Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/106

108 the second floor are four large chambers, elegantly furnished, and a most extensive library. Next came what I may call a museum, for it certainly was one filled with birds, shells, flowers, and animals of every description. The green-house was the most beautiful I have seen in New York. It was filled with very choice flowers, of every shade and color.

My time was now getting short, and although I had numerous invitations from ladies to visit them when I went to New York, I did not have time to get further into many of their houses than the music-room or reception-room; in fact, after leaving the Fifth-avenue I did not see anything to boast of over our own places at home, on the inside of the houses, but on the outside they certainly were exquisite.

I frequently visited the St. Nicholas, where I had many lady friends from the South, and also from the Queen City. Among the rest of my friends were Madame L. and her accomplished daughter. As usual, they were great belles. There were two Southern belles there who tried to equal Madame L. and her daughter. The ladies themselves were very well, but the conduct of their father in past years made them too conspicuous.

Not a hundred years ago, in passing through the streets of one of our Southern cities, he met a gentleman on the cross-walk who had been drinking very freely. He ran up against this gentleman, who immediately knocked him down. The next day, when the gentleman got sober, he started to the house of the father of these young ladies to apologize, though not in fault. When the latter met him coming up the steps, he blew his brains out. When taken up for