Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-26
gery-Partridge's Academy. at Middle


fellow, l have always found them the
most irritable little bipeds extant."
"And 1, ever the most urbane, polite,
tolerant and self-complacentp people in the
world, until, in disturbing their self-com-
pacency, you rouse the hedgehog in them,
and then beaeGre the QulltS!"
s'You speak from experience, l sup
pose?'
'sBoth from male and female; but first
from old Thomas, who gave me the first
lesson in the value of the ability to
double ones fist in ones pocket and
counting twenty before taking it out!
1t happened thus: Hartstene aud myself
were at NJ iddletown at the same time, and
took lessons at the same hour from old
Thomas-prOuounced, you know, IO-77sah.
But one day Hartstene being at recitation,
l went to the fencing room alone. 1t was
in a narrow brick-paved room in the eel
lar of his house, where he mended his folls
and other tools at little workbench I'M
der the window. AS soon as the lesson
commenced Mons. Thomas departed from
his usual manner and showed every dis
position to ridicule my fencing and irri-
tate my pride. AT last he succeeded in
hurting both body and mind to such de-
gree that bounded on him so unexpect-
eddy as TO hit him fairly, eXclaiming as l
did, There! you id little frog, think
you'll laugh at me no more now.' Oh
leetle frog, is eet,' said he, turning to
the door, locking ii and putting
the key in his pocket, and
then facing me fiercely, he Missed
out: You insulte me, hehl You call me
Leetle frog, heb? Well, will shew you
vat it ees to iusulte un soldat Francois.
1 will chastise yer insolonce; 1 Will
garde a vous! gaminp He had no time
to say more. for / was upon him thrust
ing so rapidly and skillfully that he was
evidently surprised into saying now and
then. 'Bienl c'est bieni c'est tres bienp
and found it no easy matter to avoid a
direct thrust. This continued for length
of time. till having barely grazed
him three or four times, l paused
from sheer exhaustion. Now said
he, lit ees my turn ard then began
a rapid series of simple and compound
thrasts, followed up by sharp and painful
'coupes,' or cuts, until, utterly exhausted
and smarting 10 numerous places, |
threw down my foil, dashed off my mask,
and, boy-l Ike, bursting into passionate
tears, exclaimed: MIR. Thomas, l can't
hit you at alp sAnd l didn't think you
could, but you put me to eet yer close;
and now, my leetle frien', it Is all fun! l
not angree wild you at all-not leetle
bit; but want to give you one lessong!'
Then holding out his hand, kindly, he
l tink you is yer fine leetle gentee-yom,
and dat you will make yer grand hOmme,
eef you will only learn de escreme de art
of fence very mOoch. De only fault
find wild you is dat yOu's too fOugOux,
too farce, too eXcitable, too sensateef, for
a man of de world. You is like de young
consoript-you cannot keep quiet and
wait de proper occasion to act; you Jump
too quick and get OFF your balance too
soonl Now, de art of de fencing is dat it
teach you to conserve your dpIOmb-to
keep your bdldnCe-and till dat is learnt
YOU is not feet to enter de great battle of
iife.' This was said while, sword in hand
and on full guard, he swayed himself up
and down as if ready to spring; then,
himself up, ne continued: And
now let me geVe you one lessong, and !
dat is, dat de sceance of all Sceances |
the mos necessaire for man t. know is
the art of self-deefense-it is de art OF arts! |
for it teach him how to keep cool in all de |
of life, and dat in all af- !
fairs OF honor or dutee or danger the first |
ting is to get cOOt-cOOt as one Ctcunl6ere' |
and then dropping his foil into his left |
hand, he put his right on my shoulder, |
and approaching his mouth to my ear, in |
a suppressed voice, as if afraid of being |
heard. he said, impressively, cool as one |
esDecidLn1ent mid de 1cinlenS.i' !
Then drawing himself up he looked me |
gravely in the face, nodded three times, and |
made three taps ON my breast, as if to fix
the sage advice there immOvably. But, |
Mr.. Thomas said /, Il don't expect to |
womenr you dOp'tp said he; and, put
ting his finger on the tip of his nose, he
smilingly added, Well, zee shall see lchdt
zoe shall Seep'
NY story restored w. to his usual good
humor, and, after laughing little, he
asked:
And did you ever have any affairs
with women which made the little French
mans advice valuable?
eyes," l replied, "but, negatively, by
my failing to follow it, on more than one
occasion. In one case, l fell into error by |
carelessly hurting out the truth, I'M
der an impulse to give a correct !
idea of the social state in America. /
In the family in which boarded there were |
three daughters, intelligent and interest |
ing girls. The youngest was about my
own age, and between us there arose a !
very friendly and confidential intercourse. |
till one day she asked me how she would |
be received in American society. |
replied: Probably not at
all, unless she went there under auspices
more favorable than she could use, or
with intrOductIons from friends well es-
teemed in America From Mons. So and
SO, or Madame Ca ct Ca? Zone large gro-
Ger, the other a milliner of the Quar-
tier, both great people in her
How would they dc?
Not at ALL replied, for
they themselves would find no admittance
there 'Hav said she, jumping up from
the seat by my side and looking at me
exclaimed: 'Maudit Republi-
cain, vap and disappeared before l could
make most flattering exception in her
own favor. After that she treated me so
coldly that l asked her elder sister the
meaning, and she, even more freezingly,
replied: EN- France on n'atprappe des
avee de moutarde,' which you
may translate when you tell the story at
my expense, as you doubtless will, to the
first female ears you can get to listen to
YOU: Ii France we do not catch flies
with mustardp1 r. W, IL,