Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1850-10-26
AN AGREEABLE SKETCH.
THE GAME OF PROVERBS.
iFRoM THE FRENCH

iosl auu HOStcSS were IL llttle Vi tllc faR EN-
genus, but they were very amiable, and their
great wish was to make their country place, TO
which they had only lately succeeded, agreea-
bic. AS they were very rich, and had Il mag
niticent house in a beautiful country. and rs,
Sir John kept a good table, had Il
frst rate CHEF DE CUISINE, and was remarkable
for his excellent wines, for before lie death
Of his cousin, the late Sir John. he had been a
wine merchant,) Sir John and Lady Hatlon had
no difficulty in collecting Il host Of friends
about them in town, and Of these they deter
mined to select only the quite ELITE fer their
country party. The only difficulty was whom
o choose. Lady Hatton, whose father had
apt shop, wished to invite only the great
ID fashionabe; but Sir John, whose educa-
} had been somewhat neglected i'll early life,
Ferred men Of talent and science. Lady
On was too anlabe to contend with her
n.tnd, and Sir John invited all the first-rate
..snen, men OF science, poets, noVelsts, and
) .a'''sle could get. Unhappily, however, The
sutas not exactly what he expected. The
iiien s,iencc did not mix we'll with the men
VI 'ei9 land the artists; for, as they had no
su2Jech common, they felt as strangers to
eaeA oIt and each, conscious OF The celebrity
a.'"c'iea e. his name, was afraid OF committing
liiulse'I i.doing any thing which stranger
might 1,,lll'aanworthy N Of his previous replta
'ioii' N'"s can east a greater chill over
socie1y 'hahtear Of this kind. It is perfect
wei pis'fihet 1he fire of genius. SO the par
w hou2h costing Of some CT the cIeyerest
heh ol t.'e c'aEas undeniably slow; it was
Mofse' IL was eadfulIy oull; and in spite of
'he eoou coochesand the good wines, the dim
ne.s uIu m hot so SWell, for the guests would
iu' .aiA; \, ~ 'ae swing-room they were still
siiehl' 'iiey sauiltei about, opened books and
| i'io t'leiii Gown aga and looked the picture
OF ENSul, though LIZ Hatton hustled about
and tried 10 make eelf agreeable. and Mrs.
Delcour,a young Wias who was pretty, and
quite aware that she Y SO, fiirted with all the
men she could get to lhn to her LADY Hat
toms own two daughte who had Just left
school, gave no assistanein enrertajnjn5 the
guests, for they were too !, to talk and made
SO many difficulties about or singjnc.
that it was quite painful toss them. ..
Only two days of the we for which the
| party had been invited had pad, when il he
came quite evident to Mrs. Danr that so,pa-
| thing must be done. to save a uhn,a ra-ty
/ from dying with EssU1,go or elagg hou ,4tey
could. indeed, one or two had aodr bepra
| to talk about receiving letters onege,t bu-i-
ness, which wou compel them ttear them
selves away, &c, &c. On the eveny Of the
second day, therefore, when the VIZ of the
party had left the dn!ng-roonf and / ,,a,nl.-
men were lounging about the drawitsr sroo,o in
a most disconsolate manner, Mrs Defs,r .ud
denly exclaimed, awe must get up pyer}, %
| "What an excellent ideal" cried I4ad ,t.t
| ton, 81 have often heard of proverbs beil rer-
| formed by persons of rank and fashion"
! at shall be done," said Mrs, Delcour. Rnt
how shall we set about it? Don't you appse
of the plan r
81 think it admirable: but as to assist,
| You, must beg you to excuse me-"
"No excuse. You are quite celebrated Il
things Of this kind. | heard that you had Il,
entire management Of the proverbs at Lad
| Hebert's last winter"
"lt was precisely what happened there tina
has decided me never to attempt to get up
proverb again
"But what did happen there2''
"You know Lady Hebert's gouty old unc1e
the Admiral, and how. much Lady Hebe,t al
ways wishes to please him.
s.Oh, yes, yes! He's an old bachelor, al.
very rich. Well"
''He was to choose the proyerb, and !,
choose, "Good wine needs no sign"
"Rather an odd subject; but you have sue
talents, you can spiritualize any thing"
$50 they all said; and SO, at last, / suffere
myself to be persuaded to undertake it. Ther
is d fine picture gallery at Iiebeft Castle, wit
an arch near the centre, from which it was cas-
to let fall curtain, and doofs ut each end fo
the separate ingress and egress of the perform
ers and audience. There were plenty of per
formers, and the ladies were all crowdin.
around me, eager to know what they sI,oul1
wear. told them what they pleased, so tia
they did but actas pleased. They promised
every thing that could be desired. and SO
drew out my plan"
81 dare say you had good deal Of difficulty
in making them learn their paris.
sDifficustya Difficulty is no word forit i
was absolute martyrdom They would no
learn; they would not remember and | coule
never get them ali together to rehearse
aBut what was the end g
s.You shall hear Finding that some Of my
actors, who would perform in spite of every
thing, had neither memory nor presence oi
mind, the idea struck me to tell them, if they
found themselves in any difficulty, to say, y
hear some one coming," and unfortunately ]
communicated this idea to them all
sBut why unfortunately The idea ap.
pears to me a very good one.
$50 it did to me; but it not work well"
ssTIow so e
sThe company were all assembled. All the
beauty and talent Of the neighborhood were
collected together. Every body was in high
spirits, and all were impatient for the perform
ance to begin-and- Lady Herbert had
whispered about that the whole was arranged
by me all eyes were turned towards me, and
and--s.s
aWell! well! We can imagine all that
Go on!!' the Admiral, an old maid, tall, thin
and bony, with long neck, anda skin like
parchment; and she would absolutely
take the character of a Swiss peasant. with all
the accoutremehts complete
.ph Isee her! Miss Priscilla in bodice
wl az . X