Our Paris Letter.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2013, 17 June 1875, Page 4

Our Paris Letter.

(FKOM OVn OWN COBEESPONDENT.) Paris, April 17. Although hailstones are more plentiful than new leaves, and cold showers than sunshine, Paris continue*' her gay life as ' if Spring was not lingering by a month in the lap of winter. Dinner parties are more general than balls, and conversation turns, a good deal upon, and very seriously, the growing fast manner of young French ladies. Perhaps these,.are also a fatal relic of the Second Empire. "Bo this as it may, the opinion is pretty general, that the girls of the period are anything but "bread and butter Misses ;■ there' is something militant, de cided, and imperious in their character now, as compared with some years' back: They make war, instead of waiting to be attacked. Somo attribute the change to the growing habit of allowing young ladies to promenade at certain hours only with their maids — Inown to bo dragons of virtue, or for ft drive in their personal phaetons, for an establishment within the family establishment is tho order of the dayGentlemen are becoming more and more addicted to club life, where smoking and ! ambling constitute the chief attractions, 'erhaps the Bois de Boulonge, is, after all, the centre of Paris life; one is certain to encounter there people you know, that you. do not know, and will never know, though daily meeting them. "You are also certain to " alight on those acquaintances only to be- met with at decisive epochs, such as at deaths, marriages, baptisms, funerals, and duels; you encounter people that are sympathetic and antipathetic. Belonging to the latter class lis a gentleman and his wife, moving-in .the best society, but apparently liked by no..person, for the Dr Fell reason, perhaps.. The fashionable world of the Lake have given them a sobriquet, recalling a familiar but' troublesome insect. A young nobleman had the idea of. hiring one of-the noted advertising vans of a certain shop, famous for its insect destroying powder; he in- i structed the driver of "this van to keep | the horse's head close taTthe carriage of, the unpopular lady and gentleman, making with it the tour of the Lake. The al- I luiion had" a great success, but the | originator has been invited to cross into i Belgian territory to give satisfaction. i Another unerring sign that spring is coming, the fetes in the suburbs, in honor of the patron saints of the villages, have commenced, attracting, of course, crowds of citizens who have not been outside the fortifications since October last. Each trade has, like every village, its patron saint, and observes the anniversary with all honors.. The apothecaries,' who were formerly grocers, swear by St. Nicholas; the bakers, by St. Honere ; the gardeners, by St. Fiacre"; the tailors by St. Cloud; the sempstresses, by St. Louis; the ironmongers, by St. Sebastian; the fruiterers by St. Leonard; printers and booksellers, by St. Johri-Porte-Latine; masons, by St. Blaise ; perfumers, and glove-makers, by St. Anne; pastry cooks, by St. Michael, and glaziers by St Mark. Baby-thieving is again very prevalent in Paris; this consists in a mother, accompanied by her baby, entering ,a large draper's shop at the hours when it is most crowded; she selects a counter where goods are exposed -after being shown to purchasers, places her baby thereon, and while the assistant seeks some pattern she requests, she manages to slip a # roil of lomething under baby's jupons, pinching the child to make it cry, and apologises to the assistant for having to go away. A mother of a different class has also been arrested by the authorities; the poor woman had managed to secure a pickaxe, and in a remote corner of Pore La Chaise, commenced to make a grave between two tombstones for her dead infant. On inquiry it was found, the unfortunate was a lunatic, having become so since a few days consequent on the decease of her child. .

Captain Beytin must loot more for approbation to the sea coast population than to Parisians, whose ideas about the channel are not very. clear; still all the journals pay a compliment to his endurance, resolution, and philanthrophy. It is said he has-been invited to perform on the Seine, if such a medium would be worth his consideration. Henceforth his march must be o'er the mountain wave, and his home on the deep. A kind of Barnum that Paris possesses, states his readiness to convert the stage of his theatre into a monster bath, if the Captain will delight the Athenians with specimens of his "flotations.' 1

In.the remaining streets to be baptised in the' city, the names of Abraham Lincoln and Robert Lee are to be honored. It may not be known that the plates displaying the designation of the streets are in cast iron, the letters in relief being run at the same time [in the mould; all that remains for the workman is to paint the border of the plate green, the ground blue, and the letters white, so as to give them the clear enamelled look they possess. Each plate costs the city 3£ francs, irrespect iye of; the. number <of letters; of course a street has several of them. ■ ;

| fCourbet, Minister of Fine Arts under the Commune, and who urged, the demolition of the Vendome Column in order to re-erect it from his own designs, was condemned to make good the damage. After - his imprisonment he left France, but the Governznenthas seized all his pictures, and will dispo*e of them by auction.^ An ex-member of an important American bank in this city, and moving in the hightest society, has been dragged into a government prosecution bjt- tyro women for inciting their apprentices, minors, to debauchery. The banker in question made the acquaintance of one of the apprentices, a flower girl, aged 15, and through her, became a- welcome visitor for all the occupants of the work room; he liked to bring" them in turn to . drive in his carriage, and when their mistresses wanted money, the latter arranged to send a pretty girl, to sue the old, but hale banker, for a .loan, till he §rew tired of being thus bled, and mothers emandedhim to make a settlement on their daughters — very precocious girls indeed. Perhaps the banker has the most to complain of. • . The Bi&hop of Orleans condemns Free Masons as atheists, and the Archbishop of Toulouse, excommunicates Spiritualists as devils. • Indigestionr-a remorse of the stomach ; remorse —an indigestion of the conscience. . _.■ ■ .