THE EVERYDAY FRENCHWOMAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11921, 19 June 1899, Page 6

THE EVERYDAY FRENCHWOMAN.

(By JOHN STRANGE WINTER.) i (Daily Tflegtaph.)

The enormous difference between Frenchwomen and the l women of their own country must strike all English, people who lire long in France. French girl-babies seem to be bom with quite different qualities from English' ones, and certainly their up-,bringing is conducted on entirely opposing lines. ... , The free and healthy, life of English girls in the schoolgirl age is quite tmtobwn. in France, excepting among a very few . adanced families, who bring up , their children in the English mode. These_ are decidedly in the minority, and, although it is, on the one. Hand, distinctly chic to.' he English, yet, on tHe other, words “so English ’’ convey .to French minds exactly the same a§ the, tfords •“ yecy French ” convey to us, .peope; look.upon childreoi* especially- girl?, who' have been brought up .in the English way as those who, have already partaken of good and evil > ■ ■ .

Apart from bee legion, the, chief thought and aim of every Frenchwoman is the care and settlement in life of.her daughters. They most so be brought up as to adorn the station in life in which they will marry,: they must be saved for, watched over, sheltered, and guarded, very much as a trainer watches over a-- Derby winner. And, let me tell you, it is no light matter to bring up a girl in the French way; ■on the contrary, indeed, it is-a most arduous, self-eacrifidng, and. wearisome undertaking. Until - she is about, seven years old the little French girl is utterly spoiled., She is humoured, petted, and given way to ; she is fed most injudiciously, and, to our ideas, she is started badly.. I have known ' a French grandmother say. to a child unfortunately cursed with a very delicate digestion, “ Eat- not much breakfast, my Jittle. one, . because I ..am. going to ; takeTthee out. this afterhopn'r and I shall takVthee to a,; pastrycook’s.” ‘ v. Then comes the period bf education, which lasts till she is seventeen or eighteen, and, in many cases, is continued in part until; mademoiselle is married; • - During «the whole of that, time a French girl of the upper and midple classes is never left alone for a single moment. Until she is mantled a young French lady never sets foot outside her house unaccompanied, and, in many instances, she occupies a bedroom which opens out of -her mother’s, and she. is not even allowed to have the door of com-, mhnfcation closed by day or by night.. .She is never trusted, and therefore she is taught nothing of honour or of fending for herself; everything is . done for her; she does hot receive or reply to her offers o$ marriage, or even bf partners for the dance. "The educational system of France for^ girls is one of repression, and I am not sure whether it is not better than ours, for it is .Cbrtaihljy admirablcrin its fbsults. Some girls, as in England, are educated at. home under, governesses.: and 1 masters, while’in Paris 'and other largei cities the girls of,,ja. family have-a governess,’ iibt to teach" theii,. butt.to to--

•atwhichthey receive insteiotiqn. -..Adess’ smajti but more genml' wayj'ia" to send 1 girls either as boarders or as day gjrls to' the convents, which are to be found in every town in Prance.

