THE PEARL NECKLACE IN PARIS.

Matamata Record, Volume VII, Issue 580, 10 November 1924, Page 7

THE PEARL NECKLACE IN PARIS.

It has lung been necessary for every self-respecting America to have a pearl necklaCO —if, indexl, her husband fails to give her one it is almost a sign that his business security is not all that it might be. The next step is to wear that pearl necklace in Paris and to bruit abroad its history, the number of dollars it cost, and any little personal details concerning the way in which Peter the Great secured the.last pearl composing it. But too many Americans have been given, pearl-necklaces by thoir husbands —most of them since the war, —and too many of them have cost too many dollars, to remain a subject of interest. The next step, therefore, is for the necklace to be stolen. French police methods are

then brought into play, everybody is darkly suspected without any exceptions whatsoever, and daily columns keep tiie subject well before the public. The dilficuhy is sometimes that there are not always enough thieves about to effect the robbery, and some pearl necklace owners have not quite enough nerve to make stealing as easy as it might be in order to encourage those thieves who are not of the highest order. Not that people are not careless. Not very long ago a pearl necklace was stolen, it was alleged, by the elinuffeur. All the pearls were found with the exception of one or two which apparently remained in the garden where they were scattered. ?t transpired that the chauffeur was very poorly paid and that the pear's were very carelessly guarded. It has already

been suggested that people whose income reaches a certain certified figure

would bo justified in speaking of it in terms of a pearl necklace which .1 d not necessarily materialise which would thus have all the kudos of the iu.-ckla.ee without its anxieties. It might on the same principle be possibr> to organise a robbery which would give it the necessary distinction. The non-existent theft of a necklace that was not there would be the exaltation of mind above matter, and it might have the additional advantage of dispensing with the necessity of pearl necklaces altogether, the owners merely buying them for pleasure. tt