A LADY'S LETTER FROM PARIS. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Paris, March 16.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1886, 13 May 1878, Page 2

A LADY'S LETTER FROM PARIS. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Paris, March 16.

There was a timo when how to paw Lout occupied serious ntlontion, and provoked grave discussions on the part of French ladies, but now thai epoch of mortification passes as unpercoivod as that period of gladness, Advent. In the good old days of fashionable piety, the conversation in boudoirs turned largely on what divine would be oharged to mend minor morals from the pulpit of Notro Dame or tho Sacre Coeur ; what ought to bo the materials for penitential goods, and what cut had " papa Worth " decreed to suit the humiliation mood ; whether for bottor for worse, like matrimony, all this ie well changed ; there is no longer any tacit coalition among the lady strata of society ; each set has its own code, enjoys its own liberty, diotatos its own decrees ; no particular church is fixed upon for confessing on the collective scale, and striking bosoms porhaps to soften hardened hearts; any preacher is good, provided ho bo not long-winded, and his homily do not interfere with the lmire de perseil at the Bois de Boulogne ; young or old dandies no longer keep watch and ward before the basins of holy water, in order to hand to ■ome belle the goupUlon to besprinkle herself ; fewer ladies go into retreat during tho forty days ; fewer seek their pleasure in chamber oratorios ; there is a mixture now of half saorod and half profane music, and the severities of fasting on salmon paths are mitigated by hare and goose liver pfos. Toilets are plain, as such over are in French churches, and differ during the Lenten season, in boinjt less richly trimmed, and in a complete absence of jewellery ; I do not think that either men or women are worse now than they were in 1869; on the contrary sorrows and trials have producod their salutary effects. The truth is, there is leu hypocrisy, and no social penalties attached to people appearing to bo what they really are. Tho opera and tho theatres never were so well filled as now, and these are generally taken as tho standard of abnegation pending Lent. Marriages, whioh wore rare events between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, seem to forget the Church is in mmlniiiHf, us orluai parties are as plentiful as during the more secular seasons. It is even reported that young couples remain content with tho civil coremony of matrimony. 111-natured people add that dispensing with tho clerical benediction represents an economy ; perhaps so, but these straws indicate that a profound alteration is sotting in among tho manners and customs of French lifo. The Republic is bringing about this change ; its journals, especially those soiling at one sous, have an enormous circulation, and on the whole are " well made." They address themselves more to rural than to urban readers. Not many days ago I accompanied a poor friend on her way to Nice — that bourne from which §o few travellers return. At each railway station bales of Paris liberal journals were shot out from the van* to the platforms ; and at the stalls only newspapers of that elans and those of an illustrated character appeared to find purchasers, and, further, tho country pooplo had some cheap print on entering the carriages. Ton years ago this spcctaclo was not to witnessed. Before coming back to Paris I dropped in on a few friends and acquaintance, families who have had to leave the capital on account of its expenses, some for greator quietness, some to adapt their circumstancos to chan^od fortune cauaod by Turkish and othor defaulters ; all testified to the rapid evolution taking place in the French character; greater seriousness, a reflective steadiness, and a diminished thirst for vanity and glory. They want peace to work, to enjoy lifo with sobriety, and to save. There is also a healthy leaven operating in tho sense of urging tho laity of both sexes to take thoir natural part in the tasks of popular education, and the relief of charity now almost monopolies in the hands of religious orders. The rural classes are commencing to think and act for thomselvos, and tliis reformation is duo to the spread of noWspnpers, public village libraries, and free lectures. If wo had no Carnival proper on Shrove Tuesday in tho shape of tho fat ox procession and tho mythological accessories, tho visit of tho Spanish students has boon a compensation. At Mid-lent, when the laundresses shall oloct thoir queen and marry her for twenty-four hours, parading tho royal couple along the Boulevards. Tho circus is to organise a prooossion dodicated to "art," and where tho theatres will contribute performers and materials. Of tho Spanish students they commenced well but ended badly, they serenaded all distinguished individuals except the chiefs of the republican party, for the visit to Victor Hugo was litorary not political. Students ordinarily are nover distinguished for their Toryism. But judge of the fun. Thoie Republican prints that cried tho students up yesterday are demolishing them to-day, so that prudonoo counsels their immediate wUoh. Men have entertained angels unawares, but it seems the band of young Spaniards include* fiddlers, guitarists, and drummeVs, who belong to no university. Tho costumes of the visitors were— aa by hard usa»o in Paris they are next to throadbaro — painfully black, suggestive of melancholy rather than 'mirth. The ivory spoon in the cocked hat, a monionto 'of bygono hard times, was very original. The music was weird-like but pleasing, resembling that of the Hungarian gipseys in not being written. The students made a mistake in not paying a single visit to any museum, art gallory, or educatibnal establishment, and ladies call their gallantry in question for not serenading th« Academy of Painting, reserved to the fair sex of all nations. The Spanish colonists in Paris aro vt-ry wealthy and very numerous, Brazilians

includocl ; many camo to Paris to oncapo tho horrors of tho civil wars, unrl c-xhibit no oagornoss to leave. Thoro are no foroignors in this capital to surpass the Spaniards in conserving national habits and customs where posaiblo; it takes the form evan of architecture. Visitors will be able to nee this dominant situation reflected at the Exhibition, whore the Spanish department already look* not only handsome but imposing. To visit tho Palace at present is the most fathionablo of pilgrimages. It is no small pleasure to witness the growth of the structure. A point noir to-day is a thing of beauty a fortnight later. Engineers are very " civil " to ladies who have claim ou their time ; they think nothing of unravelling yards of calico-backed paper maps, pointing ovit what such a vacant space will bo. and how that building lost in poles and beards will look when finishod. From a short study I can say it will not bo difficult for even an unprotected lady to "isit the building without a guide. Those nre immonse packages arriving every momont at tho dopot, by train and dray, and policemen of every nation orop up like Cadmus teeth ; it is not a bad idea to havo a show of the police and soldiery of the Universe besides the products from the variou* nations. There will he three special displays of diamonds and preoioui stones, that no lady will fail to visit with loving oyes.