Identifier: belleoffiftiesme00clay (find matches)
Title: A belle of the fifties; memoirs of Mrs. Clay of Alabama, covering social and political life in Washington and the South, 1853-66
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Clay-Clopton, Virginia, 1825-1915 Sterling, Ada, d. 1939
Subjects: Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Personal narratives Confederate side
Publisher: New York : Doubleday, Page & Company
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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each city numerous fashionable pupils, after-ward became known to the world as the great prestidigi-tator. Heller. On the evening of the Riggses supper the young ma-gician was in his best form. Handkerchiefs and trinketsdisappeared mysteriously, only to come to light again inthe most unexpected places, until the company becamealmost silent with wonder. Mr. Palmers last trickrequired a pack of cards, which were promptly forth-coming. Selecting the queen of hearts, he said, lookingarchly in the direction of the diminutive Patti: Thisis also a queen; but she is a naughty girl and we will nothave her! saying which, with a whiff and a toss, hethrew the card into the air, where it vanished ! Everyone was mystified; but Baron de Staeckl, theRussian Minister, incontinently broke the spell Mr.Palmer was weaving around us by picking up a card andpronouncing the same formula. Then, as all waited tosee what he was about to do, in a most serio-comicmanner he deftly and deliberately crammed it down
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ADELINA PATTIAged Sixteen WASHINGTON PERSONAGES IN THE FIFTIES 39 Mr. Palmers collar! Amid peals of laughter from allpresent, the young man gave place to other and moregeneral entertainment, in which the most dignifiedambassadors indulged with the hilarity of schoolboys. From the foregoing incident it will be seen that Baronde Staeckl was the buffo of the evening. He was a largeman of inspiring, not to say portly figure, and his lapelsglittered Vs^ith the insignia of honours that had been con-ferred upon him. Like his predecessor, the late Baronde Bodisco, he had allied himself with our country bymarrying an American girl, a native of New Haven,whose family name I have now forgotten. She was alovely and amiable hostess, whose unassuming mannernever lost a certain pleasing modesty, notwithstandingthe compliments she, too, invariably evoked. Her tablewas remarkable for its napery—Russian linen for thelarger part, with embroidered monograms of imusualsize and perfection of workmanship,

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