The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-21

.sThc Atlantic"

'MalDObe, onapt0rs XIV TO XVIII; 'rhe
Clothes Mania;" "Bcahmsnism;" "rbe He
roine Of Long Point" 'Ths Puritan Lovers;''
"The Foe In the Household" chapter viii to
ri; "5pring in Washington" Eleanor in the
Empty House," ""Autobogrsphy of Shaker" f"
Part II; Scan a Lite Hide Itself2" "The Pacific
Railroad--0pen, second paper; "rhe Iutel-
leotual Character Of President Grant," "The
New Taste in Theatricals;" Reviews and Lite
Iary Notices.
From the article on "The Clothes Mania"
We quote as follows
Paniers first came in, l believe, about six
months after the marriage of Louis XIV, which
occurred in 1725. They have been in fashion
several times since, but they have never been SO
light so modest so harmless SO little worn, and
40 generally ridiculed as now. We can mt least
hoast that they are not now regarded as an
affair of state, disturbing the peace OF courts,
and calling for the interference OF prime
minister That gossiping Paris lawyer, Bar
Mer i'm his diary for 1i2S, has curious passage
relating 70 the paners then worn at the
French court, passage when may coA-
sole some readers whom the slght OF
nnnier causes to despair of the human race
Gone would not believe, says Barber, that
the Cardinal (Fleury, prime ministerl has been
embarrassed with regard to the panlers Whlch
women wear under their petticoats to render
them large and spreading. They are OF such
bones are pushed out and make suchan astonlsh-
ing spread that they have been OOllSeu 10
have arm-chairs made on purpose. Oniy
three women can get into poN aI the
theatre without crowdlng. Inc asllon
has gone to such an extravaganza, as
extreme fashions always do, that when the
pripccsses are seated on each side OF the queen,
their petticoats which rise MS they seat thehl-
selves, hide the queens pctlcOat. mat seemed
improper but it was difficult to devise remedy.
Rx,d d;,t Of non6nrnu N de TprprO the Iar-
dinal has decided that there shall always be an
empty chair on each side OF the queen, Whlch
will prevent the Inconvenience; and the preteXt
is that those two chairs are reserved Tor Mes
danes de France, her daughters twins, Two
years old.
Thus the wise old priest, who governed France
Tor so many years, arranged this great affair.
II soon appeared, however, that the prncesses
did not like their petticOats concealed by the
paniers of adjacent duchesses, and the Cardinal
was obliged to grant them n vacant stool ON
each side. This offended the duchesses, who
desired the same privilege But Cardinal Fleury,
like Dickens immortal London barber had to
draw the line somewhere, and he drew it so as
TO exclude the duchesses, which led to a bitter
war of pamphlets and epigrams, in the course OF
which one pamphlet was publicly burned by the
executiOner (Barbier II, 81 and Al Much as
we may regret TO see young lOveliness disfgur-
ing itself with these things In the Fifth avenue,
we can find comfort in the reflection that Mr..
Seward has not been obliged to interfere, nor
has the public hangman earned the smallest fee
in consequence of the revived fashion.
Several causes have cOnspired of late years
10 stimulate our natural and cOmmendable love
OF personal decoration, until most of us eXpend
too much money upon it, and many are pos
sessed by kind of mania for changing and null
tiplying their garments, and for having them
made of materials needlcssly expensive.
Eighteen years ago, the President OF the Re
public of France betrayed the country which
had trusted him, stole its liberties in the night,
laid robber hands upon its treasury, dishonored
its nOblGst citizens by carting them to Jail in
prison vans, murdered in cold blood several hun
dreds OF innocent men and women III the streets
of Paris and transported hundreds more to n
hot unhealthy region of the tropics This was
the AndersOnville OF usurpation. 1t transcended
all that had ever been done in that kind joining
TO the extreme of dastardy meanness the
extreme of audacious cruelty, and being
totally devoid of paation or excuse, except
that invented by the head liar of the gang who
Perpctrated it. The man in whose name the
deed was done appears to have furnished
nothing but the lies; the audacity, and what
little courage shown, being supplied by
Others. Mr. Kinglake's chapter upon this usur-
patton ("lnyasion of the Crimea," Vol. |. CHI
AlN) strikingly confirmed by some American
narratives TO which that author had not access,
eXhausts the subject, and avenges the human
race, which is deeply injured whenever mans
laith in man is lessened by the deliberate be-
taayal OF solemnly accepted trust Mr.. King
lake, say, has avenged our outraged race; for
which, trust, we are all duly grateful to him.
Nothing remains but for France to bring the
peridious wretch to trial for the special wrong
done to her, and execute upon him the penalty
10 which he may be condemed.
As usual in such cases, woman was found
willing to share the bed and booty of the sue
cessful robber. She was young beautiful, well
formed, and of just such mind as to submit
ioyfully to spend half the day in trying on
articles of wearing apparel and the other half
IN displaying them to a cOncourse OF people. 1t
became too and remains an important part OF
her duty to amuse dazzle and debase the women
of France, by wearing rapid succession of the
most gorgeous, novel, bewildering costumes, the
mere description of which has developed Il
branch of literature employs many able writers,
and mainly supports fifty periodicals. Here
is vain, beautiful woman living i'm the
gaze of nations, who has the plunder of
rich Kingdom with which to buy her
clothes and the taste of a continent to devise
them for her for to Paris the elite of all tailors
dress-makers, milners, and hair-dressers &c
from every capital in Europe. Whatever there
lie in France of truly noble and patrotic-and
there are as many noble and patriotic persons in
France rs in any country-ayoids the Vicinity o.
this woman; while around her naturally gathel
the thoughtless and the interested. The womer
in this circle initiate her as closely as womeI
can whose husbands have not stolen the trea
sures of a nation; all except one, it is said am
she is the real queen OF fashion.
Both these leading women have certain physi
cal defects which they wish TO conceal, rs wei
AS certain unusual charms, of which they inten
the most shall be made. One is beautiful an
tall. The other is ugly and short, but graceful
vivaciOus and interesting. The hair of one
them growing scanty behind, all women felt Il
necessity of carrying pound OF horsehair und
their own, and sWelled out in the regiC
seems incredible. If the parting OF u
hair widens, and begins to resemble baldnes