The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-16

Piazzas.
 In a delightful letter from Msr E. G. Stephens, who Is now in Paris, she gives some random notes of her travels.
 q spent ten days in Hamburg" she writes, ethat beautiful city with a river in It's centre and coffee houses where people drink everything but coffee. But one always has to wear a coat there on summer evenings and We think of the stay-at-homes with pity. The night I arrived my friends whom I visited were giving dinner party The guests in- cluded Germans, Russians and Ameri- cans. A German dinner Is a feast in- deed.
 "I have been for stay at a lovely watering place on the Baltic sea. The water Is clearer and saltier than any l have ever seen. The beach presents such a picture. every family building them d fortress. In other words they dig up the sand many feet high. stick in flags and that makes 1t their property. h. side these great rings of sand they have straw basket for protection In wet and very sunny weather. You see this ar ray of many colored flags and the bas- kets varied un color. The beach looks very gay as If some great toy fair was in progress But you should see these German women in red calico bathing suits made like a chld's night gown. They wrap themselves in a Turkish towel and go to the water in this garb. The maid meets them az they come out.
 "The air Is lovely this beach by the Baltic. We played tennis a great deal, beginning our games about o'clock In the evening and then having time for three or four games before dark. There was a fine orchestra of forty pieces that played so delightfully."- while every one promenaded. There one takes breakfast out under the beautiful trees and the other meals in a pavilion with only a cover, the sides being open. The women you see dress beautifully and change their costume three or four times day. The American woman whose wardrobe is not so extensive particularly in the number of hats, may go Ameri- can style-that is bareheaded. think if the stars and stripes had not been so plainly marked on me, they would have thought me an escaped lunatic. From here I went to the Tourraine coun- try where l took the automobile trip which goes through such lovely sec tion, visiting the old chateaus made fa- nous by being the court centre of the French kings. but more lately brought to our minds by Walter Randolph. The chateaus are unfurnished and to go through room after room and have them tell you the bed of Catherine de Medi- chi stood in that spot Is not so inter esting. Pretty Chenoneauy, owned by an American, Is a little gem sitting out over the river and a beautiful garden.
 Here I am in Paris. There is cer- tainly no place in all the world to equal it. Just to breathe the bright sunshine and stroll about the boulevards is quite enough. The tinke of the horse bells on the cabs is music. Paris is teem- ing with people. Such life. such clothes! The women are swathed in hand-embroi dered dresses from head to toe and their hats kick up in such a way that each one seems to vie with the other in saucness. It Is quite the fad here to ten o'clock" as they call 1t, Then the tea places are filled and there are hun dreds of them. Some of the more fash ionable are out in the Bois where a drive of thirty minutes takes you. One afternoon it rained and we had tea in the rotunda of the Elysen Palace hotel. The Shah of Persia and his suite were there and the dark men with heavy mus taches and fezes were very much in ev- idence. few hours in the picture gal leries has been the extent of my sight seeing. I am more on pleasure bent
 Mrs. Stephens after a visit to Scot land is going for short stay in Lon don and she expects to sail the latter part of August. She will probably ar rive in Birmingham about the middle of September. She is cutting short her stay abroad because of her new house which is almost ready for occupancy. It it very artistic and It's interior will no doubt be an interesting one, here and there frightened with the little foreign ideas that one expects from a woman who has travelled abroad as much as Mrs. Stephens. A. K. w.