THE LAND OF THE "DARNED MOUNSEER."

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 31

THE LAND OF THE "DARNED MOUNSEER."

By Max O'Rbll.

The French in Leading Strings-An ApologyGood Society— Where to Go to Obtain Observation — The, Causerie— Women of Taste and Culture— Woman's Sovereignty —The Bourgeois' Wife: Her Ways and Shrewdness — Are French Women Frivolous ? — Mothers. — The Shopkeeper's Wife— Sound Partnership— A Lesson in politeness - The Peasant Women — Industrious Habits-Genius of Economy— Who Made the Suez Canal ?— The Frenchwomen Kedeemed their Country Sixteen Years Ago. The national character of the French has greatly altered since the disasters of 1870, and no one need wonder at it. They have become more susceptible ; they are now the most sensitive people on earth. The rage for equality is often manifested by a ferocious jealousy of those who rise, either in literature, the fine arts, or politics. All these are failings that we possessed before the Franco-German war, but in a much

lesser degree. What has not changed, fortunately, is the character of the French women, I mean especially the women of the people. Good society is much alike everywhere — like holds ; it is a question of more or less manners in the former, of more or less fleas in tho latter. Good sociefcv in France is no exception to the rule. No more are the hotels- — far the contrary. But what; is there to be learned in what is termed "high society" except gossip from club smokingrooms and from boudoirs, which might perhaps, furnish a few pages to the Scandalous Chronicle ? It is the people who preserve the traditions of a country ; therefore, it is the middle classes, the working classes, in town and country, that the observer must; turn to. If you wish to study the manners of any nation, take third-class tickets. There is little or nothing to bo picked up in a firstclass carriage. Thai the French women of the upper classes are the leaders of fashion all over the world everybody knows ; but I cannot pass them over without dwelling upon the reason why oar best men are still jit-the feet of our women. "If I were Queen," s;ud Madame Reoamier one day, "I would command Madame do Stael to talk to me all day long," and a contemporary of thiscelebraledauthoross relates how he and some friends of his were driving with her one day and were suddenly surprised by a violent storm bursting over their heads without their having noticed a sign of its gathering, so absorbing were the charm and vivacity of her conversation. There are plenty of Frenchwomen of whom similar things might be said. From the seventeenth century they have continued to hand down this charming sovereignty of con verso. Mother bequeaths it to daughter, or it is transmitted in the blood, and, to my mind, this is what chiefly distinguishes them from the women of other countries. In spite of telegraph and railways, in spite of politics, which in these days absorb all ranks of French society, people still caiisent in France, and this, thanks to Frenchwomen.

Excuse me for using the word causer, but you have no equivalent, for it in English. Chat is perhaps the nearest approach to it, but even that fails to render its meaning. A cam/trie is marked not only by interest of subject, but also by a lightness of toucli which the French language eminently lends ilscll to. It is true that here and there you will come across a Frenchwoman, bitten with new-fangled notions, discoursing of politics, the moral and intellectual progress of the people, social emancipation, and other tedious topics ; but such black sheep are are: the great majority are content to play their natural part, to be the ornaments of -ociety, to bring to social intercourse the tact, grace, and harmony which form its chief redeeming points, and without which life would become, if not insupportable, very near akin to that of the savages. Can you imagine a drawing room attractive without the presence of ladies '/ Have you never noticed that, left to themselves, the most clever men fall into argumentation ?—? — that their oratory fails to interest or convince you, and that there is a general feeling of coldness and restraint? But let a woman come in, a woman of taste, and gaiety comes with her; conversation becomes animated and attractive. It runs gracefully from one subject into another like a butterfly from spray to spray. It touches each lightly, lises to high thoughts, comes to earth again, passing from lofty to, lowly subjects, from grave to gay, with infinite meanders. Everyone is moved to show himself at his best, and draws from his vocabulary his choicest expressions, his happiest reflections, surpasses himself, and is surprised to find himself inspired as by a muse. Just now they were killing time ; now everyone is enjoying himself. All constraint is gone, each one gives free expression to his thoughts. In a word, just now they were talking; now they rautent. And in taking leave of their hostess they might repeat the expression that a certain courtly abbe of the eighteenth century used in speaking to a grande dame who had communicated to him something of her irresistible spirit, "Madame, I am but an instrument on which you have played with skill." So much for the Frenchwomen of the "Pper classes. Now let us pass on to The Different Working Classes of Society, There, too, we find woman's sovereignty indisputable, and the men in leading-strings. j» the French household the woman is queen. Her empire over her children is perfect, and sl >c leads her husband by the nose. He does not complain of this*; on the contrary, »c enjoys it, and he thinks that, after ail, jiiuch worse might happen to him. The wife knows all her husband's affairs, and when he »a* a few savings to invest he does not think £ beneath him to ask her advice. She kl *»ws, as well as he, the current price of ■^ocks at the Bourse, and if he should be seized with a fancy to embark in speculation, pc brings to bear all her influence over him to induce him to buy Consols or any other government securities. Call on her husband

