New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

EUROPEAN BREEZEs BY MARIE J. P1TMAN Mar
gerry Deane) svo. PIP. 3ls. Boston; Lee 4 shepard
Books of foreign travel are so many and generally
so dull that the reviewer is apt TO take up new
conner with sigh of resignation. In TINS case the
sigh was needless The title of Mrs. Pitmans book
is no misnomer Her sketches of places, people and
manners are as refreshing and wholesome as the
wind blowing over the salt Atlantic They are
bright with peculiarly sunny humor, and warm
with the sort of pleasant kindliness that implies
generous and unselfsh nature. The little volume is
made up of the bits of by-play, the personal incl
dents the suggestions of odd character ana
strange manners which enter into the eN-
perience of all quick-witted travellers, but which
few of them think it worth while 10 put Oh
paper. Mrs. Pitman does not diSdain TO tell inc
little things which help to make up a VIVA PIC
ture Of family and social life Peculiarly graphic
are her sketches of Nienna-that city wherein
laughing il so universal 1t is to be heard at every
hour of the day and every side, and II You wake
at night You are to hear somebody laughing
under yonr window. At first the traveller SAID 10
herself: How supremacy happy ~ everyone
But later she came to think that this laughter was
in consequence of habit and not the spontaneous
outlet of a JOY within. Int it very peasant to
hear all the same.
Full of music and cheer and open-air eayety, is
Vierncse life: and the houses and apartments OF
the higher classes are handsome and stately, II
somewhat incOnVenient. Mrs. PItmans host hau
been aide-de-canp to the Emperor. and MS dauSh-
tiers had grown up with the Crown Prince but
there was no bathroom in the house ana inc
cook. chambeI1uaid and lady's-maid slept IN the
Kitchen. The bathroom is perhaps not 50 much
missed as il would be in America, since the Vienna
ladies almost invariably drive in the morning to
bath in the river where tie water in tank Is care
fully filtered. and there they swim about for an
hour nj time Not to know how TO swim
is almost as bad il Vienna as not to know
how to read and in the smallest Of inland towns,
where there is neither lake river, there is in
yariably natatorium Porcelain stoves heat the
rooms-souie of them Of handsome faience, costing
one or two hundred dOllarS-and candies hight Them
Every morning the cook receives sum OF money to
lie spent on the cuisine for the day and every
morning she to her mistress for each krcut
ger spent. There rclrgeraiors and no cellars,
and after supper not scrap of food remains III the
house. The Vienna " season. lasts from the middle
of December till the first Of June, May being the
most brilliant and beautiful month in the city. Then
are to he seen in perfection the handsome Austrian
women with their tail, slender willOwy figures
their broad shoulders and long slight waists. Mrs
Pitman declares that the Austrian lady, even of the
nobility, eats with her knife She does II dexter
ously too. There is no greater violation OF table
etiluette there than to turn the sharp side of the
kuife 70 the tongue. The of rank are full of
resources and practical accomplishments. The chap
ter in which Mrs. Pitman describes their acquire
ments will be read with surprise by American
girls:
There arc no ladies in the world capable of do
Ing many things and doing them we'll as the Aus
TRAN ladies. refer 10 those OF high birth. care
not what thcy may be called on TO do, from cut
ting dress 10 making salad, they are always
RI IA an ~
sent to famous mlliners and dressnakers, where
they SerNea regular apprenticeship, ana remain
until perfectly able to cut and make any garment.
An Austrian lady that cannot swim, or does not
know how to ride morse well, Is an exception:
Needlewo rk of every kind. even to the making OF
lace, is part OF every glrIS cducati0n. lhcIe Is
no smatterlng of anything; whether she learns Inc
piano OF to draw, she learns II thoroughly ii she
has no talent at all for an art-whlch Is seldom
she let's that art entirely alone. Her pedestrian
accomplishments put MS quite 10 shame her Efforts
of memory aIother source OF wonder 10 us.
This wonderful memory which enables Austrian
girls 10 repeat sometimes the whole OF PARADISE
Lost or an entire drama, comes from practice
begun in babyhood. Every Gay the girl Is expected
to learn poem OF page She often does IL whllc
making her toilet and at last from habit poem
requires but single reading and 1t is slowed away
in the memory safely. As lIngniss they are Ia
NOUS This too comes from learning when very
young An Austrian lady, who chances TO SIT by
Ine at this moment tells me that at eisht years Ola
it mattered not to her to her sisters whether she
spoke German. English or French; and she recalls
no effort in learning those languages foreign to her
IL is therefore compulsory, ana often found II
spoken more generally IN .rlvate families than Ger
man. Servants ale expected to speak both French
and German.
IL is only among the NOBILITY and higher classes
that one finds these accomplishments. The
burgheTs' daughters Will not cOndeScend to the
learning of dressmaking and cooking, which the
titled lady do without thought of its rejecting
on her social position. And 50 the young women TO
whom such knowledge would be of practical benefit
are inefficient; while the Princess Stcphanie, and
all the Indies at the court have at their fingers ends
the power to do anything.
could not but contrast often the simplicity of
manner and attire of these LADIES'. some OF whom
traced their lineage back 10 the times OF the
knights with the arrogance and self assertion of
some of the nOureGaI riches OF America, who talk
loudly OF "exclusveneSs" while dressed in satin,
lace and diamonds at a watering place casino in the
morning III the European lady has not always the
perfect taste which characterizes the American in
her dress she certainly knows one thing bctter,to
dress suitably for the occasion. She does not wear
her diamonds and French gowns TO church; she
does not 90 shopping in black satin and pearls but
at ball or dinner party she is regal III me clothes
and costly ornaments An American girl wonld
have stood amazed at a fashionable lawn-paTty
which once attended. where all the ladies were IN
the simplest OF pIettily-made calico and cotton
Ladies whose family Jewels would have stocked
shop and whose inherited laces were of priceless
value. wore the streets and on these occasions
dresses that the American girl would scOrn TO
OIL the beach at Newport on summer morning. |
because of their simplicity; but when the occasion
demanded elaborate dressings they were dazzling |
In Vienna went with young baroness to try on a
dress she having made to wear at the |
afternoon ball to be given at the Emperors school
for the education OF officers sons. She vas
twenty had a million forms in her OWE right, had |
been brought up with the Emperors children for |
time. when her father had been aide dc camps and |
the Jewels she had already inherited, and which |
were TO come to her, had dazzled me when spread |
out for my seeing day. had iancied her dress |
to be something very elegant Imagine my surprise |
when it proved to be dainty cotton Saline, 30 |
touts yard III America. with which she was TO |
wear simple turquoise jewelry. But she the |
belle of the ball. Later saw her at christening,
where she was gOdmOther and she resplen |
dent in satin and jewels. Elaborate and expensive
dressing is reserved by young ladies' for really great
occasinns. and forty Yards OF lace and diamonds.