The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-20
FRENCH H0ME IS MARKED BY
 THRIFT
Parents Real Rulers of Household and Courtships Take Place Under Close Supervision of Elders.


 Washington, Nov. 20.-"France no doubt has it's weaknesses. The i'm morality of women, however, III that great country has been shamefully ex- aggerated."
 Such is the preface to a bulletin of the National Geographic Society, deal ing with the home life of France, a subject of particular interest, because of the varying impressions of that land brought back by returning sol diers.
 Because, before the war, the for eigners seeking sin found it on cer- tain Paris boulevards, they considered that this frank sexual advertising was chara acteristic of France, whereas the average French girl is as zealously shielded from temptation as was ever the daughter of the Pilgrim father. But to love intensely and passionately is the French girls hope and desire; and why should it not be?" says the bulletin, which is based on a com munication from Carl Holiday.
 'The French have long been q shrewd, calculating people, who have watched closely every soul" They may seem romantic to foreigners; their passionate protestations of love may seem too frank to us of Puritan descent: but not only in financial af- fairs, but even in their pleasures, they infinitely calculate all items.
 Women Are Efficient.
 Probably there is not in the world the equal of the French housewife in economy and efficiency. Before tho war wages were astonishingly low in France, and there must have been continual squeezing of each franc; but, thanks to the ability of the French wife, who could tell from out side evidence that there was unusual stinting in the average home?
 ITO see a French woman bargain at the market is to learn much in economics, mathematics and ora tory. She simply refuses to pay the first price quoted; her genius for get ting what you can is admirable.
 with such women, is it any mar vel that the French home is so ad- mirably united? The family is the primal social fact in France, and the parents are the fundamental fact without the organism (the family) could never have come into being Hence there is a reverence for pa rents equaled probably only by the ancestral worship of China. Indeed, it is very doubtful whether the love ~ between husband and wife equals that existing between parent and child.
 There is constant consuIta ton with parents and relatives by sons and daughters of advanced years-a form of consultation scarcely ever heard of in an American family.
 ''If Frenchman of thirty or thirty-five proposes changing his pro fession he may consult not only his father and his mother, but the entire family group; the proposed marriage of a daughter or a son is often an oc- casion for council of the entire clan, including distant relatives that in America would hardly be included in our family tree.
 The world has been fond of point ing out that the French language has no word for thome.' It has a word possibly even more tender. What a meaning is in the sound of 'foyer'I It includes the concept of hearthstone and much more. It brings to the French mind and heart ali the ideals activities, and dreams of close, in ner circle where obedience is a joy respect a willing observance, and love an ever-present radiance.
 ''The foyer is not for the outside world; only behind the locked doors does it really live and flourish. The father may deal with the outside world of business, but here in the foyer the mother generally rules su- preme, and her influence is every where seen in 1t.
 ''Is it any wonder that when one parent dies the other is immediately taken into the home of the mar: q son or daughter, there to rule as a sort of benevolent, enlightened des- pot?
 Perhaps some youthful American has already asked, How can there be any courtship in so private a hom , where everybody within the charmed circle is consulted about all the af- fairs connected with that circle?' Courtships are Supervised.
 "As a preparatory step toward such a haa11fif111 hnrrnn lifa rrrn11 la;