The Republican journal., 1871-10-26

MISS bufueLlc OOullS, upon WnOm
Queen Victoria recently conferred the
rank and title of Baroness, is tall, gaunt
angular woman who more nearly resenl-
bles the traditional and popular type of
the strong-minded female, than any one
of the prominent members of the woman's
rights party whom | have ever met. A
tolerably wide acquaintance with the
leaders of this movement on both sides Of
the Atlantic has convinced me that scrag-
giness is not Il characteristic Of the genu-
inc ''woman's rights woman But in
Justice to Miss Coutts, must hasten to
say that her personal resemblance to the
typical strong minded female does not
result from any sympathy to the sister
hood. On the contrary, she cherishes for
the class the most wholesome aversion,
and has taken pains publicly to disavow
all participation in their sentiments. aims,
and purposes.
Miss Coutts is no longer young, but
She has fancy that juvenile bonnets be-
come her-which. it is scarcely necessary
to say, is a mistake on her part. In
short, neither in person nor in dress is
she the attractive woman she would be,
ii nobility Of soul, largeness Of heart and
purity of character revealed themselves in
i,t-y-sira1 hpamtv or r,rn,.n anoon,naninh nv
Instructive knowledge of the sources of
good taste, which unfortunately 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
woman, the fame of whose large liberali-
ty is as widespread as the fact that she is
the wealthiest commoner in England. OF
course She is a we'll known and most wei
come customer ut all the fashionable shops
in London, but she is not so familiar 4
habtuc of the shops of Paris. During 4
visit to this latter city, not long since, she
learned the death Of a distant relative,
and she went to purchase mourning to
the shop, the Trois Quarters, 4 large dry
goods establishment something like. ''to
compare great things with small,N our
own Stewards She asked for mourning
dress goods, and was shown by one of
the attentive shopmen to the proper de-
partment 'sPlease show this lady mourn
inc stuffs," he said, ''two-ten.'
Miss Coutts made her selection and
then asked for mourning collars; the
clerk who had waited on her accompanied
her to the proper counter. 'Pease show
this lady mourning collars - two-ten,"
said he, and left her. From this depart
ment she went to look tor mourning pock
ct handkerchiefs, escorted by the clerk,
who passed her over to his successor with
the request, .show this lady pocket hand
kerchiefs--tWo-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, ''two-ten,"
were repeated by one clerk to another.
Struck by the peculiarly Of this refrain,
she asked the proprietor as she left the os-
tablishment; pray what poes two-ten
mean? | noticed each clerk said it to the
other in your shop"
''Oh, it's nothing" he replied; "mere
" password that they are in the habit
Of exchanging"
But Miss Coutts was not satisfied with
this explanation Her woman's curiosity
was piqued, and she resolved to unravel
the riddle. 50 in the evening, when the
porter, a young boy, brought home her
purchases, after paying her bill she said,
'My boy, would you like to earn five
francs?"
Of course he had no objection to do so,
and only wanted to know in what way
he could do 50.
Tell me- said the lady, "what does
'two-ten' mean. | will give you five
francs"
why, don't you know ma'am ?" said
he evidently amazed at her ignorance !;
''lt means keep your two eyes on her ten
fingers
The mystery was solved at last All
the clerks of the TrOs Quarters had talk