Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1854-07-29
For the Thibodaux Minerva.
TILE LION.
BY A. WALLACE HUNTER.

The caption of this article is calculated to
lead one back TO those . halcyon days of yore',
of roundabout jackets pumps and Byroae
collars, buttered bread, spruce beer, syntax
..hggers and first cggss readers. Doubtless
the king Of beasts has furnished you Gas it has
me) the theme Of many school' composition" !"
in which the usual length, breadth and height
of the animal in question were given with seru-
pulous minuteness-from Peter Parley's Natural
History.
The object of this composition is to clear
the name of this noble animal from the foul
stains with which society has seen fit to soil
it. The lion is much injured and abused
individual, inasmuch as his name has been ap-
Piled to certain classes of individuals that infest
the circles of our best society. Your so-styied
exquisite of the first water is Lion, though it
would puzzle even a more astute parsonage than
aPhiladephia lawyer to trace the resemblance
between the animal itself and the meustaehed
object that bears its name, unless it be in the
superabundance of hair in which they both de-
light. He is, as I said, a Lion, fashionable
Lion. a tame Lion, rery tame one too, as you
may determine by his learned dissertations upon
the peculiar cut Of the newest fashions his
brilliant remarks upon the foibles OF his neigh
bors, and his pungent and racy anecdotes of
scandal. -
Know thyself" is, with him, Know thy
neighbour" and this. in manner, accounts for
the singular faculty he possesses of detecting a
flaw in that neighbor's title deeds to place in
the :. first circles
To say chat Fred. Augustus Adelphus moues in
good society," would be saying little, he has ta-
ken stand in the very BEST society, and from
that modest merit sinks into 'insgnifcance, and
in vulgar pa5snce, is ssno where
n This animal comes into the world like all
others OF the yeaas homo, and makes his exit in
the usual manner. The first evidence of future
greatness is evineed in his praisewerthy deyo-
tons to his upper lip, which he keeps g stiff, =
and the attention which he bestows upon that
hirsute appendage, usually deuominateda a nous
tache. From the hour that military soap or
Jules HauePs cream raises aeeeg, ow-lke.
cloud about his checks and upper lip, and the
keen steel glides smoothly and rapidly over his
skin, Qike o bully who RACES most violently when
his enemy is not present, so the razor glides
most rapidly where construction, there is
none") the exqisite commences his butterfly
existence. A trip to Europe is all that is re-
quisite for him to be eiassed among the Lions of
the day With guide-boek in his hand and
shrewd laequey at his side he gets the names of
places and titles of the dignitaries of the old
world firmly fixed in his memory. He returns
home filled with admiration and reverence for
the. peculiar institutions Of Europe, and un-
disguised contempt for his native land. Hecan
tell YOU with an occasional glance In his daryf1
how on such an evening he met La Comptesse
Rongetnoir at the house of u mutual acauaint-
anee, lie Baron Trietrac, and how the Countess
was pleased to win sundry gold Napoleons from
.tT Il. L.,
bis French aequaintances). How graciously the
Countess was pleased to offer him seat in her
opera box, and how generously the Baron ten
tered him an invitation to his chateau in Bre-
tagHe. Envious scandal-mongers located this
same chateau en- Ewagns1
The Countess was decidedly in love with him.
but her liege lord de facto if not de jdre, was
still in existence. Though not exactly III ParIs1.
Adolphus, as a strictly moral man, was obliged
to Hy from her .inarked attentions and take
refuge in Rome, where the La Marchesa
Viola, Ia charming widow with m ugly guardi-
an BECAME desperately smitten and actually
proposed an elopemeht The collection of her
rents being in the hands of her guardian, Viola
was found wanting in the .'root Of all evil,
Heaven send US more of it). Adolphus was
but too happy to furnish her with few hundred
scudi. He will tell you vita touching pathos
that be waited two hours beyond the appointed
0me and that then muffied figure glided by,
Whispering in good French, fly" dropping at
his feet highly perfumed note.
The poor thing" says Adolphus, tearfuliy.
Her old husband had turned up,' and her
guardian discovered the plot. He had threat
ened disclosure unless she delivered up all the
leweis and scudi received from her sdored friend
what could she do but submit and urge her
dearest Adolphus to fly from Rome? Of course
ssnas could in reason do nothing else, and
mas o,nersd home to marry the first heiress
mat maAes love to his moustache
The maiden Of ssye elden time" was wont to
lssllne BY the side of some meandering stream
.ad sigh for some gallant Knight of La Manrha
spouse her cause Armed cap-a-pied be
Maxes his appearance and as matter of course
Ms N love. Vows Of eternal constancy are
sxchanged, and With Il 10 by II portrait Of his
,pulclaea dome in water colersl pendant upon
~ nreassplate, the gallant lover salIies forth TO
g aaftle in her name. Kissed by every drop Of
aler that falls aslant from heaven, the 9 paint
oecnmes somewhat efaced.
hol all ye gallant Knights Of Christen-
SonF cries Don Alphonso jose del Quitero,
proclaim thesmaid whose portrait hangs on
~ oreastplate las her image upon my heart)
lne pangen Of beautyl''