Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-06-25
THE GAZETTE.
LES GlilSt.TrES.
SATURDAY MORNING. JUNE -. 1859.

Lf.S "hiStl lES.
Griscttr household word, Yet very few
Americans know lis real meaning. LES
GiSrtf,S form IA portion ot society which Ii
not without painful interest in La he a
PniS, where vice is cloakcd under the recent
ly invented title Of lie Demi-Non3e. \ class.
a. extrayarant as il was immoral. existed in
France from the minority OF Louis Nv. Ia
the outbreak of the revolution i'll 1875. Ii
was the custom of les seiynemx to have for
their accredited mistress an actress "tunte,
and publicly contribute to her expenditure.
which did not in the least prevent an at
relations with young and poor girls their
interiors. The actress lived in great state,
and WAS proud il Il livery habitually seen at
the Palace of Versailles WAS recognized i'll
herante-chamber Confidential i0gnais We're
kept, and dressed in gray (Uis), that billet
d"ux might he conveyed t" and fro without
too much publicity whence comes the name
Of Grisons So freely used in the comedies and
romances of that period. Poor girls tgene-
rally milliner's apprentices, sempstresses,
&c J employed by les gramdes dames to re-
ceive the letters from the ioquaiS 50 traves-
tied were called by analogy GrisetteS.
Very unustly this name was, by degrees,
applied to all who lived by the labor Of their
hands. though the greater part of this class
were strictly Virtuous, and contented to lead
life of honest industry. At that period
the daughters Of decayed noble families were
taught the trade OF making ladies' under
clothing, and employed as sempstresses in the
work rooms, and were. like all apprentice.
oftbat peculiar branch of trade, distinguish
ed by their modesty of bearing and simpli-
city of costume. The grisette owes her de-
signation and melancholy profession to the
noble and rich men of that time. The girl
settle of the present day is less avaricious and
more sincere She devotes herself principal
ly to the student. till the period of his studies
is terminated, and he seeks a wife and for
tune. 1t is impossible not deeply to COM
miserate those poor girls, destined to life Of
shame or to terminate their existence by sui
eide, when we remember their extreme youth,
scarcely beyond childhood. the sincerity Of
their attachments, and early misery.
The number of grisettes who end their
career by poison, drowning or asphyxia is
truly horrible and can be traced only to their
dereliction from the right path, and early
connection with young men their superiors In
intellect and education, and subsequent cruel
abandonment by them. Much Indignation
has, with great Justice, been expended on the
men of name and rank who originated this
evil; but why pass over the corruption of the
present day, which it is still in our power
to remedy? Romance writer's and vaude'
villists represent the grisette as peculiarly
pretty, coquettish and gay; hut truth before
all things Complete the picture, and We see
her at thirty broken in health, her character
and person wreck, despised and iorsaken
by her own class, unable to support her bit
ter earthly SORROW, and the morrow of that
day probably finds her stretched cold and
still, an object of warning and commisela-
ton to the visitor of the Morgue.