Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-12-07
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" max 0RELI, Author Of ''Jonsshaa
end His Continent" John Bull
and His Island" John Bull's
Daughters Etc

- A@As8 $1&s5o(o Va c1NtctYs lICIe, tOO,
We md woman's sovereignty indisput-
able. and the men in leading strings. In
the French household the woman is
Qoeen. Her empire over her children is
( perfect, and she leads her husband by
the nose. He does not complain of this;
On the contrary, he enjoys it. and he
: thinks that, after all, much worse might
happen 10 him. The wife knows all her
husbands affairs, and when he has
I few savings to invest he does not think
& beneath him to ask her advice. She
knows, as well as he. the current price
Of stocks at the Bourse; and IL he should
be seized with a pruriency to embark in
speculation, she brings to bear all her in
fuence over him to induce him to buy
consols or any other government secu-
rities. Call on her husband on business,
and II he is from home you will not need
70 make q second visit on that account;
she has all the affairs of the firm at her
fingers end.
She is the goddess of economy and or
der.
Every little bourgeoise keeps o memo
randum book, in which she writes down
all her expenses. Nothing is forgotten,
not even the halfpenny to the blind beg
gar who plays the flute at the street cor
ner.
The French woman has genius for
cookery, and is thoroughly awake to
the fact that it Is good policy In married
HE to see that monsieur dimes well.
believe there is saying in England that
the way to q mans heart is through his
stomach; but fancy there are many
English women who donot use this path
way rs much as they might
The politics Of matrimony is science
inborn in our women. Let French wo-
man be rich or poor, she has always the
charm of feminality. She is always
smart, always alert. and has little flut-
tering, bustling way with her that is
bound to keep awake your interest in all
she does. She may be sometimes a little
affected, but she is never vulgar. On
Sundays and holidays she dresses still
little more elegantly than usual, but she
never appears to be in Sunday clothes.
The middle class French woman is lady
like, not only in her dress, but in her
speech. You will never see her loaded
with cheap jewelry, this great stamp Of
vulgarity; and when she speaiN 70 you,
you cannot guess whether She me wife
OF gentleman or of small tradesman.
Notice that she often changes the style
Of her hair. That is because she knows
that love lives on trifles, and that the
best dishes become insipid if they are al
ways served with the same sauce. Even
II her stock of clothes is scanty, her
clever brain and fingers help her to cover
its deficiencies by constant little changes.
With two or three dresses in her posses
sion, the dear little humbug will make
You believe that she has well filed
wardrobe.
Ihave often in England heard French
women called frivolous. But this is the
height Of absurdity, and, in my quality
of Frenchman, surely l ought to be as
good judge Of the point as the English
tourist. How can French women, who
are perhaps, Of all women in the world,
the most initiated into the affairs Of their
husbands, be frivolous? If frivolity con-
sists in trying to remain young and at
tractiye as long as possible without be-
coming ridiculous, then the French bour-
geoise is frivolous.
i II, again, frivolity consists in making
10 home cheerful and gay, and prevent
ing husband from being absorbed by
the cares Of business, then she is frivol-
GUS. But this is nonsense. Is size friv-
olous. this woman who is the friend and
confidante of her husband-who. in i'm
portant matters rs well as in the small
est, has both consultative and deliber-
ative voice in the household? It is she
who knows, with her economy and good
management, how to face the danger
when, from one cause or another, the
family revenue diminishes; it is she who
knows, with her energy, how to ward
oil ruin from her threshold. If this
woman were frivolous, how could you
explain tho alteration for tho mother
which, even to the lowest of the low,
you find in French children? How
could this be, unless she were the exam
pie of all domestic virtues2 If French.
man Of 40 would hesitate to take an i'm
portant step in life without first CONSULT
ing his mother, surely it must be that he
recognizes in her a wise guide. 1t would
be mere naivete on my part TO dwell
longer on this absurd charge of frivolity.
Take now the shop keeping classes.
There you viii see the wife the active
partner OF her husband. Behold them
both as the commercial traveller displays
his goods on the counter. The wife is
supreme. Her objections are without
appeal, her opinion final. 1t is she who
generally has charge Of the books and
the cash box, and neither books nor cash
were ever intrusted to better guardian
ship. She is not mere housekeeper,
with or without wages; she is the part
ner, not merely sleeping partner. This
not only enables her to be OF great help
to her husband, but il also enables her,
II she happens to become widow, to
carry on the business without her hus-
band, to be independent and to bring up
her children. She has not, to obtain her
living on her husbands death. to become
a working housekeeper or a nurse; she
is the mistress of her own house as be-
fore, and now the head of the firm. In
her shop she is most polite, but never
servile; and if you wish her TO take Won
for gentleman, don't keep your hat on
while you are engaged with her in a
commercial transaction.
have still present in my memory the
following little anecdote:
A well dressed man once entered a per
tuners shop where was purchasing a
pair OF gloves. Keeping his hat on all
the time, he addressed the perfumer's
wife in most otfhand manner. But
what cxasperated tho dear woman was
that, after inquiring about the price of
some score of articles, he prepared to
retire, saying:
HE didn't think he wanted any.
thing"
II think you do" replied the woman.