Life — November 19, 1885 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A 7 2B yeh. din SMM MM 3 Sarita BAY ee ed cece eee ale Pa o. SVT: zal 9) | ieee ¢ ea: x eeaty THOUGHTS ON DECORATION, No. II. DESIGN FOR A SIDEBOARD FOR A BARBER SHOP. A REMINISCENCE OF BAR HARBOR, HREE maidens went sailing all daintily dressed, One bright summer day as the sun went down; And for a rich yachtsman each angled her best, While their mothers stood watching them out of the town. For maidens must marry, and mothers are deep, And men to escape them strict watches must keep— Where the Harbor Bar is moaning. Three mothers stood anxiously out on the sand, That afternoon as the sun went down, And their words were sweet and their smiles were bland As they covertly watched for the yachtsmen brown. For mothers must work, and mothers must scheme, And all men are wary and not what they seem— Where the Harbor Bar is moaning. Three maidens all sea-sick and ill as can be (‘T was evening then and the sun had gone down) ; Three yachtsmen, all laughing with ill-suppressed glee, Were bringing those maidens right back to the town. For men w// laugh, and women must weep, And manceuvring mothers must sometimes feel cheap— So good-bye to the Bar and its moaning. LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF MME, JUDIC. CTOBER 4th.—Qu' ils sont dréle ces Americains. They are disappointed because I am not a gauze-girdled girl of the circus with nothing particular on. Their idea of the traditions of the French stage, is that its rise and fall is a mere matter of the curtailment or non-cur- tailment of skirts. No doubt they think Racine and Cornéille were Gallic Boucicaults, and Moli¢re a kind of Bronsea Howard salé. October 7th.—I have just received a dispatch from Théo. I wrote her of my disappointment. She says: “ Des bas, encore des bas, toujours des bas.” forting to me; although that motto has won more victories for French women here than anything else. That is not very com- | October 10th.—A gentleman from Boston supped with us | to-night. He assures me I shall be more successful there. He says everybody speaks French in Boston; indeed, he | Says, so great is the variety of accomplishments among Bos- tonians that very often two of them meet and take one an- other for foreigners, and only discover the mistake when, by force of circumstances, such as the meeting of an acquaint- ance from Chicago, one or the other is obliged to speak English. October 11th.—Some one told me to-day that the gentle- | man who supped with us last night was not a real Bostonian, for his family had only gone there after the Back Bay was redeemed from the swamp. But he was very amusing. He said the Boston gentlemen were only bad with their eyes, that ils vous font des yeux 4 vous manger tout cru; but a pathetic reminiscence of Puritanism prevents anything further. I wonder what is the Back Bay and the swamp and Puritan- ism. I suppose one can drive about and see them. When I asked this young gentleman about Chicago he said: Oh, Chicago is New York without a collar on. I wonder what he meant. October 20th.—| find 1 have brought too many things with me to America. The dogs and the secretary and the gowns are well enough, mais que j'étais béte to bring with me a reputation, It is all the fault of Monsieur Grau; he should have told me, and I could have arranged matters. October 26th.—First night in Boston. Already I have shown my children’s photographs to eleven reporters. It is said that this domesticity business will help me here. When we got as far as West Newton in the train yester- day, the gentleman from Boston, who was with us asked me if I could not hear the low murmur of the multitude of people who were reading Browning in Boston. I think I did hear something. I had a small audience. It seems to me that I appeal neither to cultured naughtiness nor naughty culture, mais nous verrons. Perhaps some of these people will understand that there is such a thing as comedy which does | not require a combination of Christy minstrel and Paul de | Koch made flesh for its representation. G. D. comichooks.