OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1930, Page 7

OUR PARIS LETTER

POLITICS AND PIPES

JOFFRE'S BIRTHDAY

(From "Tho Post's" Representative.)

I'AHiS, 20th January.

Most ol! France's loading statesmen and politicians arc habitual smokers, though, of course, they have to desist hi the legislative Chambers, excepting tho lobbies and certain precincts. An exception is \l. Poincaro, whoso simplicity of habUs is proverbial. A nonsmoker also is M. Chcyon, Minister of Finance, but he has not always been such. Now he dislikes tobacco exceedingly. This fact cannot bo widely known, seeing that not long ago a group of his admirers presented him with an elaborate poruclain pipe of Dutch manufacture. M. Tardieu is a cigarette-smokeri of choice brands of tobacco, and he uses a long holder of which caricaturists take full advantage when drawing sketches of him, A most inveterate cigarette-smoker is M. Briand. He loves tho popular "caporal." Even when abroad attending international conferences he manages to find his favourite tobacco, and he has been known to make his own cigarettes. M. Doumcrguc is not an insatiable smoker, but prefers a good cigar, as does M. Loucheur. The Minister of Labour is, however, a constant smoker and an expert in Havana brands. M. Herriot is an inveterate pipe-smoker. That other Radical leader, M. Dalaclior, also favours the pipe, but not as intensely as M.-ITerriot. MAB.NE HERO'S BIRTHDAY. Marshal JoftYe was 78 on Sunday, and was tho recipient of congratulations from his countless friends in many lands. Though he is not soon -about as frequently as he,was a few years ago, he still displays considerable activity, and takes a keen interest in his country's welfare. Two years ago he had a set-back in health, but thanks to his robust constitution and simple mode of living, ho got safely through tho crisis. One of his troubles since the war has been the finding of suitable permanent housing accommodation, proving that this problem is one that confronts not only the masses. When it became known that he had to remove from his apartment, in the neighbourhood of the Avenue Foch, offers -Ji hospitality were received by the hero of the Manic from admirers all over the country. Since then work has been proceeding on a house in Passy, which will be his private*'property. The marshal is a member of the French Academy, and has been a fairly regular-attendant at its deliberations since his health improved. He takes part in most of the discussions evoked over the revision of the French. dictionary, and it may be remembered that it was largely owing to his opposition that the inclusion of the word "defaitiste" was rejected. BOOKLOVEKS' MARKET. While Paris presents many changing aspects, certain of its institutions seem to be immutable. The quayside bookstalls remain aloof from the influences of other forms of commercial enterprise and the whims and fancies of innovators, and it is probable that they will continue their smooth existence as long as the present parapets. serve to flank the river. If they betray any new feature it is to be found in their greater popularity. Books are not cheap in these days", and there is a growing tendency to "seek bargins among this long expanse of second-hand works. The bargains are not always easy to capture. Good fortune may lead you sometimes directly to a coveted book, but definite quests are mostly painstaking. Foreigners or readers of books in foreign languages are great patrons of the quayside, and it is something of a mystery "how the stalls are kept supplied with works to maintain the supply. Books in English are in the majority as regards these, and the classes and works which deserve the name of literature are quickly picked up. In most eases the prices are about the same as one would pay in London. . The obscure novelist has a rather large place in these collections, - and sometimes the price placed on his work at these stalls appears to flatter. Now and again an illustrious name ia prominent. There is, for instance, _at present a good stock of a cheap edition of Tennyson spread over the quays. ■ BABY BREADWINNER. Knowing that publicity is necessary to any business if it is to be a success, a tailor who owns a small shop in a street near the boulevards ingeniously uses his little son, aged about five j years, as an advertising medium. The child is often to be seen playing outside the shop with a scooter or some similar toy, and he is always dressed in such a fashion as to call attention to himself and tho skill of his father. His smart little trousers, carefully creased, fit him splendidly, and his coat and waistcoat, modified to suit his tender years, are a marvel of cut. Every other day he appears in a different j suit, and on very cold days these are completed by a sweater and an ultrafashionable overcoat. Whether his mother welcomes this extensive wardrobe and the care that it needs is not known, but the little boy obviously takes a great delight in his quaint appearance, and even treats his clothes with a care unusual in one so young. HEADDRESS NOVELTY. The unusual coiffures of two women at a theatre the other night, writes the fashion correspondent, attracted more attention even than the frocks. One of them, although quite young, apparently had luxuriant silver hair, which she woro parted in tho middlo and knotted at the nape of her neck, while tho other's thick, golden locks were plaited and bound round her head in a fashion of a bygone day. The effect in both cases was so distinguished and so unusual that when the entr'acte arrived, and tho women, strolled out into the foyer, they were

the cynosure of all eyes. And then it was seen that their own hair was invisible." What had been creating tho sensation were really headdresses ofi fine metal fabric, quite obvious when, seen close to, but deceptive from a distance. Both the "coiffures," as. a matter of fact, were the work of the milliner, for they were evening caps and not wigs. A very similar headdress was worn) by a woman dining in a well-known.' restaurant the other evening, but in. this caso the material waa soft satin which was -pulled round the head and twisted to resemble a "bun" at the back of the neck. ROMANCE OF AN ACORN. Do Parisians know t h.at on ooe of their boulevards is an oak grown from. an acorn brought from that part of South Africa now called Coin Francais, where French Huguenots settled after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes? One of the exiles planted an acorn he had browght with him. From the tree it produced came another acorn, which returned to the land of its ancestors and was the germ from whielt the Paris oak sprang.