The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-03
VERSATILITY OF THE FRENCH.
PARIS Debating THE LAWS OF
FASHION.

Longer Than England and Ger
many-She Possesses the Springs
of Moral PrOgress-She Expert
ments, suffers and Fights for the
Welfare OF the Human Race.
Although it has been said that the only
fool is the one who never changes, it
is always more or less provoking to
hear it said that the French are tickle.
unsteady and versatile. How many times
have we heard that stereotyped sentence
since the resignation of Casimir-P erier!
! The truth is that many Americans, and
/ especially women Of the -Four Hun
/ dred's set" who think the republic good
enough for them. would not be displeased
I at all to see France come back once more
to the monarchy. They have Of course,
their own reasons for thinking thus. and
| though they wisely conceal them. they
/ are easy to understand. We willingly ad-
nit that there was more fun at the Tuile-
! ries receptions than in kissing the hand Of
an old decrepit queen. But TO comply with
/ the tastes of a few gay women, France is
not going to change a form of government
under which she has recuperated her
! strength and her wealth and won the ad-
miration of the world.
| When Francis /. wrote on a window
/ pane of his favorite castle Of Chambord:
Often woman changes her mind,
great fool is he who trusts her"
He surely never thought of paying a
compliment to the better half of man
kind. Those who say that the French
! are the most versatile people in the
world do not either intend it as a fiattery
to our race. The artist who was commits
stoned to paint the costumes Of the va
rious nations of the earth, represented
the French dressed in the old fashion of
fig leaf and this just at the time when
the leaves begin to fall, giving as his rea-
sons that they changed styles so often
that it would be impossible to indicate
1 their national dress, doubtless intending
this as a smart epigram.
1t is true that there are abuses Of these
changes as of every thing else, and that
| the French in particular sometimes go to
| extremes in this respect But it should
not harshly be determined that the
/ changes, though frequent, are neCessa-
rily wrong, or that versatility is a vice.
Animals remain always the same, that
is, within the limit of our short observa-
] tlpuS. W ueueFeT a CndnSe taxes place
! among them it is to be attributed to our
| influence and not to their own wishes
/ Nature has clothed each species of ami
| mails with a costume which il retains
| without alterations, unless it comes I'M
der the domination of man. Each species
also inherits by nature a certain calling
| which it follows, without, however, ever
thinking of improving it. Man alone can
in certain cases train it to do better or
to act otherwise. Man alone has the fac
ulty of modifying other beings as well as
himself. He only has been able to create
those arts which give a varia-
| bic appearance to the secondary
conditions of his existence so as
sometimes to change them almost
completely. 1t is a prerOgatiye he cannot
well renounce without denying the supe-
riorty of his nature. He has therefore
no more reason to blush at versatility
than at curiosity at love or at ambition,
which also contribute to distinguish him
from the Hnferior species. Let him not,
! however, Become vain, for it is by conceit
that man falls into ridicule and compro-
misses his superiority.
France to-day is in a position to dictate
the laws of fashion to other nations. This
is an indisputable fact, upon which. how
ever, she should not fatter herself too
much.
She may have been beaten. over
whelmed, devastated, and even put within
| an inch of complete ruin, but she has
never been despoiled of that strange SUI
| premaey which consists in imposing new
| styles of dress and couture on all other
| civilized countries Why. these continual
/ changes? Ask a woman, for to her alone
| belongs the sovereignty of fashion
| Women will answer that they have need
| Of changes to enhance the value of their
| beauty. 1t is not only in France that
| they manifest such want, it has been
| and is still so IN all countries, and under
all degrees of civilization. But the French
woman is the only one who is capable
of creating such conceptions as will sat
| sfy the feminine caprices of the entire
| world. The fruit of these conceptions may
often seem absurd, fantastic and extrav-
/ agant especially in the eyes of the poor
husband who has to meet the bills. They
are, nevertheless, accepted, and the de-
crees promulgated in Paris, in the "AIoni-
! teur de la mode" receive a more prompt
| obedience in London, st, Petersburg Lis,
bon New York and even Savannah than a
| bull of Pope Leo XIII. would from the
most fervent Catholic
Can we reproach France or French
women for extravaganza and excessive
versatility in fashions? If the prevailing
taste which presides over the variations
of costumes is not always very chaste
might it not as Well be said that it is at
least propOrtionate to the fancy of those
| who seek it and receive its prescribed
rules with blind eagerness? Fashion, with
! all its friYolities, has a 'ratson d'etre.'
/ However we may consider this, the ma
tions who voluntarily submit to its reign
have no right to criticise the one which
alone knows how to make it acceptable
A much more serious contention is the
versatility of ideas, or in other words, the
| fashion of thought There is no harm in
the mere fact of change. We have ad-
mitted it in principle since progress is
| necessary to man, and that no progress
! is possible without changes But the
! French are accused of changing their
/ ideas, opinions and systems without suf-
! ficient causes. What must we think of
this assertion? Let us consider it from
/ religious and political point of view
| that is to say under the most serious as
/ pect it may bear. There is always ii
measure of truth in the reputation which
is given to people Only it is necessary
to separate that truth from the exaggera-
/ tions which surround it.
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