OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 131, 5 June 1928, Page 15

OUR PARIS LETTER

<» THE GAY CITY REPLY TO AMERICA (From "The Post's" Representative.) PABIS, 28l!t MnreJi. America, it seems, lias been blaming Paris for an increase of pulmonary ills among its womenkind. Paris imposes light flimsy dresses, American women bow to Paris, and therefore catch colds rind become weak-lunged, with the result that t!io death rate from pulmonary diseases has increased considerably since 1915. Such is the indictment of •two eminent American -doctors. Paris, however, has quickly returned the atlack. The head of. one well-known fashion house laughed at the idea. He maintains that American ■women were wearing flimsy dresses long before 1915 and that, therefore, it is quite evident that the death-rate has nothing to do with the matter. "With regard to a special condemnation of short skirts, it is pointed out that ho would bo a strange anatomist who would claim that an inch or two. oft' the skirt near the knee could affect the fair wearer's lungs. With regard to Jong-cut corsages, well, Paris never said 'they should be worn in the street. If some women choose to court premature burial by so wearing them, Paris at all events cannot be blamed lor 7 that. A TWIN CITY WITH PARIS. From, all that ono reads in French newspapers and periodicals at. the present moment of the impressions of good Parisians abroad, one gathers that the inhabitants of the Gay City aro greater travellers than once they were. Ono of the most recent of French globe trotters, is M. Fortunat Strowski, of theInstitute do France, who is contributing to "La, Benaissanco Politique, Litlorairo ct Artistique," his impressions of Now York. As a result of his stay in America, M. Strowski has come to the conclusion that Paris and Now York aro really twin cities, inseparably bound the one to the other. Paris and New York, lie says, are' the two capitals of what ho ingeniously calls Euramerique, and on tho immense civilisation represented by this' synthetic word, tho two cities exercise an influence- much greater than London or Berlin. It is in Paris, he says, that fame, genius, and tho chef d'oeuvrc are born. Paris inspires the culture of the world. On tho other hand, New York buys the great pictures, pays the price for the perfect thing, is the gato of a vast continent of energy and enterprise. In a word or two, Paris produces the genius, New York rewards it. You cannot conceive of one without the other. ZOLA'S LETTERS. ! Whatever matter,. calculated to wound the- feelings of a few literary people, or the descendants of a number who are no more, may be contaiucd'in the famous "Diary" of the brothors Jules and Edmond do Goncourt, tho work has given rise to much conjecture ever since it was consigned, under seal, to the National Library. Curiosity is whetted all tho more now that the heirs of Emile Zola, following, the authorisation accorded by M. Raymond Poincare and M. Edouard Iloriot, have examined the letters written by the author of the Itougon-Macquart to tho two brothers. There aro SS missives, and a few other documents written between 18(55 and 1896, and it if said that not one of them is defamatory. They arc alleged to be, on tho contrary, friendly in tone and purely literary, and it is thought that they will: form a very interesting contribution to'the history of those days. It is not surprising, therefore, that the descendants of other writers whoso correspondence is included in the "Diary" are about to claim privileges similar to that granted to tho Zola family. POETRY OF FLIRTING. Regret is being expressed by a number of writers at the French Academy's decision to exclude the old French word "inugueter" from the revised dictionary to'tho advantage of the adopted English equivalent "to flirt." It is argued that the term, in addition to its claim of being purely French, can boast a sweeter and more poetic flavour than its rival, for, say its champions, "mugueter" (papillonner autour dcs femmes) a flowering if rhetorical figure,'significes also gallantry and sweet words. It is admitted, however, that the word is not used much nowadays, and there is no doubt the Academicians who favoured its deletion were guided by that fact. The word occurs in one or two works of modern writers, but "flirter" appears to have obtained a firm footing in the language and it remains to be seen whether, as is proposed, an effort to' oust it by repopularising "inugueter" will succeed. 31,000 FRANC SNEEZE. That a sneeze should cause damage to the amount of 31,700 francs 9 centimes, suggests a fairy story with a Jack-the-Giant-Killer with a cold as the "sneezer." Yet that amount was yesterday awarded M. Henry Bernstein, the dramatist, by a Paris Court in the action which brought against the architects and contractors, who failed to build for him—as they had undertaken to ,j o — a sound-proof room wherein he might work undisturbed. The author of "Le Vonin," it appears, cannot work unless in absolute stillness. And when seated in his sound-proof room he heard the sneeze in another room, his feelings may be imagined. M. Bernstein, who refused to pay the bill for the room, was making a counter-claim for 108,000 francs damages, but the Court awarded a smaller amount as above stated. BEAUTY IN DISTRESS. There was a little crowd assembled the other day round a very small motorcar which stood in the Boulevard Haussmann stubbornly refusing to go forward' or backward. In the car was a young woman, beautifully dressed, whose not uncomely'features had been embellished with an, art that was evident. She was much perturbed and feverishly pulled lovers and pressed pedals without causing any sign of movement in the refractory little motor-car. Finally, she pressed her hands to her head and declared distractedly that her nerve had failed her and that she could drive no more. Then a gallant young man came to tho rescue, jumped into tho car and drove the distressed female' away. Someone in the crowd quietly remarked with a strange smile, "I saw tho same thing happen to that jeune dame in front of tho Bourse, only the other day." Motor-cars in the Gay City are "becoming mysterious.