links

http://www.ballroomatstleon.org/
http://www.dancealotballroom.com/
http://www.boweryballroom.com/

Mme. Loisel

I am Mme. Loisel. My husband is a clerk which is unfortunate for my life style. I love the look of elegance and the happy feeling that comes with it. I dream of flawless houses and priceless items.

extravagant dearms

I am Mme. Loisel, I am the wife of a clerk. I am "one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks." (Guy De Maupassant). I have "no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded, by any rich and distinguished man" (Guy De Maupassant). I had let myself "be married to a little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction."(Guy De Maupassant). I dress very plain for I have no money to dress well.  I am "as unhappy as though" I "had really fallen from" my "proper station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank; and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and birth. Natural fineness, instinct for what is elegant, suppleness of wit, are the sole hierarchy, and make from women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies." (Guy De Maupassant). I feel like i should be "born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries." (Guy De Maupassant). I suffer from the "poverty" of my household, "from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains." (Guy De Maupassant).  I think "of the silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, lit by tall bronze candelabra, and of the two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the heavy warmth of the hot-air stove." and "the long salons fatted up with ancient silk, of the delicate furniture carrying priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish perfumed boudoirs made for talks at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire." (Guy De Maupassant). This is the life I should be living in, the life I dream of.

The Ball

My husband had returned home this evening with a large envelope in his hand. "'There,' said he, 'here is something for you.'" (Guy De Maupassant). I had opened the envolope which beautifully printed, read these words:

"'The Minister of Public Instruction and Mme. Georges Ramponneau request the honor of M. and Mme. Loisel's company at the palace of the Ministry on Monday evening, January 18th.'" (Guy De Maupassant).

To my husbands surprised I was not happy. I had said "'What do you want me to do with that?'"(Guy De Maupassant). He had responded, "'But, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble to get it. Everyone wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole official world will be there.'"(Guy De Maupassant).  Impatiently I replied with, "'And what do you want me to put on my back?'"(Guy De Maupassant).  He had realized i was right and began giving suggestions; I started to cry. Sadly i had told him, "'I have no dress, and therefore I can't go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I.'"(Guy De Maupassant).  

He had generously gave me money to nuy a new dress and gave me an idea to borrow jewelery from my friend Mme. Forestier, a beautiful diamond necklace! It was perfect! The ball was everythig I have ever dreamed of I was the life of the ball, all the attention was on me! I was so happy until I got home and saw that the necklace was no longer there! I had lost it!

We had to find a new one to replace it. When we finally found one we asked for loans to pay for it. Now we are drowning in debt!

Hard work pays off

Finally! It has been a long, miserable ten years but finally I had paid off the debt I had been drowning in for, oh, so many years! My dear friend, Mme. Forestier, who had loaned me a beautiful piece of jewlery, did not even see a difference! Now everything is paid back and I can go on happy and stress free. "I was not happy to dismiss my servant, change my lodgings, or rent a garret", but whatever I needed to pay I would pay it. I came to know what heavy housework ment and "the odious cares of the kitchen." I washed dishes, including greasy pots and pans. I "washed the dirty linen, the skirts, and the dish-cloths, which dried upon a line;" I "carried the slops down to the street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. And, dressed like a women of the people," I "went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher," with my basket "bargaining, insulted," it was not something I would have ever wished for. 

--- All quotes by Guy De Maupassant

Champs Élysées

I had worked ten years trying to pay for the loss of my dear friend Mme. Forestier's necklace. For years I felt horrible, working to the bone. Today I spotted Mme. Forestier and decided to confess to the ongoing work I had done to replace her necklace I had lost. I had told her everything, losing the necklace and working to repay it.  I mean why not? I had already paid it off and returned the new one to her. I had told her this "'I brought you back another just like it. And for this we have been ten years paying. You can understand that it was not easy for us, us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad.'" ( Guy De Maupassant). And to my surprise she had told me it was merely paste! (138) You could not even imagine the look on my face! I was stunned when she took my hands and said to me "'Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!'" ( guy De Maupassant). I was astonished! Just to think all of those years of working. All because I did not want to tell her I had lost it.

Champs Élysées 

    File:Champs Elysees Paris Wikimedia Commons.jpg