Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-02-28
MEMPHIS TENN: FRIDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 2S 1878

The probable secret Of her later success,
socially, lay as much in that charm Of
manner, aud perfect ease and grace in
conversation, naturally acquired in five
and twenty years Of continued good so
ciety as in her beauty. Another element
OF her influence was that apparent sym
pathy for the opinions and feelings OF
others which led her TO treat every one
as If they were Of the utmost importance
to her; a manner which brought her
many friends, even among men and
women vastly superior TO her in intel
lect. 1t is a curious phase in the his
tory of this hirt that the older she grew
the more devoted became her admirers
Chateaubraind, verging on eighty, inhrm,
tottering, and with one foot in the grave,
offered Madame Recamier his hand, and
she nearly seventy, and wholly blind,
had the good sense TO refuse him. She
died Of cholera in l8l9.
Montague House, London, is one Of
the landmarks OF modern society. To
Mrs. Montague's entertainments crowd
ed the scholar and the politician, the
wit the critic, the orator II was at the
meetings of the literati at this house
that the sobriquet blue stocking, so
long applied to literary women, origi-
mated. 1t arose from a remark upon
the stockings of DR.. Stillingiees-that
learned divine being an oddity and a
sloven. A foreigner present cried;
Les bas bleus," and the society was
afterward known as the Blue Stockings,
denoting that the full dress then in the
evening was to be dispensed with. No
English woman has ever so completely
succeeded in deceiving men and women
from the trivialities OF society to the
disquisition OF literature and science as
did Mrs. Montague. She was clever as
writer. Her essay on Shakespeare was
pronounced by Beattie the most elegant
piece of criticism in our language or
any other. Mrs. Montague was the
Madame du Deffand Of London. And
her fame as the queen of society rested
not only on her intellect, her essays, her
conversational talent, but also on tfe
solid basis of being the best dinner.giver
in London.
Sidney lady Morgan was born on ship.
board between Ireland and England.
Her father was an actor, singer, and
the manager Of a theSer. Such was the
origin of one whose Ete presents an in
stance of what unassisted women can
do TO raise themselves as high as they
choose in the scale of society-npon
even a slender stock Of education--wit
energy and talent. She wrete Irish
novels, and wrote for the periodicals.
She used to relate how enchanted she
was when, for some tale, the editor sent
her two guineas, her first earned money.
Those two guineas, she said, were the
source of all her scribblipg. She learned |
the art of society in Paris, and she never
forgot it. Born amid actors, learning
llrst her letters, probably from play
bill, she lived to eighty-two, to figure in
the most elegant neighborhood of Lon
don, among the most aristocratic society |
in the world She had fund Of Irish |
drollery, which was never quenched till |
the death OF her husband She died in |
1859, and with her ended those few re-
naming literary cliques, the like Of
which-sadly do / write tive Of the |
present age are not to know except as
matters of history.
That American women have not been |
taught wit in six lessons "-as they do |
in France-that they have not made an
art of eopyersatlon--have not held those |
brilliant coteries whose witty scintlla-
tions have gone forth to astonish the
world is owing to the fact that Ameri-
can society came in just as that fashion
was going out. But that there have been
many "queens" of our society no one
can doubt, the sway of beauty and fash
ion being essentially loyal,
The wife of John Adams, our second
President, spent her early years in Eng
land and France, and as Mr.. Adams
wife gracefully performed her part in the
higher circles of social and political life
both before and after her husband be-
came President.
Mrs. Hancock, wife of John Hancock,
Governor of Massachusetts, and after
ward President Of the first Congress, was
acknowledged to possess wonderful
beauty. She was thoroughly high bred,
had eourtly manner and fine cenver-
sational powers. She was for years oOn-
sidered one Of the wonders ofthe age,
and was visited until the close of her
life by distinguished persons from for
eign countries, as well as of her own.
Mrs. j. J. Roosevelt was a leader Of
society in New York for long time.
She had had the advantage of the best
society abroad when quite a young lady,
and was married in Paris in 1881, in the
presence of many distinguished friends,
amsng them General Lafayette, who
gave the bride away.
In later days Mrs. jesse Fremont was
our most noted QaRversationalist. Her
early experience with her father in
Washington society, her extensive trav-
els with her husband over every part Of
her OVID country, and her great natural
talents and vivid Imagination make her
particularly Spirited and
brilliant. Her talk always sparkles with
lively wit and picturesque illustration,
and appears wholly unstudied.
Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis was the
noblest Roman Of them all. Her
and unaagging patriotism
luring the rebellion made her name
more pleasantly familiar TO us than of
any other living woman. II was many
years ago that she established those de-
ightful little tea and cake Saturday
morning receptions and Thursday even
ng soirees at her house in Boston.
Many noted people-dear to us through
heir vorks-Were proud TO call Mrs.
Dts their friend, and to enjoy the quiet,
elegant hospitalilies Of her modest little
louse on the corner Of Joy and Mount
Vernon streets.
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