Daily globe., 1883-10-29
COMMONPLACE PARIS.
The Complete Absence Of Individual.
ity Among Society
People.
Paris Letter in New York Times ]

L
ffench society exhibits a most curious p1e-
nomenon-the almost complete absence Of
everything like individuality. Every coat or
gown has been cut after the same pattern,
everybody seems to have been run in the same
mold, everybody sees with the same eyes, and
even the women, essentially creatures of
phantasy, follow the keynote, keep with ex-
enplary regularity to the general diapason,
and, should one Of them venture upon an as
sertion Of her own individualisn, are dunn
founded. The Marquise de Belbeuf wore a
new style of jersey at Marty last May, with
her coat of arms embroidered on it, and So
ciety has not yet done wondering at the in
novGtion.
And worse still is it for the men. The
faintest exhibition of dandyisrn, the smallest
effort at originality is hootsd as though it
were crime, and the young duke Of Morny
made for himself more enemies by his adop-
tien OF little diamond-headed cravat pins
and his laller1na's skirts il the ''Paris-Au-
teuiln review at the "Baby club" than his
father did by his participation in the coup
d'etat and the war with Mexico; he got
more blame fer these absurdities which
merely showed him to be an efeminate little
ass than for his heartless conduct to poor
Feyghine, whom he treated like a cad The
leveling dreamed Of by the revolution has
become an accomplished fact in the drawing
room, where all Frenchnlen are equal in
uniformity. Cur society permits no one not
to be commonplace, Will tolerate no attempt
to emancipate ones self from the common
tonality.
Beau Brummcl had his gloves cut by four
different artists-three for the hand and
fingers, one for the thumb; Lord Spencer i'm
mortalized himself by the invention of that
tailless coat which still bears his name; the
Ambassador Kaunitz passed through a sue
cession of rooms, in each Of which a valet
armed with a powder puff gave his hair g.
touch as he went by in order that his wig
should have the exact shade that he affected
Count d'Orsay never wore a pair of patent
leather boots until they had first been
"brolen" by his footnan, so that they might
not look too new. Those gentlemen and their
rivals in individualism and elegance were
lucky to have lived at another epoch than
ours, for nowadays, when the formula is
everybody like everybody else, neither the
press nor the ''world" could find language too
strong to stigmatize their exploits.
Now, this absence of everything like
GUS sameness to their reunions. The locality
OF the scene changes, yet the scene is ever the
same. He who has been to one ball has been
to all. At to-day's dinner party he will find
the same bill Of fare that he found at yester-
days dinner party, and that he may expect
to find at the dinner party of tomorrow. 1t
is not by its imagination that society shines
in the year of grace 1888. It's SO much more
convenient to see with your neighbor's eyes
and let your neighbor think for you than to
see or think for yourself, and when Nine. K.
has copied in green or pink the toilet that
Nine. Y. produced in blue or straw-color, she
has done all that she has right to do.
And at private theatricals and amateur
concerts we see the same monotony in the
programme The comedies which have been
played, the airs that have been sung before
the footlights or at the Sale NerZ, are
played and sung in the drawing-roon, the
only difference in the performances being
that while in the one case they may have
been admirable, in the other they are certain
to be execrable unless the hostess has lavished
much gold upon professionals, for which, con-
sidering the kind Of things represented, the
guests are in nowise grateful.
The usual tone of conversation is as COM
monplace as the conversers, and Of q piece
with the 1nonotony in hospitality which keeps
aloof a great many of those whom one
would like to meet in fashionable drawing
rooms. Eel-pie is nice and so are partEidges,
but both pail on the appetite if served up
too often; and SO there are people who, in Or
der not always to find the same fare at their
neighbor's banquets, dine at home Society
has the best possible intuitions; it asks moth
ing better than to spend its money; its hank
ering after luxury and elegance and amuse-
ment Is Unsuitable, but it has lost the secret
of that eighteenth century whose fetes
in their delicious originality rendered French
hospitality unriva1ed. Ii is easy to receive,
but to receive well is altogether another
thing, and it is this quintessence of refine
ment of which the French have forgotten
the traditions. The effort now is to be CON-
monplace, not to be witty or clever. Tell me
how you are, SO that I may know how I
ought to be; out of that there is no social
salvation. "When, oh! when,n asks o French
moralist on social decadency, "wu every
body dare to make a fashion for himself, and
not follow that of others ?n