The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1909-01-14

the Dimpled Landlady. by a love Of
the old-fashioned comfort and goot
cheer which l found in her Ninth
ward home. Now I fell a victim to a
new passion which l believed at the
time was love, but which was in real
ity taste for French cookery and
continental civilization as I found il
in the boarding house of Nine. Stou.
venal, to which l removed immedi
ately after my discovery that the mys.
ferrous ledger in the Ninth ward house
was one other than the husband of
he woman whom ! loved.
Believing that charge in my man.
ner Of living would cause me to forget
my unfortunate love affair. made
haste 10 move my trunk over to a
quiet block between Second and Third
avenues, Were dwelt the refined
French family" whose advertisement
had found in morning newspaper.
me-: add IL; . " making this change
was moved lot only by the hope of
rcpentie hut desire to improve my
F:ench by daily practice, and while in
tho house learned many interesting
things. found for example, that
elmer was not regarded as u sordid
end hurried labor that brought the
working hours of the day to close,
BIT, Il period CT pleasure and relaxa-
ticn. marked by general conversation
i'll which every one had part either
rs tallscr or listener.
learned also that the making OF
the salad was an honored household
:it". performed by each guest in turn
and never left to the discretion Of the
servant; that cheap rcd wine used
with great moderation and diluted
by water could be made to stimulate
wit and aid digestion, and that there
were other spectacles besides the ma
tive ones to which my eyes had been
accustomed through which it was
possible to view life.
Among the eXiles who sat at our
board were many Frenchmen, q Swiss
"a German baron and an
Austrian professor of languages. I
was the only American in the house,
and it is pleasant to recall the pro.
found politeness with which I was
received into this little alien commu-
nifty and the indulgence with which
my early attempts at French CONVEX.
sation were treated. Only once did
the table break into a roar, and that
was when, desiring some of the POM
en- robe-de-chambre,
asked for pomme-deterre en- chemise
almost the same idea, but differently
worded.
The conversation at the table be-
came a genuine pleasure to ME as
soon as learned enough French to
follow it. For the first time in my
life I heard the stage discussed seri-
ously and intelligently and from
point of view that was far above any.
hing I had evey known. shall
never forget my surprise when found
hat these foreigners demanded that
every part in a drama should be play.
ed by competent actor and that it
was not enough to have a half trained,
star about the stage
n role written to fit him"-that is
10 say, designed to conceal his incom-
potency and bring ont in strong re-
ief the few tricks he was capable Of
l never knew that COM
Dany to gobble its dinner in surly
silence. Discussion was an intregral
part Of the meal. like the bread or the
wine. and although it frequently grew
n intensity until bloodshed seemed
imminent. the arrival of the coffee
never failed TO restore peace.
1t was to this boarding house that
lie countess came few weeks after
my arrival, and, as my fortune would
have it, was placed at my left hand.
felt drawn toward her from the first
and was especially charmed by the
with which she thanked
ne for the dishes that was always
quick to pass her and the softness of
the voice in which she responded to
my halting attempts at French con-
Never before had seen a
woman who united as many of the
graces and refinements of life as she.
The words "chic" and "svelte" had
not vet made their way to East
Twelfth street, but even if they had l
would have discarded them as utterly
inadequate to describe her charms.
Tall. slender and distingue, with eyes
of deep blue and lips that could smile
graciously, the countess became in
my eyes the very essence of all that
was noble and distinguished in the
Fauhourg ST. German, from which
she claimed to have sprung.
One OF the women in the house re-
.larl:ed that it was long voyage from
lat Taugourg to East Twelfth street,
nd the landlady, who had been un-
reasonably suspicious from the very
c.rs,. as the countess herself told me
cter with tears in her blue eyes, add
d .!:at she wondered that any one
;!,culd attempt it with SO little bag
,.gc. | knew then that one can be
attish in French as we'll as in Eng
tn
Eat if tie wcmcn in this refined
french family regarded her with the
..e Of cold suspicion the men did not,
u c1rH