The Harris-Ingram Experiment Part 20

"The artistic labor of Frans Hals of Haarlem extended over half a century. He possessed the utmost vivacity of conception, purity of color, and breadth of execution, as shown in his latest works, and so well did he handle his brush that drawing seems almost lost in a maze of color tone. The throng of genre painters, who have secured for Dutch art its greatest triumph, are well nigh innumerable."

Christine was very fond of flower-pieces, and had painted lovely marguerites on Gertrude's white dress, in Alfonso's full length picture of his sister, which he was soon to carry to Paris as his wedding present.

Leo and Alfonso much wished to extend their journey north to Copenhagen and Stockholm, the "Venice of the North," but letters urging a speedy return to the marriage of George and Gertrude in Paris, forced the two artists to shorten their journey, say good-bye to their kind friends of Amsterdam, and hasten back to Paris, taking portraits of their own skill as wedding gifts.

CHAPTER XIX

PARIS AND THE WEDDING

Friday morning, Alfonso and Leo were missed at the table, and during the day as guides. Early every day while in Paris, Alfonso had bouquets of fresh flowers sent to the rooms of his mother, sisters, and May Ingram.

After his departure the flowers did not come, so Gertrude and May before breakfast walked down the boulevard to the flower show, near the Madeleine, where twice a week are gathered many flower carts in charge of courteous peasant women. The flowers of Paris are usually cheap. A franc, eighteen cents, buys a bunch of pansies, or roses in bud or full bloom, or marguerites. The latter are similar to the English ox-eyed daisy, a favorite flower with the French, also with Gertrude, who often pinned a bunch on May Ingram. In mid-winter Parisian gardeners delight in forcing thousands of white lilac blossoms, which are sold in European capitals for holiday gifts.

Gertrude and May hurried back to the hotel as happy as the birds in the trees of the boulevard. When Gertrude reached her mother, a telegram was given her from George which read:

City of Brussels.

_Gertrude_,--

We expect to arrive in Paris Sat.u.r.day evening 6 o'clock. Alfonso and Leo here. All well. Grand trip. Love to all.

George.

Mrs. Harris and her young ladies planned to give most of the day to the purchase of Gertrude's trousseau and other needed articles. May Ingram thought it was "just lovely" to be with Gertrude in Paris, and help her select the wedding outfit. Earlier than usual on Friday morning the Harrises left the hotel. All four women were somewhat excited, as Mrs.

Harris and Gertrude led the way, Lucille and May following, to M. Worth's establishment, located at Rue de la Paix 7.

Lucille said, "It is strange indeed that, in view of the French ridicule made of the English on account of their lack of taste in dress, the best dressmakers in Paris should be Englishmen."

Chief among all the Parisian dressmakers is Charles Frederick Worth, who was born in 1825, at Bourne, Lincolnshire. He came to Paris in 1858, and opened business with fifty employees combining the selling of fine dress material and the making of it. Worth now employs twelve hundred persons, and turns out annually over six thousand dresses and nearly four thousand cloaks; his sons ably a.s.sist him.

Rare fabrics and designs in silk and other choice material are woven, and artistic ornaments are made especially for M. Worth. Paris, as the center of fashion, is greatly indebted to him, who gained in his line world-wide fame, and for nearly half a century he has been universally recognized by his compet.i.tors and the fair s.e.x as master of his art. Kingdoms, empires, republics, and cabinets in swift succession followed each other, but the establishment of M. Worth maintained its proud position against all changes and rivals. He was helped to the highest pedestal of dictator of fashions by Mme. de Pourtales and Princess Pauline Metternich, both of whom possessed a keen sense of the fitness of texture, color, and cut, and with delicate hands could tone and modify till perfection was reached. The former introduced M. Worth to Empress Eugenie, for whom, and for the ladies of whose court, he designed state, dinner, and fancy costumes.

That M. Worth possessed rare artistic taste aside from dressmaking is evidenced in the beauty of his rural home at Suresnes on the Seine, seven and a half miles from Paris. It is a superb work of harmony and is like a charming mosaic, every piece fitting into every other piece. He was his own architect, designer, upholsterer, and gardener. His villa lies beneath Mt. Valerien, one of the finest sites near Paris, and the outlook on the Seine, the Bois de Boulogne, and Paris, is a dream of beauty.

Hurriedly pa.s.sing down the Rue de la Paix, the stately Column Vendome in the vista, the Harris party entered M. Worth's establishment, to which women, from actress to empress, make pilgrimages from the end of the world.

What a medley of people were already a.s.sembled! English d.u.c.h.esses, Russian princesses, Austrians, Spanish and Levantine aristocracy; wives and daughters of American railroad kings, of oil magnates, and of coal barons; brunette beauties from India, j.a.pan, South America, and even fair Australians, all unconsciously a.s.suming an air of ecstasy as they revelled in the fabric and fashion of dress; and stalking among them, that presiding genius, M. Worth, who in his mitre-shaped cap of black velvet, and half mantle or robe, strikingly resembled the great painter Hogarth.

