The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1871-10-07
Misfellanu.
An AnecdOfe OF baroness Bur-
deif COuffs.
M MRS. LAURA CURTIS BuLLARD.

To the Editor of the Golden Age;
Miss Burdett Coutts, upon whom
Queen Victoria recently conferred th.
rsnk and title of Baroness, is a tat
gauut. angular woman. who more Deariy
resembles the Traditional and populai
type of the strong minded female thai
any one of the prominent members OF
the woman's rights party whom l have
ever met. A tolerably wide acquaintance
with the leaders of this movement on
both sides of the Atlantic has convinced
n,e that seragginess is not characters
tic of the genuine "woman's rights wo-
man" But in justice to Miss Coutts, l
must hasten TO say that her personal re-
semblance to the typical strong minded
female does not result from any sympa-
thy with the sisterhood. On the contra
", she --herishes for this class the most
wholesome aversion, and has taken pains
publicly to disayow all participation in
their sentiments. aims and purposes.
Miss Coutts is no longer young, but
she aa> fancy that juvenile bonuets
become her-which, il is scarcely neces-
cary to say, is a mistake on her part. 10
short. neither in person nor in dress Is
she the attractive woman she would be,
If nobility of soul, largeuess Of heart
and purity of character, revealed them
selves in physical beauty or were accom-
panied by an instructive knowledge OF
the sources of good taste, which unfor-
tuptely is not often the case.
But where Miss Coutts is known no
one would ever give thought to the
minor and external defects of this truly
noble souled and generous-hearted wo-
man, Yhose generous liberality is as
widespread as the fact that she Is the
wealthiest commoner in England.
Of course, she is well-known and
most welcome customer at all the fash
ionable shops in London, but she is not
80 familiar habitue of the shops of
Paris. During visit to this latter city,
not very long since, she learned the
death of distant relative, and she went
to purchase mourning TO the shop, the
Trois Quarters. large dry goods estab
lishment something like, ito compare
great things with small, our own Stew
arts
She asked for mourning dress goods,
aud was shown, by one of the attentive
shopmen, to the proper department
Please show this lady mourning stuffs,
he said, 'two-ten."
Miss Coutts made her selection and
then asked for mourning collars the
clerk who had waited on her accompani-
ed her to the proper counter. "Piease
show this lady mourning cOllars-two-
tea" said he, and left her. From this
Il 20 of,l- Cor
ing pocket handkerchief, escorted by the
clerk. who passed her over TO his success
sor, with the request, ''show this lady
pocket dkerchiefs-two-te ten"
As she had still other articles to buy,
she was escorted from counter to counter,
department to department, and every
where these cabalistic words, 1.-TWO ten, ~
were repeated by one clerk TO another.
Struck by the popularity Of this re-
frain she asked the proprietor as she
left the enlistment, Pray what does
two ten mean? I noticed each clerk
ssid it to the other in your shop"
"Oh, it is nothing" be replied; "mere
" password that they are in the habit
Of exchanging
But Miss Coutts was not satisfied with
this explanation. Her womans curiosi-
ty was piqued, and she resolved to un
Tavel the riddle. So, in the evening
when the porter, young boy, brought
home her purchases, after paying her
bill, she said, My boy, would you like
to earn five francs p
Of course he had no objection to do
so, and only wanted to know in what
vsy he could do it.
"Tell nae" said the lady, ''what does
two ten mean? l will give you five
francs"
why, don't you know, ma'am ?" said
he. evidently amazed at her ignorance
Il means keep your two eyes on her ten
fingers"
The mystery was solved at last All
the clerks of the Trois Quarters had
taken the richest woman in Great Brit
ain for shop litter.
She tells the story with great gusto,
aud one of her friends to whom she had
related it in Paris repeated it to me.