Tn convents girls are taught most carefully and well, if in a somewhat limited manner. The good sisters are, in all cases, ladies by birth, speaking pure and perfect! French, and they beep watch , over their charges by day and by night With ar (demotion which is as admirable as it is wonderful. Even in their games girts are not left to themselves, but a sister keeps watch, and ward to see that none are hurt, and that the play does not become too boisterous. Should one pupil, generally an. English girl, I am afraid, prove herself' too rough, she is promptly punished, and several offences of this kind usually lead to the game being tabooed, for French authority believes firmly in preventive measures as being the best. The result of this coddling is that while her English sister is cycling, Splaying tennis or 'cricket, or climbing-, trees with; her brothers, ibe French girl is very soft, and cries for the smallest hurt or for the mildest rebuke. ' _ ; ■ The-inherent love of hSnbtlis so deeply planted in the French heart is made -use of even in the schools’, for each week several grades of tickets arc issued to the pupils. The first is the billet d’honneur, then cornea the billet rose, then the billet blanc, To have no billet is a humiliation and a-dis-grace, and it is no uncommon thing in the middle-sized classes to have a dozen girls , sobbing and howling at once on a Saturday morning when the distribution .takes place. At the same time the corresponding advantages of working for a billet are very great, for most parents give a douceur for a' billet d’hcnneur, and a still greater, honour and glory attaches to the girl who. has worked herself on to the tableau d’honneur at the end of the term. Then by'the time a girl has passed through the mill and reached the upper classes she is tired out of any naughty tricks she may have started with; she is a self-poesessed young lady, who has learned to the right path because the other one has- been made so intensely disagreeable to her. e -i 1 ;, j.’*■£«■ But if the French girl has not been taught by the good sisters to be athletic, she has been trained to have charmingmanners, to i have a modest, quiet bearing, and to Ibok to her parents on all occasions. She seldom goes wrong, because she is guided in. every relation of life by those who are older and .■ wiser than herself. Then she has' been taught many things which would make our English girls stare with astoifishipenfc She can sew, darn, and mend hi a most beautiful way. She can act, toh, even from the very youngest age, and is encouraged to do so during the whole, time; that she- is air school, though it is true that, as the art * takes no place in France (socially speaking,, that is); the power is never of much use to her afterwards.

So far as I have seen, ladies in France' do not work, and are not encouraged to do so. All Frenchwomen are blessed with' splendid business qualities, and the various charitable undertakings that are arranged by the women of the leisured classes are admirably conceived,- managed, and carried out. Every parish has its committee of ladies , for such! works, including those who are very rich and influential, and those who are poor and of small account. AH is fish-that comes to the net of the great llady deeply interested in good works who is'dame presidents of her parish. She takes advantage: of all, rich and poor, high and. low, faithful and heretic alike. ■. . It would be hard’ to .tell how Frenchwomen amuse themselves. Personally, I have never heard any- amateur music in France that was worthy of mention 1 ; but ■ aU - Frenchwomen dance esquisutcly; some of them swim very well, and ; most of them Love some form or other of- gambling. I have never yet heard ofany real; Frenchwoman, at least outside of the artistic class, who took any form of exercise from choice, nnless one can count a' game-of very mild croquet, or still more mild itennis, in which she never attempts to:take a ball .unless it actually comes begging to be taken, which does not often happen. ; ; A few' -M r omen cycle; wearing 1 a- chaixning. costume ■ for the purpose—yes, knickers and all ‘ the rest—in which the rider does-'thei greatest'amount of posing and’ -i tTse’ smallest' amount of cycling that is possible., She'is allways ready to go to a party, a race meeting, ■ a theatre, a concert, or a charity function of any description. Moreover, she is always’ready to go to pburbh, andyrillundertake almost any amountof.'<huwsß-'Wofti; ; B«cli‘''as fclio care of some partioidar chapel dr altar. The average Frenchwoman seldom- travels, or has any desire to do so,, but she will, even long after she is married, put herself to infinite pains to acquire a foreign language of which she will never be likely to make any use. 4 She is rigid in matters;;of; etiquette, and punctilious in everything relating to family life in general, and to mourning in 1 particular. I-have known a family go into deep mourning, regular weeds in fact, for a great-uncle whom thev had never seen. This meant six month's! absolute cessation from all-society,' and the wearing of a long crape veil over the face: during the whole of that time. ■■■ . Whether it is from heir natural,' ability, her ‘having . passed through such a' careful educational mill, or both, I .fcnow' nob, : but a Frenchwoman: is usually clever', devoted 4 sdways devoted to something—fascinating, and." extraordinarily. patient in her domestic .'rdsdions,'; -/And .although Monsieur is always pushed well to the. front and Madame seems at first sight to take the second place, she has both her little fat bands as full of power as they will hold. She is altogether uMike her English- sister, with-her golf chibs, her .bicycle, her shooting, and her fishing, 1 her walking-stick, and her cigarettes. And yet she is bnt .another edition of the most fresh an.d the most varying -romance . that the -.world- hai y ever seen.’" • •