The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-17
THE CooorTE's soNNEr-MkER.
Mime. Philippe One of the Of Char
ecterS OF Paris.
From the Ne,, York Wo-

mere GOAI De uukInC IL ASe uAS
nave hat for tonight 1 wipay You to
morrow. And mere Phillippeyo you know
have had nothing to eat toay. Here it
Is nearly o'clock and l hay not penny
TO buy any,"
"Um," grunts the queer pking old crea-
ture in the hlg. throne-liI chair. without
taking the strong HavaE cigar from be
tween her teeth, but spelling between the
pulls, TEL Marie to q you an aosinthe
and stop and dine WI me. suppose l
must let you have the Et.
Then she grunts agsi, and the girl VINO
addressed her knows better than to show
any open marks Of latitude, but goes OFT
to order the drink "a tell Marie TO lay an
extra cover for her
Who is Mere Phtppel
One of the curiAties of Paris. accessible,
however, only to- particular circle of &C
quaintauces.
Journalists sn-and cocottes.
Strange cor bhation, isn't it!
Mother Philippe is a strange woman, and
her history O. strange as herself.
Oh, yes, SctSrs and artists and the whole
Bohemian world of Paris ara included in
her ''cercs,r but as these all dabble in ink
the word" journalist" came easily handy.
Mrpe Philippe is the oonceiver, maker
for which the demi-monde of Paris is famous
thrdghout the world. NotIone member of
thastraDgsly inclusive society of the pref
ties and wittiest women in the world but
patonizes Mother Philippe. From her
designs the greater because more widely
knwn in polite society modistes CLEAN
thr best ideas.
} a thousand ways remarkable, in none
is ne more so than in her fidelity TO the
clss whence she sprung and among which
today she has her only and most lucrative
clsntelle.
Somewhere about fifty-two years ago she
Dade her first appearance literally upon
tie pavement of Paris, born into the life
er mother once led. That ancient dame
till lives. but of her more anon. Phillipoa
that is her real name) grew into a remark
!Dly pretty young woman. who, with
Tiew to future business, doubtless, had been
aught to read and write, aud had been ap-
prenticed by her mother to one of the first
nodistes in Paris. Here she developed a
aste for millinery and facility with her
lngers second to none in the gay capital,
md which has not diminished with her
ears.
She also fell in love, and, moreover,
TRANCE to say, the love has in no wise
diminished either.
IL was a mutual affair Only the social
positions of the two parties placed matri-
mony out Of the question.
The young man was ON officer in the
army, tina son of one Of the richest families
in France. The name, however, is dead
now. The man is NJ. Philippe, better
known as Pere Philippe,
He ruined himself FOR 'Phillippa.
Every penny Of his patrimony was spent
on bonuets, dresses, horses, houses, furni
ture, gaiety for the pretty milliner who
had captured his heart. She came Of an
improvident stock. He did not tell her how
the money was going. She expressed q
wish. He saw that it was fulfilled. His
ayes were WIDE open; he knew perfectly
well what he was doing. She had not the
slightest idea where it would all lead to;
she thought, perhaps, that it would last
forever.
One fine morning the crash came.
Everything was gone.
The young officer had literally given her
He had not a SOU in the
world. nor an inch of land TO raise one
upon.
Then it was Phillippe's turn.
All gone ~ she cried "Whatl you have
spent everything you had upon mel All
this because you loved me! Wait; yon shall
see that /, too. can love-"
That day she returned to her bonnet
making. With the money she could raise
out of property given to her by him she
took shop in the Rue de La Chaussee d. Au-
tin, and started upon her own account as a
modiste. Her friends in her own world
patronized her. and soon, one by one, these
whose business does not allow them
to be rivalled in the matter of dress, came
to know that at Nine. Phillippe's alone could
they obtain the exact style of headgear
that they wanted.
How did she keep her promise to the man (?
You must help. you know" she said,
and very soon her trade was so immense
that bookkeeper was absolutely necessary.
He has several clerks under him now. He
is, moreover, an old man and is getting past
work, but he and she are true to their first
love. The ruined gentleman is the gentle
man lover still to the ugly, fat old milliner
who makes bonnets for the cocottes, who
smokes six or seven strong Havana cigars
and drinks on an average sixteen or eighteen
glasses of absinthe every day. And she has
never had another lover.
Her mother is also one of her quaint fam
ly. An old, yes, aud pretty old woman
IF nearly 80 lives in little room at the top
IF the house. The sun comes in at the win
low nearly all day long, the flowers on the
tiny balcony outside give a fresh and
sweetly scented air to the apartment. A
naid-herseH cocotte. for they are all of
,he same persuasion in this strange house
waits on this old lady only and keeps her
Dom, which she never leaves, clean and
neat. And the pretty little old woman, who
las every want lovingly attended to, but
Ices little sometimes. as much for aInuss-
nent as anything else, toward the decora-
ion of hat or bonnet, is Mere Phillippe's
mother.
The concierge is an uncle, the porter
Who carries the new hats the apartments
n the Rue Pigalla or the flats in the
champs Elysees is another uncle Mere
Philippe has made pensioners OF them
Ill
Z She has rather moro than an incipient
nustache and beard, this strange old
her skin is wrinkled and spotted
ike that soft, yellow leather they make
cushions and shoe tops of in Morocco and
Algiers; she wears white camisole and
hort satin petticoat always; she sits on her
treat throne-hke chair, her fat, wrinkled
myers, arms and neck and ears blazing
With Jewels, she is never without the great
igar in her mouth-she smokes il like
nan, stuck in the corner of her mouth
md there is always glass of absinthe be-
ide her; upon her lap, her fingers busily
ngaged upon its feathers, laces and rib
IONS is her greatest creation, a hat to be
yorn at the Moln Rouge by some coming
'remiere; sometimes she wears stockings,
e others not, but her feet are encased in
pose, comfortable slippers and rest upon
tool, and no one mas ever seen Mere Phil
ppe out OF temper.
Such is Nine. Philippe.
Her ateiiers are the rendezvous between
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