No One Had A Higher Respect For The Classics Than He;
The Odes Of Horace, The Poems Of Virgil And
The orations of Cicero were as
familiar to him as the best sermons of Bossuet or the tragedies of Racine.
On the right was another room, with a piano and organ, to which the family
devoted much attention, and lovers of music were certain of hearing there
excellent performances and well-cultivated voices.
Those who bad the privilege of enjoying his hospitality on ordinary
occasions, could never forget the hearty welcome of their whole-souled
entertainer; and on two particular days, the first of January and the
fete de St. Joseph, his patron saint, they had still better reason
for its remembrance. These social gatherings were for months looked
forward to as the events of the season, and for many a day subsequently
they recalled most agreeable recollections. As was then the custom, the
guests arrived early in the afternoon and took their departure at the
unfashionable hour of nine, and in the interval engaged themselves in
dancing, in games, in listening to brilliant executions on different
musical instruments and the rich melody of well-trained voices, in ballad
and song, clever repartees and intellectual conversation, while the supper
table, laden with all the delicacies procurable, was a continual feast
from the opening to the close of the entertainment. The guests were
escorted down the avenue by their host and his family, and as he bade them
good night, the shouts and merry laughter of the younger ones rang
joyfully in the night air, startling the passers by with their frolicsome
happiness.
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