Ozanam Letters: 0541

Letter 0541

To: Monsieur Soulacroix Paris, June 13, 1844

(News about his wife, Amelia, who was tired as a result of accompanying a friend from Lyons as together they visited the sights in Paris).

Today I am writing to you because Amelia is tired and suffering from fatigue as a result of excessive travels that she has done with our visitor. You know that Madame Beaulieu has come here alone and relies on us to see the sights of Paris. She is a wonderful person and Amelia is so grateful for her that it was very natural for her to want to make Madame Beaulieu's stay most pleasant. We invited her to eat with us every day. At 10:00am she would leave with Amelia, return to eat, and then not return to the house until 10:00pm. She has maintained this difficult schedule for three weeks. They visited museums, different expositions, the large department stores, the king, government buildings, the animals at the Botanical Gardens ... no place was forgotten. They were on their feet for three or four hours and were constantly talking with one another all day long. During this time Amelia put aside her interior life and a multitude of other small matters. Lask week she found herself worn out and felt that it was necessary to rest for a day. Yesterday after visiting the Sommerard Museum, and then a horticultural exposition and finally an exposition of Mousieur Carmel, she found it impossible to continue and so came home to rest. She was so tired and at the time for our meal she said she had a high fever which continued to afflict her all afternoon. She felt better in the evening and this morning (at two minutes before noon) she is much better. She is still feverish, however, and her whole body aches but the doctor views all of this as the normal symptoms of these low-grade fevers that often afflict people during this time of the year (Spring). The fatigue and the fever explain the reason for her being indisposed at this time but with a little rest, all of this will be cleared up.