Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. VVarious
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. V
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Fire in France is an expensive luxury which she economizes--not that
she indulges, when forced to allow herself in comfort, in much besides
turf or pine-cones, with perhaps a sprinkling of fagot-wood if a
friend calls in. She is able, however, to keep a little canary in a
cage, who is her valued companion; and she nourishes, besides, several
little productive plants in pots, such as violets and résida; chiefly,
it must be owned, with a view of having the means of making floral
offerings, on birthdays and christenings, to her very numerous
acquaintances.
She is never seen out of spirits, and is welcomed as an object of
interest whenever she flits along with her round, rosy, smiling face,
shrined in braids of white hair, and set off with a smart
fashionable-shaped bonnet; for she likes being in the fashion, and is
proud of the slightness of her waist, which her polka shows to
advantage. The strings of her bonnet, and the ribbons and buttons of
her dress, are sometimes very fresh, and her mittens are sometimes
very uncommon: this she is particular about, as she shows her hands a
good deal in accompanying herself on the guitar, which she does with
much taste, for her ear is very good and her voice has been musical.
There are few things Mademoiselle Honorine can not do to be useful.
She can play at draughts and dominos, can knit or net, knowing all the
last new patterns; her satin stitch is neatness itself. It is
suspected that she turns some of these talents to advantage; but that
is a secret, as she considers it more dignified to be known only as a
teacher.
She had a curious set of pupils when I became acquainted with her.
Those whom I knew were English; who were, rather late in their career,
endeavoring to become proficients in a tongue positively necessary for
economical, useful, or sentimental purposes, as the case might be, but
which in more early days they had not calculated on requiring.
They were of those who encourage late ambition--
"And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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