The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-06
THRIFTY PARTISAN WIFE.
HOW SHE MANAGES HER HOUSE,
HOLD EXPENSES.
Her study Of Looking Well aud Eating
Weli-FinanCcs Of France in Hands
q the woman-Simplo Tricks OF
Cookery All French Women Know.

W0l-fl0nnCcU " rrAhco Ht ss%-assA
q tho woman-simpie Tricks oi
Cookery All French Women Know
Paris, like London. has her foolish viz
gins and wives, who try to look az II their
fathers or husbands had ten thousand q
year when they just have ten hundred.
But there are certainly fewer such in Paris
than In London.
II you 60 into the liveliest sets, where
the ladies' OF q summers day are vapor-
Gus apperitions Of lace and tulle. for which
you suppose that heaven only knows how
monsieur can pay the dressmaker's bill.
you will find, writes Paris correspondent
ofthe London Telegraph. that they had these
dreams Of soft stuffs made up at homo
by q seamstress, at tenpenoe. or one franc
an hour, on q model bought from q big
frm-probably the only dress obtained
from tho firm this summer. The Paris
costumier thrives on foreign custom.
Partisan ladies have one gown from him
psr season, and have the others copied
from Il at home. So much for the thrift
less wives OF Paris! For the others-that
Is, nirety-nine out Of hundred. the term
thrifty WIFE is pleonastic. Every wife ID
thrifty.
Thriftlessness Is highly improper-lils
smoking cigarettes in a cafe. to give an
example. It may be becoming in q man,
whom his wife is not looking, to throw
tho shillings, or. better, the sixpenoes.
about. But no French woman who re-
spects herself will do it. She leaves that
to the ladies who do not respect them
selves. For that matter, the latter gener-
ally arc thriftless only for the gallery b.
cause they must seem to sheer at filthy
lucre. At home, in private, they arc
natural, indulge the Unborn passion OF
thrift, and save up yesterdays roast to
make hash for lunch to-day.
A thriftless wife in France would b
looked upon as dangerously eccentric or
probably mad. A wife is by definition
thrifty, In tho Frenchman's view. Tho
poorer the husband tho thriftier the wifss
No people spend more money than some
Psrisians, but even they do not spend 1t
wildly. The smArtest woman In Partisan
socisty has her dresses carefully mended,
whom necessary, by maid, and laughs at
actresses who refuse to wear dress twioe.
In the bourgeoisie thriftiness and pro-
pristy arc the cardinal virtues.
In the professional classes life u per-
pstual succession Of miracles In making
stxpence 60 as far as a shilling. Tho
ouvriers, on their part, and their wives,
succeed by economical and sensible man
augment In living about twice "a well a.
hgiish workmen and workwomen, who
Oeten, at all events In all ranks OF unekilled
labor. draw about q third more wages.
Il would, 1t the same time, 30 the greatest
mjstake for the thriftless wife to set down
the thrifty French woman ~ q trump and
Q dowdy hausfrau with her, mind In her
pots and pans. On the contrary, It u .
rule suffering not single exception that
the French womans first care IL life u her
own appearance. Every one IN the ccun-
tIy recognizes that. and Acknowledges It to
be right and proper, monsieur nrst OF ali.
Dinner comes neIt-but It does come next.
Tho French womans ingenuity d there
fore concentrated on these two ends Of
eristence-to look well and TO eat well.
Tho rest viii take caro- OF itself.
Needless to say, the preliminary step
of securing the pursestrfngs has been
taken, as q matter Of course, q week after
marriage. Not one Frenohman out Of ono
million resists. Among the wealthy, mon
eieur has his allowance. Among the fairly
we'll of, he keeps back cash for his three
evenings a week at the cafe, for the restau-
rant dinner and theater outing once or
twice a week, and for his tailor. Among
the working classes. he endNavors not al
ways successfully, to withhold five franos
On Saturday evenings.
But In all classes, without exception, he