On business^ and if he is from home you will not need to make a second visit on that account 5 she has all the affairs of the firm at her fingers' end. She is the goddess of economy and order. Every little bowrgeoi&e keeps a memorandum book in which she writes down all her expenses. Nothing is forgotten, not even the halfpenny to the - blind begger who plays the flute at the n. street corner. 'f The Frenchwoman has a genius for y cookery, and is thoroughly awake to the ?■ fact that it is good policy in married life L " to see that Monsieur dines well. I believe * you have a saying in England that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, 'I but I fancy there are many Englishwomen who do not use this pathway as much as a they might. The politics of matrimony is a science inborn in our women. Let a Frenchwoman be rich or poor — the mistress of a mansion in the Champs Elysees, or of a • poor fifth floor little fiat at Montmartre or \ Batignolles— she has always the charm of \ feminality. She is always smart, always ' alert, and has a little fluttering, bustling \ way with her that is bound to keep awake ; your interest in all she does. She may be sometimes a little affected, but she is never ! vulgar. On Sundays and holidays she 1 j dresses still a little more elegantly than usual, but she never appears to be in Sunday clothes. The middle-class Frenchwoman is lady-like not only in her dress, but in her speech. You will never see her loaded with cheap jewellery, this great stamp of vulgarity, and when she speaks to you you cannot guess whether she is the wife of a gentleman or of a small tradesman. Notice that she often changes the style of her hair. This is because she knows that love lives on trifles, and that the best dishes become insipid if they are always served with the same sauce. Even if her stock of clothes is scanty, her clever brain and fingers help her to cover its deficiencies by constant little changes. With two or three dresses in her possession, the dear little humbug will make you believe that she has a wellfilled wardrobe. I hare often in England heard Frenchwomen called frivolous. But this is the height of absurdity, and, in my quality of Frenchman, surely I ought to be as good a juuge of the point as the English tourist. How can Frenchwomen, who are perhaps, of all women in the world, the most initiated into the affairs of their husbands, be frivolous? If frivolity consists in trjing to remain young and attractive as long as possible without becoming ridiculous, then the French Iwurf/eoiso is frivolous. If, again, frivolity consists in making a home cheerful and gay, and preventing a husband from being absorbed by the cares of business, then she is frivolous. But this is nonsense. Is she frivolous, this woman who is the friend and confidante of her husband — who, in important matters as well as in the smallest, has both a consultative and deliberative voice in the household? It is she who knows, with her economy and good management, how to face the danger when, from one cause or another, the family revenue diminishes ; it is she who knows, with her energy, how to ward off ruin from her threshold. If this woman were frivolous, how could you explain the adoration for the mother which, even to the lowest of the low, you find in French children 1 How could this be, unless she were the example of all domestic virtues ? If a Frenchman of 40 would hesitate to take an important step in life without first consulting his mother, surely it must be that he recognises in her a wise guide. It would be mere naivety on my part to dwell longer on this absurd character of frivolity. Take now The Shopkeenlng Classes, There you will see the wife the active partner of her husband. Behold them both as the commercial traveller displays his ! goods on the counter. The wife is supreme. Her objections are without appeal, her opinion final. It is she who generally has charge of the books and the cash-box, and neither books nor cash were ever entrusted to better guardianship. She is not a mere housekeeper, with or without wages ; she is the partner, not merely the sleeping partner. This not only enables her to be of great help to her husband, but it also enables her, if she happens to become a widow, to carry on the business without her husband, to be

independent, and to bring up her children She has not, to obtain her living on her husband's death, to become a working house-

I keeper or a nurse ; she is the mistress of her own house as before, and now the head of the firm. In her shop she is most polite and emj)ressc, but never servile | and if you wish her to take you for a gentleman, don't keep your hat, on while you are engaged With ricr in a commercial transaction. I have still present in ray memory the following little anecdote. A well-dressed man once entered a perfumer's shop where I was purchasing a pairof gloves. Keepinghishaton all the time, he addressed the perfumer's wife in a most off-hand manner. But what exasperated the dear woman was that, after inquiring about the price of some score of articles, he prepared to retire, saying "He didn't think he wanted anything." " I think you do," replied the woman, who was not to be wholly without a revenge ; " you want a few lessons in politeness, at all events."

