The New York herald., 1870-07-31

CHARMETTEs, France, July Is, 1870.
If any Of your readers were brought up on the
principle that hard truths should be impressed on
the minds Of youth very pleasantly they may re-
member few pictorial demonstrations which en-
Ilvened their childhood, and perchance among
them the following:-A slate on which the parent
drew quantity Of crossed bars, and by their
side mound of dimlnutive letters, which on close
inspection were found to be small e's. "That," !"
would the head Of the nursery say, "is puzzle;
ut is the picture OF mans life. and the one who
reads it rightly shall have two pieces of batter
pudding to-day at dinner" At this announce
ment all the curly heads and chubby cheeks pres
tent were pressed together over the talsmanic
characters, for what would be dire punishment
to many Of us in ripe age was the reward of our
boyhood. If, after time, the keenest of the
lot "gave 1t up" and had to limit his
ambition to single piece of pudding, the kind
moralst would triumphantly exclaim, ''why, can't
any of you make out what mans life is made Of
1t is as clear as possible" Thereupon all the
little ones would strain their eyes and brains over
the picture again, until mans life looked like no.
thing but one mass of pudding. Then the instiller
of hard maxims would explain, "Mans life is made
of many crosses and little es (ease)."
How often has carefully trained fashion writer
to echo this truism, but how much oftener does he
mot calculate this echo when he is tempted so to
do Not only fashion writer's (though there exists
mo fair proportion at all between their comforts
and crosses here below, but other single men ex-
perence similar temptations to moralze about
mans life. For instance, when one is asked to
turn the leaves over for q lady singing "Wilt
thou love me then as now? ?' "I'll pray for
thee" 81 wish 1 didn't love him, as he
loved me-" can anything be more intolcrable
than his position, with a whole tea party sitting
round in cool contemplation of his impressions?
Then, to every lover of liberty can anything be
much worse at dinner than the undivided atten-
ton ofa mamma who has quiver full of daughters
remember an incident that occurred to myself
of peculiarly uncomfortable nature. Ihad spent
the afternoon with cousin Adela, who married
William, my college chum, and, at that time, she
had had her first baby about three months-a mo-
del baby / was told, that never screamed nor
yelled. The truth is l didn't hear it either-untl
suddenly one afternoon there was ring at the
garden bell, and Adela, remembering she had
not changed her dress for dinner, asked me just
to hold the "dear little thing'' minute, for she
was quite sure that was "William's ring, and he
did 80 like her to look nice when he came home.n
OF course consented to hold the baby. which
left of all its model ways instantaneously swung
it up and down in the tenderest manner, and
hoped William would soon come in; but
when the handle of the door turned,
in entered whole room full of young
ladies, who began to. giggle. Tableau. The
sight can be imagined. !, q man of the
worlds man known to write the quintessence
- LolJ LoL
now as red as lobster and its long clothes dan
Cling about my legs, and no one offering to relieve
me- Would not any one in this condition acqui-
esce In the many crosses and little ease of mans
life There are, fortunately, compensations,
and this leads me to the subject of this letter
my visit, as your readers may remember, with
Mile. lmperia to the quarters of the First regi-
ment of dragons ut Tours
There was I unexpectedly led to chaperon a
beautiful girl among six hundred fiery dragons
on the very day q telegram from Paris or dered
them to hold all in readiness for war with Prus-
sia. On drawing up in froEt of the quartier" Mlle
Imperia was very much struck with the command
ing aspect Of the Guardsmen in their very i'm
posing uniform: High towering brass he'll
NETS, cast after the Roman model, with
long horsetai flowing from the top
behind blue cloth .tunic coats and ponder
GUS hanging swords, high leather boots and spurs,
red trousers and spiky mustnches Grave and
solemn were their countenances until they were
spoken to; then very respectful soldierly bow
was maintained as long as Mile. Imperia explained
that she wished to speak to the Marquis de c.,
of the - squadron. The request passed from
mouth to mouth to an officer, who sent for the Mar
Huis While these preminaries were going on
Mile. lmperia bore the quiet inspection of the
massive dragons on duty with her usual self-pos-
session and unassumed dignity SO different from
pride.
looked around. The buildings reserved for the
corps are spacious, and in front extends magnif-
cent plain called the Champ de Mars, from which
a view OF the Loire can be had when there is any
Loire. At this moment the river is dried up. 1t
seemed impossible that in 1856 the Loire should
have inundated the city of Tours in few hours
and ruined the whole population around.
, While was examining the works now erected
along the .quays to avoid the repetition of such
catastrophe, M lie. lmperia's pyOtege had made his
appearance and was assisting her out of her car
riage. Ihastened to alight also, and was soon in
troduced to the promising young warrior of Gaul.
When ! say warrior it is because it is the oply
term suited for the colossal dragoon. ] had ex-
pected to find the Marquis some foppish creUe.
some degenerate shoot of an old ancestral tree,
whose forefathers' money bags had run out at
both ends. At one glance of the athletic fellow
before me discovered had been mistaken. He
was undoubtedly noble Of the right sort-all
flint and steel. without alloy of gold in stature,
out OF his boots and helmet, six feet five.
shook his hand and said something about being
happy to make the acquaintance Of the Marquis
de C, but here was stopped. please do
not Marquis me-" he said earnestly. "When
i nave won my HrSt epauette j might
feel more like it, and even then," he added, with.
out shade Of regret, '.poor inarquises are pite-
Gus lords" shook his hand all the frmer and
asked him to show. us the quarter" for Mile.
1mperia was most desirous to look into every de-
tail Of soldiers life-the canteen, fencing school,
stables, sleeping rooms, &c.
"This is just the time for you," answered the
young. private, leading the way; 'the whole
place is in commotion and you will see our best
men ready to burst out of their uniforms with
professional ardor."
"Whyy wherefore ?" we both inquired
Don't you know? We have received provo
cation from Prussia"
Mile. Imperia and myself exchanged glances,
expressive of utter ignorance.
There was nothing the matter In Paris this
morning" unexpectedly observed
: Nothng the matter, sir g' retorted a voice be-