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twg_000000033200 | perfectly beautiful it is, even now, empty; what will it be when all the uniforms and jewels are reflected in the mirrors," his answer was: "Ah, Madame, I am afraid we shan't have people enough, the hall is so enormous." I thought of him afterward when an angry crowd was battering at the doors of one of the salons where | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033201 | the royalties were having refreshments. I don't think they realised, and we certainly didn't, what the noise meant, but some of the marshal's household, who knew that only a slight temporary partition was between us and an irate mob, struggling up the staircase, were green with anxiety. However, the royalties all got away without any difficulty, and we tried to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033202 | hurry immediately after them, but a dense crowd was then pouring into the room at each end, and for a moment things looked ugly. The gentlemen, my husband and my brother-in-law, Eugene Schuyler, Lord Lyons, British ambassador (a big square-shouldered man), and one or two others, put us, my sister Schuyler and me, in a recess of one of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033203 | big windows, with heavy furniture in front of us, but that was not very pleasant--with the crowd moving both ways closing in upon us--and the men were getting nervous, so one of our secretaries squeezed through the crowd and found two or three huissiers, came back with them, and we made a procession--two big huissiers in front, with their silver | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033204 | chains and swords, the mark of official status, which always impresses a French crowd, then Lord Lyons, my sister, and I, then W. and Schuyler, and two more men behind us--and with considerable difficulty and a good many angry expostulations, we made our way out. Happily our carriages and servants with our wraps were waiting in one of the inner | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033205 | courts, and we got away easily enough, but the evening was disastrous to most of the company. There must have been some misunderstanding between the marshal's household and the officials at Versailles, as but one staircase (and there are several) was opened to the public, which was of course absolutely insufficient. Why others were not opened and lighted will always | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033206 | be a mystery. Every one got jammed in the one narrow stairway--people jostled and tumbled over each other--some of the women fainted and were carried out, borne high aloft over the heads of the struggling multitudes, and many people never saw their cloaks again. The vestiaire was taken by storm--satin and lace cloaks lying on the ground, trampled upon by | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033207 | everybody, and at the end, various men not having been able to find their coats were disporting themselves in pink satin cloaks lined with swan's-down--over their shoulders. Quantities of people never got into the palace--not even on the staircase. The landing was directly opposite the room where the princes had their buffet--and if they had succeeded in forcing the door, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033208 | it would have been a catastrophe. While we were standing in the window, looking into the park, which looked an enchanted garden, with the lights and flowers--we wondered if we could jump or climb down if the crowd pressed too much upon us, but it was too high and there were no projecting balconies to serve as stepping-stones. It was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033209 | a very unpleasant experience. We were giving a ball at the Quai d'Orsay a few nights afterward, and had also asked a great many people--all the ambassadors sent in very large lists of invitations they wanted for their compatriots, but much the largest was that sent in by the American minister. The invitations sent to the United States Legation (as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033210 | it was then) were something fabulous. It seemed to me the whole of the United States were in Paris and expecting to be entertained. It is a very difficult position for the American representative on these occasions. Everybody can't be invited to the various entertainments and distinctions are very hard to make. We had some amusing experiences. W. had a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033211 | letter from one of his English friends, Lord H., saying he was coming to Paris for the ftes, with his two daughters, and he would like very much to be invited to some of the parties at the Elysee and the ministries. W. replied, saying he would do what he could, and added that we were to have two large | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033212 | dinners and receptions,--one with the Comdie Franaise afterward and one with music--which one would they come to. Lord H. promptly replied, "to both." It was funny, but really didn't make any difference. When you have a hundred people to dinner you can quite easily have a hundred and three, and in such large parties, arranged weeks beforehand, some one always | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033213 | gives out at the last moment. We had a great many discussions in W.'s cabinet with two of his secretaries, who were especially occupied with the invitations for our ball. The Parliament of course (le peuple souverain) was invited, but it was a different question for the women, wives of the senators and deputies. We finally arrived at a solution | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033214 | by inviting only the wives I knew. We had an