Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-03-14

had not been long in the village, be-
fore l received an invitation from Mrs.
Rachel Sindefy, to drink tia with some
of her friends. On shelving the note to
the friend to whom was on visit, he
smiled Significantly congratulated me
on the prospect of speedily becoming a
member of the scandalous club, and de-
clared his intention of going with me to
take care of my morals. When the
evening came, we accordingly knocked
at the door of Mrs. Rachel Sindefy, and
were ushered into a very snug parlor,
round which were seated a number of
respectable looking ladies', rather beyond
the middle age; several young ones,
who were undergoing preparatory
course of lectures; and some half a
dozen antiquated beaux, l took to be
bachelors on the score Of their excessive
gallantry to the ladies,
For some minutes aftec our entrance,
not word was uttered; several of the
ladies sighed very audibly, and one of
them ventured to take a pinch of snuff,
after which she handed the bM to her
next neighbor, who refused with a
grave shake of the head. hined to my
friend, it seemed likely to tlrn out a
quaker meeting. "Let then alone,"
replied he, "they hav'nt stared their
game yet--we shall hear the cy anon"
Sure enough; the tea things and the
servants were hardly out of he room,
when Mrs. Rachel Sindefy, carefully
strokmg the crumbs from her lap, turn
ed to Mrs. Evervine, and began to say
some very handsome things oione Mrs.
Sellaway, the wife of a gentltman who
has lately built fine house in the vii
lage, and lives in such splendid style,
that his wife is very much dishked by all
her neighhors having any pretension to
cut figure themselves.
| never was fully aware ofthe danger
of being praised, until now; and take
this opportunity to request all my
friends, to refrain from this dangerous
practice in future. The moment Mrs.
Sindefy began her eulogium, observed
the nose and chin of Mrs. Evervine in a
violent agitation, that put me in mind of
foaming stecd champing his bit, and
longing for the chace.-" Listen," whis-
pered my friend, eve shall soon have
an explosion" Poor Mrs. Sellaway
came out of her hands mere wreck.
She was very charming woman--but
little too free in her manners--she was
very charitable, but then she was SO ex-
travagant. She was very good natured,
but weak people were generally so-she
was very constant at church, but then
she always had something new to shew
off on Sunday--she had vast deal OF
taste, and her house was elegantly fur
nished-but it was great pity she had
gone to such an expense, when she must
have known her husband could not af-
ford it." Here Mrs. Eyeryine stopt for
little breath, and one of the gentlemen
very significantly observed, that Mr..
Sellaway had offered to sell him his
house a great bargain, and for his part
he believed "there we're pressing rea-
sons for it." Hereupon every body be-
came very sorry for Mrs. Sellaway, and
began to pity her with all their might,
for being obliged to leave such delight
full establishment. fs2e
Mrs. Theresa Tidey, on hearing this
last observation, declared, "that though
Mrs. Sellaway's house was SO elegantly
furnished, some how or other, she didn't
know hardly why, for her part, it never
looked genteel to her. 1t never seem.
ed to be put to rights, nothing looked in
its place--and for her part she could
safely say, you might always write your
name upon the side.board and tables
For her part, she was no admircr of fine
things, not she--she liked a neat house,
for her part, and had ten times rather
see white floor, that one might cat on,
than Brussels carpet with an inch OIL
dirt under it." "Well spoken" whis.
pered my friend, "that good lady to my
certain knowledge, caused the death oil
two servants. One of them died oil
scrubbing the outside steps in snow
storm, and the other rubbed himself tc
death against a brass knocker, at the
street door. "-Salmagundi.