Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-09-20

pAN JHOANCo VI uAACA4AASAitCACO PCOPAC
who circulate in a lower sphere
when people are at Rome they must
live as the Romans do.
But what is Paterfamilias doing
the while, and what does he think
of all this? He is amusing himself
according to his own tastes, and
does not concern himself about it at
all. He is a sedulous frequenter of
the Jdrolin 1fdbilLe and of the OBJ
scurer theatres where the opera
bolafe doth flourish most; in short,
he is an unmitigatel snob, and de-
cent people had better make no
enquiries about him. 1t is a thor
ough understanding between him
and Materfamilias that they are to |
ask no questions Of one another's /
doings. His grown son, if he has
any, is employed much in the same
way, and indeed they often meet. |
The young man at home might !
have been sparkling fast young la
dies, but French young ladies are
not accessible for such purposes, and
the young gentleman very content
eddy accepts the demi-monde as a
substitute.
Let US hasten to scenes more
wholesome. Materfamilias has a
daughter about whom we are much
concerned, for, sooth to say, she is
very interesting young creature.
Her name is Anne Eliza, but here
she is called Elise. Let us investi-
gate Elise a little. Modern fiction
has concerned itself a good deal of
late with the American girl in
Paris, and Elise is rather a pet with
the novelist, especially the English
novelist. There is a pretty audacity
in the way in which she asserts her
/ freedom as an American girl and
/ defies the 6ieRSeaRceS of French
society. She is amused and delighted
with the horror and dismay she
inspires in the French and English
ladies by venturing ON freedoms
quite customary at home, but in
conceivable (before MARRIAGE in La
belle France. Still more is she
amused at finding how incompre-
hensible she is to Frenchmen of the
other sex, who have no experience
in dealing with girls who can enter
tain two or three beaux at a time,
and yet know how to cut short in
a moment the first advance be-
You'd the limits of propriety. But
all, Elise, it is a dangerous game,
/ however deXterously played.
. The most important feature of
the society we are describing is that,
though in Paris, it is a thing alto
gether apart from French society.
OF the domestic life of the French
people of any rank the cOlonists
know 40 more than if they lived in
another hemisphere. The world OF
the American colony is not French;
] IL 10 at AAlC NAAAAOCA cALANt
what element of Frenchiness it gets
it derives from the fact that it is re-
sorted to by French gentlemen, and
the effort it makes to render itselt
comprehensive to them and accom-.
modate itself to their habits is what
gives it a stamp different from ordi
, nary American society. The col
, onists do not visit at French houses
+ at public entertainments they may
! brush skirts with an occasional
Duchess, especially if they have
been presented at court, but thG
mansions of the FaubOurg st. Ger
main and even of the Champ
q Elysee are UNEMPLOYED regions t.
p them. Their associations with TIN
q French nation are exclusively of tn
\ masculine gender. Let us not b.
o misunderstood. We do not meal
! that the American ladies residing il
Paris are excluded from Frencl
! houses as improper associates, bu
Z that the total incompatibility c
o French and American customs ant
. ideas makes intimate domesti
q association impossible, Elise wOult
:, find French domestic life iusuffera
q bly, dull, for there are no beau
II there. The French mother woul
7 be glad to receive Elise en- taDliUe
q she had not daughters of her Ow
a whose ideas of ante-nuptial retire
v ment from society would beterribl
n unsettled by association with
10 young lady who has already severe
" beaux on her string and expects
have several more before she make
: up her mind what to do with then
= On the other hand, the saloons
~ our American colOnists are frC
Ia quented by French gentlemen {
IS pleasure, and are even popular wit
/ them; the dashing cOquetries
Il Elise are more piquant TO them frOI
II the rarity of their opportunities (
" Irritation with unmarried girls, an
: as for her mother, we fear that hi
To- attraction is largely due to tt
amusement she furnishes by h'
" laundering attempts at assumin
> the airs of dame de sOciete.
> Elise herself has still another a
ar tractive feature for French gallant
o. The one hope of the impecuniOl
re- gentleman of fashion in that bri
IS liant capitol is that of marrying
,t rich English or American girl, an
of in his idea all English and Amer
to can girls are rich, and any one
IN them is an easy conquest for
m Partisan elegant, especially if he hi
IN such handle to his name as J
r. cOnlte or Baron. All, beware, Ellis
is hold them off. If you really hay
money, he will leave you neglectt
re at home and spend your money {
nv pursuits and persons Of which yC
III have happily no conception, ana
I'd he is disappointed, the reven!
re which he is capable of wreakir
of upon your helpless welded life