Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-09-12

penulnS MS nead close TO 1t he carefully
took from his face his nose! Here nv
grandfather groaned audibly, but the
! Fren nchman either did not hear, or did not
care, for after placing the nose in the case,
he swung the case on another peg, and
proceeded with the strange mysteries of
his toilet. My grandfather, much shocked,
drew the sheet over his head. but without
knowing what he was about, drew it off
again and took another peep. The French
man was just taking off cork leg which
he stood against the wall beneath the
pegs. ..-- ,r.
My grandfather was highly indignant.
He felt tha. this stranger was taking a
great liberty by thus, as it were, pulling
himself to pieces in his presence: but he
concluded 1T would be undignified in him
| to quarrel with the small remnant of a
man that was slowing itself away in the
single bedstead opposite him: so he looked
savagely at the row of pegs, refused to
speak to the smiling Frenchman at break
fast the next morning, and spoke con-
temptuously of the French nation for the
rest of his life My grandmother who
had the amiable weakness of agreeing
with her husband on all occasions, hated
every thing French too.
! BY grandmother's favorite seat was in
a damask Stuffed chair that was always
placed on the right side of the fireplace.
Over the chair swung an oval framed
picture, representing a beautiful young
woman, who was no other than herself
in her palmy days, when she won the de-
voted heart of the old gentleman, for
whom she was still wearing mourning
and shedding tears. She would sit
straight as a grenadier in this old FASH
ioned chair, and discourse upon the folly
OF the present age, sighing that departed
for ever was the good old times. Nv hat.'
she would say, did womans modesty
depart with the last stitf:necked English
soldier that left our shores after the rev.
olutlon! for ever since our noble hus-
bands and fathers achieved our freedom,
the women Of the United States seem to
have joined together to set the laws of
decency at Defiance Or, is it that dress
material is so scarce that young women
can not get enough to cover their should
ers and bosoms! What mean these mis-
cradle French things they call tournures?
Where Is the sense of a woman making a
dromedary of herself by wearing a bishop!
Why don't she cover her arms and her
ancles! What would ST. Paul say if he
were to drop down from Heaven one of
these mornings into the pulpit of st.
Johns, and preach sermon to the wo-
men! All. those good old days are gone
for ever, when women dressed as women
| oughtn'
Often when the old lady was holding
forth in this manner, [ would be puzzled
| 10 understand the style of her own cos
tune IN the picture of which | have just
spoken; and once when she was unusually
severe in her structures on modern fash
ions, | could not help glancing at the pic
ture with smile. She colored little,
and then assuming an air of stately and
! offended dignity, said, 4 know what you
mean by that smile. But in my dav,
women had necks and shoulders and
arms worth showing. They were not
shrlvelled up before they were twenty by
dlssipation-by waltzing with foreigners
arms about their waists, and eating hot
terrapin and iced punch until the middle
by proper exercise; their persons were
developed by attention to the laws of
health; their cheeks brilliant with the
glow from regular and active employment,
their countenances radiant with good hui
NOR from the enjoyment of proper society,
and the perusal of proper books
| viii here observe that my grandma
ther was represented in the picture as q
! young woman with magnificent bust
shghtip shielded by the waist of her dress
which was not as wide as the back of her
small hand, and over her arms was no
sleeve, onl y little rutfies of lace falling
| from the arm hole. 1t seemed ii was the
fashion of her day too for woman to be
proud of her beauty, but the sin of her
| descendants was not in being less modest,
| but less beautiful. But even in her old
| age, my grandmother was beautiful, and
| you could not differ from her when you
looked at her. My grandfather adored
her. He would tap his snuff box as lie
was about to administer himself pinch,
when my grandmother had canfnted him
III some religious argument, (they pre-
! tended to differ, to hear themselves talk
and looking lovingly at her, would say,
All Penelope, you have such winning
| ways to make one hate you"
Gentlemen of the Star, | have often
thoug hit of what my grandmother used to
say of the early fading Of woman's beauty
i'll our city, as [ observe how fair and
lovely many Washington girl is in her
first winter, how faded and fragile she is
in her second, and after her fourth or
t fifth, how old and dowdy she becomes
Why, with all her care and struggle with
life, my grandmother never looked as
jaded and timeworm (she was eighty-four