Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-08-19
A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE.
La BELLE MARINIERF

There must be truth in the assertion
that we all must die, says Paris paper
for Madame la Comtessc De Lagny is
dead at last; and certainly, if there had
been an exception to the rule. it would
have been made in her favor She herself
was wont to declare, till the very hour of
her death, that she saw no reason, be-
cause everybody had been called away,
that everybody should be summoned
and so went OH amusing herself, laugh
ing and meandering to the very end. She
was ninety-siX, and yet stood in her shop
till within few hours of her dcccase-
for Madame la Comtesse DC Bagny, after
ninety-six years experience of the worlds
bitterness, declared there was no state
like that ola small bontiquier for iasouci-
ancc and real enjoyment of liberty and
happiness. She loved to tell her story to
her customers. 1t is one of the most Gu
riOus ever played out by any of the poor
players summoned to act their part on the
worlds stage.
In her youth she was called la belle
mdaniere, from the fathers trade-that
of salt merchant to the royal household.
You will find her name, sung by the very
first poets of the day, and can behold her
portrait at Versailles in the famous pic
ture Flats Gcncre0Ar. Notwithstanding
her beauty, which brought her many
lovers, she remained unwcdded until past
the usual age. She loved her indepen-
dencc, and looked forward to the prospect
of keeping the salt shop, as the greatest
happiness fate had power to bestow.
She was one day standing at the door
Of the shop, when a rush of people flying
in all directions alarmed her so much as
to cause her to close the shutters inme-
diately, and while she was on the out
side, charge of cavalry passed by at
full gallop, cutting away at the crowd
right and left, without mercy. 1t was
the Prince de Lambcsc, at hehead of his
regiment of Royal Allemand pursuing
the harmless promenade1s, and uncon-
sciousl ly commencing the French Reyo-
luton
The belle mGrinierc fled back into the
shop, barred and bolted it within, and
then discovered stranger lying upon the
blocks of salt with which the place was
filled, bleeding in torrents from wound
IN his head. 1t was young officer of
Lambscc' S regiment, who had fallen from
his horse just at the threshold, having
been beaten down by an iron bar from the
hand of the blacksmith next door, The
belle martniere was wise enough not to
seek aSsiStance-she nursed the Young
lnan in secrecy, and hid him through all
nd atC,1 oh @hn
cion of concealment created amongst her
neighbors.
She married him some years afterwards
and shonc as the most devoted and high
souled among the emigres at Brunswick.
At the Restoration she was installed in
the estate of the family, and when her
husband died she gave them up to his
brothers child. The civil list of Charles
X. was providing for her in comfort,
sufficient for her modest pretcntions,
which never sought anything hey ond the
happiness of others, when the Revolution
of 1880 left her without the means of
living; and old as she was, she obtained
no help from those who had surrounded
her in prosperity.
SO, finding she was not expected to
maintain any aristocratic rank, she turn
ed once more to her old associates, and
again returned toher salt-shop, where she
succeeded so well that she lived in affln-
ence for the last twenty years, and has
left small and comfortable fortune to
her husbands grand nephew, whose
property has been completely dilapidatcd
10y political vicissitude.