The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-10-04
IN DAYS GONE BY.
The Wits and Beauties of the Salon
Bleu Dignified and Loyal.

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The traits which strike us most forcibly
IL the lives and characters of the women
of the early salons are delicacy and sensi-
bility: they colored their minds, ran
through their literary pastimes. and gave
q distinctive flavor TO their conversation
1t was these qualities. added to a decided
taste for pleasures of the intellect and an
innate social genius, that led them to re-
volt from the gross sensualism OF the
court. and form upon a new basis OF socl-
ETY. that has given another complexion to
the last two centuries. The natural result
was at first a reign of sentiment that was
often o~verstrained, but which repre-
sented, on the whole, a reaction OF moral
ity and refinement.
The wits and beauties of the salon bleu
may have committed a thousand follles.
but their chivalrous cokes of hono and OF
their faStidiouS tastes, even
their prudlsh affections, were open, though
sometimes rather bizarre. tributes TO tne
virtues that lie at the very foundation OF
q well ordered society. They had exalted
ideas of the dignity of ~womanhood, of pur-
ity, of loyalty, of devotion. The heroines
of Mile. de Scudery, with their endless
discourses upon the metaphysics of love,
were no doubt tireSome sometimes TO the
blase courtiers as well as TO the critics;
but their lofty and fine spun sentiments
charmed the great Condo in his cell at
V~incennes, the eloquent Fletcher, che
as celtic D'Andilly at Port Royal, as we'll
as the romantic ma1denS who sighed over
their fanc1ful dreams and impossible adj
We ntures.
They had their originals in living
women who reserved the common tradi-
tions of a Gabrielle and a Marion Delorme,
who combined with the Intellectual bril-
liancy and fine courtesy of he Greek
Aspasia the moral graces that give SO
poetic a fascination to the Christian
and medieval types. Nine. De la
Fayette painted with rare dell
cacy the old struggle between passion
and duty, but character triumphs over
passion, and duty is the final victor. In
spite of the low standards of the age the
ideal woman of society, as of literature,
was noble, tender, modest, pure n
loyal.-Ameltd Gere Mason in Century.
Empress Eugenie's Fortitude.
The cholera scare that has afflicted
Europe to a degree has recalled an incid-
ent of the time when Napoleon III. was
at the height of his power. The cholera
prevailed TO a ~frightful extent at Amiens,
vet never q day passed that the Empress
did not visit the hospitals to super1ntend,
so far as she could, the noble work OF al
LAYING the sufferings of the stricken.
One morning q cure rushed into the
ward where the Empress was consoling a
dying man.
20 your Maiestyr' cried the cure, 1.-TWO
hours ago my vicar vas breakfasting
with me, and now he is deadi'
Eugenie smiled placidiy. "That is
s,WelI?, echoed the cure in amaze
ment.
YES, it is WELL" she answered. "When
once cholera becomes as violent as that 1t
ceases
The Empress was right; from that day
the plague abated. Eugenie's valor did
epidemic to which very many, l am told,
fell victims through sheer fright alone
Eugene Field IN Chicago NclOs.
Effect of Mental Strain on Woman.
1t may reasonably be asked, says q dis
tinguished physician, in the interests of
the community at large, what will be the
effect on women. and through them on
future generations, of the prolonged mem
tai strain to which they are ~now-partly
voluntarily, partly owing to the sugges-
ton and the inducements held out TO
them by others-submitting themselves?
Will it hurt their constitutions? Will
it make them a bag of bones, with body
and mind alike hard and angular?
VIII ii render them less maternal, or
make them the mothers of a Feeble and
degenerate race, prone to epilepsy and in
sanity? Will it, by ~engendering a feeling
of Independence, render them less lovable,
less disposed to enter the marriage state,
or, being married, make them careless OF
home ties, the nursing and teaching of
infants, and the proper household duties
which devolve on a woman under the con-
ditions of modern civilization?
Or will it act in q contrary way? Will
the mathematical or the classical lady
scholar, decorated with medals and rich
with prizes and exhibitions and scholar
ships, still be open to the assaults of love?
Will her wider knowledge foster domestic
happiness? Will the children, even if
fewer. be better developed, more intellect
ual, better fitted as they grow up TO cope
with the other great nations in the con-
fiict for wealth and power and all that
these command? Will she still be as
the sweet, gentle mother is now, the very
focus and centre of the house?-Nel0 York
Ledger.
Friendships of Girls.
If you write a letter to a man friend
don't put in black and white that you are
Ibis forever" or that you send a great
deal of love, ven if it be only in jest, but
remain either his Every cordially or
livery sincerely Sincerity and cordial
ity are possible ever with acquaintance
that do not demand either love or an af-
lection that is to last forever. / wish
girls knew how very i'll bred it is to give
or permit tamiliarities in word or pen
from either men or women. Learn to
keep your personal affairs to yourself.
Learn to believe that your first name can
only be used by those connected with you
by ties of blood, or having the right given
by a deep love. Believe me, you will
never regret your self respect as shownin
this way, and o will never cease la
menting permitting r too familiar inter-
course, that in the futare will rise up
before you like a skeleton at q feast.
A perfect friendship is like a rose; after
the time of its glory is passed the leaves
S~~~~Vssw noous gar