Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-11-19
lFrom Temple Bari
''THE NECROLOGIST.' -
BY JULIUS NORIAC.

/
''THE NECROLOGIST.
BY JULIUS NoR1AC.
The other day had the good luck to
find myself in a railway carriage op-
posite charming young woman with a
weD-bred, vivacious manner, who for q
! short time was complete enigma to
| me.
Who could she be?
Not one of the upper ten thousand
her gloves were too fresh.
Women of that class do not wait until
stepping into the carriage to draw their
gloves on. They finish their toilette
before leaving home. so that, spotless
as the gloves are, they have already
creased themselves into outlines of their
well'shaped hands.
Not woman of the middle class-the
gloves we're also too fresh for that
Middle-class women invariably set aside
gloves in which to travel, gloves neither
very old nor very new-gloves which
have been once to church, and once to
pay visits in.
Gould she be--but most certainly
no.
There was not a trace of ANYTHING
equivocal about her; those gloves had
never taken a promenade in the Bots,
nor a tour around the Lac; besides,
she did not insist on your taking no.
tice that she chose the carriage set
aside for "damas sarlos !"
went on puzzling my poor brains,
trying to gusss, and could not guess.
For moment there came to my
mind that singular aphorism of Balzac,
Ella femme dun artistic est toujours
une femme honnete."
My fellow traveller perhaps might be
the wife of an artist; only so many
things are changed since Balzac wrote.
Might she not be an artist herself?
I abandoned the idea as soon as
formed. No, she had none of those
mannish airs affected by women who
paint, neither did she assume the senti-
mental pose of those who write.
Weary of seeking, vexed by my want
of perspicuity, I had to trust to chance
to enlighten me.
The lady sat quite TRANQUILITY, giving
me no excuse fer saying as much as
''for the time OF year it is unusually
warm"
At length the porter called out "Ser-
quiny! Ten minutes wait; passengers
for Havre and Rouen change here"
The lady seemed to become anxious.
Monsieur" she said suddenly, ad-
dressing me, "are we far from Lisieux ?"
about ten leagues, think, Mad
ame."
I answered her with my most agreea-
BILE smile.
"Do you know, Monsieur, whether le
Val Richer can be seen from the train p
Monsieur Guizot's property2"
eyes, Monsieur"
II don't think so, Madame"
"No? Oh, I am so sorry!'
"You should have liked to see the
house of that illustrious man?"
Il would give anything in the world
to have look at it"
"But that is saying great DEAL"
ut is; but it would have given me
much pleasure"
"You know him, perhaps?"
"No; I never saw him in my life"
"You must allow me to express my
surprise, then, at an admiration more
natural in an historian or politician
than in a lady,"
"But don't admire him at all. On
the contrary, 1t is my opinion that
Monsieur Guizot did a great deal of
HARM"
''Indeed, Madame!'
"Well, yes; but for him the revolu-
ton of 1848 would never have taken
place, and Louis Philippe, or his grand
son at least, would still be on the throne,
and we should all be quite quiet"
MAY L venture to remark that your
view of politics reminds me of that good
Joseph Prudhomme who, you know, as
serted that if Bonaparte had been less
ambitious, and had been satisfied with
remaining an artillery lieutenant, he
would still be sitting on the greatest
throne in the world"
"Well I don't go quite SO far as that. u
''But very nearly"
"And then I don't like Monsieur Gui-
zot as a man; I have been told that he
is so very austere."
| LES, MaUaN0!
"And that is by no means attractive,
is it? And then his bookshelf, you
must confess that they are decidedly
heavy reading for woman"
MAY be indiscreet enough in such 9
case to ask why, having no sympathy
with the illustrious deceased, you should
feel such regret at not being able tc
see his house?"
"Most certainly I will tell you why
and she added with an air of bewitchine
frankness-"it is because Monsieur
Guizot's was such an excellent death.
From simple surprise became mys
titled. My companion noted this, ani
smiling she went on:
"Yes, Monsieur, very excellent
death; it brought us Thousand francs
ooh, but that was very kind of him,
I replied.
I felt that I was getting idiotic.
"a thousand francs, and perhap.
more yet. My husband was *
pleased"
ooh your husband was"
Delighted"
@And very naturally"
II should think 80; for very lonl
time we had not had such q good death.
aOh!"
@Yes-f for some deaths that promisl
very we'll indeed, turn out to be moth
ing at all.
Really, really"
II assure you it happens just as I tel
you; either they die suddenly, and thel
there is no time to prepare them; o
they are six months about it, and thel