Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-19
THE TELFATRS.
Scrap Of Social Gossip of Many Years
AGA Marriage Proposal That Did
Not Meet With Encouragement-Re
IectiOns Of an Old SavannahIsn.

recognize objects once familiar, or miss
the presence Of others which, with all the
people connected with them, have disap-
peared forever, l recognize that L am
growing old.
TWAS once said of the people of the
town Of Beaufort, s. c., that they had so
married and intermsrried that, like q
plate of shrimps, TO raise one was to lit
the whole mass, and this ind TO be the
ease with me in my recOllections Of the
olden time, when, as a green youth,
determined to enjoy the good
and give respectful gO-by to
the evil. II is. therefore. not surpris-
ing that the humorous and the ridiculous
should rise 10 nv mind very often above
the grave and the sublime, or that be
lieViEg in the Immortality OF the soul and
that this life is only necessary step TO
higher and better, the sadness produced
BIZ the absence OF loved ones should be
tempered by a recollection Of their virtues,
their intellectual excellence, and their
( beauties Of soul and body. Among these
I last stand the Telfairs. They have now
/ all passed away. leaving no representa-
/ tive that | know OF, and, therefore, none
I to be offended or iattered by what have
/ 10 say Of them. They were in every way
/ fair representatives Of the ladies
Of the social . aTistOcTacy"
/ Of their day. and may be
/ considered the last Of the old erusaiIng
I Iron heweTs'r progeny in Georgia, and
| the connecting link Of a past and present
! social state. We are now in transition
/ condition, and what the outcome viii be
4 who can tell! Let Us hope for the best.
/ For all practical purposes, the telegraph,
/ the telephone and the railroad makes the
I life Of to-day'at least four times as fast
as that Of a half century ago; but, judy
E ing from appearances, doubt If the youth
/ Of this day are up 10 the standard Of those
/ Of 1854, when a club which met at Shell
mans old hotel did no. object 70 the name
Of The Hell-fre Club
AFEw DAYS AGO
I took advantage of a permit granted
me last spring TO penetrate into 1.-The
Telfair Academy Of Art" and was much
gratifed at the good taste, neatness and
fitness Of all the arrangements yet made
by Mr.. Brandt. But | was still more
/ pleased TO recognize in an old and tat
/ tered mohair safe piece Of furniture as
[ ISOLATED with many q pleasant moment
I spent on il with TIE ladies Of the house.
| who sympathiZed and encouraged me in
my pursuits and tastes. But the rem
I iniscence that rose most wildly to my
mind was Of the class OF the sublime and
/ the ridiculous cOmbined-sublime cOnde-
.
Among the French inhabitants Of Sa-
Yannah in my time whom my memory
cherishes as valued personal friends were
/ Petit de Niliers. whom the prOfane youth
of the day would persist in calling Mons.
Petite Devil Ears; VI. ThOmassOn, his sue
I cessOr in the Office Of French Consul, and
more than these. Mons. FalIlgant, from
whom l received lessons in worldly
wisdom, which, like seeds planted in good
ground. produced some ten, some sixty,
some one hundredfOld Of sound fruit. Ny
"reminiscences Of him and the results Of
his lessons are worth a column Of the
MORNING NEWS, and therefore / viii
leave him now, and relate an incident
connected with the successor Of u. ThOm-
assOn. the last named French Consul.
