When General De Kalb came to the United States with Lafayette to enter into the service of America, he left his wife and children in France—two sons and a daughter. Soon after his arrival here the troubles in France arose, which terminated in revolution. In this revolution, the eldest son, who had joined one of the parties, perished under the guillotine; the second son received a commission in the army; and the Baroness De Kalb, with her daughter, fled into Switzerland. The second son remained in the service of France until the downfall of the Emperor Napoleon, when he retired from public service to the family chateau at Milon, in the vicinity of Paris, the residence of the late Baron De Kalb, before he left his native country.
THE HOUSEKEEPING HUSBAND.
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BY ANGELE DE V. HULL.
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Nor does he govern only, or direct,
But much performs himself.
Cowper.
Now, dear reader, do not think for a moment that Mr. Bettyman is any relation of yours. He is nobody’s uncle, cousin, or brother, though, indeed, accident may have thrown into your way a kinsman of his peculiar temperament. But if, out of the fifty thousand readers of Graham’s Magazine, forty of whom I, in my insignificance, may know but slightly, six in every town or village were to take offence at my penchant for the ridiculous, and call upon me to deny any particular caricature of any particular individual, what sort of a postage-bill do you think mine would be, allowing a letter for each very sensitive reader? Understand, then, loveliest of your sex, whichever you be, that I don’t mean any body in particular, nor any thing in general—I only mean to inform you, best reader, that Mr. Edwin Bettyman was a newly married man at the time I knew him, and had just carried his pretty little wife to his elegant but simple home near the suburbs of his native place, which, of course, is not yours. As for myself, I am not fond of these half-way sort of places; I like to be in the country, amid the green fields and wild-flowers, or in town, amid its concomitants, smoke, dust, and fuss. But, as my opinion cannot possibly be of any consequence to any body, I will merely mention that Mr. and Mrs. Bettyman both disagreed with me, and were delighted with their location. The house was unexceptionable—a large, airy cottage, with front and back piazzas, a fine yard, and the greenest of grass-plots on either side of the gate, around which was a hedge of juniper in beautiful luxuriance.