Show CURRE CURRENT nd TOPICS IN EUROPE popular errors french customs pere hyacinthe female jour I 1 lists german diploma cy bulgarian matters british association 4 ean A little knowledge is a dangerous thing is one of the proverbs which finds an apt illustration in the ale ac counts given by travelers concerning the manners and morals of the french A tourist spends a fortnight in parts paris and thea forsooth fora proceeds to write a critical work on france and her people oblivious to the fact act that paris is one of the most cosmopolitan of cities where the good aed bad tastes of visitors aye even their vices are catered to and is by no means a representative ot of life as it exists in the ane country the villages and provincial provine ial cities the women of france are almost almos t universally misjudged because they are misunderstood and because of such writers as dumas fils and faydean Fey dean how few torm form their estimate irow irom tile the works of victor hugo and lamartine and yet the latter are the me only truthful ones A stranger will meet with politeness lit eness and attention as he be travels through the country everybody will help bin and it he be brings letters lettera of introduction he will be made welcome at social reunions even parties ay be given in his honor but go where he way in the city or through the country lie he will not have a chance to penetrate into the inner family circle tile the imp ess lons ionis written by travel lers concerning france bear a close resemblance to the writings of correspondents pon poti dents of sensational papers concerning the customs and morals of salt lake city the average american woman of the northern states is better educated than the same class in france but bt tile the french woman is tile the more active she sometimes performs the most menial duties aye even drudgery and still preserves her self respect in rouen allens amiens chartres Cb artres and in hundreds hundred of other provincial towns there are vast grain markets entirely controlled by the women these women form organized corporations which in some cases have existed for several centuries their honesty is proverbial the farmers bring their grain in the morning and alter attending to 10 bu business in town return and receive the amount of their sales without taking any further trouble about it tife whole transactions of the market are Lo entrusted trusted to the women the rhe buyer and seller alike put implicit confidence in them the importance odthe of the charge confided to them may be estimated from the fact that bushels of grain often passes brough their hands on day in a single town perhaps no parallel example can be ae found ia any other country in general gener althey they are orderly virtuous sober ober and thrifty see them in their simple costumes they are the fis hermens wives at sur mer Norm normandy alidy or midi they are always models model A neatness and suitability fram the crown of the picturesque cap to the sole of the strong arong sensible shoe the observant traveler will notice that the middle class are drays neatly dressed but never decked with cheap imitations of what their employers wear american ladies who expect to see a dis display lay of gorgeous dressing among thefil their parisian sisters are Y disappointed the ladies of the french capital may set the female fashions throughout the world but they dress extremely plain at least upon the streets tae magn fluence of their toilette Is only displayed on great occasions ca I 1 french women are advancing rapidly and adding to the number of their avocations in paris alone therease there ther eare are four hundred female journalists female physicians are also increasing thirteen graduated the present year pere hyacinthe and bis wife are doing much for the elevation of woman in paris parie and live bave secured several arrangements range ments whereby many employed emp loyes are ar permitted to observe the sabbath the ilbe betrothal of the princess sophie of prussia the sister of the german emperor to the crown prince of greece has been as cordially welcomed in berlin as at athens ger many is a large and powerful empire greece is a small and comparatively insignificant kingdom yet there is a majesty and a magic mage in the very word greece prince constantine is also closely allied with both taie great house of romanoff and the historic and interesting kingdom of DL denmark dumark and is therefore what might be bermea a very desirable consort there ares are however other contingencies which have evidently not been absent from the mind milid of the german emperor and still stil I 1 less from the cogitations of prince bismarck the public has not forgotten the fact that only last spring the imperial chancelor chancellor interposed his objections to the marriage of this oung ladys adys sister to the prince of sang ul garft Is it possible that bismarck prefers areece greece to bulgaria by no means but simply this that bismarck is willing that the world shall believe that germany is not concerned in the affairs of the balkan peninsula and that the defence of these provinces against the desiena of russia devolves on other boutries con cou tries such as turkey austria Eng england lanct and italy bulgaria has not abandoned and does not mean to abandon one iota of those pretensions which gave such amorae to the court and cabinet of st petersburg on the contrary she has been growing daily in farce manhood and self reliance the bond between bulgaria bulgala and eastern roumelia has been immensely strengthened alike by the growth ot of popular sentiment and by certain broad generous measures measure ti taken in the face of the whole world only last week the sultan suitan reluctantly acknowledged the postal and commercial union that ron ilou melia has made with Bal bulgaria garia lu in a word all the world admits that bulgaria has a future but that can ban be only to some extent at the expense of her neighbors for example there are dependencies at present under the rule of the sultan that are retained by him with difficulty Mace macedonia eonia I 1 for one will most assuredly soon break the trail frail links that yet connect it with the ut ot toman empire bat macedonia is too smal to become an independent state and will therefore be obliged to join with some other community here re evidently ard the elements clements of a quarrel ar between betwee il bulgaria and gr greece e e as each are very desirous of the territory indeed the quarrel ale already dy exists as far as words can wakena in u due time it will have to be dealt with by more robust weapons tiba alaan u the abe pen of tile the writer slid and the tongue of the orator it was this consciousness of conflict and ambition that induced the sovereign of denmark to withhold his sanction when hit his son walde waldema mw A was offered the throne of bulgaria oue C son SOB is already king of the greeks and aad had bad he be allowed another son to mount the throne of bulgaria he would have considered himself the parent and aad promoter of fratricidal strife in this conflict bulgaria will win and no doubt it Is ia a wise policy tor lor germany not to be held responsible by russia for the result the british association or as some have called it the parliament of science held its fifty seventh anniversary at bata last week she speech of sir frederick bramwell is worthy of notice not merely tor for its merits but as showing tue the drift of thought not long since the association was so accustomed to sensational theories from such men as hooker and huxley thomson and tyndal that continuous sensation seemed to be expected now this is all changed sir frederick re deriek had no protoplasm thearie a to expound no new mode of creation to unfold on the other hand by showing the relation of present science to the early discoveries he demonstrated now how much such mm men as morse and edison are indebted to volts volta and galvani Ga Gai ivani vant watt and stephenson henson learned from bacon and sir thomas browne men are beginning to understand that the present wonderful results of science today are tut but the fruition of thoughts and ideas Mown so many years ago so in turn the ideas now re lecter will in iii future days be taken up and developed and lead to still higher advances the french fleet has last completed a series of manoeuvres in the mediterranean similar to those recently executed by the British fleet off tile the coasts of the batish islands whether thi demonstration had any reference to french and italian diplomacy is of course a matter mailer of conjecture but the visit of the spanish fleet to toulon has no doubt a political significance the spaniards are now lauded by the french press at the expense of ungrateful italy la france writes the arriva lof the spanish fleet at toulon liss has an important political signification it is not a naval demonstration like that which the german fleet has made in russian waters neither does it present an attempt at intimidation such as the italian fleet has lust just displayed towards greece it is an act of simple politeness a return visit for that which the french Frenchi fleet leet made at barcelona the German Germau Chancellor offered offe to raise spain to the rank of a great power provided she would engage in the event of war to concentrate concentrate an army on the south of Fr france arice but S spain p in pushed back the offer made to h her e r the visit of the spanish fleet to toulon is an eloquent reply to te the insinuations of enemies that french and spanish interests are diametrically opposed 11 eurace sept 1888 J H W |