Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-04-16

10 take vows and enter a convent But,
family considerations proving stronger
than religious connections, at the age of
10 she married Colonel de L'Enclos, n
Partisan man Of the world and roue of AS.
From first to last Mime do Il Enclos was
not only model wife and mother, but she
was the most pious and ascetic woman Of
her day outside convent, and men like
Voltaire have boldly asserted that 1t was
this popularity of the mother that pro
duced reaction in the daughter and made
her one Of the most VIGOROUSLY attractive
and corrupt women in history.
But despite the sophistries of the brill
liant French philosopher, II is now we'll
understood that Ninon' father, Colonel de
L'Enclos, was the one person who shaped
the life of this woman, though, in doing so,
no found no opposing or refractory material
TO be manipulated.
Nlnon do L'Enclos was a woman at a.
Saint Evremond in describing her says:
"No artist would call Ninon beautiful. She
il of my own ago, and as children we played
together Her height is under the medium
for women, but she is 1.-the as n fawn,
active as sprite and full of captivating
yivacity No man capable of emotion
ever saw her without being enslaved by
her inexpressible powers Of fascination.
Her eyes are "a grayish brown, with strange
flecks In them, that flash like fire HeI
mouth is large, but it is full of even white
teeth, which she delights to show. Her
nose is irregular, her brow broad and low
and her back head large, the whole covered
with glorious corona of hair that i:
brown in the shadows and CLEANS will
love fires In the light. Her hands and feet
are shapely, white and strong and hel
cheek bones high. Ninon is far from being
beauty, but OH by all the saints, st
Anthony included, no woman since Eve
had the power to fascinate men like thi.
womanl 1 loved her as "A boy. | loved
| her as man; and now that l am grizZleC
and near the grave L love Ninon, t
whom the gods have given the gift Of con
tinuous youth and perpetual charm.
When Ninon was 10 the candle of hel
J fathers life which had been burned al
both ends and the middle, went out. She
could have lived above want, but she had
tasted of the sensuous enjoyments of the
| Partisan life of the day, and SO sneered al
the prospects OF a quiet, rural home will
her pious mother.
Like all women Of her class, who have
| turned notoriety into fame Ninon dc l. En-
clos had "a phenomenal intellect, particu
larly developed along artistic and linguis.
tic lines; but she appeared to be wholly
wanting in the reasoning faculty and The
| powers of forethought.
At time when English was not popu
lar In France she learned to speak the Ian
guage and to win the praise of Bacon for
her accuracy. In all the armada there
was not an officer fresh from CASTLE who
knew or spoke Spanish bettor then Ninon
German, Italian, Portuguese and Flemish
were among her accomplishments. She
was a practical cook an artistic painter
and, in designing gave lessons to the COS
tuners of Mantua
Ninon played the harp like Apollo and
wrote songs that would have done credit
to Sappho. She was skilled as Ovid in
| the arts of love- and she knew the tricks
OF craftsmanship as well as Richelieu.
No crushing want or overwhelming ne
cessity drove Ninon dc l. Enclos to her life
of brilliant immortality and heartless In
difference to right With open eyes and
all the consequences in sight she deliber.
ately entered on that career that meant
ruin to so many Of both sexes.
Gifted with what seemed perpetual
youth, she entered on life of dissipation
that brought no physical penalties to her
self Thousands, trying To initiate her,
went down shriveled and blasted in the
furnace of passion, from whose flames shC
came ever unscathcd, and without even
the odor of the smoke.
1t is said that at the age Of Is Ninon
knew more about Montaignc, the idol OF
literary France, than did any member OF
the Academy, and that no singer, dancer
or actress in the capital was at all her
equal.
Bright, brilliant, cultured and fascinat
ing, there was no single man in the king
dom whom she could not have married al
this time, had she been so disposed. but
hlspassionately, deliberately and without
the glamourof social seduction or the temp
tations that press virtue i'm want, she made
up her mind TO play the rolo Of adyentur
ess and TO market gifts that might have
made her "a model In her own time and the
! glory Of her sex through succeeding ages
As soon az her career began, in 1881. alI
gay Paris was at her feet. She became
the queen Of pleasure and the goddess u