Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-09
HER AMERICAN SISTERS.
Yvcttc GuiIbcrt's Opinion of the
women of This Country.

! Yycttc GuiIberts Opinion of the
women of This Country.
On the eve of her departure for Paris I
| had chat with that fascinating queen Of
| music hall singers Yvette Gulbert, who,
with charming unpretentiousness, gave me
| some views she has formed of American
| women during her stay here. A thorough
| woman herself and Partisan, Mile. Gull
| bert has taken full advantage of her oppor-
| tunitics to study her American sisters and
note wherein, to her notion, they differ from
| the women Of the French capital. Her
| criticisms, ventured with becoming modesty,
bear witness to her alertness of mind and
keenness of observation and merit consdera-
| tion.
You must know, monsieur, that / have
! Travelled very much and sung in all the
capitals of Europe, but not anywhere have l
| found women who resemble our women of
Paris SO much as do those / have had the
| honor of meeting in New York and Boston.
| Not Spanish women, nor Russion, nor Italian,
nor Englsh-oh, mon dieu, certainly not the
English--seem to me to possess such points
| of likeness to the Partisan women the
| ones l see on Fifth avenue and Broadway
"You see, do not admire English women
| very much I am sorry. but 1t is that way.
| They have lovely compilations and soft, low
voices. Perhaps in those respects they have
the advantage of either French or Amer-
can women, but they cannot dress; dear me,
| the poor things cannot dress. And the funny
part of it is that just now there is quite
wave of Anglomania sweeping Paris.
French ladies find nothing SO chic as to
wear London-made gowns, and the swellest
houses in Paris abound in furniture designed
| for London. Oh, for that, there is no doubt
the English lead the world; they do know
how to make beautiful furniture All the
| same, English ladies seem to me sadly lack
ing in taste This mania in Paris for doing
things PAnglaise is, l suppose, only a
caprice that will pass away, but we have
had 1t in bad form just now. Why, French
| newspapers are full of English words and
English sports are all the rage in Paris Just
look at the bicycle"
| At this word bicycle Yvette shrugged
her shoulders in marked disdain. asked
| her II she dsapproved of ladies riding the
wheel.
mot if they like it. believe in freedom,
bu- it seems to me very horrible. For my
| self, l shall never do such a thing" And
| then, as II to combat some look of incredulty
| in my face. she added: "If ever you hear Of
me riding bicycle, you can claim the rocee Is
| OF any one Of my nights singing to be given
| to any charity.
GOOD FRENCH SCHOLARS.
"One thing has pleased me very much in
America" she said, and surprised me. too;
that is to find many ladies able to speak
Frsrch fuently and understand it. l find
French spoken much more generally here
than in England, and the accent Is much
! pleasanter; indeed, !! find the American
accent very pretty. l must say that the
American men 1 have met do not make as
good showing in this regard as their wives
and sisters. suppose they are too busy maxi
ing money to learn foreign languages. That
is a pity don't you think SO?
I'm Boston / was amazed at the ease with
which ladies conversed with me in my own
tongue. l felt quite stupid not to know
English better. And they tell me that In
Washington French is even more generally
SnOken The Ia oftan w 7 hava
been dining in one Of your splendid hotels or
driving in the park, the whole effect Of the
people met and conversed with was to make
me feel that was in Paris and not away from
hCme at all. l suppose that is because your
ladies' go to Paris SO often that they finish
by becoming half French at least in taste"
''Do you think, then, madame, that the
New York and Boston ladies who have seen
you at tha theater understood all the words
of your songs?"
Yvette laughed mischievously. IL think
great many of them did; but then you see
they had the advantage when / came to the
shocking parts of being able to pretend that
they did not understand. Is 1t not so?"
FINE LINGERIE.
This led us into a little diversion on
national hypocrisy and incidentally caused
Yvette to give her views on ladies' under
wear.
"a lady came to see me the other day."
she said quite a wealthy lady, too, and
eSpIesStN dstOHlSHiHtHt anu duHlTdtlOn Wnen |
showed her some Of my underskrts and |
chemises, which were made pretty with |
ribbons and laces. as French women always |
wear them.
"'How much did this cost?' she asked,
picking up an underskirt.
"'Oh, about 500 frances I said, and went
on to explain to her that even the poorest |
women and girls In Paris take pride in spend
ing their money on their undergarments.
told her that a Partisan girl would find
II mite natural to Simnla hat |
cost perhaps sixty frances over an under
skirt and chemise that may cost ten times
as much"
"'What a queer idea?' said the lady.
Don't you do that way?' asked her
we think that in dressing ourselves 1t is
proper to give the costliest and daintiest
garments the place Of honor, even though
they are not SEEM
"The lady said she had never looked at II
in that way, which made me laugh.
But tell me one thing monsieur, "she
asked eagerly. why Is it American women
have their teeth stuffed full OF gold? That
see such thing in Paris. And have heard
that some of your American women, but l
dent really believe this. have gone to the
point OF having holes bored in their teeth
to set diamonds In. Horrors! How could a
man kiss woman with such mouth. /
should be afraid Of her. 1t must be that
Iour American women eat too many bon-boas-
have noticed them crowdng into candy
stores Wnen nave Deen going about New
York. 1t must be bad for their teeth to eat
III those sucrecries. In Paris we have very
ew candy stores and do not care SO much
or bon-bons; but we have something instead
hat / miss In America. ! mean the little |
,ake shops, patiserries, that you find all
,ver Paris where ladies may drop in for a
ew minutes while shopping and drink glass '
If wine with some cakes Those don't seem {
o harm our teeth, though; look at mine" ,
md as she laughed merrily Yvette showed
IS perfect double row of white teeth as one !
ould find anywhere.
GAY FOR THE STREET.
"Do you think" asked, American 4
women dress as well the women of S
'aris?" S
THAT depends. In one way they dress a
better. since they put more things, In I
another way they do not dress as well since, a
IN the street, at least, they seem over s
lressed. j must admit the effect Is very a
,retty and brilliant and their style of dress {
ng certainly seems TO suit them and their v
but to me, coming from Paris e
looks II they were all decked out for .
wedding mass, when they really Just !.
,oing about their ordinary business. You y
NOW French women would never think Of :.
wearing many coors on their gowns and !"
ats as Is common in New York and In |