The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-04-12 00:00:00

MARRIAGES A LA MODE DE PARIS.

A French correspondent of 7/ie Time.; contribute, the fol-
lowing Interesting letter to that journal :
A thorough knowledge of the French character is
requisite to enable any one to regard with indulgence
the contradictions it preeepts. There is no other
nation which is at once so disposed to accept • master
and so prompt to take umbrage at any assertion of
eupremacy. Thus, for instance, never was any Sove-
reign better obeyed than the Emperor during his
prosperity • and all France appeared at that tinie
to be absolutely his property. Still, one day
M. Ronher, who had been staying at his country
house at Cernay, finding that he was pressed
for time to attend a Council of Ministers, ordered an
express train to stop at a station where it was not
tumid for it call, in order that he might avail himself of
that train to attend the Council. Nothing could be
more excusable than that a Minister summoned to de-
liberate with his collegues upon the affairs of the
nation should delay a train for two minutes to enable
him to fulfil that duty. But M. Ronher on that oc-
casion became the object of numerous attacks in the
Opposition newspapers, which considered that the
Minister had violated the great principle of equality
of which every Frenchman holds himself to be the
special guardian, except, indeed, when he himself vio-
lates it. Something of the same kind happened on
Sunday last, when M. Thiere, who is for the moment
the Chief of the French Republic, was present at •
concert at the Conservatoire, one of the performers at
which WM Madame Vignier, an eminent pianist. So
far there wae nothing to object to, but M. Then has
• strong liking for Beethoven's symphony in F, and
expressed a wish that this particular piece should be
played instead of one marked in the programme, and
his caprice was gratified. But when the concert was
over many uncompromising sticklers for "immortal
principles" were to be heard denouncing the President
for one of thoee despotic acts of which only the most
aheolute Governments could furnish example.. The
French people hold that modern principle, are all
summed up in the complete levelling of social dis-
tinctions. At the same time there are nowhere else in
the world to be found people who so crave after eights
as the Parisians, even when their singular sentiment
of equality is to some extent wounded. At every file
given in the fashionable world you find crowds standing
round the entrances to the house, waiting to catch a
glimpse of the akin of a dress or the flowers of a head.
dame.

Thue it was that on Tuesday morning the Rue
Caumartin was thronged by a curious crowd, which
had assembled on the occasion of the marriage of
Mdlle. Genty, daughter of one of the managers of one
of the chief newspapers of Pane, to M. D'Aubergeon,
sun of a Deputy, and who had rendered good service
in the defence of Paris daring the late investment.
The line of carriages extended from the Rue St.
Lazaire to the Boulevard Hausmann, and even to the
middle of the Rue St. Louis. The most clistinguirned
personages in literature, science, and finance Nere
assembled, and during the performance of the cere-
mony an ever increasing crowd gathered around the
church, and indulged In some most extraordinary com-
ments upon the.injoatice ot Lute and the inequalities ol

fortune. It must be admitted that for some time past
marriages in high life have become really fashionable
solemnities, to which a crowd of persons rush as to a
soiree dansante or musicale. The marriage customs of
the working ,lasses, singular in some respect., have
not ehanged during the last 40 years; while marriages
among the upper classes have been gradually
the domestic and private character which formerly
attached to them. To-day, as 40 years ago, the working
man or the small tradesman goes in a great carriage,
specially reserved for such occasions, to the church
where the religious service is to be performed. A visitor
to any of the large liverymtables of Paris would me
fail to be struck by one remarkable peculiarity. a
some corner of the vast yard will be observed a number
of carriages, evidently intended for holiday occasions,
emblazoned with shields and coats of arms of all kinds,
from the arms of the particular towns to those of the
Crown itself, and whose faded splendour seems like •
strange reflection on French revolutions, There are
to be found in those places carriages which have
figured at Royal or Imperial ceremonies since the first
Revolution, and which have belonged to the noblest
houses of France, carriages which have played almost
historic parts in events of which France has been the
scene. These vehicles have been bought up at various
times by the shrewd liverymtable keepers, who let
them out for wedding parties of the humbler classes
of society. The bigger the coach, the more gilding it
displays, the more profuse its emblazonment, the
gmater is the demand for it for marriage parties.
Wien the religious ceremony is concluded them same
carriages immediately convey bride, bridegroom,
parents, relatives, and friends to one of those monster
restaurants of the faubourge or the banlieue which are
specially famous for wedding feasts. After the feast
the same string of carriages proceeds to the Bois de
Boulogne, at the entrance to which the whole party,
with the bride and bridegroom at their head, slight
and walk in procession through the park. A young
woman of the humbler ranks of Paris life would not
believe that she was really married if this State visit
to the Bois were omitted.
. _

Marriages in high life, on the other hand, assume
the character of a religions and musical Pte. Invita-
tione upon beautifully printed paper are Limed for the
religious ceremony. Ladies and gentlemen respond by
appearing in el -glint morning dresses, except those
favoured individuals who are to be placed nearest to the
altar and who ara in evening dress. Some time ago it
was the fashion for the bridegroom to appear in a blue
mat, with gilt buttons, white waistcoat, and grey
trousers, but that is all changed, and now the black
snit and white cravat have again come into favour.
Until lately the musical performances were limited to •
few strains from the organ, played upon the entrance
and the departure of the wedding party, but now the
composition of the musical selection has become one of
the great questions connected with the religions
ceremony of marriage. The object is to have as
much music as possible, to obtain the service of
some eminent instrumentalist or vocalist, or even
of a body of sincere who during the ceremony shall
execute noloe or concerted pieces. The church at the
some time is handsomely decorated and brilliantly
lighted, and with all these elegantly dressed ladies
conversing in low tones behind their fans, the gentle.
men walking about exchanging smiles and recognitions,
almost resembles a salon where some Acting Charade
is being performed, in which a young man dressed in
black and a young woman dressed in white represent
two being wheee fates are to be united. When the
ceremony is completed, • few hurried congratulations
are offered and the ladies leave by the great door of the
chursh where the carriages, summoned by the shouts
of toe attendant footmen, await them, while the
gentlemen indulging in most worldly conversation
scrutinize at their leisure the toilettes and salute the
wearers. A foreigner who happened to light upon
such a scene might well imagine himself witnessing
the dispersion of an audience which had been attending
the first representation of a new play.