indignant response from one gentleman: "M. X., Dput, ne valsant qu'avec sa femme, a l'honneur de renvoyer la carte d'invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangres et Madame Waddington lui ont adresse pour la soire du ...." (Mr. X., Deputy, who waltzes only with his wife, has the honour to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033215 | send back the card of invitation which the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Waddington have sent to him for the party of the ... ) It was unanimously decided that the couple must be invited--a gentleman who went to balls only to dance with his wife must be encouraged in such exemplary behaviour. Another was funny too, in a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033216 | different style: "Madame K., tant au ciel depuis quelques annes, ne pourrait pas se rendre la gracieuse invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangres et Madame Waddington ont bien voulu lui adresser. Monsieur K. s'y rendra avec plaisir."... (Madame K., being in heaven for some years, cannot accept the amiable invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Waddington. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033217 | Mr. K. will come with pleasure.) We kept the letters in our archives with many other curious specimens. The house was given over to workmen the last two or three days before the ball. With the remembrance of the staircase at Versailles in our minds, we were most anxious to have no contretemps of any kind to interfere with our | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033218 | entertainment. Both entrances were arranged and the old elevator (which had not worked for years) was put in order. It had been suggested once or twice that I should use it, but as I always had heard a gruesome tale of Madame Drouyn de l'Huys, when her husband was Foreign Minister, hanging in space for four or five hours between | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033219 | the two floors, I was not inclined to repeat that experience. My recollection of the lower entrance and staircase, which we never used, was of rather a dark, grimy corner, and I was amazed the morning of the ball to see the transformation. Draperies, tapestries, flags, and green plants had done wonders--and the elevator looked quite charming with red velvet | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033220 | hangings and cushions. I don't think any one used it. We had asked our guests at nine-thirty, as the princes said they would come at ten. I was ready about nine, and thought I would go down-stairs by the lower entrance, so as to have a look at the staircase and all the rooms before any one came. There was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033221 | already such a crowd in the rooms that I couldn't get through; even my faithful Grard could not make a passage. We were obliged to send for two huissiers, who with some difficulty made room for me. W. and his staff were already in the salon rserv, giving final instructions. The servants told us that since eight o'clock there had | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033222 | been a crowd at the doors, which they opened a little before nine, and a flood of people poured in. The salon rserv had a blue ribbon stretched across the entrance from door to door, and was guarded by huissiers, old hands who knew everybody in the diplomatic and official world, and would not let any one in who hadn't | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033223 | a right to penetrate into the charmed circle (which of course became the one room where every one wanted to go). There were, too, one or two members of W.'s cabinet always stationed near the doors to see that instructions were obeyed. I don't think the salon rserv exists any more--the blue ribbon certainly not. The rising flood of democracy | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033224 | and equality wouldn't submit to any such barrier. I remember quite well one beautiful woman standing for some time just the wrong side of the ribbon. She was so beautiful that every one remarked her, but she had no official rank or claim of any kind to enter the salon rserv--no one knew her, though every one was asking who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033225 | she was. She finally made her entre into the room on the arm of one of the members of the diplomatic corps, a young secretary, one of her friends, who could not refuse her what she wanted so much. She was certainly the handsomest woman in the room with the exception of the actual Queen Alexandra, who was always the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033226 | most beautiful and distinguished wherever she was. The royalties didn't dance much. We had the regular quadrille d'honneur with the Princes and Princesses of Wales, Denmark, Sweden, Countess of Flanders, and others. None of the French princes came to the ball. There was a great crowd, but as the distinguished guests remained all the time in the salon rserv, they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033227 | were not inconvenienced by it. Just before supper, which was served at little round tables in a room opening out of the rotonde, the late King of Denmark, then Crown Prince, brother of the Princess of Wales, told me he would like to go up-stairs and see all the rooms; he had always heard that the Palais d'Orsay was a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033228 | beautiful house. We made a difficult but stately progress through the rooms. The staircase was a pretty sight, covered with a red carpet, tapestries on the walls, and quantities of pretty women of all nationalities grouped on the steps. We walked through the rooms, where there were just as many people as