, 1873-09-07

OF EQ4 A31L31H tIlhl ~ kAG1kly lAYA 44WU tQ3
same house know zach other without
the formality of an. introduction. -. Any.
man may esk q glrl to dspco, Or may speak 70
anybody Ct private: party. This is an ihtclll-
conversation. 1t diHpels akwardnosa 1t makea It
possible 10 pass q pleasant hour in = house
whore you d. not know nouf. It givca look Of
warmth and unity 70 = room. Another morit In
n1aupaiso homie. II boy tlrops his book at
church, he picks It. up without bf1Rhing. A
Ffonch woman takeB of hor bonnet and arrangou
hor hait bofors the glass Il, o railway Waiting
room, without . thought Of tho ,preao,ico OF by
staudors. In .hor cyoa all suoh things nre 30
natural 80 much matter OF courao, thai 1t noyoF
oocurs to hor to mako any fuss about thou. No
doubt Bho Ia right In tho main but 1t will prob
ably ooour to Bomo Of thoir foreign vinitora and
critics that tho French BomotsnoA carry their
doctrine Of the noodloHsneua Of resorve IN all
thnt they arc ploaaed to consider natural to an
undesirable oxtrame.
In An interesting esaay on
THE LANGUAGE, .
our author points out ro'uo curious analogtob
butwoou 1t and the national oharacter. Two
fcatuxos ere selected for special eulogy, the
conjunction OF tho ycrbB, and tho practice, OF
plaoing the adjective nltor, and not before, tho
noun. Tho first, Which contrasts favorably with
our "ahabby BTs.om OF auxiliary yorba,' tho
Fronch share with other nations oi Latiu raco,
nB also to a,great dogroo the second. which nny
DO 0$t4nuG4 OIL tHp BlQulA tlAs ~ IN AltiO PAllO-
aophical to s,ato whit tho subject is bofore VIC
begin to assign it to itg peonliaritios. DifGor-
eucea Of iliom throw curious light on na--
tional olaracseriatics. Our author points out
as !. eobor." Tho entire absonco Of any word
descriptive Of that stnto in suggestive enough.
The English drink enough to noed special l.
1uAtrative tito for a nau who has not drunk;
the French have mover Jot folt tho necessity Of
forming any sueh oaroas u1, t,s ,anbioosive Or
sssoaa snsay 'esy Example hs'' ot ao' te e. oydenae
Of character bosrayed by language is tho abb
IN fs5S% Sa % IL r9ld eaSs'd o 81 odd 70
blank lios In tho suppoRition that oach French.
man ohattera for himself, not for others and
that, not caring whether ho is listened to or not
he has never recognized thar he has no donomi-
isiugoniouH, but 1t docs not appear to strike our
saYist that Ills second instance Of a "gap" in
the language Is not quite analogous to the first.
There ID no word for "sober," he eonto''t1s, be,
to o1press tho habit ia not needed. Thoro is no
word for "listouor," not because all Frenchmon
arc listeners, but on the contrary, because in 4
nation Of universal chatteroru the function Of a
Bill more faucifui is the notion that tho absence
Of any word corresponding to "dowdy" Is
to be connected with tho universally smart
and nost appearance Of Frenehwomon. As
regards RECOMMENDATION, our author giyos tho
palm to tho French spoken in tho district from
Orleans to Tours. Ho assorts that tho childrcn
who mako dirt-pies on tho borders Of the Loiro
pronounce far bottor than tho actors Of tho
GhoAtro Francois. Probably this is an exngger-
alton but 1t Is no doubt truo that tho puroat
French Ia spoken in Tho contral regions. just ns
tue. hest English is said to ba found in North
Our notice Of tho chapters on
"pREss" AND "MARRIA9E"
.aA In brfcf 1ytrnv In
dresa ia Justly criticized one Of tho worst So
| cipl features OF the Second Empire. Whom all
possible Varieties Of form had boon exhausted,
| tho ladies' Of tho period took up color and II
hs7o vorn cut color too, aud have lad nothing
| loft to choose from. Tho ronction which haa
| now set In is against color; women arc
wearing tinta Which have no. namcs,
Esa s but nsv'f wheh s Is do Or net et''n quito
| roach the tone which NO design hy d" fadod.' II
| is Amusing and very characteristic to flnd that
they arc called By Paris des cou'etrs propisoiTes
| IS being in sympathy with tho ambiguous sort
Of Government which Franco tnat now posscssos,
neither Monarchy nor Republic. French mar.
riages, Cur author believes, in vast majority OF
oasea, to be happy marriages. Tho ononene q
existence which is so distinctive characteristic
OF married life in tho middle and tradng clasaee
and which is shown by tho frequent presence oi
wiveB in their huBbandB Offices and shops, striker
him a. q merit in their system. But the cautiout
and prudential spirit in which tho whole aubjcc
OF na11isgo ia handled in France docs not eBcapt
criticism. This is in part attributable to tht
lepal forrnalitiaa and efhcultioH with which mar
riage ia surrounded by tho operation OF tho Uodt
Napoleon, and to the extraordinary. contro
which parents have over tho marriages o
their Children Upon another branch Of thi
subject our author makes Bomo obsoryations,-
namely, the stnrtiing dininution in tho tecll1di
ty Of French marriages.. In ITO the childrel
born In France wero, in proportion to tho who'll
/ opnsy1nffnU in twAnfv-fIyA 1hnY hnp
come down to one in thirty-ivo; tho falling Of
has consequently reached tho enormous figur
OF 40 per cent. Our author doea not slrinl
from asserting TINT this result Ia due to tn
widespread application Of tue Atalthusan prin
ciplo Of circumHpootlon in marriage. The queH
tion ia difficult to diucusa in work Of this kind
but its bearing on tho national future Of Franc
la OF an importance that cannot bo overrato1