Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-05-24

BELL. SxrrH AsaoAD.-The above
work hz< been placed upon our table BY
the sntSprisins paAlisher. H5T Der
tby. Cins;nnstil We have pa5lished
enc or Two letisrs rom this charming
writer. therefore our readers snd Bell
Smith are nos,strshgers. SThe Louis
vile Journal. in which paper the let
tsFs originally appeared, thas speaks of
Bell Smith
"Her own brilliant peH. and her own
sparkling. witching. and delightful style
have SO often graced the columns of this
paper and have made so many friends
and admirers for her, that we need say
bat little toward creating q demand for
this charming volume. But some trib-
ute Is nevertheless due to Bell Smith for
the real pleasure she has impaired h
every chapter Of her book, and that
tribute we cheerfully pay. Her admir-
rable powers seem SO much at home In
every variety and phase of life, that she
tcschcs no subject without making it
sparkle with the lights Of her genius
The voyage across the Atlantic is
sketched with charming grace and in
Bell Smith s peculiar style. Mrs. T.,
her oddities, her advestures with the
English highwayman, the woman with
the seventeen years headache and an
appetite to correspond, the eager rush
upon the pilot of the English Channel
for Times newspaper three weeks old,
are sketched in Bell Smiths best man
ner. Havre, Rouen, and the repeated
"sales" of the American party in search
of -.the old cathedral" and "the mon
ument to Joan of Arc'r are drawn with
graphic power. Her sketch Of French
and English hotels is not long, but it
speaks volumes. She says: "French
hotels, like their counterparts over the
Channeh are manned bysportsmen, who
take game upon the wing. So very Sc
we're are the hunters IN their charge up
on the unfortunates that the game gets
outwith squeak, SO dreadfully plucked,
so near the abstract, that it may be
thankful, indeed, to escape, owning
enough feathers to fly with. None but
a bird of passage, entirely ignorant of
where to place the sole of his foot. ever
futtered into such an ambush; so the
keen sportsman makes the most Of such
as fallin his way" Indeed there seems
to be little chance Of escape even by
keeping clear of this class of "sports-
men," for in her enlarged experience
Bell Smith says: "Tf comfort or enjoy
ment is the object, Parisis the last place
to seek for residence. Comfort is out
of the question and the enjoyments are
traditions. What can one think Of a
people without the word ''home" in their
language-withouta chimney, in an i'm
mense city, that smokes at the right end;
or of a people who sell wood and coal
BY the weight, and burn them in home-
pathic doses? Why a Frenchman, new
er thinks Of making Ere, if he can look
from his room across the street at his
neighbor's. What is to be thought Of
people whose circulating medium is
copper and counted by centimes? We
have been called money-making peo-
pie, as compared to the French; it is
vile slander. To come from New York |
to- this place paris )is 70 leave gene
rous, impulsive people. for narrow,
avaricious crowd, that come so unex-
pectedly upon you that you are astoun-
ded, and hesitate about expressing the
fact. You leave great heart of a great
country, sthrobbing with the currents of
a underworld commerce, and moving
with the dignity of a nation possessed
of destiny, for country of tradesmen
without trade, and avaricious without
money. = A merchant with
us is a gentleman; here he is a cheat"
The reader viii be amused with the re-
suits of Bell Smith IS attempts to be eco
nomical in breakfast at Paris. The
is detailed in The 9Th chap
ter"
This work may be found at Neal &
M'Cormick's. Also the lives Of Bar
mum, Seward and Houston, with many
aN Il i \