Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1841-09-18

| fortunate, everybody is at home, and by an
i~nestiInable hazard the elegant woman so
much sought after is at home, which allows
you to provoke their confidence. Here you
! are at the Vicountess de IT'S. This woman is
no uncomprehended beauty-she's the queen
OF every draWing-room, the star OF every tste,
admired, adored, envied-loved she is young
and rich, free though unwidowed, which is the
acme of liberty. Her husband is an old fool,
who you see has just left her to run after an
American dancer, who is eternally travelling,
like the wandering Jew-in fact that wander-
ing Jews wife must certainly be a free wo-
man. Her Ladyship the Vieountess you are
told ID in her garden you 70 down the front
steps, and softly steal down a mysterious
avenue. Amongst the trees in the distance
you perceive the beautiful Stephania-the
folds of her long dress of lilac taffety, shot
with gold, floats on the grass-she is seated
by a wooden table; an open book is before her,
but she III not reading-her elbows rest upon
its pages as though they were a cushion, and
her face is hidden in her hands. " Madame"
say you-- Immediately she raises her head,
and you are struck mute with establishment
to behold her fine face bathed in tears. She
endeavors to smile, and hastens to wipe her
eyes but her tears flow too ahundantly to be
dried SO quickly ; she remains silent a mo-
ment, and then asks your pardon for weeping.
You are in your turn troubled, not expecting
to find the charming wording in suchdespair.
"IIave you received any distressing news?!"
you inquire. mo" replies she "when alone,
| often weep without a cause-don't mind il,
pray" " YOU shed tears you, whose ex-
istenee is so brilliant" yes ; brilliant, per-
haps, but not happy" "You who are so
beautiful and SO beloved" allowed, say you?
What, then, do you think that love is happl-
ness to d woman? Love is but a moment of
a 1ife-a d.eam-often a painful dream the
only true affections of d woman are family af-
f~ections a mother-sisters who administer
to her wants-a husband that protects her
children that cherish her. The ONE envy
me my liberty, and curse it that very llber-
ty is my torture-it is not independence-but
| loneliness and abandonment. If you only
knew how miserable | am here, always alone
! in this house never to leave any one here
when / go out-never finding any one here
when | return never to hear any sound in
tito think that door can only open to a visi-
tor lever living with strangers, for the man
; most loved, most worthy of being SO, can never
Il NC dizzy OtllSl lllAtt q AiiSN y" kiO sSbShA
| who has no right to love him. Alas a mar
| rage, another amour, might make him an
enemy. Oh did you know how dull and
charmless my life is, YOU would not be aston
ished to see me weep, and you would pity
| me-"
Whilst listening to this confession you are
| seeking some kind words by which you may
| perhaps, solace such deep grief; but you find
| none, and remain COMPOUNDED! Fortunately the
young woman, following up her idea,againtakes
| up her melancholy strain. "Yes," continues
| she, signing, woman can only know pleasure
in the bosom Of a family" This gives you an,
idea ; you can scarcely refrain from smiling,V
| and you exclaim, "On! if Madame de Val.
langes could hear you, what would she say!!"
" What! does she say anything, that little
| minxW replies the beautiful Stephania, with
| a disdainful air. "Yes; she says (and you
| exaggerate, the better to cossole) that life in
the bosom of a family is a very hell. She
| says it is impossible to be amiable in the heart
| of one when she sings well, her mother
! grumbles at her; if she chat with the young
| gents, her sisters cry out that she is compro-
| missing herself, and that her character is gone;
| her husband tyrannises over her her brother
| p~ersecutes her. They won't allow her to be
cheerful, to go to the theatre and amuse her
| self-that she is condemned to wear only old
gowns and old caps, and they oblige her to ap-
pear ugly and stupid to conceal her wit and
beauty g Oh! sir, but that is a frightful ex-
istence "Yes, madam, that is a family
| life" aBut / should die if were compelled
to put up with all those a~nnoyances p swell,
then, madam, when your solitude appears too
| cruel, think a little or that poor young woman
that consideration will console you."-
| Madame Emile de Grardin.