OUR LADIES' LETTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3564, 17 July 1890, Page 2

OUR LADIES' LETTER.

Paris, 2l'th May, 1890. Until last week, garden, as well tin other parties, had to ba postponed: on account -of the inclement weather. Never was a May known to nave been so wet.. To mako up for deferred outdoor gatherings, ladies organised saloon plays at their own' homes, .and with very great.siiccess, Tho chief aim in these theatrical "at-homes" is to invite the most distinguished artists and musicians.' • Love is the month of May, according to Shakespmro. This is exemplified in the number of marriages, in all strata of Society, now taking place. " Receptions,". to, are very i general; these are belter known, as balls. It is the usage, where the invites are numerous, aud one dancing room insufficient, to arrange that tlio young people shall danco on " the i ground floor apartment, and their I elders on tlio tirst story, 'lbis i involves two distinct suppers and I cotillons. For the lattor, simplicity has become the order of the day.: . May, too, is the month for matinees; tlio ideal matinee is the garden party, and the latter can, only bo a success where the grounds are well-shaded by trees.-For these spring fetes, it is indispensable to secure the sun, and next, to liavo an excellent orchestra, concealed in it bosquet. Baroness Adolphe de Eothxchild has the reputation of giving ■ the. most notable garden parties in Paris. She aiuis to secure always some rising star in the musical world,- It was she. who introduced in their day to public celebrity Christine Nikon, Marie Van Landt, and Sigrid 4rnoldson. The Baroness is not only a musician but an accomplished . water-color artist- Her husbatid, who is a native of Naples, is also on excellent musician. Her sister, Baroness Willy do Botlischild of Frankfort, is a composer : of reputation; witness her ballad " Si vous nam rim a me dire,'' that Patti has made so celebrated. The Baroness Adolphe invites to her matinees, not only big wigs, but all who claim to belong to the aristocracy of talent-, Only the front seats at her gatherings are reserved for the ambassadorial world. It was so in tlio Greecian theatre of Dionjsius, that accommodated 30,000 spectators, and where the ladies are penned apart, The month of May also is considered in Paris as the favorite for foreigners, In this month the city is most filled with all sorts of people, It is the period for balls, parlies, picture shows, and races, Numorous visitors make a pilgrimage to that once great point of attraction, the'ex-1888 Exhibition, for it is not what the people mightimagine—" by the world forgot." On the 6th of May, in memory of last year's opening ceremony,, many set out to view tbo relics of what in 1889. was "everything." The gardens have been very carefully, and tastefully kept, and look nearly the Bamc |as last year. Tlio Eiffel Tower, on Sundays especially, is a concert hall for the hundreds who ascend from 10 a.m. till 12 p,is, M, Eiflel does not fail to make his tower the chief place of attraction, . On the first platform, which can accommodate about oGO persons, exclusive of the restauiants, there are given two excellent strong. room concerts, one vocal, the other instrumental, and both well patronized. It is reported that M. Eiffel intends having theatrical pieces played on the first story during the summer months, and what can be more agreeable during i the hot and suffocating months of summer than listening to witty operette and monologues by accomplished artistes; with string and brass bands, for delicate or robust ears; eating an ice, or straw-sipping' a sorbet; high over the root-lops the buzz of the multitude, and the rumbling of vehicles, Very few ladies now in Paris, but take their daily bath, as a gontleman does his morning tub. But there was a limo—sixteenth century—when they hid no baths at all, and only rarely indulged in a wash. There were steam and hot public baths in Paris, open every day, save Sundays and holidays,"during day light, that ladies could patroniso; but these establishments had a bad reputation. The bath thoro was taken in a vessel, something between a tub and a barrel, Respecting home lavatories, there was no toilet table in houses nt that period-sixteenth century—tlio basin wns placed upon a mat on tlio floor, and a lady had to go on her knees to wash her face, These basins were in gold—Charles V. had !i4 :of such—and apparently could iiguro. on the dining table when necessary, It was tlio custom for a host to offer a guest a bath before sitting down to a meal, Tlio publi? baths at the lime in question, acquired such a bad reputation, that both Catholic and Calvimst clergy denounced them • and a royal decre closed them. People ceased to go to tlio baths, but lost at the same lime the habit of washing tlieinselvos, ovon in their own homes, Queen Margaret of Navarre, an elegante o her time, found it quite natural to boast before her lovor, in showing her hands, that they bad not been washed since eight days. In the time of Louis XIV, courtiers commenced to ciim. prebend, that it was not bad to wash one's self with water occasionally. The toilette ordinarily consisted in the dipping' of a cotton cloth in a weak solution of perfumed alcohol. As late as 1782, a" Guide" to toilettes was published,' wherein water was proscribed ; as in winter, it oaused the face to get cold, and in summer, to become sunburnt. When Queen Christina arrived at Conipiegne, her hands wero so caked with filth, that it J was'impossible to perceive wherein lay tlieir reputed beauty, ' One of the chief attractions on a ' Sunday afternoon, when there aro ' races at Longchamps or Antenil, is to jccupy an iron armchair in the 1 Avenuo des Champs Elyedes, under tho shade of the chestnuts, and look at '' the people returning from tho racecourse—a little' Derby road. These ' defiles not the less, are falling away. Under tho Second Empire they were 8 the most important part of the day's sport, and to figure in the defile, constituted the chief induce-, ment to go to the races, Tho duwnont turnouts triumphed, and included the blue, yellow, rose, and led liveries of tho "upper ornate," to say nothing of the green of Madame Musard—the most looked for of all. From the racecourse, the carriages took the alley of Acacias, gained tho Avenue de Flmporatice at Eoman oirous speed, when the carriages settled down into a creeping pace to the Aro do Triumpho, and then crept back, Such was the) rule to the 1870 Invasion, After the latter—from 1872, the crawling defile deserted the Avenue de l'lmperatrice, to patronize the Avenuo ties Champs Elysfos, as at present, v. ' : -. r

Richard Stnhl ( the composer, lias beoii' married three times, divorced three'tjmes, uud sued for alimony. U« w.r{ work «ut Si woMiug uiacoli.