OUR PARIS LETTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1592, 24 June 1887, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(from OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENT.)

Paris, March 31.

Lent has by no means put a stop to the entertainments of the pooiety .set m Parte, but the inventive powers of the host and hoste.is are taxed to create something new, as well as appropriate to the season A novel idea is that of Lenten dinner parties. Wednesdays and Fridays are decided on as the days on which these festivities aro to take place. AW the talents of the cook are exhausted to prepare the most delicious sances for the varieties of fish that replace tho dishes of meat Flowers are equally forbidden, their places being taken by great baskets ot rare and many colored foliage, or by groups of growing plants. It is also considered appropriate at "dessert to serve fruits upon the tree or vine. Thus an orange tree or a dwarf apple tree, covered with fruit and planted m a pot of fine old Dresden or £ eyres ware, is carried m for the guests to help themselves. Sometimes the pot of common clay Ib hidden by a superb covering m embroidered plush or velvet, with the monogram of tho hoßteae worked upon one side.

Speaking of monograms, a veiy gorgeous but rather unpractical innovation for marking tabl9 linen is to have the owner's monogram or coat-of-arms embroidered on the table cloths aud napkins m gold thread, lf the gold is genuine, and not too much alloyed, tha embroidery is said to stand cleaning very well. The prettiest novelty of the spring season m tho way of a fan is m white lace, mounted upon motber-of- pearl sticks. The lace leat is dotted all over with minuto roße colore 1 metal spangles, that exuetly match m colour the pink shade of the rainbow reflections of the mother of-pearl.

The spring stylea have, however, a hard timo to manifest themselves this season owing to the bad weather, and the continued cold. Ooßtnmes m velvet trimmed with fur continue ,to form the faibl.nab'e visiting toilets for the Parislon ladles, and the earliest of the new. bonneta are largely composed of velvet w>th flowers of the same material.

A marked peculiarity of the preaeut style of ladiea toilettes is the almost total absence of jewellery except m full dren, Tp'.kiag about jewellery reminds me of the curious anecdote told by M. Germain Bipst at the last lecture given In the hall of the Union Centrale deß Arts Ee*:oratifu. In a review of thehlstory of French goldsmith's work he dispelled one of the illusions which have been handed down to us for generations; In the gallerie d'Apollon, at the Louvre, Is an artlole known aa Charlemagne's Boeptre. Th's according to M. Bapst, Ib simply a precentor's wand. On the oco lon of hia oorooiMon, Napoleon I manifested a wish to hold the ec?p're wielded by the ancient Emperor of tne West. Orders were given that tha red volvct whioh covered tha baton aLould be changed. Judge of tho surprise of the jeweller to whom thia work was entrusted when he discovered on the face of the metal laid hare the following inscription -.-"This baton belongs to me, X ■ precentor at Notre Dame, 1280." He immediately communicated with Ducroo, Gr^nd Marahal at the Palace. "We must inform hia M jeety of the fact," said the bewi'df red tradesman. "Ba aute that you dot't," replied Ducroc. «« Cover up tha baton with velvet as qu'ckly as poseible,and say nothingabcut it to any body; wltJs absolutely necessary that the Emperor should die. with tbe conviction tbat he held the sceptre of Charlemagne whilst bting orowned," M. BapU holds that the numerous swords and orownß with whioh the name of Charlemague is aßßoc'ated are no more guenulue than tho famous soeptre or baton. Bat who, one may ask, was "X?" The DapUtles are already precccupied with the comirg election of the Budget Cjmmittep, which is one of the g-eat Parliamentary events of tho year, as aU financial questions are referred to that body, ant almost every Bill Involves an expenditure of money m some form or other. For some yeara^past the Republican majority has excluded absolutely the membera of the Right from the Committee, but that system of ostracism hai Its inconveniences, for as the finances have gone from bad to worse tbe members of the Right have been able to say tbat the Republicans were alone rerponslble for the increasing deficits and repeated borrowing, as they bad monopolised all^the means of control over the expenditure. Tbe majority have apparently been sensible to that reproach, and to leave to the Right a share of that responsibility, propoie to give them cix Beats m the Committee of thtriy-three; The Right, however, who form more tban a third of the Chamber, demaud to be represented ln the same proportion, and will be eatiefied with nothing lesc.

The Senate, after a long debate, adopted the other dny the first clause of the Government Bill for increasing the duty on coreals by 186 votes to 86. Tho Bill j was subsequently adopted m its entirety. Tho « Observer " speaking of this new protective duty on corn m France, says ■> that it will, of course; slightly raise the price of bread to French workmen As bread is a much more important article of diet m France than m Figland, one would expect that the tax would be extremely unpopular. Yet it is not so. The repre - sentatives of the people apparently are not m the, least afraid of the effect of their protective policy on public opinion, indeed, the only result of the bread tax m France seems to be a recontinuation of the agitation against foreign workmen m Paris. M. Crowe, the Commercial Attachd to the Britißh Embassy, drawin to tbis agitation, says that the position of foreign workmen m France will henceforth become unenviable, which is just what might have been expected. lf, as a consumer, the Fiench artisan has to buy his bread m a dear protected market, he may fairly enough object, as a producer, to sell his labour m a market cheapened by open foreign competition. Democratic Franco may be quite willing to accept protectiop so loDg a** it extends its a>gis over labour as well as capital. In other' words, tbp new bread tax would seem to I logically involve tho expulsion of foreign artisans from France.

M. Derelle, Minister of Agriculture, Btated the other day, m the course of |an interview wi h M Pichor, Deputy for the Seine, that he had discussed with M. Gob'et the quoetion of betting' at race meetings, and that ho had submitted proposals which would be reduced to writing and discussed at the Council of Ministers. These proposals were framed to regulate mutual bets, under conditions which would reconcile the habits of the publio which frequents racecourses with the interests of the societies for encouraging the breading of horses. Now that it ia clearly seen tbat tbe suppression of betting \i ill lead to the loss of an immense revenue, there is a reasonable hope of the queetJon being settled to the satisfaction of race-goers and the Pai Is public generally .