The daily gazette., 1878-10-29
OUR PARIS LETTER
THE PEOPLE ONE MEETS HERE
THE CHARACTER OF THE
FRENCH.

THE CHARACTER OF THE
FRENCH.
THEIR CUSTOMS, HABITS AND wANTs-
THEIR VICES AND vIRrURs-CoMpAn-
SION BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND
THE AMERICANs-wHo ARE
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
WOMEN IN THE
! WORLD.
(from Our Special Correspondent
| PARIS, Oct. 17th, 1878.
The early Frenchmen are reputed stall
warth and of good height, and his DOS
terity resembles him, except in statue.
The physical characteristics of the pres.
ent race show, in comparison with
the American, frame more compact,
limbs more ronnder, and statue smaller.
The lean, lanky person quite common In
America is rare In this race The French
man Is more loosely hung together, and
has more SWING aud gait and gesture. A
French cannot sprawl while an Ameri-
can does 1t with facility over chairs, coun-
ters, or dry good boxes. In their repose
there Is the difference between the Dork-
ing fowl which perches In the sun, and
the Shanghai who backs his loose limbs
In royal spread. Rut what Is puzzling
to the austere theologue is that there are
certain cllisteri ng qualities of symmetri-
cal harmony and goodness found in the
character of the French, which are not
the development of an evil, but virtuos
nature. The key to this apparently par
adoxical state Is to be found in the mans
love of the beautiful with which he strives
TO invest his religion and life. He is the
cultivated pagan of the nineteenth CEN
tury, whose faculties are developed in a
school OF Osthetics where even his &C
knowledged church Is made subordinate,
Notwithstanding Its prestige and require
ments. The beautiful in art, in nature,
In soul and physical form, Is the idea of
which he is posse ssed; and when this is
borne in mind IL is easier to understand
and judge him. The Frenchman's edu-
cation, from an American point of view.
Is defectivein what relates to geography
and history of nations other than his
own. An ordinary American lad would
put him to the blush on a question upon
the subject. 1t might be affirmed in his
presence, without fear of contradiction,
that Missouri or New Jersey formed parts
of the Mexican Republic. He is con-
stantly complaining of his government,
whatever it is, as II each nation does not
have as good a government as it de-
serves-as if 1t depended on the govern
ment alone to correct abuses.
He accuses the administration of doing
too much, and with reason; but he dses
not attempt to do anything himself. He
is taken charge of, bag ami baggage, by
the Government on his travels, and care
fully looked after in his home as If he
were child. Even the omnibus con-
ductor in a certain measure takes him
under his protection, demands his fare
with an air of command, and sets him
down at his destination as if no were a
parcel. The man clothed 10 government
authority assumes that laconic, not to be
questioned air, which We frequently see
in our naval or army officers on duty
This official starch prevades more parti.
cularly the subordinate agents of each
branch of the government The private
citizen is always inclining himself polite
ly right and left the official is oppressed
: with sense of his dignity, and seems to
say, "Dont tritle with me, for l have q
terrible responsibility on my shoulders ;
The "Legion of Honor" must be easy
: for among the recent lucky recipients OF
the above distinction find the names oi
Edison and Girard, the former one oi
the greatest men of the present century,
the latter an ex-clerk in the Bureau o.
| Statistics at Washington and at presen
clerk in Commissioner Mccormick
Office here. THIS Is mentioned only by
way of comparison.
AS to the women of France, her co
quetry is proverbial 1t is the oil in thi
salad. A Spanish proverb has it that ;
kiss without moustache is like an egl
without salt; and the Frenchman aver
that a woman without a certain degree o
coquetry is like saltless soup. When i
is found in bad company, such is frivoli
ty, dissipation, extravaganza, and thu
like, 1t may be presumed that there il
too much salt in the soup. The face o
the American women Is more beautiful
than that of any other country while th
French woman's face Is as handsome o
that of any other in Europe, and fade
3 more slowly.
At forty she gldes into an embonpoin
with an unwrinkled face, and of goot
8 complexion-at the age when the Ameri
can becomes pale and wrinkled. TIL
!, climate has something to do with this
b but doubtless her nourishing food, gene
, rous wine, ana out-of-door air, muc
more. In quantities of purly menta
;. character, the equal of the American VIC
man cannot, perhaps, be found in tn
Q. world, but with all the knowledge am
intellectual acti vity, she lacks that whic
make the Greeks what they have beer
s' and the French what they are,-organi'
> cultivation. Intwnied in these words arr
5, taste and art. A rlper clVlnzauoi
though not a purer, shall invest her wit
a knowledge of these things and a han
q mony of character not now possessed
. and with it will come alas that decad
n. ence in morals which always marches o
the heels of the beautiful in every az
and in every cline. 1t is sad that Sucl
heavy tribute should be exacted as tn
re- price of an added enjoyment, but art
10 inexorable. Even in women gwen 3
vice, pagan cultivation redeems it of ii
. most revolving features Those who haun
the Boulevard of night in pursuit c
their ignoble calling are generally polite
orderly, and well dressed, In strikin
contrast to the Anglo Saxons of the sam
a class as seen in Regent street in Londo
1 or in Broadway, New York. In tn
l rooms of the Bulliers, the grisetts ma
| be wicked, but they are not coarse.
/ the meretriclous twirling and leg liftin
! of Mabille, virtue may be thrust out, bu
] there is a,dev otion to art in the bacchaI