomed to sigh their lives away in country homes after the gorgeous fetes of the Tuileries. One morning he awoke, observed the Tuileries in flames, the Empire a dream of the past. He never recovered from the shock, like so many other Bonapartists that believed the dynasty, like the Church, was founded on a rock ; he found nothing in the social teas and White House receptions of our Presidents worthy of his pen, and his novels, nasty sometimes, but keenly satirical and true to life, also indicated a falling off, In the grand monde he was, notwithstanding, only regarded as an intruder, as a periodical utility; for it would be a great mistake to imagine that French society is not exclusive; it has its sets and its snobberies, as in other countries whose favorites of fortune claim to be the salt of the earth; only in France, this “ stand aside, I’m holier than thou” attitude is less brutally and less generally exercised. Fervacques had a flirtation with the Princess S , and I relate the story as told to me ; he bad bundles of her letters, all compromising; the friends quarrelled, and the Princess was anxious to receive back her billets doux ; Fervacques resolved to keep them as a souvenir. He was invited to make friends again, and to give a proof of his willingness, he was requested to appear on the grand stand at the races in the Boisde Boulogne when the Orand Prix was being run for, wesringthe decoration of the Empire of Brazil in his button-hole. This bit of ribbon was to be as the olive branch, a sign of peace ; of course he had no right to wear such a decoration, and so the police thought, as he was arrested. The arrest gives a right to a domiciliary visit and the examination of your papers; when Fervacques was liberated, he found all his private papers had been over-hauled, and none were missing except the billets-doux. His death was very sudden, and hushed up by his friends, so it is not too much to guess he committed suicide.

The ex* Minister of War, General de Oissey, has fallen upon hard times ; his wife died when he was a prisoner in Germany, and he was recently on the point of marrying, when his intended bride, an American lady, expired from the effects of overdrinking ; he never has been himself since, and he resigned on account of ill*

health. However, he never learned his resignation till he.'saw it in the Journal Official. Twenty-four hours previously, an aide-de-camp was despatched to acquaint him with the nomination of his successor ; the bearer of the bowstring could not find the watering place at which the General wan staying, till a day after the appearance of the Gazette. There are “ veels vithin veels” it seems now-a-days, just as in the time of Mr Weller. Under the Empire, the Empress Eugenie often said laughingly to her friends, that she and her husband were not of the same opinions in politics ; “ While I am a Legitimist enragee, Louis is at heart an Orleanist.”

Ladies’ sporting costumes are very simple, and as close fitting as possible, so as to enable them to freely march among the vines and over the stubbles ; for rinking, white cashmere is preferred, and the hair falls over the back in two plaits, tied with ribbons according to fancy; the ladies look very charming rolling along in twos, and working their fans, Red and blue, in all their varieties of shades, seem to be engaged in a war of extermination with white and its several tones; if white could only be as permanently fashionable as black its shades could be made to suit all kinds of beauty Corsages continue to be flat before, the basques very small; it is not certain that this mode will rule the rich and heavy toilettes destined to hold sway this winter; at present cashmere, faille, and foulard are the stuffs in favour ; note, the polanaise is worn very long, indeed the. same may be said of the tunique; perhaps it is in honor of the Eastern question that ladies now ornament themselves with sequins, it is an addition to the many other et ceteras they are condemned to carry ; they have already collars, and chains are hung round their necks to support medallions , which replace the traditional velvet; then the bracelets under various names and of different patterns, not forgetting the fan, which the simplest work girl now employs as much as the proudest lady—they unite also in common to wear the peasant fichu, the most useful article in lace, either black or white, ever introduced. The fan is generally attached to the waist belt by means of a ribbon, unless the cordeliere. exists, the latter must be adapted to the toilette. Felt hats are the newest of the new stylo, but colored straws, black especially, are not to be considered as unfashionable ; the Pifferaro is perhaps the predominating shape, and is being garnished with more mixed feathers and velvet than flowers aud ribbons ; grapes, ever a respectable “trimming,’’ are very generally worn. It is an anxious moment for a lady who receives at her chateau. She has not all the resources at her command to entertain as if she were at Paris ; but all goes wonderfully well notwithstanding ; the table is exquisite with its flowers, its preserves, its beautiful fruit and service ; the bonbons and petits fours rival the tapers in lustre, and the colors are exquisitely reflected in the finely cut crystal ; the table cloth is supple and satin like, and is most charming looking with its fringed and embroidered corners; white and delicate hands compete with it in whiteness As a rule, the surveillance of the dinnertable, the making of the guests at home with each other, devolve on the hostess, for the host generally selects a lady he likes best, and forgets all the company in the enjoyment of her society. He receives the invited royally ; “that’s all I owe them,” he seems to say. After dinner, the separated friends come together ; the jealous express their discontent, the wicked say their severities, and the happy state their regret to have to leave. The ladies commence then to admire one another’s dresses, and chat chiffons, while the gentlemen employ all their strategy to steal away for a smoke ; then that bore of a pleasant evening arrives, the professed pianist, who gives himself more airs than he does to the company ; then ices are passed round, then tea to the arrivals for the reception, and who are ever served first, then a general mixing of the guests, of gossiping in groups, then a folding up of tents like the Arabs, and a quietly stealing away.

One-half of the plan of the Exhibition of 1878 has been published ; the commissioners promise the other moiety in their “ next,” as soon as they decide how the passage across the Seine to the Trocadero will be made. The plan is remarkable for its great simplicity and convenience ; an infant could not lose its way, and there will be no occasion for guides, philosophers, or friends in the building. All the materials requisite for the construction are contracted for, and to be delivered by the Ist of October, 1877. The French are putting their heart into this Exhibition ; first, to make it an honor for the Republic : and next, to show the world that they are as intellectually as they are financially rich.