Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1900-07-04
FASHIONABLE PARIS.
The French and Their Training
from Birth to Marriage.
Essence OF the system In Exclusion
Of Everything Contaminating
TO the Youthful Mind-Quick
Transformation.

perous class is uescrlDeu Win keen ap-
probation of its weaknesses from the
Anglo-Saxon point of view by Richard
Whiting. in Century.
THE training for trifles begins at
birth with the infant of fashion. II is
very much the business of his nurse to
see that light and air do not visit him
too roughly. His swaddling clothes
are a marvel of completeness as nom
conductors of the winds Of heaven. As
soon as he is old enough to understand
things, you see him toddling out with
his tutor, a grave e~cclesiastic, who
watches over him at work and play.
and puts the right notions into his
mind. The ties thus formed are never
wholly severed. The priests attend TO
all the goings out and comings in.
When ball is the game, he is there TO
see that his charge does not hurt him
self, nor hurt the ball. lie makes the
lad gravely polite. ard grounds him in
the secondary religion of the salute.
on the principle Of no game of shuttle
clock without a bow 10 your partner.
He ulso. of course, grounds him in The
humanities. Al this carly age the child
is not sent la school. lie is coached
at home by the priest, and taken once
or twice u week 10 what is called a
eour, an establishment where private
teaching Is tested 10y public cxamina-
tiog@ The cCur directs the studies.
and determines proGcsrry in them by
question and answer. Tutor and pupil
prepare as best they can in the inter-
val.
The essence of the system is the ex-
clusion Of everything from the boys
mind that ought not to lie there. So
is uHd,r the strictcst supervision
iilst to last, hcprilS; takes him
10 the coUr and %fotc,.;s him AWAY
again. When he gees 10 the lycce. or
public school. il Is much Tie sane. The
takes the place Of the priest. and
fetchts and carries. with due urGyi-
sion Of muller and umbrella for rainy
SO it goes CT uHtil the time Of
the great change, when, perhaps, the
youngstrr is sent TO Samur, the great
cavalry scl!col. Then, for the first
time, he has TO stand alcne. and father.
mother. nurse. valet and priest have to
say -oot-by. 1t is always an auxious
mcment-espocially so for the neo.
phyte.
THE bound from tutelage to the
very license Of liberty. moral and IN
teliectual. is n marked characteristic
Of The French system. Marriage makes
the trembling ninny Of n girl Il finished
woman OF the world. 4. first shave COW
veris the gUwliy seh0olboy into the
ape Ct Il bcUlevardier. vices ard all,
The transformation is as sudden rs
anything in eastern magic. He was q
boy after his time under the tUtelagc
lie becomes n man before his
time AT Saumur. and he generally gees
through a stage of puppyism which is
trial for his friends. This is he pc
riod Of his first duel. a thing done on
the sly. and revealed 10 his hcrrifcd
mother only after the scratch has
healed. BY and by there pay be Other
escapades of n more serious nature.
But the mother is still there TO find out
all about them almost before they hap
pen. and the watchful father is at hand
to see that they entail a minimum of
scandal.
AT this stage his people begin to
think of marrying him, and here again
all is provided for by the ever-watch.
full system. 1t is the mothers business
TO learn the whereabouts of ingenues
doubiy lowered with virtue and with
millions. The marriage is arranged
the term has a more than usually deep
significance in France-and the pair
have a chance Of living happily ever
after, il they know how to make the
best Of it. II is no bad chance. Though
the French marriage is not, in the first
instance, based on love, IL is supposed
never TO take place until liking. NJ
least. is assured. The rest f. expected
TO come as 4 matter of growth.
"The wife has been still mere care
fully brought up, in her way. Nothing
can exceed the more than Hindu sane
tity Of know-uothingism in which the
mind Of the young French girl is
shrouGed from birth. At the convent
she has had the wall between her and a
wicked world. Her whole art Of polite
conversation with a man is little more
than '0ui. monsieur. Non, monsieur
After a dance she must he safely and
swiftly deposited-a sort Of returned
empty-by her mothers side. and dur
ing that brief ilutter Of freedom il is
not good form TO take advantage OF
the absence of the parent bird. \ few
observations on the weather and the
picture galleries are considered to
mark the limit Of taste. 'Gyp' has as
sured us in many n cynic page that
the ingenue is not half such a simple
ton as she looks. But il must not be
forgotten that 'Gyp' has largely in
vented n type for her wi business
uses. The real article, while il is not
exactly a lamb in innocence, is still
happily " of most Of the evil
going on in the world. Here, as mill
tary life was the great change for the
boy. marriage is the greater change
for fba uir1 She masses nj opcp iufo n
sphere in which she is considered fair
game foranyallusionto anything with.
in the bounds of good breeding. Sh,
rises 10 her opportunity, or to Tho
stern duties Of her station. whichever
way ycu choose 10 put Il, and in a sur
prisingly short time ONE out as the
EnishnI mnmnn Of Tho world. Ilis h