American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-04-13
Miscellany.
HEELS OVERHEAD.

The last year we were in Paris, in tn,
apartment above ours there raadel n no
BILE French family-the De Saintvilles-
consisting of the widowed marchioness, {
young sister and grown-up son.
This son, the young Marquis de Saint
vfle-perhaps. on account of an unsuc.
cessful love-affair, perhaps from having
nothing to do-had fallen into i'll health
and, after the manner ofs<sick men, he
often made the task of amusing him
which devoaxed on his adoring feminine
belonsings BY 70 mssns Easy They in
cards with him, they strummed the guitar
and the piano, they schatted, srhey1riettu
thousand of the numerous expedientl
women keep at hand for such occasions;
but the young scion of ,nobi6' hOsssA re-
manned hopelessly blue.
At iehstf, ohS haf7k dASffor his patient
relatives, he hit upon the brilliant idea of
becoming a musician. IL , AMI S44 Z
at will amuse me to PRACTISE" he
sa6d fSnsl TIE twS hsdies felt that it would
be an immense relief to them, although
they were too French-thAt is, ~
and too wise to say so. But they lost
no time IN pfoctffihe master and putting
matters into his hands, rejoicing inwardly
in their release from an irksofAe and
thankloss task. -A41 es--Ig SO! sct - b,
In the apartment above the one occu-
pteu DIV tl1lS afn1aDlc IdInlly tfRfe l1Ned an
English lady of means, of family, and of
middle age The .CAttlewents we're very
respectable people-very! respectable, n
decd Mrs Cuttlewent Mas own consin
to lord. Mr.. Cuttlewent was a thor
ough Englishman he did notdike French
ways; he preferred to reside in England,
the special place prepared and set apart
by Providence as suitable residence for
English gentlemen. Mr.. -Cutt{ewent
could neither understand nor sympathize
with Mrs. Cuttiewent's preference for
Paris. .-.-.,
Perhaps plain, old-fashionetf people
may think the love Mr.. Cuttlewent bore
Mrs 'Cuttlewent was not strong over
ut is not that my husband loves ME
once condescended to explain to us, 'but
bosom, is less uncomfortable fiani hated
France, erea ariM her. As for me, of
course, could not be expected to live
SWAY from Paris and Mr.. Cutflswent
and understand each other perfectly.
Ours has been a very happy marriage.
Mr.. Cuttlewent is a man of great good
sense"
About the matter of keeping the Chan
mel between himself and the "wifc of
his BOSOM" the reader may be inclined
to indorse this opinion of Mr.. Cutie
vents good sense before l have finished
my sketch. There were no children TO
embarYass This happy afrangeMent offaf-
fairs, and Mrs. Cuttlewcnt and her four
servants alone composed the family in the
apartment above the De Saintvilles.
We used to get a great deal of 1amuse
ment out of Mrs. Cuttlewent, although
sometimes she was very provoking. SIC
had habit of making little presents
where she expected a return Of generos4fy
with interest, of course: These little
WEAKNESSES are sometimes practised by
the aristocracy. She would also borrow
and forget to send back-not always from
weakness of memory, fear = !"
One day, there came a knock at the
door, and Mrs. Cuttlewents. servingsman
was there-a Frenchman, of course; Mrs.
Cuttlewent could not endure an English
servant. e-s - -f.T &c u y
He was the bearer of Mrs. cutuewent's
compliments, and request tl,st '.madame
would be SO good as to lend her beautiful
card-tables for the evening; Mrs: Cutie
went expected some guests, andher tables
were insufficient" The tables went. The
following day they were returned, in
deed but the Yare ands beautifully5O rna-
mented cards, which We're the adniifstion
of our friends, had been removed from the
drawers.
e.piaiS @iaa gssi es Wis
and became so in love with them, that
/ could netfeskt! 1 retained them as a
sQucenir of you, my dear friends, and of
your kindness Il visa i kcould 6fSh
more of them; they are the handsomest
have ever. SEEN" szs-- t-Faae- =
All this with such a grand air that We
scarcely knew whether to be most vexed
or most amused; and the spiri. to brave
this grandiosc old lady, and demand our
property, was entirely wanting, / Am
ashamed to say. So. so sItasJ
But Mrs. Cuttlewent, though she
had h@ way 80 eymplctfk with
us, was = hotS -so2 Successful with
her neighbors, the De Saintville's. For
some reason or other, this noble family
had taken dislike to the lone woman
who lived above them, and declined to
know her. Now, Mrs. Cuttlewent had a
relish for high society, and felt herself
calculated to shine in it, 1t seemed an
easy thing and q favorable c4mce for her
to obtain access to the best French socie-
ty through these good neighbnBT but
though she made constant advances the
De Saintvilles made no demonstrations in
return- Her bows, when she occasionally
met them on the stairs, were cOolly re-
turned, and she met with no encourage
ment in her efforts to bring about
friendly relation with them. After re-
peafed rebulfs, Mrs. Cuttlewent began to
desiring, of all things. their favorable no
tice, she went to the other extreme of
hating them with all her heart, and to
bur1 with an intense desire to pai1e her
seifsPOsltisely disagnssable to them -
Things we're at this pass when the mar
quis was seized with that musical itca.
AS novelty, he tooh 10 Il with all fcrver,
devoting himself to the necessary prlc-
ticc of scales and trills with praiseworthy
perseverance,. suppose he rds!an. an
noyance to Mrs. Cuttlowent. He was to
us, in measure but zone learns to en-
dure what one cannot cure 3 ]. am sure
we never contemplated the possibility of
putting a stop to his practising. BuIit
seems, whether out of spite or with
hope Of effccting some result, Mrs Cat
tlewents man appeared, one morning, al
the door of the De SainfHlfes' antecham-
Der, when the sound of the piano pro-
claimed the marquis employed in ,his
studios, and communicated a formal mes
sage from his mistress ~.
Mrs. Cuttlewent sends her compli-
ments to the Marquis and Marchioness de
Saintville, and hopes that it may not IN
convenience the Marquis de SaintviIlcto
change his time of practising on the
piano, SO as not to do any of it betyeen
the hours of ten and two, as at that time
Mrs. Cuttlewent is in the habit of attend
ing to her devotions, and music, however
delightful, is apt to distract her thoughts. :"