rs of wax-lined pearls and paste diamonds. It is
rumored that after one of the great official balls of last season a
superb diamond necklace was found behind one of the cushions of a sofa
at the Elysee. It was placed in the hands of the prefect of the police,
where it remained for some time without any claimant presenting herself.
Finally, it was decided that the ornament should be sold and the
proceeds applied to the relief of the poor of Paris. A jeweler was
accordingly summoned, who, by the application of acids and a file, soon
proved conclusively to the authorities that the precious _trouvaille_
was a worthless piece of imitation. Sardou's heroine in his _Maison
Neuve_, who sells her small real diamonds in order to appear at a ball
ablaze with paste, is a true character of the epoch, and was evidently
sketched from real life. But the disappearance of the masses of
_clinquante_ which used to be worn some years ago is a positive boon to
the lovers of correct taste in dress.

Another striking feature of European society to an American is the
predominance of old women therein--ladies of sixty or seventy years of
age, very much coiffees, tremendously dressed and glittering with gems.
This element is far from being an attractive one. A venerable dowager
with white roses and lilies of the valley in her frizzed gray hair, with
many diamonds and pearls displayed upon a neck which should long ago
have retired into the deep obscurity of kerchief and high corsage, is
not a charming object. It has been made a subject of reproach against
American society that it is given up so entirely to the youth of both
sexes. Well, after all, it is better so--that is, so far as balls and
dancing-parties are concerned. Seventeen in white tarletan is a far more
beauteous and appropriate ornament for a ball-room than is seventy in
white brocade or rose-pink satin.

L. H. H.

NATIONAL FORMS OF GREETING.

The general structure of a language is admitted on all hands to be a
good index of the character of the people using it. To cite but two
instances: the firm, compact, stern mould in which a Latin sentence is
cast seems only the natural mode of expression for those who so firmly,
compactly and sternly carried their eagles in triumph over the world and
assembled the deities of conquered nations in their own Pantheon; while
the marvelous grace and flexibility spread like a transparent veil of
ravishing beauty over the well-posed members of