The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-23
Who Will Play "Chantecleer,"
 Ln Rostand's New Drama

nique remains as finished and brilliant as ever. Chanticleer's ode of the praise to the sun Is said to be one of the most finely worked and most gilt tering pieces which even Rostand has written.
 Middle Class Wrath.
 Tn the matter of extravagance and generally and ever-increasing luxury among wealthy and middle classes, Pa ris is in advance of Berlin. Paris practices the art of refinement in sim plicity, and there Is no more costly art. The extravagance of an up-to- date Parisian dinner no longer lies in the number of it's courses for the va riety of the wines, but rather in the exquisite refinement of It's surround ings. The dinner itself is short, never longer than forty-five minutes to an hour. There are three or four courses at the most and never more than two or three kinds of wine. Indeed 1t is now the fashion to drink mineral wa ters more than wines. But on the ta- ble is a light and delicate display of the rarest flowers, for the setting and supply of which the florist charges from $l0 to $25 a day.
 No heavy silver-war is on the table only the most exquisitely chased and carved Louise Seize silver of the light est kind but of great beauty Table cloths with real Venetian or other real lace insertions, costing from $IO0 to $50 are now common in the houses of the well-to-do middle classes. Ordi- nary small napkins for tea are exhib- ited in the best Paris shops at $50 and more a dozen.
 Wearing Jewelry.
 One of the most striking signs of the luxury of the age in Paris is the fashion in Jewelry. As 1t has become bad form" to wear many rings, and worse still to wear on the same hand stones of variegated colors, it is the custom for those women who can afford 1t to wear one or at most two rings at a time. But these rings contain either diamonds or other precious stones worth thousands of dollars. The wealthy woman will now display single diamond ring of the utmost pur- ity and brilliance. and leave the we'll to-do tradesmans wife to adorn each of her fingers with rings of different colored precious stones.
 The revolution that has recently taken place in women's attire has ne- cessitated a complete change in the out ht of every follower of fashion. A lady recently paid $500 to her dressmaker for one of the newest gowns. and spent an additional $350 in lingerie. hosiery, and boots to enable her to wear the new dress. The "Richelieu" boots which women now wear to match the rest of their attire are frequently made with real pearl and real gold well as silver gilt buckles. On a pair of such shoes the buckles alone cost s75
 There has been vast increase in the number of expensive tearooms. Hundreds of women in Paris daily spend from g to $2.50 on afternoon tea. The same tendency towards ex- travagance has spread to every class of French society.
 M. Labiche bought a little pieceNpf land in 1903 from the city. On the llN, tie piece of land was a little brick wall. This wall was useless to NJ and he wanted 1t pulled down.
 By all means" said the executive l council of the Paris parish from which he had bought the land by all means pull the wall down, %l
 Yes but at your expense" said 1 NJ. 1.abiehe. "I bought the land; l | didn't buy the wall"
 We sold you what we had" replied the council. and the matter went be- fore the court.
 After three years of legal argument the court decided that the parish must pull down half the wall and NJ. La pealed, and last week the court after | three days deliberation, came to a de- | cision. The decision was that an ex- pert should be called in. When he | ias handed in his verdict. the court will | lecide. and then both parties may ap- | leal again. The little piece of land | was sold originally for sl4.97. The | ,arish has paid SI,S00 into court up to | late, and NJ. Labiche $1,s20.