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Show AMERICANS IX PARIS. Frenchmen Charmed by the AmerU can Girl merchants Delighted " , With Her Extravagance. Paris has just lost one of its oldest and most honored citizens in the death of M. Ridgway. M. Ridgway was the pioneer and founder of what is known as the "American Colony" in Paris. In accent and manner he would pass anywhere as a pure Parisian. His fifty years' residence in France has unconsciously transformed him into a tjical Frenchman. His large fortune and gracious manners gained him access on his arrival in Paris to the Jiigh-est Jiigh-est and most exclusive grades of society, and he soon opened the door for others of his countrymen to follow. It was during the last years of the July monarchy and the early years of the Second Empire that the American colony assumed shape and recognition. The colony to-day does not number more than 3,000 persons, but as they are all wealthy, they make up in prestige and influence for their lack of numbers. Indeed, it is a common saying say-ing among the great merchants of Paris that the 3,000 Americans are worth more financially to the French capital than are ' its 30,000 Germans and 20,000 Italians ; combined. The Americans reside mostly j in the vicinitv of the Faubourg Saint; Honoreand the Champs-El vsees. The i Parisian authorities have paid them a i delicate compliment by conferring on two of the streets of this quarter the names of Washington and Lincoln. Nearly all the Paris journals express their high appreciation of tbe American coiony on tne occasion of the death of its founder. Figaro, discussing the success of Americans in French society, sa's: "Let not our good brother Jonathan earn' his head too high. It is not through him, but through his charming daughters that American society has gained its present proud position in Paris. How captivating captivat-ing is the American girl in society! From the moment when she made her first appearance ap-pearance in the salons of Paris she created a perfect furore. Her engaging, manners, her freedom from restraint, her familiar shake-hand at once conquered that class of young men. more numerous than most people magine, who frequent doubtful society on account of their ex cessive timidity when in good society. What can be more pleasant to an embarrassed em-barrassed youth in company than to have the conversation started and carried on by a pretty, chatty girl, totally devoid of false modesty and awkwardness, and having rarely, if ever, an arriere-pensee of marriage? Nor can we conceive anything any-thing more pleasing for a young . man than to be chaffed and brightened up, so to speak, by pretty girls for such the' American girl always is who have none of that stiffness and gaiichcrie, neither the hands, nor feetvnor love of gaudy colors so characteristic of their Anglo- Saxon great-grandmothers. "But this is not all. If the American girl has not invented flirtation . she has I certainly brought it to the highest perfection. perfec-tion. It must never be forgotten that it was she who first introduced into the Parisian Par-isian salons that delightful and unrivaled innovation known as the Boston dance. The waltz is charming, captivating, if you will, but lacks one source of enjoyment you cannot chat with your partner. In the Boston dance you may talk to your heart's content. This dance, which is so voluptuously slow, and which is besides as applicable to the airs of the polka, the mazurka and the quadrille as to those of the waltz, is the surest auxiliary, of the flirt. The dancer leads the danseuse backward or forward, into this corner or that, and as they glide between the couples, in their easy, undulating movements move-ments he may pour into her ear the olden tale. This is an undoubted triumnh over the waltz, which can only be enjoyed with sealed lips." A great many American girls have married into families Of the French nobility. nobil-ity. This affords a chance to the republican repub-lican journals frequently to poke fun at the aristocracy for their eagerness to Secure Se-cure these plebian queens. Of course, it sometimes happens that the proud descendant de-scendant of the Crusaders is more in search of wealth than a wife, and that the young lady is more in search of a title than s. husband. But this is not always al-ways the case. Whether she possesses a dot or not, the American girl in Paris has no difficulty in stepping by marriage into the highest circles of the French nobility. Among the many women who have married mar-ried members of the French aristocracy the following names will be known to many Americans: Princess Murat, mother of the Duchesse de Mouchy, the Marquise de Chasseloup-Laubat, "Com-tesse "Com-tesse de Saint-Roman, Mme. la Generate de Charette, Cpmtesse Olivier Chevigne and the daughter of the late M. Ridgway, whose is now the Comtesse de Ganway. These and numberless others equally well known are among the leaders of wealth and fashion in the capital of civilization. civil-ization. New York World. |