Litchfield enquirer., 1875-08-05
From scxlbasrss NouEAly.l
 MADAME DElECIEuSE.

Za MADAME DELEclEuSE. Just adioiniug the old Cafe de Poesie on the corner stood the little one-story, yellOv-washed tenement of Dr. Messy, with its two glass doors protected by bas- ten shutters. and its low, weed-grOwn tile roof sloping out over the sidewalk. You were very likely to find the Doctor in. for he was great student and rather negh- gent of his business-as business, He was small. sedate. Creole gentleman of thirty or more, with a face and manner that provoked instant admiration. He would receive you-be you who you may in a mild, candid manner, looking into your face with his deep blue eyes, and re- assuring you with a modest, amiable smile, very sweet and rare on a man s mouth.
 To be frank, the Doctors little estab- l hshment was dusty and disorderly-very. Is was curious tO see the jars. and jars, and jars. In them were serpents and hideOus fishes and precious specimens of many sorts There were stuffed birds on broken peFches; and dried lizards, and eels. and little alligators, and old skulls with their crowns sawed of, and ten thou sand odd scraps of writing paper strewn with crumbs of lonely lunches. and inter- spersed with long lost spatulas and rust eaten lanee:sL
 All New Orleans, at least all Creole New Orleans. knew, and yet did not know. the dear little Doctor. So gentle, so kind, so skillful. so patient, so lenient; so careless of the rich and so attentive to the poor; a man, all in all, such as. should you once love him, you would love hlm forever. So l very leaned, too. but with apparantly no idea of how to shOtc hinsseEf to his social profit, features more smiled at than respected, not to say admired, by people remote from the seats of learning. and spending most of their esteem upon ami nal herOisms and exterior display.
 '.Alasr" said his wealthy acquaintances, ''What pity: when he might as well be rich
 ''Yes, his father has plenty"
 Certainly, and gives 1t freely. But in- tends his son shall see none of 1t"
 "His son? You dare not so mach as mention him."
 ''Well, we'll. how strange. But they can never agree-nOt even upon their name. Is not that drOll?-a man named General Fillivieencio, and his son, Dr. Mossy"
 "Oh; that is nothing; it is only that the Doctor drops the de V.llir5cerci0"
 Drops the de ViA5ricenc5Os but I think the de VillirieenciO drops him, ho, ho,-di0bIe!
 Next to the residence of good Dr. Mos sy tovered the narrow, red-brick front mansion of young Madame Delicieuse, firm friend at once and always of these two an- dpodes, General Vilhvieencio and Dr. Messy. Its dark-covered carriage-way was rumbling, and, after nightfall, it's drawing rooms always sent a luxurious light from the lace.cHrtained windows of the sec0nd-stOrY balconies.
 aIt was one of the sights of the rue line reaching high up towards the stars, with aIl its windows aglow.
 The Madame had had some tastes of human experience; had been betrothed at sixteen ito q man she did not love. ssbe- ing at that time fool, as she said); one summer day at noon bride, and at sun- dowm-a widow. Accidental discharue of the dpsy bridegroom's ownsspistOl. Pass 1t by! 1t left but one lasting effect upon her, special detestatioa of quarrels and weapons.
 The little maidens whom poor parent age has doomed to sit upon street door stills and nurse their infant brothers have a game of choosing" the beautiful ladies who sweep by along the pavement; but in rue ROyale there was no choosing; every little damsel must own Madame Deli cleuse or nobody. and as that richly adorned and regal favorite of old Gener- al VilhyicenciO came along they would lift their big, bold eyes away up to her face and pour forth their admiration in a universal
 But, mark you. she was good Madame Delicieuse as we'll as fair Madam Deli eieuse: her principles, however, not;eon- structed in the austere Anglo Saxon style. exactly (what need, with the lattice of the Confessional nos a stOne's throw of?). Her kind offices and benefcent schemes were almost as famous as General Villici- eencio's splendid aims; if she could at times dO what the infantile Washington said he could not, why, no doubt she and her friends generally looked upon it as a mere question of enterprise
 She had charms, too, of intellect albeit not such a sinner against time and place as to be an educated voman"-charms that even in plainer person, would have brought down the half of New Orleans up- on one knee, with both hands on the left side. She had the whole city at her feet, and, with the fine tact which was the per lection of her character, kept it there con- tented Madame was. in short, one of the kind that gracefully wrest from socie- ty the prerogative of doing as they please, and had gone even to such extravagant lengths as driving out in the Amsrican faubOurg. learning the English tongue, talking national politics. and similar freaks whereby she provoked the unbound ed worship of her less audacious lady friends. In the center of the cluster of Creole beauties which everywhere gather incompatible companies which assembled Tn her own splendid drawing rooms, she was always queen lily. Her house, her aunt who lived with her was a mere piece of curious furniture.
 There was this notable charm about Madame Delicieuse, she improved bv comparison. She never looked so grand as when. hanging on General VIllivicen- clos arm at some gorgeous bail, these two bore down on you like royal barge lashed to ship of the line. She never looked so like her sweet name as when she seated her prettlest lady adorers close around her. and got them all a-laughing. Ot the two balconies which overhang the banquette on the front of the Deli cieuse house, one was small affair. and the other deeper and broader one. from which Madameand her ladies were wont upon gala days to wave handkerchiefs and cast flowers to the friends in the proces- sions. They were gathered one Eighth of January morning to see the military dis play. It was bright blue day. and the group that quite filled the balcony had laid their wrappings aside, as all flower buds are apt to do on such Creole January days; and shone resplendent in spring at tire v ',gT1,. The sightseers passing below looked up by hundreds and smiled at the ladies' eager twitter, as, flirting in humming bird fashion from one subject to another, they laughed away the half hours waiting for the pageant. By and by they fell a-listen- tening. for Madame Delicieuse had begun narrative concerning Dr. Messy. She sas somewhat above her listeners, her el-
 bow on the arm of her chair, and her plump white hand waving now and then