The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-04-19
PARIS M|D-L[NT
FETE IS SUCCESS
Parade of Districts Each Headed
by Its Queen Is Fea-
ture of Affair
By La VoyaGeuse

BY La VOyaGeuse
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF TIE CALL.
! PARIS. April ALTHOUGH the
weather was cold and the sky overcast.
| the mid Lent festival was celebrated
with more animation than usual Every
| place Of business almost was closed at
noon and enormous light hearted
crowds gathered on the boulevards TO
witness the mi careme procession,
which, by the way. was more than
mile In length.
| One Of the features of the procession
this year was number of floats repre-
senting the different districts OF
! France. For instance, that represent
! ing the champagne country was deco
rated with vines, make believe wine
presses and all that is characteristic
/ of wine making, while the band OF
musicians that accompanied each float
was. in this instance. costumed to
represent champagne bottles.
! The parade was distinctly a popular
affair and a holiday expression of the
masses. Presided over by the queen
Of queens" in a huge. magnificently
decorated car. preceded by horsemen
| carrying banners and emblems and
followed by similarly decorated cars,
in which was seated a queen for
leach province, attended by maids or
| honor in picturesque costumes. Ian
daus with important looking persons of
| florid aspect who were represented as
the big bugs of the market" 1t pro-
| ceeded to the residence Of President
| Fallieres, who presented the queen OF
queens" with a gold bracelet AMIDST
the greatest enthusiasm. All the queens.
| 1t may be observed. were elected by
vote from the artisan classes Many
| were queens of the markets, large
| and small.
KNEE DEEP IN CONFETTI
| The confetti merchants did a thriv-
| ing business and the streets and side
| walks were. seemingly, knee deep with
the little .cutup pieces Of paper of all
| colors. In fact 1t was often difficult
| to distinguish the color of suit or
dress, so completely was 1t covered
with confetti. There are two score
laughs and a bunch OF giggles in 10
cent package of cutup colored paper.
] Some one tried the substitution OF
cancelled postage stamps for confetti.
| 1t was the cause of a grand scramble
| among the crowd, for the old stamps
were thrown from balconies by the
| thousands.
| The gayeties Of Mardi Gras at Nice
| were easily surpassed and in the even
| ing one could scarcely move along the
boulevards, while 1t was almost i'm
possible to And a seat In the restau-
rants. The center OF the greatest &C
| tivity and jollity was, as usual. in front
of the Cafe de la Paix. THE money
was francs. but the accent was largely
American" as one of the Paris news
| papers described the situation next day.
| There was Spanish group around one
| of the tables and some turbaned heads
protruded from an upper window, while
some of the walters spoke French. but
| for the rest of 1t, 1t was San Francisco,
Los Angeles. New York, Chicago. Bos-
| ton, Philadelphia and St. Louis.
The spring influx has set in and
most of the Americans In the center of
| the confetti cyclone were those who
| had arrived since MaTdi Gras. The
| heart of the carnival at this place of
| unrestraint was an American girl in
| black who wore q fur cap that just
matched the color of her hair and
| whose gown was the latest thing In
| the tailored article. From her dash
| and good looks she might easily have
been one of our California girls She
| was unable to keep her lips closed for
| laughter. This inability was quickly
| noted by the maddest of the jewellers,
| French, American, Spanish or what not,
| and her penalty was that she dined on
| confetti, and having dined well enough
at last fed the place on the arm of
| her escort.
LAUGH AT PETTICOAT POCKETS
Rich and poor, high and low, every
| French woman in France has pocket
in her petticoat. Americans find much
amusement at the ridiculous figure
many Frenchwomen present when lift
| ing their skirts for the purpose Of
gaining access to these pockets, diving
! through a variety OF petticoats that
range In style from the old fashioned
wadded affairs through the striped
cotton kind to silk.
| An effort is being made to revive the
reticule. popular from 1896 to 1880, and
| of which the present leather hand bags
and gold and silver mesh bags, more or
less large, are the outgrowth. They
will probably appeal to the ultra smart
| woman. but there are hundreds and
hundreds Of women who would prefer
| to lose anything rather than their pet
ticoat pockets. Many of the new reti-
cules are beautiful. made of silk, en-
broidered in spangles. trimmed with
lace. They are made very long and
suspended on the arm by broad rib
bons. Most exquisite are those of bro
caded stuff.
The lovely, printed materials are
| much used this spring for dresses,
cloaks and scarfs. 1t is SO long since
these have been popular one wonders
why, seeing the charming effects re-
vived in cotton and wool. A stylish
| dress I saw recently was of the old
| fashionable delaine-that lovely soft
| wooden stuff so long out of use-in
sort of hazy gray, with black and white
| stripes, tiny wreaths of roses appear
| ing at intervals. 1t was made In ex-
treme directoire style, with touches of
black velvet and pale pink ribbon. A