Mountain Democrat., 1857-05-23
NUMBER 9.
Age before Beauty.

A good anccdote of Napoleon and the
ladies who attended his first grand recep.
ton at the Tuillerics, was told by DR..
Baird, in recent lecture at St Louis -
''The old nobility had departed, and ev.
crything was new. The invited guests
were mostly military officers and their
wives. Some two thousand ladies' were
present When supper time came, they
OF course took precedence Of the gentle
men. A question arose, who had the
right to 20 first. The great dining hall
was thrown open, admitting them, and
the doors were then closed, and tho off,
GERS of the palace found it impossible to
open them. The dispute among the Ia.
dies grew warm. One lady said the right
was hers, as her husband was q great
general; but she soon found that others
maintained, on one ground or the other,
that their claims were greater. Mean
while, the officers could not get the doors
open, and in CONSERVATION one of them
hastened to the First Consul, and asked
him how they should settle the question
of precedence. "Oh," says Bonaparte,
nothing is easier; tell them the eldest Is
to 90 iirst!' The officer reported to tho
ladies the First Consul's decision, and in
Stantly they all fell back! This gave the
officers MI opportunity to get the doorA
open, when, TO their astonishmcnt, mono
Of the ladies' were willing to &c. fret At
ter standing in that idicuous position for
moment, they began to laugh heartily
at their own folly, aEd nil marched into
the dining-room without further delay"
This, said br. Baird, is one Of the thou.
sand and one stories they tell in Paris of
the "Grcat Napoleon" to illustrate the
readiness Of his wit.
Mr.. PhGnix writes: ACCOMPANIED by
my old friend Butterficld, who had Joined
uS at Memphis, landed ut New Orleans,
and proceeded forthwith to the st. Charles
Hotel! At this great tavern Amos ex.
pected to meet his wife, who had arrived
from California to rcjoin him after three
months separation. never saw man
so nervous. lie rode on the outside Of
the coach with the driver, that he might
obtain the earliest view Of the building
that contained his adorcd one. It was
with great difficulty that kept pace with
him Us he 'tulnutuously rushed up the
step leading to the Rotunda. In an in
slant he was at the office and caspine
Mrs. Buttcrticld.' In the parlor, SIR re.
piled Dan, and he was off. l followed
and saw him stop with surprise as no
came to the door. In the centre of the
parlor stood Mrs. Butterfield. That ad.
mirablc lady had adopted the very latest
and most voluminous style; and having
on rich silk of grcensh hue, looked like
lovely bust OH the summit of Q new
mOwn hay stack. Butterfield was appall-
ed for moment; but hearing her crv
AmosP no answered Historically, my
Amander" and rushed on.- lie ran three
times around Mrs. Butter6cld, but it was
ofno use, he couldn't get in. He tried to
climb her, but the hoops gave way and
frustrated the attempt. He extended his
arms to her; she held out hers to him:
tears were in their eyes. 1t was the
most affecting thing | ever witnessed.
Finally, Mrs. Butterfeld sat down, and
Amos got behind the chair and kissed
her until their little offspring, by howling
and biting the calf of his leg created di.
version. They were very happy, so were
the people in the parlor. Everybody an
pcared delighted; and small bow, u
year or two older than little Amos, lump.
cd up and down like whip-saw, and
holloa'd Hoop &c" with all his might
Buttcriield,' said ], an hour or two Ia.
ter, 4 suspect that Mrs Butterfleld has
adopted hoops
oh! yes answered he, Il saw that
sticking out. Perhaps it will obviate the
little tendency She Eas to blow up. I'm
glad ofit."