The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-20
ON YQg[L[ET1[D[5 @[E[G[E[RO91lTY
Bah Has Something Child and Toy
An Economic pea Through

4
| receive it as a gift on Christmas morn
| ing. AS you open it, here is the picture
/ Of Louis XIV. when he was young and
| handsome; turn over a page or two and
there is an elaborate lace frock that
| fitted him closely and suggests swaddling
clothes; here he is in the arms of his
| nurse, and at this time all France was
| thanking God for his birth.
| Later on there's another picture; it is
when he was dressed as the Sun King
Dressed in his magnificent suit, hand
some as only a superb young man can be,
glittering with jewels, he danced in the
| ballet called La Mutt" danced So well
| that he gained not only the applause of
all the court, but the heart of Louise de
| la Valliere.
There is picture Of her as Diana,
| and of that naughty beauty Montespan
as Iris Then, too there is picture
Of Louis the warrior dressed In armor,
ready for the battle Oh, the book Is full
| of pictures! There is one of Anne Of
Austria and her children, one of n lady
of the day as she sat at her toilet table,
one of the fashionable ball. and no end
of clever caricatures, those caricaJures
that fioated around Paris and which the
police seized with anger. Way in. the
back of the book is picture of De Main
tenon. dignied and stern.looking, and
having the school of St Cyr as her back
ground. No fancy costume for the wo-
wan who ruled the King and the State
no frivolity for the woman who forcsaw
and dreaded what came TO France. No,
her brain was SO much stronger than
that of the average woman that even
in her picture she could not pose rs they
did. The name of it? | like to tell the
name of this book because it is translated
and that really means that it is almost
written by woman.
A VALUABLE BOOK.
It's worth while saving your money to
get i'll am beginning to accumulate
the pennies in a little tin box-then when
You have a sufficient number of ducats
ask for France Under Louis NV" by
Emile Bourgeois. and translated by Mrs.
Cashel Hoey. One thing this book will
do for you--it win knock out of your
head as it has out of the heads of d
good many people, the idea that because
men were stately in those days, and wore
stiff wigs, there was not a merry life
and much enjoyment.
There is one illustration that convinces
me that those days were not as comfort
able as our own. The picture is one of
bedroom--the room is absolutely bare
save for few stately chairs and mag
nificent pictures; the bed is huge and
funeral looking, and the general sensa-
ton of whoever slept in that room must
have been that the cold, cold tomb had
been offered for a nights repose,
We may be less dignifed nowadays-1e
are. We may have worse manners now
| adays we have. Our men may dress
uglier nowadays-they do. Our women
may he less beautiful doubt this.
A GREWSOME TAPESTRY.
| But one thing l am sure of, and that
/ is that the average bedroom of to-day
with its brass bedstead daintily draped ,
| its comfortable lounge, its pretty toilet
table, its easy chairs, its even warmth
and the hundred and one odd things that
go to make it desirable, is far and away
ahead of the stately bedchamber in which
any thing feminine must have felt frigh-
tened out of its wits. and had dreams
that were CHASTITY. DO yon remember
that the first night that Marie Antoin-
cite slept in France her room was hung
with tapestry representing the 'Massa-
| ere OF the Innocents?" That shows
how much thought was given to the sur
roundings where one slept
| 1t would be a good thing il we had the
manners of the old time--we might with
advantage copy the virtues of the past,
but do not let any of us be deluded into
bringing into fashion the frightfully bare
bedroom in which unfortunate Queens
and eqaully unfortunate ladies of the
nobility had to sleep. If that had been
my fate, | should have stayed up all
night and slept in a chair. Nothing
would have gotten me into one of those
awful beds, big enough to conceal two
or three assassins and cold enough look
ing to freeze an Eskimo, unless / had
been promised that the whole court would
sit around me and cheer me up. Those
beds invited murder. I imagine that
anybody sleeping in one wanted to kill
somebody to get little heated up.
Really and truly, there are inanimate
things that invite crime. There was
woman the other night at the theater
who wore hat-but that's another
story.
There are some Of the most delightful
little French calendars-just the right size
for ones purse or cardcase, exhibited this
Christmas. Ii you feel tempted to give
anybody Christmas card, send one of
these instead. One year, / had one.
and while | possessed it / always dated
my letters correctly, and kept my engage
ments. This year, il / don't get one /
shall buy one. You see, / am hoping
that one will be put in my stocking,
with some other things. | want a lot OF
books and Noah's Ark;I want a woolly
dog, and new brooch; want a bonnet
brush and bottle of mucilage; want
lot OF sweets and new purse I want
bunch Of violets, and well, want SO
many things that / shall take great
pleasure in looking at them in the shop
windows. l have learned the delight
OF admiring without possessng-take my
advice and learn the same lesson. for
then you can have everything in the
world that you can long for, and nobody
will go into debt to get it for you Have
courage enough not to want gift that
costs the giyer his honesty. Such a one
would never be accepted, even il it were
addressed to Bah
\ CHRISTMAS CAROL.