Monsieur Maurice

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Monsieur Maurice by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards ISBN: 9781465530981
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
ISBN: 9781465530981
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English
The events I am about to relate took place more than fifty years ago. I am a white-haired old woman now, and I was then a little girl scarce ten years of age; but those times, and the places and people associated with them, seem, in truth, to lie nearer my memory than the times and people of to-day. Trivial incidents which, if they had happened yesterday, would be forgotten, come back upon me sometimes with all the vivid detail of a photograph; and words unheeded many a year ago start out, like the handwriting on the wall, in sudden characters of fire. But this is no new experience. As age creeps on, we all have the same tale to tell. The days of our youth are those we remember best and most fondly, and even the sorrows of that bygone time become pleasures in the retrospect. Of my own solitary childhood I retain the keenest recollection, as the following pages will show. My father's name was Bernhard—Johann Ludwig Bernhard; and he was a native of Coblentz on the Rhine. Having grown grey in the Prussian service, fought his way slowly and laboriously from the ranks upward, been seven times wounded and twice promoted on the field, he was made colonel of his regiment in 1814, when the Allies entered Paris. In 1819, being no longer fit for active service, he retired on a pension, and was appointed King's steward of the Château of Augustenburg at Brühl—a sort of military curatorship to which few duties and certain contingent emoluments were attached. Of these last, a suite of rooms in the Château, a couple of acres of private garden, and the revenue accruing from a small local impost, formed the most important part. It was towards the latter half of this year (1819) that, having now for the first time in his life a settled home in which to receive me, my father fetched me from Nuremberg where I was living with my aunt, Martha Baur, and took me to reside with him at Brühl. Now my aunt, Martha Baur, was an exemplary person in her way; a rigid Lutheran, a strict disciplinarian, and the widow of a wealthy wool-stapler. She lived in a gloomy old house near the Frauen-Kirche, where she received no society, and led a life as varied and lively on the whole as that of a Trappist. Every Wednesday afternoon we paid a visit to the grave of her "blessed man" in the Protestant cemetery outside the walls, and on Sundays we went three times to church. These were the only breaks in the long monotony of our daily life. On market-days we never went out of doors at all; and when the great annual fair-time came round, we drew down all the front blinds and inhabited the rooms at the back
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
The events I am about to relate took place more than fifty years ago. I am a white-haired old woman now, and I was then a little girl scarce ten years of age; but those times, and the places and people associated with them, seem, in truth, to lie nearer my memory than the times and people of to-day. Trivial incidents which, if they had happened yesterday, would be forgotten, come back upon me sometimes with all the vivid detail of a photograph; and words unheeded many a year ago start out, like the handwriting on the wall, in sudden characters of fire. But this is no new experience. As age creeps on, we all have the same tale to tell. The days of our youth are those we remember best and most fondly, and even the sorrows of that bygone time become pleasures in the retrospect. Of my own solitary childhood I retain the keenest recollection, as the following pages will show. My father's name was Bernhard—Johann Ludwig Bernhard; and he was a native of Coblentz on the Rhine. Having grown grey in the Prussian service, fought his way slowly and laboriously from the ranks upward, been seven times wounded and twice promoted on the field, he was made colonel of his regiment in 1814, when the Allies entered Paris. In 1819, being no longer fit for active service, he retired on a pension, and was appointed King's steward of the Château of Augustenburg at Brühl—a sort of military curatorship to which few duties and certain contingent emoluments were attached. Of these last, a suite of rooms in the Château, a couple of acres of private garden, and the revenue accruing from a small local impost, formed the most important part. It was towards the latter half of this year (1819) that, having now for the first time in his life a settled home in which to receive me, my father fetched me from Nuremberg where I was living with my aunt, Martha Baur, and took me to reside with him at Brühl. Now my aunt, Martha Baur, was an exemplary person in her way; a rigid Lutheran, a strict disciplinarian, and the widow of a wealthy wool-stapler. She lived in a gloomy old house near the Frauen-Kirche, where she received no society, and led a life as varied and lively on the whole as that of a Trappist. Every Wednesday afternoon we paid a visit to the grave of her "blessed man" in the Protestant cemetery outside the walls, and on Sundays we went three times to church. These were the only breaks in the long monotony of our daily life. On market-days we never went out of doors at all; and when the great annual fair-time came round, we drew down all the front blinds and inhabited the rooms at the back

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book California: Four Months among the Gold-Finders being the Diary of an Expedition from San Francisco to the Gold Districts by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book We Met the Space People by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Tales of Giants from Brazil by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Malcolm by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book The North Devon Coast by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book The Men Who Wrought by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book The Age of Invention, a Chronicle of Mechanical Conquest by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Colonel Crockett's Co-operative Christmas by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book A Daughter of the Land by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Through a Microscope: Something of the Science Together With Many Curious Observations Indoor and Out and Directions for a Home-Made Microscope by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Les opinions de M. Jérôme Coignard: Recueillies par Jacques Tournebroche by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book We and the World: A Book for Boys (Complete) by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Green Bays: Verses and Parodies by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
Cover of the book Handy andy: A Tale of Irish Life (Complete) by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy