Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-06-21
FRENCH LUXURY.
Rich Surrounding Of Cabinet Ministers
and Their Wives

lsich surrounding OF CaDinet ntinisterA
and Their Wives
often wonder whether 1t is, after all,
an evil for French ministries to DO short
lived-unless for the ministers and their
wives. II they were not often over
thrown tho number Of persons TO taste
tho sweets of Office would be so much
less. The constant shuffling Of the cards
and new deals have also the advantage
of preventing the formation OF govern
mental caste, which would be tho most
unendurably conservative ono that ever
existed, and, doubt not, the most inso-
lent and pulled up. You havo no idea in
England of the magnllcence in which
members of French cabinets livo They
arc housed In palaces, at once handsome,
luxurious and snug-n rare combination.
Admirably trained footmen are thrown
In with tho palaces. Lords chamberlain
and masters of the ceremonies might
take lessons In department from the re-
served, respectful and self respecting
ushers In black, with steel chains round
their necks, who show visitors into the
presence Of tho minister on the ground
floor or Of the ministries on tho first floor.
The furniture OF ministry Is oil very
handsome and imposing In the ground
floor rooms. All this splendor takes
away the breath Of an Englishman fresh
TO Paris, who has been used to the dingi-
ness of the Irish Office, and tho plain
brick house at Whitehall In which the
@. o. NJ. resided when In Office. At
French ministry, the foot sinks in winter
In the deep pile Of the carpets- In sum-
mer the. oak parquet floors arc beauti-
fully polished. giving charming sense
of GOODNESS and dustlessness. Immense
windows of the folding door model
thrown wide open. II the weather be
sunny, afford prospects Of velvety turf,
old trees, strawberries and howerbeds in
bright bloom. There is not ministerial
residence that has not garden spacious
enough to deserve the name of park,
and the atmosphere OF Paris Is free from
smoke blacks.
The ministries lives generally on the
first floor Of the official residence, which
IL just as spacious and handsome, but
more gay and elegantly coquettish, than
the ground floor rooms The sitting
rooms of heoutgoing prime ministries
tho incest one wo have had for an age
-were done up for the Duchess do Per-
signy when she was running her curious
rig under the empire. For her pleasure
the Garde Meuble, which Is an infinite
wealth Of beautiful furniture, was rifled
of some of its most lovely Eighteenth cen
fury treasures. The duchess was, on her
fathers side, the granddaughter of Ney,
tho cooper's son. On her mothers side
ehe stood in tho Same relation TO Jacques
Lafltto, of financial celebrity, who came
TO Paris with worn out shoes and an
empty pocket, but who won the heart Of
a misery banker by STOPPING to pick up
a pin In his courtyard, and 30 was able
to make his way to fortune.
Yet the duchess was as dainty as II
her ancestors for centuries had been of the
dues class. A crimpled roso petal on her
couch would have made her cry out.
She afterward had to slave In the house
of her second husband In Egypt Qe-
moyne, an Orleans attorney like her
great-grandmother. Tho sitting rooms,
the uso of which Nine. Floquet enjoys,
are done up with rare old brocades and
old pink Sevres and Dreeden porcclnins.
Tho bedrooms AFRO Just as elegant, and
the dining room is a bliou All the year
round mlnistresses can havo what flowers
they please from the state green houses.
How, then, could they help regarding
themselves as sovereign ladies, were their
husbands tenure of office long?-Londcn
Truth.