Litchfield enquirer., 1881-09-15
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WHOLE NO. 2S84
Old Newport Belles.

In the Newport of generation ago there
 were still many relics of the gay FrencL days.
 The headquarters of Rochambeau, where the count received and entertained Washington when he came to Newport just hundred years ago, in 1781, were at the Vernon House,
 at the corner of Clarke and Mary streets It
 was handsome mansion, and in the days
 when the Easy Chair knew it, the window | paneS were scratched with the names of beaux
 and bellies, vanished with Rochambeau, Wash
 ington. and De Chastellux, De Chabanes, De
 Champceretz, and Bozon de Talleyrand, the | fascinating group of French gentlemen and
 heroes, of whom the charmed Newport beau
 ties drew only that came and went There is
 fine glimpse of Washington in one Of the
 French memoirs as he walked bare-hea with
 Rochambeau at hls side, from the wharf to his | headquarters, between the lines of soldiers of
 both armies drawn up three deep. Fl regard l ed him, says the Frenchman, with the att
 tention which the sight of great men always
 inspires. si We half expect to find in their feat | ores the genius hichdstinguishes themobuy their fellows. Washington IS adopted more
 than any other man to produce this impression --tall, noble, well-proportioned, with aD open, sweet. and calm expression and interests French and Americans, and even his armies" Do the loiterers on cottage piazzas at New port to-day know how full of ghosts is the air around them ! Do they smile at the quaint old bellies and their stately minuets of a cent
 ury ago? Would the lithess of the lovely
 figures of this evening, floating on air, ex. | change the turn with the incomparable waltzer
 for grave bow from Washington as part
 ner? For he too has danced in Newport In
 honor of his visit the citizens gave ball at
 the Assembly Room in Church Street, and he
 was requested to open the festivities. In later
 days when Prince de Joinville, on his way to
 St. Helena for tEe dust of Napoleon, stopped
 at New York, ard went to private ball, there
 was great futter of excited curiosity as to
 the first partner whom he would select after
 the hosts daughter. It is singular that the
 lady whom he asked became atterward the
 wife of French gentleman, an adherent of
 the Duchesse de Berri Tradition cherished the
 name of Washington's partner at the Newport
 ball. He solicited the honor of the hand of the beautiful Miss Champlin with high bred
 respectful courtesy which the incomparable
 waltzer of to day might well emulate, and he
 asked his partner to name the dance The
 lovely Champiin selected "A successful Cam
 paign"-a dance in high favor-and as the
 hero led out his partner upon the floor, the
 French officers, with graceful galantry, took
 the instruments from the musicians, and play
 ed, while Washington and the Champlin bow
 ed and stepped and courtesied in the Ininuet
 She had beautiful eyes, said the Prince de
 BrOglie, a sweet mouth, a perfectly shaped
 face, fine figure, pretty foot, and an air alto
 gether attractive. She was dressed and coifed
 with taste ''that is to say," adds the true
 Parisian, ''G lG FrGneGtSe;" and spoke the
 princes language.
 A quarter of a century ago the grandson of
 that famous beauty was living in her fathers house, where Washington took tea on the evening of tue ball. It had been the home of five successive generations, and on one of the
 windows-memorial windows were tbey all was still legible, scratched with diamond, the name of Betsey Halliburton. The name of another of the bellies whom the Frenchutan saw is familiar from that of the famous libra ry founded by Abraham Redwood His daugh- ter was exceedingly beautiful" and tradition declares without fear of denial, that sailors, stepping ashore from long sea-voyages, lifted their hats as they passed, and gazed as if they had seen an angel. Boys of generation be- fore that which the Easy Chair recalls remem- bered grave old lady mixing wine and eggs anu sugar in Q pan. then stepping into the paddock where the COW was grazing and re- turning with foaming syllabub. It was the beautiful Redwood, the friend of the Champ- lin and of the daughters of William Eery. who signed the Declaration of Independence one of whom was the mother of Dr. Charming and the grandmother of the wife of Washing ton Allston. There were other beauties whose names survive. The Misses Huntef were "rivals in beauty and reputation" of the ador- able Champln, the elder of whom dresses as well. but not quite so freshly, perhaps" while the younger, if not of so lofty an air, ''is rose in person"
 But the queen of the fairies was Quaker TItania. All the French memoirs glow and palpitate with the charms of Polly Lawton. ''The goddess of grace and beauty" exclaims De Broglie '1 confess that the seductive Lawton appeared to me to be the chef T9uvre of nature" "A nymph rather than a wO- man," says De Segur: "so much beauty, so much simplicity, so much elegance, and so much modesty were perhaps never combined in the same person. The divine Quakeress reproached him for making war, and.for obey ing the king rather than God. 'What could ! reply to that angel?" signs the captive, doubtless recalling Madame le Comtesse de Segur; flor in truth 1 was tempted to believe that she was celestial being" The prince and the count departed, as the duke and the marquis and all the gay and gallant gentlemen Of Rochambeau's army had departed two years before and five years later came BrissOt ue Warville. and in thIs paradise. from W .ich Tn tue late summer midnight, as an old.fashIoned wahderer fingers upon the beach he seems to near 1.-the panses of the surf the faint beat of Iestai mnsic far away aud to catch the gliIn. mer or the lovely faces of ''dear, dead women," the french cat09en saw ''hideous women, lean cnll0ren, wan men......Newport seemed to me like tomb where living corpses dispute abont 8 few roots." ,.
 As the great-grandchildren of the French men who helped us win our great victory come to help us to celebrate it's centennial an.% niversary, they will look with singular inter. est at the old French camping ground, and upon the scenes which their fathers saw. They will doubtless assert-true children of their fathers !-yet why should they deny what is 2-that the lovely Champin, the adorable Lawton, the beautiful Redwood, the Hunters and Ellerys, and the. fascinating perl, even if some of them have fairy court. gliding in the waltz instead of stepping in the nlnuet; driving on the crowded avenue in- stead of sauntering in the solitary pastures by ,he sea but still nymphs rather than women. 'till goddesses of grace and beauty still angels md men who so admirably wrought fresh aurcl for their mothers brow. In the generous of our higher schools there is no ionorable precedence which is grudged to Harvard, the alma mater in tune of all our colleges, the reverend parent of good learning n America Editors EGsy Ctdia., in Har- 'en's Augustine for August.
 Self-nlade men of President Garfield's type Ire often justly claimed as Icing among the inest fruits of our institutions. There is an- other class who also deserve we'll our praise hOSP " "a hav had fO 0voroOnno mt a, ,,,..t.