The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1850-04-11
MOMENT OF MY LIFE

HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE.
In all the pride and condescenson of
all inmate of Grosvenor-square, looked
upon Lady Motiey's sAt Home Yes
| said, flinging away the card, with
tragedy twist of the fngers-'yes; will
be there. For one evening l will encoun-
ter the tedium and the taste of village
ball. For one evening | will doom my
self to figures that are out of date, and
fddles that are out of tune; dowagers who
make embroidery by wholesale, and de-
moiselles who make conquests by profes-
sion; for one evening [ will endure the
inquiries about Almack's and ST. Paul's,
the tales of the weddings that have been
and the weddings that are to be, the round
of curlsies in the ballroom, and the round
of beef at the supper-table; for one evening
will not complain of lhe everlasting hos
tess and the everlasting Boulinger. of the
double duty and the touble bass, of the
great heiress, and the great plum puddidg:
"Come on, come all.
Come dance III Sir Rogers hall "
And thus by dint Of civility, Incidence
quotation and antthesis, bent up each
corporal agent to the terrible feat. and
"would have the honor of waiting upon
her lady yship''-in due FORM
l went: turned my uncle's one horse
chaise into the long old avenue, about an
hour after the Sine specified, and percei-
we'd by the lights flashing from all the
windows, and the crash of chairs and
carriages returning from the door, that the
room was most punciually full, and the
performers most pastorally impatient
The first face | encountered on my en-
trance, was that of my old friend Vilars;
| was delighted to meet him. and express
ed my astonishment at finding him in a
situation for which his inclination, one
would have supposed,was as little adapted.
BY Mercury!' he exclaimed, lam me-
tamorPhosed, fairly metamorpLosed, my
good Fyvyan; l have oeen detained here
three months by fall from Sir Peter,
and have amused myself most indelaiaga-
bly, by humming tunes and reading news
papers. winding silk, and guessing con-
undrums. | have made myself the admi-
ration, the alteration, the very worship of
all the coteries in the place; am reckoned
very clever al cross purposes. and very
apt at whats my thought like!' The
'squires have discovered | can carve, aud
the matrons hold me indispensable at loo.
Comel am of little service tonight, but
my popularity may be of use to YOU: you
don't know a soul.-I thought so; read it
IN your face the moment YOU came in
never saw such - there, Vyvyan,
look there! | will introduce you" And
so saying, my companion half limped.
half danced with me up to Miss Amelia
Mesnil, and presented me in due form.
When | look back 10 any particular
scene OF my existence, can Neeer keep
the stage clear of second-rate characters.
| never think of Mr.. Kean's Othello with
out an intrusive reflection upon the sub
Ject of Mr.. CoPper's Cassie; never call
| to mind a gorgeous scattering forth of ro-
ses from Mr.. Canning. without painful
idea of some contemporary efIusion OF
poppies from Mr.. Hume. And thus,
beautiful Margaret, it is in vain that | en-
deavor to separate your fascination from
I the group which was collected around
you. Perhaps that dominion, which al
! this moment feel almost revived, recurs
! more vividly to my Imagination when the
forms and figures of all by whom it was
contested are associated in its renewal.
First comes Amelia the magni ficent
the acknowledged belle of the country,
very stiff and very dumb in her unheeded
and uncontested supremacy; and next. the
most black-browed of fox-hunters, Angus
ia, enumerating the names of her fathers
stud, and dancing as if she imitated and
then the most accomplished Jane, vowing
that for the last month she had endured
immense e1uaui, that she thinks Lady Oh
ivia prodigiously fade, that her cousin
Sophy is quite 6riAante to-nig hit, and tha
/ Mr.. Peters plays the violin ,aerpeiile
| Il am bored, my dear Villars-positive
| ly bored! the light is bad and the music
| abomlnable! there is no spring IN ihe
boards and less in the conversation; it is a
lovely moonlight night, and there is moth
ing worth looking at in the room.'
| l shook hands with my friend, bowed to
three or four people, and was moving of
As passed to the door, | met two ladie:
| in conversation; .sDon't you dance any
more, Margaret said one. 80 no. replidt
the other, Il am bored, my dear Louisa
positively bored; the light is bad and tn,
J music abominable; there is no spring il