Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-15

and then a wandering merchant enters SELL
ing pins, ornaments, ribbons, what-not.
There is a large class OF these retailers
i who make a speciality of the 1aundries, and
the women greet them with joy, gathering
about in groups which, if damp, are none the
less picturesque, for these healthy Partisan
| laundresses wooden shoes on their feet, petit
coats turned up about their waists, arms
bare, cheeks rosy with exercise, black locks
| moist and curling, are sights for painters
No doubt the best explanation of the fail
ure, of the laundry is that the people were
welded to their ways and preferred to
! wash along the Seine or in the courts of the
houses Ga practice then tolerated but never
! seen now and to dry in the vacant lots
which were frequent then but have since
disappeared, or from the windows.
The publicity Of laundry work in France
has given it some novel features. Washing
out-of-doors in the streams still prevails in
the provinces and to an extent in Paris
ITSELF One cannot 60 the length of the
Seine inside of the city without seeing men
on the quays scrubbing their linen and
without finding near the walls women kneel-
ing in their wooden washing boxes pound
ing with stone the family clothes. The
stone is generally used by those who wade
in the streams and has given rise to belief,
common among strangers in Paris, that the
early disintegration of their linen is due to
this untriendly instrument; q mistake, the
quantities of washing fluid do the mischief.
A popularity of the laundry business in
Paris is its compact organization and the
loyal allegiance and tondness which its
personnel give to each other and their
trade. AT no time is this shown so well as
at Mi-Careme-the third Thursday of Lent
"a day given up entirely by the city to the
laundresses and their merry making.
A Very Novel Celebration.
The preparation for the celebration begins
some weeks before hand. Each laundry
elects from among its regular habitues a
queen. these queens meet with the pro-
prletors OF the establishments and elect a
queen or queens. From that time on the
laundries are busy preparing chariots and
costumes for their grand parade. 1t is
costly business, for the price of decorating
chariot is from $40 to $50, and showy
costume rarely rents for less than So But
then Mi-Careme comes but once wear, and
have they not been saving for it for months?
When the great day comes these chariots
filled with the laundry people, and preceded
by cavalry and followed by fantastic adver-
tlsements on wheels make long tour of the
city. The entire Partisan world turn out to
see and help on the tun. Mi-Careine of the
present year was the merriest the city has
seen for long time, so old Parisians say.
One reason for this was the introduction of
a noveltv-paper confetti. The plaster con-
fetti used so long in Italy has been largely
replaced there by tiny round pieces of paper
of various colors. Paris, however, has never
seen any of this until Mardi Gras of this
year. 1t was success, and large guam
titles were prepared for Mi-Careme. The
laundresses had the joy of seeing their day
celebrated bv confetti battles which lasted
for hours in the great bouIeyards and
squares, which filled the air with tiny disks
until it seemed like a fall of snow, and
which left carpet several inches thick for
the street sweepers of the next day to
wrestle with.
Little wonder that the Parisians love their
laundresses, and celebrate them in song and
story aud picture since, added to their
usefulness and picturesqueness, they give
them one of the gayest days of all their gay
year. IDA NJ. TARBELL