The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-09-21
PARIS ROSIERES.
with Some Reflections ON French
Women In General.

An enthusiast in the cause of civic
virtue Las te' aside 1900 Traces, to be
invested for the purpose of producing
an income with which annually 10
provide dowies for three young
Partisan girls Of good character. The
browning of "rose queen" is an
old custom in mora than one village
in France and England, and in
the case of well known suburb
Of P iris, the ms tuition and annual
csrem ouial which it entails have a
worldwide celebrity. 1t is true that
now mi then again the profane wits
on the Seine have cut their gibes a.
the memory f the founders of tbs
proceeding aud of those who partici-
pats in it. But the ve,y thought OF
such thing in the Gaze OF Paris, says
the London STANDARD, will be to m 1T
people income sivabie, from the vast
ness of the area to which it is to b
applied, while others, we imsgtne,
will be of opinion that it is one
If the most iOcopgroous ideas
taa! evtr entered a mans brain. At
the end OF his remarkable novel,
"Froment jeune ct R'sler aine," NJ.
AIphonse Daudet represents one OF
the characters, at the dawn of misty
moinirg standit G outside Psris, but
with the city well 10 view, shaking his
fist and exclaimiug, &c ,quiner' The
euthor adds that ls is impossible TO say
whether or not "CoQuine" wss app led
to the unprincipled heroine who bad
wrought 80 much mischief. Aud 80
the work closes. We clniesI tn {
nothing has heppened s'nce then to
maks anyone regard Psris, from that
point of view, with more favora-
ole eyee. An intelligent French critic,
M. Jules Lemaite, has argued, with a
coed deal Of plausibi ijy, that although
NJ. lola prides himself upon being
the prince of Iealsts, he is an idealitt
of the most outrageous character
realism being shown rather in the
pages of M. Daudet, who describe
Jhings ss they are without any pafti
pris, than in these tf NJ. Zola, who has
got a theory to support and in
order to support ii, represents
life as being much more wicked and
much mora ugly than it is. But to
whichever Of the portrayers of Partisan
life we turn, whether IL be M. lola, M.
Daudet, M. Guy de Maupa saut, or NJ.
Jules Gazette, we rise ON a perussl
of one and all Of them with the i'm.
preston either tina. a rosiere ia very
much wanted in Paris or that SUI h an
institution would be out of p ace alto
gether. M. n ia, in bis EAU Bonheur
DIES Danes" may bs suppt sed to have |
written his last word on the subject
But, indeed, it is hardly necessary to
argue what is 80 notorious and 50 in
Paris is the headquarters
OF all that makes the ete'nd feminin |
80 interesting TO many parsons and de-
grades it to the lowest point it is
capable OF reaching. II Is satisfactory
to fiod that most OF the writer's who
have delivered up their genius to the
description Of women" as il under
stood by tout Paris, end by looking
upon life as an insufleyabe bore.
Here is the lest word and confession
Of the high priest Ct them all: "Who
was the idiot who first fancied that
happiness could be produced by au
of veal ?" Having
asked this question, he replies that
the only result would bs to give
svery one email slice Of the
common misery OF being alive,
since it would enable him to "euerge
rom the tranquil satisfaction of their
nstinc in order to make acquaint-
lnce with the Unsuitable hunger end
thirst of the passions" To sum up,
le concludes: 1.-THE best thing would
% not to exist at all; or, il one must
reeds exist, then to be tree, stone,
" sill better grain Of saud that eau
lot be made TO bleed under the heel
II the pasNrby."