The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-22
| From, Chambers E;li"y' uy Jou,1.al I
TTyE yyIFE'S SECRET.

If I pride myself upon any menta,
endowment whatever, it is upon that
humble one of common sense. live
what is called by tho intellectual peo.
pie conventional life. have my
pew in the neisslboring church, and
sit in it twice every Sunday. [ know
one captain i'll the arHy-just such a
person RS he should be-polished and
yet ferocious, gentle to ladies, but
rather insolent to civilian males, boast
full Of his clubs, and giving all his
leisure time, which is considerable, to
the cultivation of his moustachcs; but
otherwise am ignorant of the fash
ionable world and its gay doings. !
have made no endeavor to break
through the gilded pale that separates
it from the stcady-going middle class
to which belong. I do not endcr-
stand the feeling which prompts my
superiors to be ashamed of being seen
in an omnibus. Once every day 1
return from the city in 4 yellow one;
and if it is wet, use the same con-
veyance in the morning to reach my
Office. pay my tradesmen weekly.
My best sherry is SIS. q dozen; and
when the captain talks of vintage
wines, (as he will do by the hour at
my table.) I often wonder what he
thinks he is drinking. However, with
true good breeding, he imbibes it in
gTeat quantities as though it were the
best. 1 do not keep aanan servant.
Our cook cannot compass an omAeue
coutec. My wife trims her own bon
nets. We have eight children, who
all know the church catcchism by
heart, except the baby and the last
but one. In short, Il more respectable
and questionable family does not
exist in all Bayswater.
Under these circumstances, it may
be easily imagined that we are as free
from the vices of the great As we are
without their privileges; and this was,
I honestly believe, the case until a.
very recent period. When I used to
read in the papers that the Lady LII,
tetia Day Coltay (of Forman ancestry
and blucst blood had left her hus-
bands roof, and fled with Major Flut-
terby, of the Life Guards; or that it
was rumored among well informed
circles that the gentleman of the long
robe would soon find employment in
the domestic affairs of his Grace the
Duke of Belgrovia, used to give the
prolonged whistle and remark: "Hcre
they are again" in general reference
to the habits of the h0'd ton. I knew
that our hereditary aristcoracy We're
given to these cscapades, which in
my own rank of life would certainly
be crimes, and [ perused such details
as the press could furnish with an
avidity unailoycd, I am afraid, with
much reprobation. Iseem to be read
ing of Il class of persons whose way of
life was TOO far removed from my own
to affect me, except as q spectator;
just as when I went to the play,
found myself in an atmosphere of
intrigue and misunderstanding, AND
jealousy altogether unreal, and with
which had not the ghost Of an ex-
pericnce in common.
Jealousy? Why, I had been mar
gicd sixteen years without entertain
ing that passion, so that it Was not
very likely, however well acted, that
that passion should. entertain me.
misunderstanding! The thing was
impossible, for. whenever there pro-
missed to be. "a row in the pantry p
and every man will understand mo
when make use of that mctaphorical
expression-.I brought it to head,
and had it out, and off we started
again, Speaking for self and Mrs. r.
on the smooth current of our lives,
with the little fracas buried forever in
its depths A for the mother OF eight
falling in lovewith another m,rn-it is
all very we'll in a stage play, and par
ticularly with all Difference to Miss
Anna Dickinson) where the husband
is black man, and, as I have said,
.bcftting enough among persons of
G-lal;ty: bit upon the Voting Hill