Tea at Trianon: Hood College Girls

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Hood College Girls

Halo Meadows

Surprise! I am ranked as number five in a list of the seven most famous alumni of Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, formerly a women's college but now co-ed. (This accounts for the one man on the list.) The rankings appear to be based upon hits to Wikipedia. I find it amusing since somehow I was left out of the college yearbook the year I graduated. I am preceded by the fashion designer Claire McCardell, who also grew up in Frederick. Claire and I are both preceded by the burlesque dancer Halo Meadows. Too funny. When I went to Hood in the 80's, the school was in the throes of the feminist movement, which is one of the reasons I disassociated myself from women's lib and everything it entailed. However, I must say that at a recent Hood function in Easton, I was impressed by the new president and the ladies who were with her from the school. They were refined and polite, intelligent and cordial, dressed beautifully and we had some wonderful conversations. And the other alumni were delightful ladies, too. I actually felt glad and proud to be a Hood girl. Share