there were down-stairs, an orchestra, supper-room, people dancing--just | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033229 | like another party going on. We halted a few minutes in my petit salon at the end of the long suite of rooms. It looked quite charming, with the blue brocade walls and quantities of pink roses standing in high glass vases. I suggested taking the elevator to go down, but the prince preferred walking (so did I). It was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033230 | even more difficult getting through the crowd down-stairs--we had the whole length of the house to cross. Several women stood on chairs as we passed along, in the hope of seeing one of the princesses, but they had wisely remained in the salon rserv, and were afraid to venture into the crowd. Supper was a serious preoccupation for the young | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033231 | secretaries of the ministry, who had much difficulty in keeping that room private. Long before the supper hour some enterprising spirits had discovered that the royalties were to sup in that room, and finding the secretaries quite inaccessible to any suggestions of "people who had a right to come in"--presidents of commissions and various other distinctions--had recourse to the servants, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033232 | and various gold pieces circulated, which, however, did not accomplish their object. The secretaries said that they had more trouble with the chamberlains of the various princes than with the princes themselves; they all wanted to sup in the private room, and were much more tenacious of having a good place, or the place they thought was due to them, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033233 | than their royal masters. The supper was very gay--the Prince of Wales (the late King Edward) perfectly charming--talking to every one, remembering every one with that extraordinary gracious manner which made him friends in all classes. Immediately after supper the princes and distinguished strangers and W. departed. I remained about an hour longer and went to have a look at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033234 | the ballroom. It was still crowded, people dancing hard, and when finally about two o'clock I retreated to my own quarters, I went to sleep to the sound of waltzes and dance music played by the two orchestras. The revelry continued pretty well all through the night. Whenever I woke I heard strains of music. Supper went on till seven | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033235 | in the morning. Our faithful Kruft told us that there was absolutely nothing left on the tables, and they had almost to force the people out, telling them that an invitation to a ball did not usually extend to breakfast the next morning. There was a grand official closing of the exposition at the end of November, with a distribution | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033236 | of prizes--the city still very full and very gay--escorts and uniforms in every direction--the Champs-Elyses brilliant with soldiers--equipages of all descriptions, and all the afternoon a crowd of people sitting under the trees, much interested in all that was going on, particularly when carriages would pass with people in foreign and striking costumes. The Chinese always wore their costume; the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033237 | big yellow birds of paradise became quite a feature of the afternoon dfil. An Indian princess too, dressed entirely in white--a soft clinging material, with a white veil, _not_ over her face, and held in place by a gold band going around the head--was always much admired. Every now and then there would be a great clatter of trotting-horses and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033238 | jingling sabres, when an escort of dragoons would pass, escorting some foreign prince to the Elyse to pay his formal visit to the marshal. Everybody looked gay--French people so dearly love a show--and it was amusing to see the interest every one took in the steady stream of people, from the fashionable woman driving to the Bois in her victoria | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033239 | to the workmen, who would stand in groups on the corners of the streets--some of them occasionally with a child on their shoulders. Frenchmen of all classes are good to children. On a Sunday or fte day, when whole families are coming in from a day at the Bois, one often sees a young husband wheeling a baby-carriage, or carrying | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033240 | a baby in his arms to let the poor mother have a rest. It was curious at the end of the exposition to see how quickly everything was removed (many things had been sold); and in a few days the Champ de Mars took again the same aspect it had at the beginning of the month of May--heavy carts and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033241 | camions everywhere, oceans of mud, lines of black holes where trees and poles had been planted, and the same groups of small shivering Southerners, all huddled together, wrapped in wonderful cloaks and blankets, quite paralysed with cold. I don't know if the exposition was a financial success--I should think probably not. A great deal of money came into France (but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033242 | the French spent enormously in their preparations) but the moral effect was certainly good--all the world flocked to Paris. Cabs and river steamers did a flourishing business, as did all the restaurants and cafs in the suburbs. St. Cloud, Meudon, Versailles, Robinson, were crowded every night with people who were thirsting for air and food after long hot days in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033243 | the dust and struggles of the exposition. We dined there once or twice, but it was certainly neither pleasant nor comfortable--even in the most expensive restaurants. They were all overcrowded, very bad service, badly lighted, and generally bad food. There were various national repasts--Russian, Italian, etc.