LADIES' COLUMN.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 150, 27 August 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH CON- £M& Ti;\S'iv. .tVI IUA> "• . , rMm ' , . In lhub amusing novel of Albert Smiti&s|'i|H now bo little read, ‘ The Adventures of. 3| i-i'B Ledbury,’ Jack Johnson, landing with t || i.ero on French soil, explains to him jSj (lili'ercuce between the manners and custoK | of tho French and English. •Euglfj' " soldiers, ’ says he, * dress in red cents ajgl *t bine trousers; lhc French in red trous<)'and blue cords ; the English take flic Iff A in driving and tlm French the right ; tlv. f) the Ihiglish allude to pawnbroker's as ‘ 1 uucleV,' and tin: J>icncb always speak of hid =§l as my aunt's. ’ Fieri! y more incidents might' ;.j || added to these. If you eider a Jjritisli it- ;; it is the landlord who receives you, windy §1 the landlady is in the kitchen looking aftoh |i| the joints and rolling the puddings ; but . 31 Fratreo ah the ornamental functions m family business are discharged by the lad' H wlrilc the man docs the hard work. It M the husband who cooks, and his wife w;l . fg sits behind the inn counter airing her sma; ' }$ silk gown and eapstrings ; and since 11: putr. one in mind of dims* r, note bow tl ih'ittuber drinks beer with Ins meal :u wine after it, while the Frenchman just do the reverse. When a Frenchman has wo i m dined or breakfasted, imbibing the choice* : vintages of Bargundv and Bordeaux, lj « || thinks nothing, of going to the cafe afteyy fjj wards and tossing of a few bocks to ‘coo D-fej himself, while the Eng 1 h-I imaii considers tl ' «| after-dinner period specially favourable ft. B the tasting of claret and jjort.' On thefi S visiting cards Englishmen put the word ‘Mr. j'9 the French do not: and .the latter wire jl leaving ear.ls upon the livmrlu rs of one house: 9 hold do not follow (Ire English plan of leave kfl iug as miny cards as there arc persons i 'FI tire family, hat turn down a corner of t!r„ -;9 j>-isicboard and a:: ike it do for tiro wlloD '■ 31 connection. Asa French girl has 'no sociry 9 status, and is not said to he ‘out’ when sh Am has danced at her first hall, she does not pu | her name'on her motile:’s cards, as is th’xji I custom with us! .Nor do the Freucl r 9 daughters of tho nubility sport titles. ThW 11 daughters of a duke, unless the latter ho og-r B Royal or Imperial blood, is simply 9 ‘ Mademoiselle and when a French widov.Pj! a with a title gets remarried to we should cal - '1 a ‘commoner,’ she sinks her title anr’rS assumes the plain name of her husband ! The .Duchess;: do I’crsigny, who not vein 1 M long ago married a barrister of roturicr ex ‘ || traetien. is'known now simply as ‘Madann 3 lj —On the oilier hand, lhc Freud ; t| laws of nobiliary suec.'s.sion in the male line j- a shed dignities oil all sorts of persons who: F| would remain untitled in England. ‘The :Is oldest soil of a duke is a martjuis, the second '-..a a count, the third a viscount, the - forth aMi 9 baron, the fifth a chevalier ; and while soincf:j m of the sons of these have elm right to beat?,!;, 9 tiiles, all of them to endless generations , 3 may sport the honourilie ‘do.’ it must bo AIS remembered, however, that there are dukes* whose eldest sons are princes, and they- H second-sons dukes—r </., the Broglies Slid; F M L'tynes; while there are princes whose -'; a eldest sons' are dukes. Tins French laws offjl* succession, though capricious in some J tilings, arc regular on this point—that all!-‘'a the progeny of a nohleinar are noble' ,11 to time eternal. To call an English- jl man a melon, or to say of a country-.-: jj| woman that she was a good cow-like; -3 creature would he no very grave offence 9 hut applied to French people these terms;Aj| would he deadly insults. You must 'not;' ll dll a Frcnchmm a canary either, nor a 1 turkey-cock, tise latter term meaning much B ni ire than it doe? in England ; nor must you 3 say of a lady that she is a wren (liuol/i:), .:| this being synonymous in French to saying 'll that she is a simpleton. The similarity in if the sound of English and French words often !§ causes foreigners who visit Franco to make, II mistakes : thus they will ask for ail .a/i/mrh 1 •‘"■ni when they do not want a suite ol'y ; l rooms, but one single room ; and say that I their style of living is ln.rni'iiM.i‘, when they jl seek to convey that it is luxurious, the A french for which is / -//./*. Again, they- II mistake !<unite! for bonnet, which must be jl ivndered d m/ioiiii, rid re for vicar, which is >.m ft''/ ’, m bile curate is ricti/v : and A don for discussion, 'whereas this word in I France means angry wrangle. Frenchmen -.Jg arc great kissers and shakers of hands, but 1 the latter courtesy is not practised between -1 the sexes. A Frenchman bows to a lady 1 without extending his palm, and he would I be thought very forward indeed if he tried to | shake hands with an unmarried lady. He 3 might kiss a married lady, however, on I New Y ear’s Day, or in an outburst, of great ,9j emotion on any other occasion, without any- 9 body even tne husband—demurring; and 9 lie may embrace members of bis own sex at 9 all times. A French grown-up son kisses, 9 his father, and alludes to him as ‘papa;’ 1 ! and, as everybody knows, a son must ask i|j lii.s ‘papas consent to his marriage,■ no fp matter how old he may lie. Stamps arc not sold in France at stationer's shops, but at tobacconists’; and tho persons who •' keep hurttiii.': A arc quasi-oilicjals appointed by Government, They sell post: A a-.e stamps, receipt scamps, jut/iit i' /inthrtj on which hills must he drawn, and wax matches which _ you buy in other countries at the : grocer s. A French grocer, by the way, dislikes to he called an eybeAr; he is a iiiuvdumd dm denrem colon iales,' just as a door porter is not a por/ier but a courier r/e. This ll last-named functionary expects to be ad- $ dressed as sir, and, indeed, it is safe to use . : tdis style o? appellation towards all Frenchmen, whilst as to women of every degree, ,if even the street apple-women, it is absolutely 1 binding to give: them the prefix of madamo • | or mademoiselle, as Hie case may he. fn England, when you want to'propose to a $ young I any \oii do so in perron ; in France, F decorum requires that you should use the f| intermediary ;(.f a third party; and when |1 5 our petition is accepted j-ou are required *-i tu pay your first visit to your betrothed in jl evening dress. . 'J his is the ceremonial garb !| of France. A French in an puts on a swallow- *| tail and a white lie ta call upon a minister, to attend a funeral, or to get married ; and if he is equally nice in minor points of ras- iil torial etiquette, for if a well-bred man it would not occur to him to pay a visit in any »| garb but a frock-coat. To conclude with 11 these differences between French and English :i it should be mentioned that our neighbours isj laugh at us for being so lnealy-moutlicd as j| not to pronounce Ilie word ‘treusers’-iin j?? company, while we bathe freely at the sea- ,1 side without donning drawers. The French, f§ more rational, name pantaloons when it i| suits them, hut they only go into the sea % with a very full equipment in the way. of if costume. ‘ Daily,News.’

Tleh! for further hearing-the ear trumpet. ; | Two souls with but a single thought— A ■f| married couple. Each wants to Loss the If other.' . . _ ■_ , ~ .... ,j| A harsh answer turneth away wrath, if f| you are the biggest and have a brickmjJach fl hand, "" “ ■