Mrs. Harris sent forward her letter of introduction from her husband's New York banker, and soon she and her friends were ushered into the presence of M. Worth himself. He seemed very gracious, asking about several good friends of his in America, and added, "Americans are my best clients, though we dispatch dresses to all parts of the world."

Gertrude inquired as to the origin of fashion. M. Worth answered cautiously, "When new fabrics or designs of material are invented, some require a severe style, and some are adapted for draperies, puffings, etc., and then the stage has great influence over fashion."

May Ingram said, "Mr. Worth, how do you arrange designs?" He answered, "All my models are first made in black and white muslin, and then copied in the material and coloring which I select. In a studio our models are photographed for future reference."

Saying this, he excused himself to welcome new arrivals, first having placed the Harrises in charge of a competent a.s.sistant. M. Worth's many rooms were plainly furnished with counters for measuring materials. The floors were covered with a gray and black carpet, in imitation of a tiger's skin, with a scarlet border. Several young women dressed in the latest style of morning, visiting, dinner, and reception toilets, pa.s.sed up and down before clients to enable them to judge of effects. Mrs.

Harris explained that one daughter desired, at an early date, a wedding dress and that the other members of her party wanted gowns.

Friday and Sat.u.r.day were occupied at Worth's in selecting dresses, and elsewhere in search of gloves and other essentials. A delightful hour was spent among the many makers of artificial flowers. Skilled fingers make from wire and silk stems and stamens and dies, shape leaves and petals which are darkened by a camel's hair pencil, or lightened by a drop of water. Capable botanists and chemists are employed, and nature herself is rivaled in delicate construction and fragrance even.

In their round of shopping, the Harrises saw an ideal robe being made for an American belle. It was composed entirely of flowers, a skirt of roses of different tints, with a waist of lovely rose buds, and over all a veil with crystal drops in imitation of the morning dew. "A gem of a dress for some fairy," thought Lucille.

Promptly at six o'clock Gertrude and Lucille drove to the railway station, and welcomed back George and Colonel Harris, and after dinner all went to the opera. Between the acts Gertrude and George told much of their late experiences. George said that Colonel Harris had become greatly interested in their scheme to build in America an ideal plant and town, and that he was anxious to return home as he felt that one's work must be done early, as life was short at best.

Gertrude explained to George all that had been done in preparing for the wedding, and said that she would be ready soon, that her mother and Lucille approved of their wedding trip of two weeks in Switzerland, and then Gertrude added, "I shall be ready, George, when you are, to return to America and to aid you all I can."

Colonel Harris suggested a ride to Versailles, and Monday morning at nine o'clock Gaze's coach and four drove to the Grand Hotel, and six outside seats which had been reserved for the Harris party were filled. The coachman drove down the Avenue de l'Opera and into the Place du Carrousel, stopping a moment that all might admire the artistic pavilions of the Louvre, and the statue to the memory of Leon Gambetta, "Father of the Republic." Thence they rode out of the Court of the Tuileries, across the Place de la Concord, and down the charming Champs Elysees. On the left stands the Palais de l'Industrie, where the salon or annual exhibition of modern paintings and sculptures occurs in May and June. On the right is the Palais de l'Elysee, the official residence of the French president.

George recalled that in these gardens of Paris, in 1814, Emperors Alexander and Francis, King Frederick III., and others sang a _Te Deum_, in thanksgiving for their great victory over Napoleon I.; that here the English, Prussian, and Russian troops bivouacked, and that in the spring of 1871, Emperor William and his brilliant staff led the German troops beneath the Arc de Triomphe, while the German bands played "Die Wacht am Rhine."

The coach pa.s.sed through the Bois de Boulogne, in sight of lovely lakes, quaint old windmills, and across famous Longchamps, where after the Franco-German War under a bright sky, in the presence of the French president, his cabinet, the senate and chamber of deputies, in full dress, and a million of enthusiastic citizens, Grevy and Gambetta presented several hundred silk banners to the French army. Thence the drive was along the left bank of the river till the ruins of St. Cloud were reached, where Napoleon III. Unwittingly signed his abdication when he declared war against Prussia.

Climbing the hills through fine old forests after fourteen miles of travel southwest of Paris, the coach reached Versailles. Here that magnificent monarch, Louis XIV. lavished hundreds of millions on palaces, parks, fountains, and statues, and here the Harrises studied the brilliant pictorial history of France. In the Grand Gallery, which commands beautiful views of garden and water, are effective paintings in the ceiling, which represent the splendid achievements of Louis XIV.

In this same Hall of Gla.s.s, beneath Le Brun's color history of the defeat of the Germans by the French, occurred in 1871 a bit of fine poetic justice, when King William of Prussia, with the consent of the German States, was saluted as Emperor of reunited Germany. After visiting the Grand Trianon the home of Madame de Maintenon, the coach returned via Sevres, famous for its wonderful porcelain, and reached Paris at sunset.

The day was one long to be remembered.

The Paris mornings were spent either in visits to the Louvre or in driving. George and Gertrude walked much in Paris. Monday morning all resolved to enjoy on foot the Boulevards from the Grand Hotel to the Place de la Republique. It was a field-day for the women, for every shop had its strong temptation, and the world seemed on dress-parade.

