Barmaids In London

I líder the title "Feminine Types In IiWKiOl."' Jease Francia Sheppard gives Le Iouvelle Revue au account of thu Lnndou barniaids. "The.y are recruited, " he says, "amoug the bourgeoise as well as among the lower classes. Some of the most intereBting types can be found in tbe bars or public houses of the west end, close to the fashionable theaters. Arnong them are very inany perfectly respectable girls, who have chosen tbe career of a barmaid in order to ruake a living and, especially if they are pretty, to get a chance to catch a rich husband. "A public house, situated at theangle of one of the principal thoroughfares, is both a gilded palace and a mine of 'gold. It exercises a strange fascination upon the poor country bumpkius who have just enough to pay for a drink, but the dude coming out of a theater, the country greeuhorn, the fashionable suob and the frequenter of the music halls are alwaya to be found (here. lt is among these that the barmaids hunt for a husband. If there is oue class of London society more stupid than uuother, it is that oue which inclndes the frequenters of the public houses. With a pipe in his mouth and a glass of beer or whisky in front of hinj the youug Euglishman, dressed in fashionable style, with a slight and elegant figure and regular features, remains standing for more than an hour paying pretty little complirnents to one or several of these ladies. "The barmaid judges her customers by the cut of their clothes. If you want to attract her attention, you must present yourself with a silk bat and a handsoine oaue in your hand and a suifc cut in the latest fashion. The high hat is de rigueur. Without that there is no possible chance of success. "It was not without difficulty that I managed to get an interview with one of these young ladies, whose inteüigence was equal to her beauty. At first ï was astonished at flnding so much intelligence in aa English girl, but I learned that she was Irish, and that explained the mystery. Her father was dead and her mother was left without resources. So she waa determined to come to London and look for a husband by posing behind a bar in Piccadilly. " 'I was hardly more than three days here,' she said with aa amiable and roguish air, 'wben I understood why it was that so many pretty English girls don't get husbands. Wben they are beautiful, they are generally stupid. When they are intelligent, they are cold, rnasculine and ugly. Englishmen travel a great deal and meet in their ramblings through the world very many sprightly vvomen, and they do not care for pretty girls who don't know how to chat with tbem. ' " 'But in this mixture that comes here to driuk and chat,' I said, 'how do you distinguish the men of the world froru the others?' " 'I recognizs them by threo' things,' she said boldly, 'by their figure, by their clothes and by their complexión. For the most part they are tall aml thin, dressed in the latest fashion and have a complexión more or less bronzed. This last trait is the surest sign. ' Seeing that I looked astonished, she added: 'Nothing eau be more simple. An English gentleman, if he has a fortune, passos three-fourtbs of his time hnnting and in other open air exercise. The chaps who remain always in London have a paler and more delicate complexion, and, moreover, the expression of their faces is quite different from that of the others. ' "Noticing with what attention I was listening to her, she continued : 'The gentlemen that I refer to have nothing elegant about them except their clothes, for their conversatiou lacks novelty. How can a man who understands nothing but hunting and cricket intérest an intelligent woman? The conversation that goes on here in the name of wit makes me tired, but these gentlemen are the easiest of all to deceive. They aro great big children in everytbing except sport and politics.' "'But you are always eugaged, 'I said, 'and it is difflcult to get an opportunity to cbat with yon. You must already have had several offers of marriage?' " 'I have been only oue month here, and I have already had three. Two were from very rich sportsmen, but riches alone won 't do for me. What I am af ter, ' she added, laughing, 'is a title. You know, I must have a title. ' "At this moment the play in one of the neigh boring theaters was over, and the publio house was invaded by a crowd at men, more or lessstylish. The beautifol Irish girl kept herself somewhat aloof and only served customers that had the appearance of gentlemen. "Well, I left London. A few months afterward, on returning there, I wanted to see ouce more my beantiful Irish barmaid. She was goue. Anotber lady was in her place, and she told me that Miss Clara had left to inarry the second son of a prominc-ut nobleman. "