This gentleman was nephew Of Cas-
amir Perrier, Prime Minister Of Louis
Philippe, King Of the French, and, as
l afteTward learned in Paris, had been
sent 10 Savannah to keep him out OF the
manifold snares set in that "capital Ofthe
wOrldv for young men Of family and small
fortune. Savannah had been selected,
first. as the only then vacant cOnsulship;
secondly. as place OfOld-fashi0ned moral
. ity-free from gamblers and demi-mOnde;
and thirdly, as the winter headquarters
Of the rich planters Of rice and cotton,
. whose daughters would be glad to ex-
change their fat acres and greasy negroes
for an alliance with the nobility (Old or
new Of glorious France and its splendid
civilization.
he WAS DAINTY LITTLE GENTLEMAN,
short in stature, slim in body, and so
studiOusly neat and unrufled in his dress
that the girls said he looked as If he kept
himself in a handbook. never met him
except at the weekly sOirees, fashionable
in Savannah in the winter OF 1S34-5, and
knowing his antecedents and not particu-
ForTr- nj NTH HE r-4fat sauHhNrrI
assumption Of superiority, was content
with recognizing him with civil bow
and otherwise letting him alone. He re-
garded the elite Of Savannah very much
as he, a shoot Of the new bOurgOise nObili-
" Of France, was looked upon by the no
bles Of the old regime, and 1t was ire
Quent subject of amusement TO me and
my intimates to note the Spartan-llke
brevity and epigrammatic style Of his re-
marks on the manners and customs OF our
people. OF this one specimen VIII do,
viz: On the entrance of q certain
lady, an importation from up
per Georgia, at late hour
into one of our drawing-rOOms on a
"soiree'; night, one Of a group Of young
ladies and gentlemen remarked, Mrs. a.
b. c. aspires TO be leader Of the tOnW
WhereupOn Mons. the Consul, struggling
his shoulders. spreading his hands and
eleyatlng his eyebrows, asked: We're
ish de tOnv' AsnO one in Savannah then
recognized any other "tOn" than that
given by quiet, unobtrusiye politeness, no
Offense was taken, but in the privacy Of
their own drawing-rOoms many smile
was raised By the repetition Of the
question on suggestive occurrences OF
'swhere ish de ton 3 with the accompany
ing grimaces and gestures.
Up TO MY RETURN TO SAVANNAH
in the autumn of 1884 none Of the imagi-
nary heiresses of vast fields Of cotton and
rice, or daughters of the ''irdependent
BarOns of Carolina" as Gen. Quattlebaum
once called the planters of that State. had
appeared in this city. But soon after
frost. with the return Of her aunts, came
Miss Margaret Telfair, the younger. just
recovering from an attack Of country fever,
she did not strike me as beautiful, but as
she recovered her health she showed signs
Of what she afterwards was, a most
stately, dIgnifed and attractive woman.
Unusually tall in stature, very amiable in
manner, tolerant Of TIE peculiarities Of
others, and although full Of humor and
occasionally satirical, she was
to all pleasant drawing
room companion, and TO those
who knew her intimately a reliable friend
and charitable dispenser Of her superhu-
Gus wealth. At last the object sought
aDueared before the eyes Of the critical
AOusuL 1LaLLdA7s anu E-NN~~-aNA
make his approaches in the most scientific
and approved manner. 1t was scarcely
possible to find a more marked contrast
than that afforded in character and ap-
pearance between the calculating and
artificial Frenchman and the stately and
natural Southern lady, as yet mere no
vice in the ways Of the world. Her
most intimate friend was my sister, and
as a matter Of course /, the elder brother
and sstraveled man Of the world" became
a depository Of all the secrets which il
was proper for me to know, and which
would have been nuts for good Mrs.
Grundy, whose representative could have
been found even in our good city Of Sayan-
nah in that remote time. /, therefore, was
enabled 70 follow the slow but confident
approaches Of the besieger, as he opened
his trenches too directly to escape the
sharp fire of two Georgia girls, both wits
in their way. l enjoyed their humOr
amazingly. but "a fellow feeling makes
rs wond'rous kind" and was sorry for
the little Frenchman, inasmuch as l had
reason TO suspect that 1, myself, and each
OF the other aspirants for female adOra-
ton, were subject 10 ike criticism.
THE ADVANCE OF THE PRESENT GENE
RATION
in refinement and Christian charity may
have brought about a different state Of
things in Savannah to-day, but If so it
VrovpE that the old saving. human Ia