New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-02-18
LIFE IN PARIS,
LETTER FROM ARsENE HoUssAYE.

| ,rROM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUSE.l
PANS, Jan. "a. THE opera is still in Paris the
great ptis.ic question. What does the fall of Min
istrv amoun>. tot Since we have ceased to know the
names of Minises, except perhaps of chief OF the
| Cabinet. we SEQ them coming and going with the
most perfect indifference. We know well enough
that neither this one nor than one will DO the saliva
| ton of France 1t is the farce before the great
drama. But the opera is something altogether dill
ferent 1t is the heart of Paris it i, the salon OF
| those who have none. The great Ietairai here
elbow Duchesscs The of the day, or rather the
of the morrow is here prepared The reporters.
who as q general thing know more of what Is
going on in the great world than what they find on
the menus of dinner parties, are as much AT nome at
the opera as girls of fashion This is the reason that
the opera has caused and still causes 80 much dis
cussion.
DO not fear that am going to talk to You of tho
| Inauguration, for you know already all about that'
| Paul de ST. Victor attended to that by telegraph.
But he probably did not touch one grave question
that of the light To have correct idea of it, think
| of a clouded sky. The women are furious They
say they can only he half seen in this twilight. The
flashing of the diamonds is barely perceptible And
vet any other hail would be illuminated sufficiently
by the diamonds scattered helter-skelter over the
| opera Madame de CassU exhibits four millions
worth; Madame MuSard. five millions; Madame de
PaTva six millions In the presence of such miracles
Madame de Pourtales. Madame de Villeneuve,
Madame do BozfrIan. Madame dc keunevilie'
Madame dc Peire. the Duchess de Mouchy. and the
cluster of Americans are content with the blaze OF
their own beauty. The Marquise Anforti, Madame
Rattazzi. and Madame Boulewska carry only pearls
and bouquets
But the question of light remains to be solved. a
scientific commission has been appointed, but such
n question cannot i've decided with spectacles. Be-
sides the savants Will consider only the stagewhie
the house the thing to consider All the interest
now centers i'll the audience. There are D,OOO,OOO
French and foreigners who want to see the opera at
least once. They care very little whether this one
sings well OF that one dances badly. Tho director
can continue making biz fortune with his provincial
troupe. If he had the FIRST performers in the world
he could not make more money. have advised tho
Minister to replace the commission Of savans Win
a commission of women. In the meanwhile the tair
elegantes despair of doing Themselves justice at tho
opera Obscured by such half lights. They revenge
themselves on the architect by a thousand Will
csms. They say, for example, that he ought 10 nave
decorated before and not after because his decora-
ton is of better tone than the hall. They say you
must pass through the Chapel OF ExDlatl0n to get
to your box They say nobody will go there os the
women because it is a curiosity shop They say you
nav see every style there except French style.
They say that NJ GARNER probably lives IN an entire
sol because everything is 6craG They say they
feel as If they were at q cafe concert, and that
people will next bes1noking cigarettes in the private
boxes They say that the most appropriate over
ture would be Orph6e aur Enters.
On that opening night all eyes were turned
toward the King of Spain. There was some sur
prise that Marshal MacMahOn did not invite him
into his proscenium box, for the King of Spain had
only box ike Il common mortal. went to chat a
little with him about that great spectacle which |
awaited him in Spain. lie had not forgotten that |
saying of Lamartine, France must not be bored"
He has decided to give the Spanards u change OF
spectacles to avoid further dramatic surprises.
Not far from the opera is the Church of st. Angus
tin another monument of Napoleon ILL., but they |
built the Lords house faster than the Devils There
was great crowd there Yesterday TO hear funeral
mass for the dead Emperor And since we are
speaking of mortuary masses. let me mention three
men who have recently died and who deserve an
epitaph: Emile P6reire, the Duko OF Mortemart' |
and the Count of Liedekerque. Emile de Girardn
has well said of NJ. P6rcre that he was parvenu OF
labor and not of luck. This great fnancier would
have been great if he bad remained man OF science
No one had a greater gift of annihilatlng space LII
imagination and in fact. He saw with equal clear
ness things near and far. knew him when he was
q ST. SimOnien when he wanted to make over the
world again under The dispensatiOn of Enfantin IL
was a time when gods were plenty, for the phlioSo
pher has said that there mortal gods as well as
immortal. knew at that time another god named |
LIE Mappah but Enfa1tn was more effective because |
he wore the official costume of the new Olympus |
Lee Mappah contented himself with red hat, such |
az were then worn by medical students had very |
little reverence for him, because one morning going
TO make him an unexpected visit found him IN |
horrible garrett under the iron rule OF jealous god
dess who kept him unde lock and key What can |
Won think of god who is not permitted to go ont |
ercept at certain hoursY Still, LIE Mappah was
handsome and elegant fellow He died too young |
for glory.
Emile P6reire was not even demi-god among the |
St Simonieps. He merely studied under the III
spi, alton of Enfantin. In late years L have seen
at the Hotel Pereire Enfan tin poor and Perelre
hundred times millionaire. But Enfantin was not |
in the least abashed by all this lie still held his
head high saying. "Oh if we had only had these
hundred millions when we were preaching at Meni-
montant p Menilmontant was their olympus |
pIre,re had perhaps become too rich. but he ought
not to be COMPOUNDED with those adventures ike
Miras for instance one Of those gluttonous grass
hoppers who would fain have renewed in France the
plaques of Egypt. great fnancer OF the Directory
lad said business is other peoples money" That
disgusting little Mires said in his turn Bad Dusl-
ness is other peoples money" and every business of
his was bad. The God of the Hebrews is just
Mires died without sou.
The Duke of Mortemart had played part in
d,plomacy and politics, and so died Grand Cross OF
the Legion of Honor, after having been Peer ana
Senator He had retired from the world IN moro
than princely historic residence, the Chateau de
Meillant which was made ilustrious by the beauti-
g., Conntoes of Chateaubriand the fayOrite Of