New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-07-05


mestic bliss, nor much domestic jealousy
We do not-they do not exist.
| we come now to rather startling asser-
tion. It is, that in the modern civilizations
Of Paris and other great cities the strongest
instinct of woman's nature, maternity, is
| nearly extinct. Materialism has taken its
place. Women marry for money not for
love; they yield their virtue to the charms
of money, not to the Establishments of pas
sion. They are not sensual. A few facts
may help to sustain these assertions. The
legitimate births to a marriage in the
in 1854, were but 25l; while in
the rural populations they were 3.25.
1t appears that in 1900 the births in all
France were 1888; in 1856 they had de
clined to $50 per cent. Among the shop.
keepers the common reply is, ''We can't
afford to have children; )" and they do not
have them. Among the upper classes they
do not wish to have them, and they do not
have them. Among the poorer classes
there is, as there is everywhere, much heed
lessness. But here steps i'll an agency
which enables these poorer women to keep
at work. There are eighteen creobeS or
public nurseries VIII ch receive some 2500
babies yearly, whose mothers thus relieved
of their care are enabled to keep at work.
We come now to another fact. About 5000
lin 1864 44S9) children are annually aban-
doned to the foundling hospital. This has
in its charge, mostly in the country, q, ,228
abandoned children, who know neither
father nor mother, and whose mothers never
see or know their offspring.
The women of Paris do not love children;
do not want them, and do not have them.
The maternal instinct is suppressed, or it is
sacrificed to the Unsuitable necessities of
life, or to the exorbitaut claims of pleasure.
Is this, indeed, progress? Is 1t civilization!
The women of Paris are not beau
tiful, nor are they loving; but they are
- -. Co.
cinating. What they lack in beauty they
make up in skill, in tact, in subtle lattery,
| in neatness, and in sense. They
are thorough in their business, whatever it
is, and do it we'll. Paris has shown what II
wonderful creature woman may become
when her nonsense is converted into sense,
her aspirations into worldly wisdom. An
American or an English woman can hardly
believe the point of perfection a whole city
, of women may reach in the arts of this
world. 1t is well known that the grisettes
are shrewd, cool, worldly to the extreme;
yet they are the most agreeable creatures in
the world, and their sisters of the higher
classes are like them, only softened and
tempered by the downy beds OF prosperity
upon which they lie.
tits hardly necessary to assert that the Par
{ isian woman is not the model momau, what
God intended her to be; but whatever she
is she is equal if not superior to the man.
Upon him, the lord of creation, him of the
: upper class, tobacco, coffee, wine. and high
spiced pleasures have done their work. and
he is pale, slight, weak, idle. The men of
the lower classes, the "ouvriers," are short,
but stout and active; from them are made
9 up the army of France, which has no equal
for swiftness, audacity, and endurance.
Below these come the population of crime
eco, 900 strong), whose hand is against every
2 man, and every mans hand against them.
The ''gaminr of Paris, the boy, who knows
| fat is
a breed; most keen, most cunning, most
enduring, most audacious. They grow iuto
thieves and desperldoes, and ply their trade
: in the slums of the city and under the nose
of loyalty. r-..
The market women-danaes de la Halle
,, are rich, robust and powerful class. They
are proud of themselves and of their bust
ness, which they attend to thoroughly and
indefatigably. They love to appear at cor-
onations and christenings of great families,
wearing their bravery and jewels, to present
congratulations, and to be complimented.
They have been powerful instigators and
promoters of frebellons, and even Emperors
do not care to trile with them.
The name of Cora Pearl is well known.
She is an English girl, who has beaten the
9 French on their own ground. Her wit, her
beauty, her audacity, her vice. have sur
a passed theirs, and to-day she rivals the En-
7 press herself in the gaze Of the crowd. She
, it was who invelted the fashion of wearing
! red hair; she dyed that OF her poodle red,
! that it might be in harm ony with her own.
The brunettc1 OF Par hate none so much
as her. They long to thrust q knife under
the fifth rib-but murder is not permitted.
D The following on food is interesting, and
. the latter part of it suggestive, especially
, if one be fond of bon bons; a-
! Food is all.important The HaleS Cen
trales stand upon the once burying ground
! of the Church of the Innocents. This is
the great central market, and here are sold
/ yearly ll0 600 beeves, 46, 900 cows 1863 600
, Veals, $40, 600 sheep, and some 6,000 900
! pounds OF dressed meat 30, coo 0oe eggs arc
! consumed yearly in PARIS, $4,000 900
pounds of butter, and 200, $4,000 pounds
of meat here is found TO be twenty per cent
less than in London. Wine flows into the
! city at the rate of 20, 0CJ, 900 gallons year;
i and as the water supply is poor it is freely
drunk. have sai1 that nothing is allowed
! to be wasted. Coffee grounds are sold aud
! resold; "Arlequinsn sell every kind of broken
meat and reuse food; the butter tasters
! spit out the butter from their mouths on to
straw laid on the floor to catch it; this
straw is put into boiling water, the butter
f | is SKINNED of, and is sold to confectioners.
The confectionery of the city is famous and
most delicious. sse ." "a-L e.
D We have room for but one more extract;
2 There Is one rellglOn1n Paris, and it is
! called Roman Catholic It is curious fact
I that in this city, where the Calvinists once
| almost drove out the Catholics, there exist
I to-day but two Calvinistic houses of wor-
I ship. There is one religion, but according
! to Guizot there is not faith--or almost
2 none. Faith In the unseen, faith in virtue,
. faith in an after hfe of which this is the
l mere beginning, is rare if it Is to be found
at all in the Church. This religion through
two thousand years has become thoroughly
! / syatematzed into Church. This Church
ID q perfect machine, which is indeed a
: power ia. the State, but is controlled and
managed BY the State. This perfect ma
chine is in the hands of able men, and Is an
integral part OF the social life of the CITY.
The worship at Notre Dame is a superb
spectacle the dresses are rich. the
lights tne, the music delightful the
audiences we'll behaved. Here. TOO is an
piled that wonderful system aud thorouob
ness which marks everything In Paris: A
: high mass costs from fifty to 800 francs. a
grand marriage with carpets, chairs, choir
ETC., costs some 800 francs, and blessed can.
dies for the poor to burn before the shrine
of "0ur Lady, can be had for a few sous,
DEATH too, pays. The business Of burying
Is in the hands Of the great COMPANY
(Pompes Ftiaebres) chartered by the State
who furnish funerals ut prices ranging from
nineteen francs to 7lS4 francs, of which the
Church has Its share. We must not forget,
however, that in the bosom of this wonder.
ful Church lives and acts body OF women
who save it from perdition-the Sisters of
Charity. Some of them are old, many young
but all devoted. They spend their lives In
relieving distress aud allayng. suffering.