Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-23
The Goddess of Reason.

"A Sdu interest attaches 10 tne Detu-
tiful but fallen woman who person.
ated 1.-The Goddess of Reason at "a
fcte III Notr.. Dame during the first
French Revolution, but died miscra-
bly, few years ago. Mrs. Henry
Nj. Field gives an interesting account
in the New York Evangelist. of once
meeting this famous woman i'll the
hospita! in which she subsequently
died. She says:
In distant quarter of Paris, be-
vond the Garden of Plants. stands MI
institution seldom visited by stran-
gers. but which has n sad interest.
Leaving behind YOU the cool walks
aud shady reccsses of the great
geological Garden. and pursuing
your course toward the Boulevards
which surround the capital, YOU soon
arrive ut scini-circle of verdure
planted with magnificent old trees,
" hich cover with their melancholy
shade vast portico i'll the front OF
which YOU read this inscription
Hospital for aged Women. This j:
the famous hospital of La Salprtricrc
founded more than two hundred
wears ago-in 1G32-by one of th'
and which alone would inmortaiiZ'
the name of ST. Vincent of Paul. l
is on scale surpassed by no Ihstitu'
ton of the kind in Europe, covering
some acres of grounds and surToundct
by walls like II fortress. Within Tho
vast enclosure is laid out in spacious
courts, green lawns, shaded witt
trees, and overlooked by lofty build
ings-in which five thousand suffer
ing beings-without protection ane
without resource-tind refuge
against utter misery.
1t is MANY wears since, that l wa:
taken by the insrcctor-icncral OF The
hospitals Of Paris To see this great eS
! tablishment i'll all its details. Bu
among the magnificent charities o
Paris, provided for every form an'
degree of suffering OF destitutloh
this asylum has always been reserved
to the most hopeless poverty aid II
the veiy lowest class i'll the socla
scale and this makes it hauntin:
horror TO the honest poor, who ehte
| it only on the direst necessity.
| Here come the vi!cst of their sex
| in the last extreme Of destitutlon
who seek only shelter to die. Int
this vast receptacle of misery, Paris
the CITY of pleasure, casts every da.
the victims of its mad intoxicatioi
lIsrc thsv come to finish their cXls'
cucc, begun in the seGuctinns OF pleas
ure and idieness- ended lii the hoi
rors ofyice and dcsp,ir--lo" happ
when the hospital saves them 1ro'
prison or from suicide.
These women. whose sharp voice
startle YOU, i'll whose misery there
nothing touching, whose white hail
inspire no respect, have many OF theI
in their dav cujo. ed a shameful ceiei
irltv. Impudcnt Laises. they have fc
a few hours cast vain glare upo
the scene, ever changing. of the gre;
world, and then desccndln" the ineN
liable ladder of shame and lniscr
which conducts them ali to their ruiz
,hev come at last to invade the as.
lum opened by charity for homes
poverty.
NV guide pointed out by name son
lof tiiese wrCtchcd celebrities: the
stopping before an old hag. more dirt
and more hidcous than the other
but preserving still some traces
early beauty in her withered face,
though of il beauty without INTEL
scnce and without nobleness-l
whispered to me that that was II
famous "Goddess of Rcason'-ti
woman who was selected i'll the mi
aays of the French Revolution
personify reason, (the only ob!e
worthy of human worship), and W
actually enthroned on the aliars
| , 4 m m n II -
her idulaters. Those were the ia
when rel, ,giou was bauished from Il
world. Reason reigned-and til
was her goddess. "Wiil you sre:
to her?' l cndcavorud to awak'
some remembrance of the tcrrit
pasl in W hich she had such part
asking the OLD wnmsa few que
tions: but the facts were confused
her memory, and she was incapa'
of comprchcuding tine full m"aniI
of this page of her life. When
wished TO sound her religious Il
positiom-"Al,,' she said 10 me
am too old TO believe in your &c
When was young and beautil
they put me in His place upon I
aitar-the one is worth perhaps
mucn lis the other! Don't preac!,
me, but give me some money to d
me some snuG." l threw her
few sous, and left her with dissu