Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-09-27
A FEW FOREIGN FADS
MRS. FRANK LESLIE IN A LIGHTER
VEIN THAN USUAL.
She Gossips About the Funny Things She
Saw While on Her Usual Summer vaca-
tion In Europe-A Dog Paradise and =
Horse Inferno.
copyright. 1894, by American Press Associa-
tiOu1

I f~A%
Ak~ 7 THAS been my invariable
and unvarying custom of
n late years to spend my
Ssummers in Europe. All
the joys Of sauntering
through shops and gazing at bargains,
which less hardworked women can
spread over an entire year are in my
case crowded into two brief months, and
possibly the briefness Of my holiday SO
intensifies my powers of observation
that take more notes in the two
months aforesaid of the places where
idle cheerily than others collect in the
course of the whole year. Haste invaria-
bly, concentrates ones keener percep-
tions unless it makes one lose ones
head utterly, and, happily for myself, I
do not come under the latter category.
At one time the Mecca of Americans
was Paris Thither did our country peo-
pie flock in large numbers, and therein
did they expend large sums under the
lavish regime of the second empire. But
Paris is no longer what it used to be.
Prices have gone up, and pleasures have
departed, and we are used to the repub-
ican form of government at home, and
we like an entire change when we go
abroad, so the inquiring tourists of
these latter days set sail in the spring
time and direct themselves straight to-
ward London.
London has a peculiar and decided
attraction Of its own. When the train
lumbers solemnly over the roofs Of sub
urban houses and our nostrils are greet
ed by the first whit Of that smoky at
mosphere so characteristic Of London
air, the average American feels dis
tinct thrill of pleasure. And when our
"boxes" (no one but elephants have
trunks in Englan0 are piled in an in
secure fashion on top of 'growler"
(the modern English for four wheeled
cab) and we start on our way to a hotel,
wherewe know wewill be uncomfortable
and pay very dearly for that privilege,
then we feel that we are in the seventh
heaven Of delight, for London in the
season is a very charming place.
What strikes one very forcibly is the
splendid audacity of the inhabitants
No London hostess ever dreams in her
hospitable intents that the weather may
be unpropitious. When the rain is rain
ing every day in that hard and persist
ent manner SO characteristic of the
English climate, the blooming English
matrons will settle down to their writ
ing tables and launch invitations to
garden party with a GOODNESS that is
born partly of their belief in their own
good luck and partly Of implicit conf
dence in the clerk of the weather Ger
tainly the London garden parties are
most charming functions, the brilliant
toilets, the multicolored parasols and
flower decked headgear of the women
showing most picturesquely against the
vivid green of the turf and the darker
verdure of the fine old trees that adorn
so many gardens, even in the heart Of
the great city, for it must be admitted
that the weather is often considerate
and refrains from rain for awhile to en-
able the garden festivity to pass off
with eclat. The garden party is not
function that has much chance of being
acclimatized in Paris, however. The
conservative French will have none of
it. A Frenchwoman likes to show her
artistically artificial self under the
subdued glow of candle light. A
French hostess who owned a su-
perb garden decided on adopting the
English fashion and sent forth many
convocations to afternoon tea and music
in the open air, but all the French fe-
male contingent, with calm decision, re-
fused in serried phalanx, so she was
obliged to recall her invitations and re-
place her afternoon by an evening par
ty, when the garden was hung with
Venetian lanterns, and the light was
most exquisitely subdued and very be-
coming to the French complexions
Anglo o-Saxon women, however, brave
the clear light of day with perfect
equanimity, and it must be said that
the lilies and roses Of English skins can
often face the sunlight with impunity.
Another popularity Of the London
season, which is caused by all its dissi-
pations being concentrated into little
less than three short months, is that you
never have time to enjoy any thing prop
erly. You float from lunch party, from
which you have to rush at an unseemly
hour, SO soon as you rise from table, to
go to an afternoon tea, say, in Kensing-
ton, the other end Of London, from your
lunch party You then proceed to drive,
as it seems to yourself, for ages. If you
are in hurry, you are certain to be
blocked on Piccadilly and waste idle
moments contemplating the carriage in
front Of you and admiring the force and
directness of objurgation Of which the
English language is capable when used
by drivers. You reach your destination,
you meet some particularly interesting
people, you are having an extremely
pleasant time, when the dismal thought
strikes you that you have made posi-
tive promise to meet some friends at an
other reception in Numerically op-
posite direction, so you drive for more
untold ages and reach your destination
at fiendishly late hour, and by direct
count compute that you have spent two
thirds Of the afternoon in trying to get
from place to place. Many people make
sage resolutions to 60 but to one place