IN high life.
25
promenades, with my little responsibility by my side.
She was very beautiful, and attracted the attention of
every one, as her little lips first began to lisp the for¬
eign tongue; and her mother, whom she greatly re¬
sembled, was the most admired American lady in
Paris at that time.
I acquired the French language with a good deal of
facility, and was not long learning to understand re¬
marks made of myself and the child, as we passed
along. I can not forbear mentioning a pleasant com¬
pliment paid to me, on my birth-day, by some very
kind ladies. By a little stratagem, I was sent away
by my lady, in the morning, upon an errand to Gen¬
eral Cass' residence, quite a distance from home; so
that I had necessarily to be gone an hour or two. On
my return, I found my bedroom, which was always
shared by my little charge, literally decorated, from
floor to ceiling, with flowers. The bed and window
curtains were looped up, and festooned with roses,
carnations, peonies, jessamines, and every flower that
adorned the gardens at that lovely season : white lilies
hung in garlands over the bed curtains of my little
charge; and in the center of the room stood a table,
covered with cakes, wines, ices, and fruits. Not
dreaming of the pleasant intentions of my friends in
sending me away, I thought, on returning, that I must
have mistaken my apartment, and so wandered in and
out, puzzled as to the meaning of the transmogrifica¬
tion, until informed that it had been done in honor of
my birth-day—a time-long and beautiful custom of
France. It will be readily imagined that I was made
happy and grateful by these kind attentions. The
ladies wished a happy birth-day to Iangy; and many
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