Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-08-24
GOODBY.


 hour was crowded with people. The soft breezes that sweep through the streets of Paris on warm summer nights famed their cheeks, inviting them to go down among the trees, somewhere, any where, to dream of moonlt streams, in spired poems and chanting nightingales.
 One of them, Henri Simon, said to his companion, with profound sigh:
 II feel that 1 am growing old, my friend. On such a night as this in days gone by was keenly alive to the pleas ures of existence. Tonight havo noth- ing but regrets. Life is short at best"
 He was a man about 10 years old, Il little stout and quite bald.
 The other, Pierre Carnier, not his sen ior in appearance by any means, but more slender and vivacious, replied:
 "I, my friend, have grown old with out noticing it. was always gay and jolly, vigorous and all that. For, when one looks at himself in the glass every day in the year, the ravages of age are not apparent. They are slow and regu- lar and work such gradual changes that the transition is not noticeable. We can hardly perceive it. To see it plainly, one should not look into q mirror for six months at least, and then-ah, what shock!
 And the women, old fellow-how pity them! All their happiness, their power, their life, is in their beauty, and that lasts but 10 years at best.
 As for myself, grew old without suspecting it! I thought myself still youth when l was near 80 years of age. Free from lntirmities of any kind, was going my way, happy and content. But the revelation of my decline came upon me in such simple yet startling man ner that I felt the effects of the shock six months afterward, Then accepted my fate gracefully.
 Il have often been in love, like all men, but oDce in my life I was quite hard hit.
 T met her at the seashore-Etretat- about 12 years ago, not long after the war. There is nothing more delightful than that beach in early morning ut the bathing hour It is not very extensive. is curved like horseshoe and cncircled by tall, white cliffs, pierced with singu- lar holes called The Gates One of these cliffs is enormous and stretches its Ei- gantic length to the waters edge. The other is round and flat. The women swarm over this narrow strip, with its pebbled walks, and transform it into a brilliant garden of summer toilets with in walls of rock. The sun shines full upon the coast, over parasols uf every imaginable color, and over the sra of to- paz blue It is a jolly picture, cnchaut- ing to the eye. Close by the waicr's | edge the people lounge i'll the sand. h., tl,.N- ping down in their flannel bath robes, which they discard with a pretty move ment as soon as the white fringcd waves | play around their feet. Then they run | in with swift littlestcps, while the water sends thrills of delicious chill through | their veins.
 Few women arc made to Cudurv tn, l CruCible test of the bath. Their tiEur, | stands revealed from ankle to throat, l As they emerge from the embrace of th, briny waters, either their shortcomings are made plain to the eye or the rounded contours of form and hInb are enhanced by the clngins. dripping garments. l The first time l saw the young wolu an of whom have spoken l Was carried away by her charms. Few women l.vs sess the beauty of form that k startling and overpowering at the first glance that seems to a man as if he had sudden ly met the creature he was born to love 1 experienced that sensation and that shock
 Il was introduced to her and was moro deeply smitten than ever i'll my life. Sh, made me her slave, and il was both ter rible and delicious to submit thus to tn, reign of a woman. It is torture and ill describable felicity at once. Her look her smile, the little tendrils of hail round her neck ruffled by the breeze every line in her face, her slghtes movement, Captivatcd my senses and cn snared and drove me to distraction. Sh, took complete possession of me. l grieved me to see her veil lying on chair or her gloves thrown careleSSly ol the sofa. Her toilets seemed matchles in my eyes, and no other woman ha, ever worn hats more becoming than hers
 "She was married Her husband cam
 every Saturday and departed again O:
 Monday. l was not in the least con | cerned about him nor jealous of his It
 lation to her. No living creature eve
 seemed of less consequence to me thal | this man.
 "Ah, how l loved hcr-she who Wa
 so gay, So pretty and so graceful! Sh
 was youth, elegance and freshness per
 sonified. l never felt more keenly tha1 did then that n woman is sweet
 lovely and delicate being made of charm
 and graces. Never before had 1 discoy
 cred the beauty that lay in the rounde
 contour of cheek, the movement of
 lip, the curves and creases of a little ear
 the shape even of that stupid feature the nose.
 This lasted three months, when wa
 called to America, whither I went wit crushed and broken heart. Even ava from her was her slave still. Year
 went by. could not forget her He
 charms were constantly before my eye