--but I never participated in any of those, except once at the American restaurant, where | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033244 | I had a very good breakfast one morning, with delicious waffles made by a negro cook. I was rather glad when the exhibition was over. One had a feeling that one ought to see as much as possible, and there were some beautiful things, but it was most fatiguing struggling through the crowd, and we invariably lost the carriage and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033245 | found ourselves at the wrong entrance, and had to wait hours for a cab. Tiffany had a great success with the French. Many of my friends bought souvenirs of the exposition from him. His work was very original, fanciful, and quite different from the rather stiff, heavy, classic silver that one sees in this country. IX M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033246 | MINISTER There had been a respite, a sort of armed truce, in political circles as long as the exposition lasted, but when the Chambers met again in November, it was evident that things were not going smoothly. The Republicans and Radicals were dissatisfied. Every day there were speeches and insinuations against the marshal and his government, and one felt that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033247 | a crisis was impending. There were not loaves and fishes enough for the whole Radical party. If one listened to them it would seem as if every prfet and every general were conspiring against the Republic. There were long consultations in W.'s cabinet, and I went often to our house in the rue Dumont d'Urville to see if everything was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033248 | in order there, as I quite expected to be back there for Christmas. A climax was reached when the marshal was asked to sign the deposition of some of the generals. He absolutely refused--the ministers persisted in their demands. There was not much discussion, the marshal's mind was made up, and on the 30th of January, , he announced in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033249 | the Conseil des Ministres his irrevocable decision, and handed his ministers his letter of resignation. We had a melancholy breakfast--W., Count de P., and I--the last day of the marshal's presidency. W. was very blue, was quite sure the marshal would resign, and foresaw all sorts of complications both at home and abroad. The day was gloomy too, grey and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033250 | cold, even the big rooms of the ministry were dark. As soon as they had started for Versailles, I took baby and went to mother's. As I went over the bridge I wondered how many more times I should cross it, and whether the end of the week would see me settled again in my own house. We drove about | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033251 | and had tea together, and I got back to the Quai d'Orsay about six o'clock. Neither W. nor Count de P. had got back from Versailles, but there were two telegrams--the first one to say that the marshal had resigned, the second one that Grvy was named in his place, with a large majority. [Illustration: M. Jules Grevy, reading Marshal | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033252 | MacMahon's letter of resignation to the Chamber of Deputies. From _L'Illustration_, February . .] W. was rather depressed when he came home--he had always a great sympathy and respect for the marshal, and was very sorry to see him go,--thought his departure would complicate foreign affairs. As long as the marshal was at the Elysee, foreign governments were not afraid | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033253 | of coups d'tat or revolutions. He was also sorry that Dufaure would not remain, but he was an old man, had had enough of political life and party struggles--left the field to younger men. The marshal's letter was communicated at once to the Parliament, and the houses met in the afternoon. There was a short session to hear the marshal's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033254 | letter read (by Grvy in the Chamber of Deputies) and the two houses, Senate and Chamber of Deputies, were convoked for a later hour of the same afternoon. There was not much excitement, two or three names were pronounced, but every one felt sure that Grvy would be the man. He was nominated by a large majority, and the Republicans | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033255 | were jubilant--thought the Republic was at last established on a firm and proper basis. Grvy was perfectly calm and self-possessed--did not show much enthusiasm. He must have felt quite sure from the first moment that he would be named. His first visitor was the marshal, who wished him all possible success in his new mission, and, if Grvy was pleased | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033256 | to be the President of the Republic, the marshal was even more pleased not to be, and to take up his private life again. There were many speculations as to who would be charged by Grvy to form his first cabinet--and almost permanent meetings in all the groups of the Left. W.'s friends all said he would certainly remain at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033257 | the Foreign Office, but that depended naturally upon the choice of the premier. If he were taken from the more advanced ranks of the Left, W. could not possibly stay. We