New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-16
THE OBEDIENCE or FREYCHWouEN.
From Blacli,roods MAGAZINE.

The best the truest, the noblest of Frenchwomen
the women who are no longer young but who
know how TO be old without rcgIet-the women
who remember and compare, whose knowledge of
life enables them 10 gauge events and whose posi-
ton, character and authority place their attesta-
tons above denial. these women are almost unani-
nous IN declaring thatsdunng the last few wears
they and their SISTERS nave palpabiy lost ground,
DOth IN publlc action ana IN personal capacity.
And this is not the querulOus complaint OF worn
with years, and who think the past superior to the
present because their own associations are
nected with the past. No, 1t Is the thoughtful,
blassed verdict of unwilling in Ices whose sentence
gains stll further weight because it Is in painful
ontradictOn to their wishes and affections. And.
IL Is not IN the more ancient ranks alone that these
reluctant dep0ncuts are TO be found. Many o. the
younger women, too. are testifying against them
serves each DAY, ana are inpartaUy proclaimng
that society is fading and that they themselves
dropping and whitening with It. Even the men
he3Inning TO take some small part IN the cutlery
which Is swelling mp against the damage inflicted by
democracy on society and women.
Next come the declarations of iore gncrs of aliens
who 1--we IN France. Their evidence cannot lie sus-
pected. for they love France--so earnestly indeed.
that they cherish only her merits but even her
faults. We'll. these strangers, OF varied uatOnaliies
possessing Nnauy OF them al least Old and intimate
acquaintance with French society aud the accuuln.
lated Worldwide experience necessary To view that
society broadly aud measure 1T fairly,-these
strangers assert almost with one consent that the
frenchwoman Is passing away. They say that her
lunlnuu>nrSS, her instinct her fancy and her senri
ment have all diminished that she maniiesty takes
less trouble to please and 10 play her part in life
that her apttudes no longer exercised applied
rs thoY were IN former days; that her type OF mind
Is CtaSln8 TO bc peculiar To herself ana that,
consequence OF these changes her charm has sen
sibly diminished. They observe that all this has
happened since ISL and on behalf OF Europe they
raise their voices In procstatlon They enreat the
Republic to take note that the FTeuchwoman is
beng stuffed ana they appeal for her preservation
one of the gorics OF France and of the ecessi-
ties OF Europe. The world cannot spare her. Other
women than she had realized the curious mixture of
transient attributes, of artificial capacities, of
qurcd graccs. of faculties and faults of brlliances
ana vanItics the accumulation OF which makes up
thar strangely composite and profoundly conven-
woman bad ever achieved these ends as she had
done, with such plenitude. such finish and such
ever varying notifications called for 10y the unceas-
Ing evolution of usagcS and manners The success
of Frenchwonen IN all this had heeu so thorough ::
they had gone so resolutcly ahead of the men of
their race; they had fully seized the FROM place
with admiration, and came by degrees TO regard
them as generic but uncopy able pattern. a sort
OF collective property of the earth, which every
other nation had an equal right 10 respect from
aiar. to cXtol. ana TO acclaim The FrenchwOman.
IN the eyes OF the world OF travel of experience and
OF critical comparison, was one Of the special out
growths of OuT time.
II is glanng verify that. during the last few
years, French society has lost large part OF its
gayety and vlvacity. of its demonstrativeneSs and
naturalness The wish for JOY is manIiesty erow-
ing weaker. The French. who were once TcSo-
lutte in their hostility to sadness. appear to he be-
ginning TO accept 1t tacity. like the English a
credll lie rs it may sound--they are. most certainly
becoming stupid They used TO be the most intel
ligcnt people upon carth-thev oyerlowrd Nyirh
vitality aud anlmaion--they chartered and reioced
all day; but now they are often dull and silent.
And rs they talk less aud laugh less 50. Also do
comprehensive emOtiOnaity, which so emil
nontly theirs, have apparently been blunted. And
all this Is particularly and especially of the
women for rs they were, IN former days the com
pletcst models of French capacities, SO are they
naturally, the first TO suffer when those capacities
begin to wane 1t il they who have lost the most in
this national decline, for IL was they who had the
dencc and self-relance, who were so buoyant, so
enthusiastic, so optimist, and even utopian :;
they. TO whom life was theatre in which they
were the applauded actresses; they, who had no
doubts and no cslatlons about either their talent
or their periormance-seem now to have become
tlmld, ditident suspicious and hall. paralyzcd by
dependency. Festivities of all kinds are few :
many well-known houses have closed their doors
and receive no more; and in the homes which are
stu open to visitors there is sort of chilliueSS
Some of the highest placed an most intelligent
women of the foreign colony in Paris positively
beginning to confess thar they no longer care TO
know many French people. because most of them
have become so dull. Social leadership is passing
away INTO exotic hands. There are still "A few
great ladies who retain their former chieftainship
but they can he counted on 1.-The fingers, and the
reality now is that the French have drawn back
rom heir old active contact with each other. and
nave left the care of hospitality to strangers and TO
Jews In The provinces The condition is still :
ior outside the capital there no Spaniards, no
Americans, and no lsraelues to replace the absent
natives. Ana furthermore. as the spirit of canship
anu oil petty hostility TO the Government is much
more active IN the country the good people there
seem to consider 1t duty to he lugubrious under
the. RepuDllc there Is really almost end of any
social intercourse at all beyond the limits of The
Department of the Seine. Taking the situation ali
round, il may be Said with truth that there ~ no
more society in France in the old great meaning OF
the word and that even in the restricted sense of
enormous falling off. And as it Is with society so is
1T also with women. No more of them arc being
produced. The unceasing procession of fresh
trlumphers ana of new potcntates, which was so
remarkable symptom of the healthy period of
french society, has stopped altogeth er. Scarcely
any of the young beginners of the last ten years
have made name or taken place. The conductors
or amusement In its present reduced form are still
remaining few of The same ladies who directed il
under the Empire. And all this is the work of the
Republic.