Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-19
THRIFTY. PARlsIENNE
Her Study Of Looking Well and Eat
ing Well-Finances Of Francs In
Hands Of Woman.


From the London Telegraph
Paris. like London. has her foolish virgins
ard wives. who try to look as II their faith.
ers or husbands had I000o year when
they just have 1000. But there are cer-
tafniy fewer such IN Paris than in London.
IL you go into the liveliest sets. where
the ladies of a summers day are vaporous
apparftions of lace and tulle. for which you
suppose that heaven only knows how mon
sieur can pay the dressma ker's bill. you wifi
find that they had these dreams of soft
Stunts made up at home by a seamstpess. at
tenpence. or one franc an hour. on a model
bought from big firm-probably the only
dress Obtained from the firm this summer.
The Paris costumicr thrives on foreign GUS
tom Partisan ladies have one gown from
him per season. and have the others copied
from 1t at home. So much for the thrift
less wives OF Paris, For the others-that
Is. ninety-nine out of a hundred. the term
thrifty wife" Is pleonastic. Every wife IL
thrifty.
Thriftlessness is highly improper-like
smoking cigarettes in cafe. to give an
example. 1t may be becoming In a man.
when his wife Is not looking. to throw the
shillings, or, better. the sixpences, about.
But no French woman who respects her.
SELF Will do 1t She leaves that to the ladies'
who do not respect themselves. For that
matter, the latter generally are thriftless
only for the gallery. because they must
stelH 10 sheer AT Uftny Al home, In
private they are natural, indulge the in
born passion of thrift and save up yester-
days roast to make hash for lunch to-
day.
Women and Economy.
thriftless wife In France would be
looked upon as dangerously eccentric or
probably mad. A wife is by definition.
thrifty. in the F'renchman's view. The
poorer the husband the thrift.er the wife.
No people spend more money than some
Parisians. but even they do not spend 1t
wildly The smartest woman in Partisan
society has her dresses carefully mended.
when necessary, by a maid. and laughs at
actresses who refuse to wear dress twice.
In the bourgeoisie thriftiness and propriett
are the cardinal virtues. rss.
In the professional classes life is a per-
petual succession of miracles in making
sixpence go as far as a shilling. The ouv.
riers. on their part. and their wives. succeed
by economical and sensible management in
living about twice well as English work.
men and workwomen. who often. at all
events in all ranks of unskiled labor draw
about third more wages
1t would at the same time, be the great
est mistake for the thriftless wife to set
down the thrifty French woman q trump
and dowdy hauSfrau with her mind In
her pots and pans. On the contrary, 1t is
a rule suffering not a single exception that
the French woman's first care In life Is her
own appearance. Every one in the country
right and proper. monsieur first of ALL Din
ner comes next-but 1T does come next. The
French woman's ingenuity is therefore con-
centrated on these two ends of existence
to look well and to eat well. The rest will
take care of itself.
Needless to say. the preliminary step OF
securing the pursestrings has been taken,
as matter of course a week after mar
rage. Not one Frenchman out of one mil
lion resists. Among the wealthy monsieur
has his allowance. Among the fairly
we'll eff he keeps back cash for his three
evenings week at the cafe, for the res
taurant dinner and theater outing once or
twice q week. and for his tailor. Among
the working classes he endeavors, not al
ways successfully, to withhold five francs
on Saturday evenings.
But in all classes without exception he
hands the bulk of the household money
over to the "missus'' to Madame la Mar
quise. He would not dream of attempting
to do otherwise, nor would a single French
woman stand his attempting 1t for one
hour For that matter. she generally has
bit of her own, be she ouyriere or Fau-
bourg st. Germafn great lady. 1t Is an alb
solute fact that the finances of France ara
in the hands of the women of France
Intensely Practical.
They worthy of the trust They de-
vote their acute brains. unima ginative IL
you will, but possessing sheer genius for
the practical life. to the two ends of exist
SiiSc >tiitauS Spohtii w. ity Will Spen0
hours of time and incalcuiable energy and
intelligence on looking well. Nor Is It
merely looking we'll, but being really wen
dressed. a French woman will rather stay
in bed than go out with an undarned hole
IN garment, however impossible it may be
for the outer world ever to see the blemish.
! 1t would be there and she must feel as
well as seem, perfectly dressed. II the
great lady goes over all her 'oilet minutely
the little bourgeoise who has to manage
~ Inn han ND tuyl ~ti Ir-1,,
year does just the same. and the Partisan
workwoman as much as she. The merest
mldlnette Is parago OF neatneSS. and IL
is her pride that were she ever to be ran
over, of which there are. always marry
chances in the streets of Paris. and taken
to hospital to have a broken leg set not
an undarned hole would be found in petit
coat or stocking. ~
dress freshened up into a summer one by
some mysterious transformations in har-
mony with fashion. and madame being nm
ally satisfied that she looks we then but
then only. comes mousieur's dinner. He
would never dream of asking for II, OF
course. while she is occupied with the maid
If they have one-or with her own needle
and thread in humber households But the
secret of monseur's dinner. of course Is
that Ii is madame $ also-that is to say
that she enjoys it just as much as he.
Every single article OF food, except fruit
and vegetables, being much dearer in Paris
economic reasons. the dinner I'm question
must always remain a mystery to those un.
familiar with the arcana of cookery But
the facts are there Some facts are con-
spicuouS by their absence, such as cold
meat. 1t is true that Paris meat is usually
uneatably cold, so ii must be done up; but
how 1t IS done up!
Observe how the thrifty French lady
has a luncheon served of a juicy ymelette
unknown in England-where che thing
called omelet is springy, thick and dry
four ounces of mutton haShed in some sea
cret way which makes you cat II, lIipuI
tan eotelette per person. with souffie pota-
toes-the cookery of which Is apparently
elementary If not instructive, with French
women. while must go to first-class ho-
tel chefs to get thenl-a cake from the pas
try cooks round the corner to follow, then
Camemhert just rip. to turn and straw.
berries-but these must not be boosted
about, for they are always better in Lon
don WHITTIER, o" course, the best are sent
from Brittany To cap it all comes the
cnFen- generally Hndrinlt a bic In Paris cafes.
a IVA S undr- 1kapie in London ca fes ualIaiiv
perfect In r'arfs houses where the thrifty
vie hes looked after Ii. =