were not long in suspense. W. had one or two interviews with Grvy, which resulted in his remaining at the Foreign Office, but as prime minister. W. hesitated at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033258 | first, felt that it would not be an easy task to keep all those very conflicting elements together. There were four Protestants in the ministry, W., Lon Say, de Freycinet, and Le Royer. Jules Ferry, who took the Ministry of Public Instruction, a very clever man, was practically a freethinker, and the Parliament was decidedly more advanced. The last elections | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033259 | had given a strong Republican majority to the Senate. He consulted with his brother, Richard Waddington, then a deputy, afterward a senator, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, and some of his friends, and finally decided to accept the very honourable, but very onerous position, and remained at the Foreign Affairs with Grvy, as prime minister. If I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033260 | had seen little of him before, I saw nothing of him now, as his work was exactly doubled. We did breakfast together, but it was a most irregular meal--sometimes at twelve o'clock, sometimes at one-thirty, and very rarely alone. We always dined out or had people dining with us, so that family life became a dream of the past. We | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033261 | very rarely went together when we dined out. W. was always late--his coup waited hours in the court. I had my carriage and went alone. After eight or ten days of irregular meals at impossible hours (we often dined at nine-thirty) I said to Count de P., W.'s chef de cabinet: "Can't you arrange to have business over a little | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033262 | earlier? It is awful to dine so late and to wait so long," to which he replied: "Ah, madame, no one can be more desirous than I to change that order of things, for when the minister dines at nine-thirty, the chef de cabinet gets his dinner at ten-thirty." We did manage to get rather more satisfactory hours after a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033263 | little while, but it was always difficult to extract W. from his work if it were anything important. He became absorbed, and absolutely unconscious of time. The new President, Grvy, installed himself at once at the Elyse with his wife and daughter. There was much speculation about Madame Grvy--no one had ever seen her--she was absolutely unknown. When Grvy was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033264 | president of the National Assembly, he gave very pleasant men's dinners, where Madame Grvy never appeared. Every one (of all opinions) was delighted to go to him, and the talk was most brilliant and interesting. Grvy was a perfect host, very cultivated, with a marvellous memory--quoting pages of the classics, French, and Latin. Madame Grvy was always spoken of as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033265 | a quiet, unpretending person--occupied with domestic duties, who hated society and never went anywhere--in fact, no one ever heard her name mentioned. A great many people didn't know that Grvy had a wife. When her husband became President of the Republic, there was much discussion as to Madame Grvy's social status in the official world. I don't think Grvy wanted | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033266 | her to appear nor to take any part in the new life, and she certainly didn't want to. Nothing in her former life had prepared her for such a change, and it was always an effort for her, but both were overruled by their friends, who thought a woman was a necessary part of the position. It was some little | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033267 | time before they were settled at the Elyse. W. asked Grvy once or twice when Madame Waddington might call upon his wife--and he answered that as soon as they were quite installed I should receive a notice. One day a communication arrived from the Elysee, saying that Madame Grvy would receive the diplomatic corps and the ministers' wives on a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033268 | fixed day at five o'clock. The message was sent on to the diplomatic corps, and when I arrived on the appointed day (early, as I wanted to see the people come in, and also thought I must present the foreign ladies) there were already several carriages in the court. [Illustration: M. Jules Grvy elected President of the Republic by the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033269 | Senate and Chamber of Deputies meeting as the National Assembly. From _l'Illustration_, February . .] The Elysee looked just as it did in the marshal's time--plenty of servants in gala liveries--two or three huissiers who knew everybody--palms, flowers, everywhere. The traditions of the palace are carried on from one President to another, and a permanent staff of servants remains. We | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033270 | found Madame Grvy with her daughter and one or two ladies, wives, I suppose, of the secretaries, seated in the well-known drawing-room with the beautiful tapestries--Madame Grvy in a large gold armchair at the end of the room--a row of gilt armchairs on each side of hers--mademoiselle standing behind her mother. A huissier announced every one distinctly, but the names | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033271 | and titles said nothing to Madame Grvy. She was tall, middle-aged, handsomely dressed, and visibly nervous--made a great many gestures when she talked. It was amusing to see all the people arrive. I had nothing to do--there were no introductions--every one was announced, and they all walked straight