OUR PARIS LETTER.

Thames Star, Issue 3807, 11 March 1881, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(fbom oue own coeresfondent.)

-: . Paeis, December 30. In a very short time Rochefort will be elbowed into forgetfulness, as much as Felix Pyat, Louise Michel, and other returned absentees, who have not sufficient judgment to perceive that during their compulsory absence France has marched, - and that they are in the presence of a new generation, as well as of a form of Government differing not a little from the Empire ; that wind-bagism is tabooed, barricades declared to be a mistake, and that though the would-be leaders are blind, the working classes with their bulletin vote are not. That unfortunate adventuress, Mmc de . Eaulla, has disappeared; she was the impersonation of audacity, in seeking from "justice a verdict to white-wash her notorious immorality. It is bad enough to have vice pushing virtue aside in the streets and public places of resort, but its demand for a certificate of chastity from a Tribunal, is the tout comble of coolness. The Court gave her the one farthing damages to heal her outraged character, with the right to have' the judgment inserted in several journals, which severely castigate her frail virtue. The Municipal Schools of Paris number i|p3; their new organisation comprises many humane and delicate features : some are opened at half past six in the morning, and remain so till seven in the evening, so that an artizan on going to his work iB the morning, can leave his child at the school and call for it on returning home. Superannuated teachers are employed to superintend the pupils in the school room, before and after the usual hours of study; the rooms are generally airy, heated and cheerful. , Another amelioration, over 200 of these schools are provided with canteens, where the pupil on presenting a ticket for two sous, -can obtain an excellent bowl of warm soup, with brpad and vegetables. The parents can buy these tickets, or they are given in charity, but no distinction is made to mark their origin. In connection with this; innovation is the plan of selling secondhand clothing to the children at a nominal charge. Thus France supplies the solution of the two • great difficulties urged against her now authorised system of compulsory public instruction, empty stomachs and bare backs.

At .Besanson, a slab has been inserted in the fagade of the house where Victor Hugo was accidentally born. The ceremony was the usual amount of mutual admiration. Hugo has never concealed his 'chagrin at not having been born in Paris, "as was arranged." Let him find consolation in the circumstance, that the mostfpopular of all the tableaux vioanes now being represented, is that of the death, of the little child—two balls in its head, received during the 1851 coup d'etat, and which he has celebrated in song and story. As a postscript, the sturdy, old poet is rapidly breaking up, as isthe case once dissolution sets in.

Respecting the rage for dying hair, the ladies are still far behind their Roman sisters, who, jealous of tfee blond locks of Germany and Gaul, employed red lead to produce the desired colour. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries dyeing the hair blond was but the obsequiousness paid to the royalty—imitation being the most perfect form of flattery. Mdme. De Montespan made haste to be no.longer brown, and the Countess Chastillan black, concealed this original sin Tinder golden powder. Blond signified beautiful : it was the colour of Venus's locks, and |that given by all painters to Ere. Men took to blond wigs, but the pride of these became so excessive that a decree of Louis XIV. fixed their price following colour, and subjecting them to a tax at the same time. As the wigs had to be dried in ovens, bakers were charged with that task, and hence how they were responsible for the collection of the impost. The French Foreign Office is throwing open its archives to historians. A document has appeared describing the reception of the Frsneh Ambassador in ]597----98 by Queen Elizabeth. She was in an arm chair when he arrived. She rose, advanced a score of paces ; he kissed the hem of her dress, and she did the same ■to both of his hands. Then she upbraided her Ministers for-the manner she was dressed —a kind of night gown in silver gauze, with open worked sleeves very tastefully made. She wore a diadem of pearls and rubies, and indulged in a chat pii dress rather than on politics. %i. TaineY new volume on the French Revolution, the "Conquest of tbe Jacobins/ has been handed over to the .printers, fhe author deals very severely xwith.the BepubHe. Jockey Club has to decide a delicate point: one of its members, a dashing cavalry 5-oiJcer, has resigned serving Mars, and taken to theology, previous to entering holy order 5 but he declines ceasing membership of the plub, and as he has committed no misconduct he cannot be struck off, while clergymen are inadmissible. The Princess de Sagan has received her usual Christmas box from her two brothers—a cheque from each for 100,000 francs.