Morning journal and courier., 1893-03-13

these homelike structures. Not only SO.
but IL you visit one of these buryipg
places-Pere Ia Chaise for instances we
did, the day after All Souls, you viii be
astonished to see how generously the de-
parted members Of the family are remen-
bered by the surviving portion with foral
wreaths, and what Will still more surprise
you win be to observe, from the inscrip-
tions upon these emblsms, how many of
them have been lovingly laid there by re-
laaons In the third and fourth degrees.
These are some of the good features of
family life In France. There are Others,
of course, which are not so good, and
some which, from our point of view, are
decidedly bad. The smallness of French
families is q standing reprosch. It not
only reflects on French morals, but 1t pre-
sents q grave problem to French eoono-
mists While England and Germany are
reporting net annual increase In their
population of ave hundred thousand or
rate of only about ffty-fve thousand, and
Is not unlikely under present conditions
to become stationary. Appreciative allu-
sion has been made to the presence of the
aged in so many French homes. The fact
Is you are more likely to find old people In
them than young people. For vast dis
tricts of France the average of children Is
two in each family, and in soms parts the
average falls to one.
This is a delicate subject, but a most
vital one. At the bottom of 1t you and
the worst feature of the French character,
VIZ, calculating sordidness. The way
In which they reduce the sacred function
of psrentage to q material basis would be
amusing If Ii did not ehock you 80 much.
Two instances coming under our own OBJ
arrr ,a.fll II e
workman, with little boy of eight,
complains mildly that for family of three
the apartment is too limited. "But sup
pose you had ak children instead of onei'
''Oh," /" is the innocent reply, 1--WE couldn't;
we haven't room" A lovely old French
lady is visiting us, aud the conversation
turns upon large families. Mention is
made incidentally of an honored Irish cou-
pie who increased the population of their
country by fourteen. ''Oh," exclaimed
our dear old friend, "how could they sf-
ford It'll" That is the French view exact
ly, and few years sgo the French govern
ment, recognizing this mercsnary aspect
of the situation, met 1t in a mercsnAry
spirit. That is, 1t passed q law providing
that French parents who are willing to
trust providence in this matter beyond the
ordinary average of their fellow citizens
shall be assisted In SO doing by grants
from the national exchequer.
French mothers. 1t appears, notwith
standing their fond devotion at later Pc
riod, are not at all inclined TO burden
themselves with the care of their offspring
at the time when maternal nourishment Ia
needed. Certainly the well-to-do are not,
and hence the large requisition made upon
Alsace and Brittany for those picturesque
ly sttired nurses, who in bright weather
form, with their elegantly attired charges,
SO conspicuous feature of the afternoon
crowds in the Champs Elysee and the Bois
de Boulogne- With their decided penchant
for novelty In dress, 1t has also been ar
ranged by thoughtful French msmmss
that the costume of these nurses shall In
dictate by Its predominant shades the sex
of these French babies. II red be In the
ascendency the infantile burden is q girl;
IL blue the family Is the richer or poorer
by a son and heir. They do ssy, too, that
for a twelve month OF SO French babies
are not dressed, onlsS swsthed and bound,
and that though they are often taken out
of doors, they are wrapped up 60 securely
against sun and atmosphere as to quite re-
verse In their compiextons the ordinary in
fantile redness, and present 70 you in
stead q face that rivals the lily. This cue
tom may account in some measure for the
excessive mortality amongst French In
fants. as 1t may also be one Of the reasons
why French children, as they approach
their teens, the boys especially, look SO
frsil and delicate.
Speaking Of children, however, and how
they are treated in the French home, that
which will seem to Americans 10 be moIe
reprehensible than anything else, Is the
strict guardianship exercised over growing
daughters, and the French notion that
lad 20 ha Y,rnnarlv rngael ha
kept in almost perfect ssclusion from
young men. The chspsron ia pTe-eminent-
ly French both in name and as q recog-
nizsd feature of family government.
Where so many women are accused of bE-
ing fast it seems very odd to think that
the recognised code does not allow young
ladies TO go out, not even on q shopping
expedition, without some older person to
keep watch over them, and forbids that
they shall converse with unmarried men
excepting under the same restrictions.
Such, however, the code Is, and there are
many who think that this over ssalous
provision for the protection of girls be-
oomes in the end a snare and danger to
them, and is accountable largely for GER
tain well known aspects of French life
which 1t would not be pleasant for us to
dwell upon.
Hospitality In the broad sense of that
term Is sadly lacking In the French home.
The latch string is always out TO the chill
dren, and on formal occasions to the far
reaching circle of kindred. But the
Frenchman who should wish an outsider
to dine with him would be more likely to
invite him to a cafe than to his own house.
There are exceptions, of course, as our
own experience has shown, but this is the
rule. The dinner parties to aoquaintancss
and neighbors, so common and SO delight
full In America, are scarcely known In
France, and it Is also rare, excepting In
the mansions of the wealthy, for visitors
to bs offered lodgment for the night. In
large cities the Fat system, which usual
" means an insufhciency of room, makes
this almost impossible. But 1t is the
same, we are assured, in the country,
and even amongst peasants.
At marriage fsasts there 10 an ample
spread in the PEASANTS cottage, and
many are bidden, but beyond this the
peasants nearest neighbor, who Is hardly
ever more than a mile off, might as well
be q hundred miles distant, We are told,
so far as the exchange of hospitality is
concerned. 1t is declared, too, that 10
cities you may know a man intimately
for years, and may even call upon him,
without ever meeting his wife or being
introduced to his daughters. This is
owing, as one can easily see, to those
French notions, almoat Oriental in their
severity, which tend to keep the two sexes
so much apart from each other, and which
doom so many properly behaved French
women to lives of comparative seclusion.
But the French wife Is not without
her privileges when 1t comes to footing
the bills. At this point indeed French
law lays its hand upon her and makes
her fellow sharer with tbs husband in
household expenses. Assuming that she
has an income, as most French wives have,
either from their labor OF from some dow
~ or misunderstanding this, abe can
be held responsible 10 the extent of one
third of such income for whatever may be
needed to support the family. This is
how French law takes hold of the woman
in the case. But there are many ways In
which 1t alec puts the man under bonds.
In disposing of his property he can do as
he plessss only with very small PARTON
of II. His estate, real and personal, is as
much the property of his children, and
failing thsss, of certain other relations, as
II Is his owp. What Is more, he can make
no will which could prevent his children
from being equal sharers in 1t. He could
not do this even by q deed or gift during
his life, for IL he gave away more than his
own "disposable quota" as it is called, the
excess could be recovered by process of
law. When there Is one child, this quota
n