My First Years as a Frenchwoman 1876 to 1879

My first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction rather intimidated me. We were fifty people–I the only lady. I went over to the ministry in the afternoon to see the table, which was very well arranged with quantities of flowers, beautiful Sevres china, not much silver–there is very little left in France, it having all been melted at the time of the Revolution. The official dinners are always well done in Paris. I suppose the traditions of the Empire have been handed down. We arrived a few minutes before eight, all the staff and directors already there, and by ten minutes after eight every one had arrived.