up to Madame Grvy, who was very polite, got up for every | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033272 | one, men and women. It was rather an imposing circle that gathered around her--Princess Hohenlohe, German ambassadress, sat on one side of her--Marquise Molins, Spanish ambassadress, on the other. There were not many men--Lord Lyons, as doyen of the diplomatic corps, the nonce, and a good many representatives of the South American Republics. Madame Grvy was perfectly bewildered, and did | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033273 | try to talk to the ladies next to her, but it was an intimidating function for any one, and she had no one to help her, as they were all quite new to the work. It was obviously an immense relief to her when some lady of the official world came in, whom she had known before. The two ladies | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033274 | plunged at once into a very animated conversation about their children, husbands, and various domestic matters--a perfectly natural conversation, but not interesting to the foreign ladies. We didn't make a very long visit--it was merely a matter of form. Lord Lyons came out with me, and we had quite a talk while I was waiting for my carriage in the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033275 | anteroom. He was so sensible always in his intercourse with the official world, quite realised that the position was difficult and trying for Madame Grvy--it would have been for any one thrown at once without any preparation into such perfectly different surroundings. He had a certain experience of republics and republican manners, as he had been some years in Washington | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033276 | as British minister, and had often seen wives of American statesmen and ministers, fresh from the far West, beginning their career in Washington, quite bewildered by the novelty of everything and utterly ignorant of all questions of etiquette--only he said the American women were far more adaptable than either French or English--or than any others in the world, in fact. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033277 | He also said that day, and I have heard him repeat it once or twice since, that he had _never_ met a stupid American woman.... I have always thought it was unnecessary to insist upon Madame Grvy's presence at the Elyse. It is very difficult for any woman, no longer very young, to begin an entirely new life in a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033278 | perfectly different milieu, and certainly more difficult for a Frenchwoman of the bourgeoisie than any other. They live in such a narrow circle, their lives are so cramped and uninteresting--they know so little of society and foreign ways and manners that they must be often uncomfortable and make mistakes. It is very different for a man. All the small questions | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033279 | of dress and manners, etc., don't exist for him. One man in a dress coat and white cravat looks very like another, and men of all conditions are polite to a lady. When a man is intelligent, no one notices whether his coat and waist-coat are too wide or too short and whether his boots are clumsy. Madame Grvy never | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033280 | looked happy at the Elyse. They had a big dinner every Thursday, with a reception afterward, and she looked so tired when she was sitting on the sofa, in the diplomatic salon, making conversation for the foreigners and people of all kinds who came to their receptions, that one felt really sorry for her. Grvy was always a striking personality. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033281 | He had a fine head, a quiet, dignified manner, and looked very well when he stood at the door receiving his guests. I don't think he cared very much about foreign affairs--he was essentially French--had never lived abroad or known any foreigners. He was too intelligent not to understand that a country must have foreign relations, and that France must | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033282 | take her place again as a great power, but home politics interested him much more than anything else. He was a charming talker--every one wanted to talk to him, or rather to listen to him. The evenings were pleasant enough in the diplomatic salon. It was interesting to see the attitude of the different diplomatists. All were correct, but most | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033283 | of them were visibly antagonistic to the Republic and the Republicans (which they considered much accentue since the nomination of Grvy--the women rather more so than the men). One felt, if one didn't hear, the criticisms on the dress, deportment, and general style of the Republican ladies. [Illustration: The Elyse Palace, Paris] I didn't quite understand their view of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033284 | situation. They were all delighted to come to Paris, and knew perfectly well the state of things, what an abyss existed between all the Conservative party, Royalists and Bonapartists, and the Republican, but the absence of a court didn't make any difference in their position. They went to all the entertainments given in the Faubourg St. Germain, and all the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033285 | socit came to theirs. With very few exceptions they did only what was necessary in the way of intercourse with the official world. I think they made a mistake, both for themselves and their governments. France was passing through an entirely new phase; everything was changing, many young intelligent men were coming to the front, and there were interesting