Boulevard des Italiens in Paris is the most frequented and fashionable.

Here are located handsome hotels and cafes, and many of the choicest and most expensive shops. Several of these were visited, and many presents were sent back to the hotel for friends at home.

At noon the Harrises took a simple lunch at one of the popular Duval restaurants. While the ladies continued their purchases, Colonel Harris and George visited the Bourse, or exchange, a n.o.ble building. Business at this stock exchange opens at twelve o'clock and closes at three o'clock.

The loud vociferations of brokers, the quick gestures of excited speculators, and the babel of tongues produced a deafening noise, like that heard at the stock exchange in New York.

By appointment the ladies called at the exchange, and a coach took the party to the Place de la Republique, where stands a superb statue of the Republic, surrounded with seated figures of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. Colonel Harris had often noticed these remarkable words cut into many of the public buildings of Paris, and he remarked that the lesson taught by them was as injurious as that taught in the Declaration of Independence, which declares, that "all men are created equal."

Along the broadest parts of some boulevards and in public parks many chairs are placed for hire. On all the boulevards are numerous pillars, and small gla.s.s stalls, called kiosques, where newspapers are sold. The pillars and kiosques are covered with attractive advertis.e.m.e.nts. In these kiosques are sold, usually by women and children, many of the 750 papers and periodicals of Paris. Fifty of these papers are political. The _Gazette_ is two hundred and sixty-four years old, established in 1631.

_Le Temps_, "The Times," an evening paper, is English-like, and widely known. _Le Journal des Debats_, "The Journal of Debate," appears in correct and elegant language, and it usually discusses questions of foreign as well as of home politics. Papers called _Pet.i.te_, or "Little,"

have an immense circulation. Over a half million copies of _Le Pet.i.te Journal_ are sold daily. Frenchmen at home or abroad are not happy without their _Figaro_, which is read for its news of amus.e.m.e.nts, spicy gossip, and the odor of the boulevards. The sensitive and powerful press of Paris has often provoked political changes and revolutions.

To study better the important revolution for liberty which occurred on the ever memorable 14th of July, 1789, the Harrises drove along the boulevard till they approached the Bastille, formerly the site of a castle, or stronghold, used for a long time as a state prison for the confinement of persons who fell victims to the caprice of the government.

The graceful bronze July Column is 154 feet in height, and it commemorates the destruction of the Bastille, symbol of despotism. A strong desire for independence raised the cry "Down with the Bastille,"

and the advancing tide of revolution overcame the moats, the walls, the guns, and the garrison, and freedom was victorious. On the column the names of the fallen "July Heroes" are emblazoned in gilded letters. In large vaults beneath are buried the heroes of 1789, with the victims of the later revolution of 1848. The capital of the column is crowned with an artistic Genius of Liberty standing on a globe, and holding in one hand the broken chains of slavery, and in the other the torch of enlightenment.

All the boulevards were crowded with artisans in blue blouses, hurrying to their homes, as the Harrises drove along the quays to Notre Dame. They were in time to witness the sun burnish with his golden rays the graceful spire, the majestic tower, and elegant facade, and to enjoy the harmony of its grand organ within. To know Notre Dame, founded seven centuries ago, is to learn well the history of Paris, and to study the monuments of Paris alone, is to acquire the history of France.

Every day some of the Harris party visited the vast Louvre, the most important public building of Paris, both architecturally and on account of its wonderful art treasures which are the most extensive and valuable in the world. Thus two weeks went swiftly by in sight-seeing, and in preparation for the marriage.

The private parlors, banquet hall, and several rooms for guests of the Grand Hotel had been secured for Gertrude's wedding, which was to take place on George's birthday. Though superst.i.tion for ages had placed birthdays under a ban, yet Gertrude herself preferred this day, and all concurred. Beautiful presents had already arrived from America, and letters from schoolmates and friends, several of whom, however, had sent their presents to Harrisville. Nearly a thousand invitations in all, mostly to friends in America, had been mailed, including a hundred to friends traveling on the British Isles, and on the continent. May Ingram had met in London Claude Searles, son of Hugh Searles, and a graduate of Oxford University. She had an invitation mailed to Claude, and he promised to come.

Alfonso and Leo arrived from Holland the night before, and each brought paintings of their own skill as presents. Alfonso had done an exquisite full-length portrait of Gertrude in white, the dress, the same that she wore at Smith College graduation. All wondered about Leo's gift. Gertrude herself cut the strings, and pushed back the paper, while her sister Lucille looked first at her own beautiful likeness and then at Leo. Her face grew crimson, as she said, "Leo, this is just what I most wanted for Gertrude. Thank you! Thank you!" and she came near kissing the handsome artist.

The mother had bought a plentiful supply of those things which daughters most need. The father's gift was the promised check for $1000, and a mysterious long blue envelope sealed, with the name "Mrs. Gertrude Ingram" written on the outside. Underneath her name were the tantalizing words, "To be opened when she reaches New York."

"Oh, I so wonder what is inside," said Gertrude.