Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-01-26
TALLEYRAND AND THE COUNTRY
WOMAN.

In 1893, NJ. de Talleyrand was in Boston
One day while crossing the market-place,
he was compelled to stop by long row of
wagons, all loaded with vegetables. The
willy courtier, generally SO dead to emotion,
could but look with kind of pleasure at
these wagons, and the little Wagoners, who,
by-the-by, were young and pretty country
women Suddenly the vehicle came to
stand, and the eyes OF NJ de Talleyrand
chanced to rest upon one of the young wo-
men, who appeared more lovely and grace
full than the others. An exclamation esca-
ped from his lips 1t attracted the atten-
ton of the fair one, whose country dress
and large hat bespoke daily visits to the
market As she beheld the astonished Tai
leyrand, whom she recognized Immediately,
she burst out laughing.
''What is it you?n exclaimed she
''Yes, indeed, it is l. But you, what
are you doing here p
81 p said the young woman, II am wait
ing for my turn to pass on am going to
sell my greens and vegetables at the mar
ket.
At that moment the wagons began to move
along; she of the straw hat applied the
whip to her horse, told M. de Talleyrand
the name Of the village where she was liv-
ing, requesting him earnestly to come and
see her. disappeared, and left him as if riv-
eted to the spot by this strange appari-
ton
Madame la Comtesse de la Tour -du-pin,
(Mademoiselle de Dillon, the most elegant
among the ladies of the court of Louis
XVIth, King of France, and whose moral
and intellectual worth had shone with so
dazzling luster IN the society of her nu-
merous friends and admirers At the time
when the French nobility emigrated she
was young, lovely, endowed with the most
remarkable talents, and, like all the ladies
who held a rank at court, had only had time
| to attend to such duties as belonged to her
highly fashionable and courtly life.
| Let any one fancy the sutferings and ago
ny of that woman, born in the lap of wealth
| and who had breathed nothing but perfumes
under the gilded ceilings of the royal palace
at Versailles, when all at once she found
herself surrounded with blood and massa-
cres, and saw every kind of danger beset-
ting her young and beloved husband and
| her infant child.
They succeeded in flying from France. 1t
was their good fortune to escape from the
| bloody land where Robespierre and his as
| sociates were busy at the work of death.
Alas in those times of terror the poor chill
| dren themselves abandoned the pare ntal
roof, for no hiding place was secure against
the vigilant eye ofthose monsters who thirs-
| ted for innocent blood
The fugitives landed in America, and first
went to Boston, where they found retreat.
But what a change for the young, pretty,
and fashionable lady, spoiled from infancy
| by loud and continual praises of her beauty
and talents
Mons. de la Teur- -du-Pin was extrayagant-
! IL fond of his wife. At the court of France
he had seen her, with the proud eye of a
husband, the object Of general admiration.
| Indeed her conduct had always been virtu'
| Gus and exemplary. But now in foreign
! land, and among unsophisticated republi-
cans, (l793) what was the use of courtly re.
| finement
Happy as he was in seeing her escape
| from all the perils he had dreaded on her
own account, still he could not but deplore
the future lot of the wife of his bosom.
However, with the prudent foresight of q
good father and kind husband, he nerved
1 himself against despair, and exerted himself
4 to render their condition less miserable thar
that of many emigrants who were starving
| when the little money they had brought
/ over with them had been exhausted. Not q
word Of English did he know; but his wife
spoke ii iuently, and admirably well.
They boarded at Mrs, Mufers good
natured, notable woman, who, on every oe
casion, evinced the greatest respect and al
miration for her fair boarder; yet M. de Ia
Tour-du-pin was in constant dread lest the
conversation of that good, plain, and well
meaning woman, might be the cause OF grea
I . ~ b;s ladr What n contrast to the