The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-09
SHE LIKES AMERICA.
Countess De Rochambeau Says She
 win COroa gain

l Will Come Again.
 q have escaped" said the Countess
 de Rochambeau, leaning on the taff- rail of the after veranda of the French battleship GauIois. Ut was so warm
 and so crowded inside that I couldn't 1 endure it any longer.' She stood on 1 the little platform circling the stern of l the Gaulois, a hanging balcony twenty ! feet above the water, the ends of her 1 white chiffon boa flying in the breeze, and as she gazed at the sun sinking be- hind the Palisades she murmured soft
 ly: Beautiful very beautiful!' The 1 countess lifted her veil the better to ap-
 preciate the scene.
 Its wonderful, isn't it?" she contin- ued, this river and this great city, and l over there that quiet, peaceful Rhenish landscape. I suppose the river is so wide because it wants to preserve re- lative proportion with the tall build ings; it's bewidering. I have never f been here before and it's just like sec ing a new play or wearing a new gown
 or something of that sort. I enjoy it immensely.
 My impressions? Mon Dieu' I am delighted with everything-th sums
 them all up. The first thing that really
 impressed me was the entrance to New
 York harbor We have little statue
 of Liberty in Paris-it was presented to
 us by the American colony there-and
 so I was familiar with it, but I had no
 idea that the real statue was so big and
 so imposing. When you first meet peo-
 pie it is always better to be favorably
 impressed because first impressions
 last. The Statue of Liberty was my
 first impression; it was a good one, and
 1t has lasted.
 ''As for the tall buildings, I am not of a sufficiently engineering mind to ap- preciate them. I look at them with my eyes only, not with my understanding. l am only a woman and women like faces and flowers and dainty things, If l were a man I suppose I would enthuse more about them than I do; as it is, they frighten me, they are wonderful and terrible, but not pretty. I prefer pretty things. I was perfectly en- chanted with Washington. I think it is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Another thing I did not like about New York was youP elevated rail- road-c'est commode, mais c'est laid.
 The countess looked wonderingly at her interviewer when he asked her what her impression of the taste in dress of the American women was. She looked down upon her fluffy pearl-gray costume before replying, as if to assure herself that nothing was amiss, and then said:
 That's very difficult questiQn to answer. Chacun, son gout. D8ust- bus--don't you know? I wear things that American women would not wear, and I suppose that there are some things they wear which I would not particularly fancy.
 Let us change the subject, will you? Ask me about the women themselves and the men. Give me an opportunity to say how splendid they are, how lav- ishly they entertain and how genuine they are in their welcome. The memo | ry of what you have done for the | stricken of Martinique will live for all | time at home. I made it a point to per- | thank Cardinal Gibbons for the 1 kindly things he said to us in his ad- lress last Sunday, and I feel the same | way toward the Americans who came to the rescue of the St. Pierre victims. wish I could thank them all individu- ally,
 'I had been told that Americans were but so far I have only seen their sentimental side. The regard in | which those I have met seem to hold he name of Rochambeau has impressed ne deeply. 1 have met so many charm ng people here that, were it not that have three motherless children in France I would prolong my stay until all I shall remain longer than the majority of the members of the mission IS it is, as I intend to go to St. Louis in tnswer to the invitation of the Louisia- Ia Purchase Exposition managers I hall revisit America, but next time l hall not come officially it is too ardu- us When night comes l am so physi- ally weary that I could sleep for days, seems Instead, I must be up and bout early in the morning. Next time
 come I hope that the photographers will be busy following the Emperor of sermany or some other high parsonage, O that I may go about in peace. That 5 very offensive habit they have of ollowing people and photographing hem without any provocation whatev- r. I submitted gracefully at first, but ow, whenever l see them coming l feel s if had committed a crime and was bout to face my executioners.- . lercial Advertiser.