The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-01-13
THE PRICE OF A LIFT.
How the Comtesse de Bay
onne Was Forced to
Kiss a Handsome
Workman.
AsoCIETY MAN IN DISGUISE
Duel Anticipated, Should He
Reappear = Why Jenny
Lind Retired.
SOCIETY MAN IN DISGUISE

incident is tOld:-A few days ago the
Countess de Bayonne, a young mar
ried woman we'll known in Partisan
society, was coming out of an exhibi.
ton of paintings in the Champs
EIysees, Paris, when a heavy rain
storm setting in rendered the famous
Elysian Fields nothing but a muddy
marsh. To add to her misfortune bel
victoria-through the great crowd oil
carriages which were there happened
to.be on the other side of the road
She hailed her coachman. who, mat
tentive, did not look for his mistress,
and consequently did not see hei
signs, nor could he hear her at thai
distance, and the pretty woman was
obliged to give up her efforts in de.
spair, OF a sudden she heard a mas
culine voice at her side making a pro,
posal.
give me six sous, madame, n
will carry you through the crowd"
The Countess turned round. The
author of this interesting offer was a
handsome young man dressed as q
workman. After a moments heslta-
ton the lady said bravely, BE it so;
take me to my carriage" And lifting
up her skirts she put one arm around
the robust mans neck, who lifted
her up as a feather and gayly com
menced his expedition,
All went well till they arrived about
half way across the road close to a
large pool of muddy water, when the
man stopped short.
"Eh bien; what's up now?" asked
the Countess.
"Eh bien," resolutely replied her
pony you must kiss mel"
"Plait-il?'
kiss me or l will put you down
and leave yor,"
What was 10 be done? The situa-
ton was a critical one; eve a little
ridiculous. After all, a kiss does not
kill; it is soon over. This was the
meditation of the Countess and she
gracefully bent down and kissed her
carrier.
The rest of the journey was salts
factorily performed and the Countess
was placed comfortably in her car
rage, where a little flushed and con-
fused she took out her purse and
brought forth a franc, which she
offered to the man. But he, po-
litely taking off his cap, bowed, say
ing:-"Il ne mauquerait plus que
celal Pour qui me premez-vous?
Merci; lie suis assez paye." (This would
only be wanting;-Whom do you take
me for? Thank you; l am sufficiently
paid.) He then turned on his heels
and walked away. The Countess.
mystified, went her way wondering
who the man was. The Count de
Bayonne is, however, on his track
and in pursuit of his search is causing
much merriment in all the Paris
clubs. 1t is expected that a duel will
be shortly the result, for the delin-
quent is supposed to be a man well
known in society, who, strange to say,
has suddenly disappeared.
why Jenny Linz Retired.
One matter which must be of inter
est to every lover of dramatic art, and
which has been an enigma to many
people, is now for the first time dealt
with by one with authority to discuss
the question. says a writer for Cen
tuay. Why did Jenny Lind quit the
stage at the moment of her greatest
glory, and many years before her un-
rivalled powers had begun to suffer
n decay? Some have, perhaps, re
luctantly accepted the widely preva-
lent idea that she had come to regard
the dramatic profession as an unholy
thing, which no pure souled woman
could remain in without contamina-
ton. Happily, this notion can be
entertained no longer. Her intimate
friend, Froken Won Stedingk, with
reference to it, says:-'Many suppose
this resolution to be the result OF
pietism. Jenny Lind is as G~od-fearing
as she is pure, but had pietism been
the cause she would not herself have
gone to the play, which she liked to
do, to see others act.n The fact Is
that to appreciate her motive for leav-
ing the stage is to understand the
whole character of the Her
distaste for it seems to have begun
with her great European success, and
steadily grew as her fame spread. In
1880 she had lived for ten years a life of
incessant hard work IN the stage; yet
in the following year she wrote from
Paris:-"Eife on the stage has some
ULlDG III IL 81 ldoCiiidbIuS bLdt L buII1h.
having once tasted it, one can never
feel truly happy away from it.
But in 1916, just after her trans
cendant success in Berlin, the idea of
leaving the stage had not merely oc-
Cured to her mind, but had already
become q fixed determination. Among
the dominant notes of her character
were love OF home and craving for
domestic peace. This craving was to
a great extent satisfied while she re-
NAMED in Stockholm, and especially
during the time she lived with
the Linblad family. But when her
destiny drew her in relentless tri-
umph to Berlin, Vienna. Copenha-
gen, London, her domestic instincts
were wrenched and tortured, aud she
found no compensation iii all the
glitter of her success. Il AIN o n
vinced,n said Herr Brockhaus, in
April, 1916. THAT she would gladly
exchange all her triumphs for simple
hoimely happiness" That was the
secret of the whole matter. And SO
she formed the resolution to quit the
stage forever, a resolution in which
she never wavered frorN 1916, when it
first took definite shapI, till she car
ried it out in London in the summer
of 1849.
Ideas Against which women Must Con-
tend.