and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033286 | able discussions in the Chambers, and in the salons of the Republican ministers and deputies. I dare say the new theories of liberty and equality were not sympathetic to the trained representatives of courts, but the world was advancing, democracy was in the air, and one would have thought it would have interested foreigners to follow the movement and to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033287 | judge for themselves whether the young Republic had any chance of life. One can hardly imagine a public man not wishing to hear all sides of a question, but I think, _certainly_ in the beginning, there was such a deep-rooted distrust and dislike to the Republic, that it was impossible to see things fairly. I don't know that it mattered | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033288 | very much. In these days of rapid travelling and telephone, an ambassador's rle is much less important than in the old days when an ambassador with his numerous suite of secretaries and servants, travelling by post, would be days on the road before reaching his destination, and when all sorts of things might happen, kingdoms and dynasties be overthrown in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033289 | the interval. Now all the great measures and negotiations are discussed and settled in the various chancelleries--the ambassador merely transmits his instructions. I think the women were rather more uncompromising than the men. One day in my drawing-room there was a lively political discussion going on, and one heard all the well-known phrases "le gouvernement infect," "no gentleman could serve | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033290 | the Republic," etc. I wasn't paying much attention--never did; I had become accustomed to that style of conversation, and knew exactly what they were all going to say, when I heard one of my friends, an American-born, married to a Frenchman of very good old family, make the following statement: "Toute la canaille est Rpublicaine." That was really too much, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033291 | and I answered: "Vous tes bien indulgente pour l'Empire." When one thinks of the unscrupulous (not to use a stronger term) and needy adventurers, who made the Coup d'Etat and played a great part in the court of the Second Empire, it was really a little startling to be told that the Republicans enjoyed the monopoly of the canaille. However, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033292 | I suppose nothing is so useless as a political discussion (except perhaps a religious one). No one ever converts any one else. I have always heard it said that the best political speech never changed a vote. The first person who entertained Grvy was Prince Hohenlohe, the German ambassador. They had a brilliant reception, rooms crowded, all the official world | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033293 | and a fair contingent from the Faubourg St. Germain. The President brought his daughter with him (Madame Grvy never accepted any invitations) and they walked through the rooms arm-in-arm, mademoiselle declining the arm of Count Wesdehlen, first secretary of the German Embassy. However, she was finally prevailed upon to abandon the paternal support, and then Wesdehlen installed her in a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033294 | small salon where Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs, took charge of her and introduced a great many men to her. No woman would ask to be introduced to an unmarried woman, and that of course made her position difficult. The few ladies she had already seen at the Elyse came up to speak to her, but didn't stay near her, so | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033295 | she was really receiving almost alone with Mollard. Grvy was in another room, trs entour, as he always was. The diplomatic corps did not spare their criticisms. Madame Grvy received every Saturday in the afternoon, and I went often--not every time. It was a funny collection of people, some queerly dressed women and one or two men in dress coats | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033296 | and white cravats,--always a sprinkling of diplomatists. Prince Orloff was often there, and if anybody could have made that stiff, shy semicircle of women comfortable, he would have done it, with his extraordinary ease of manner and great habit of the world. Gambetta was installed in the course of the month at the Palais Bourbon, next to us. It was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033297 | brilliantly lighted every night, and my chef told me one of his friends, an excellent cook, was engaged, and that there would be a great many dinners. The Palais Bourbon had seen great entertainments in former days, when the famous Duc de Morny was Prsident de la Chambre des Dputs. Under Napoleon III his entertainments were famous. The whole world, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033298 | fashionable, political, and diplomatic thronged his salons, and invitations were eagerly sought for not only by the French people, but by the many foreigners who passed through Paris at that time. Gambetta must have been a curious contrast to the Duc de Morny. We went to see a first function at the Elyse some time in February, two Cardinals were | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000033299 | to be named and Grvy was to deliver the birettas. Mollard asked to see me one morning, telling me that the two ablegates with their suite had arrived, and wished to pay their respects to me. One of them was Monsignor Cataldi, whom we had known well in Rome when we were living there. He was a friend of my | 60 | gutenberg |
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