It is said that Louis XIV, the most haughty and magnificent monarch of modern times, used to lift his hat even to the female servants of his court. If so, no man need think that he derogates from his dignity by keeping his hat off in a respectable shop when he is served by a woman.

I might say a word or two on the drawbacks of the influence of women on Frenchmen, but there is no doubt that this influence has polished our manners. Even in business intercourse politeness is not banished^ In England, for instance, cheques are marked " Pay to." In France they are worded Veuilki payer — " Please to pay," " Kindly pay," &g. You cannot obtain a perfect notion of French industry unless you pay

A Visit to Our Peasantry. I must say that now the woman ceases to be attractive. She does not even attempt to look so. Sunburnt, hale, and hearty, behold her, dear English tourist, that is the fortune of France. She does not wear fringes on her forehead. I will admit she does not wear flounces on a second-hand skirt, or a hat

with flowers and feathers, and she totally ignores shilling diamonds, She has a coarse serge gown on and simple snowy cap. She clean and tidy, and the personification of industry. Ido not doubt, however, that, thanks to the blessings of gratuitous and compulsory education, the time will soon come when she will want to imitate the ladies of the town in her habits and dress, and that her sons will despise the dear land where they were born, and will all want to be clerks, and swagger in town, with high stand-up collars, tight trousers, and sticks. Thank goodness, this sickening spectacle is not yet to be seen in France. This good, hard-working, thrifty woman is the backbone of the country. The amount of work she can get through is simply prodigious. You will always see her busy, either working in her field, selling the produce of her little farm in the market place of the nearest town, or engaged about her little household. Whether she takes her cow to the field, or is on her way to town ; whether she is sitting behind her wares waiting for customers, or in a railway station waiting for her train, look at her fingers busy on a pair of stockings. She does not know what it is to be idle for a single moment. She has never left her dear village, and for her the world is made up of her "three acres and a cow." But she has got them, and, thanks to her frugal habits and splendid management, her family can live and thrive on them. She is not attractive, but she is a picture of health and contentment. Shares and bonds may go up or down without disturbing her peace; she holds none. She trusts her savings to nobody. Bankers, she thinks, company directors, and stockbrokers, may be very respectable persons, but when the old stocking is swollen with sfr pieces, she rounds off her little family domain and buys a new field — something she is quite sure to find in its place when she wakes up in the morning. Her daughter goes into service and makes a capital servant. Like her mother, she thinks but of one thing — saving her wages. She does not get a new hat every month to get photographed in it. She puts her money in the savings bank. Let me give you an example of her frugality, and allow me to take it from a personal recollection. My mother has a housemaid who has been with her 25 years. Not long ago, while in France, I took aside this old servant. " I know how devoted you have been to my mother," I said to her. " You are not strong, and I daresay you will not wish to go into service again ; but make yourself easy about this. If anything should happen to my mother, I shall see that you are comfortable for the rest of your life. But," I said inquiringly, " I have no doubt you have something of your own by this time ? " Imagine my surprise when I heard her tell me that she had saved over lO,OOOfr, (between £400 and £500), all well invested, including one share in the Suez Canal Company. Since I have mentioned the Suez Canal, why should I not take the oj>portunity for trying to explain the uneasiness that is now being created in France by the British policy in Egypt 1 You must bear in mind that The Suez Canal was Not Made by Biff Capitalists. It was made by the savings bank of France, by the " old stockings," that is to say, by the small bowr/eois, the working people, and the servants. When we reflect what the riches of France derive from the economy imposed upon every French household by the women

I might even say that the Suez Canal is essentially a national enterprise, and the

least French mechanic will tell you " We have made the Suez Canal." You will find very few French families possessing so many as ten shares. They are spread all over the country. Well, let a few unscrupulous journalists attempt to prove to the people that the English want to annex, or protect, Egypt, in order to sieze on the Suez Canal, and you will easily imagine the effect. What a pity it seems that nations can only talk to other nations through their political press ! What a pity it is that the British people cannot let their French neighbours know in plain words that they admire them for the gigantic work they have made, and that they will never dream of being connected with the Suez Canal otherwise than as good customers to help them to get good dividends !

These same women, who made Suez, are now making the Panama Canal. Of course, we hear a great deal of pooh-poohing in this country about it, but the English, it should not be forgotten, called M. de Lesseps " a dangerous lunatic " for attempting his other gigantic undertaking.

These same women of France did something grander than all this. It was they who redeemed their beloved country, and paid off the Prussian 1G years ago.