The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-12
OFF TO THE sEAsIDE-OR SOME
WHERE.
A Tale of Domestic Strategy.
BY MARY H0wIrT.

By MARY HOhiITs
"of to the seaside. or somewhere ~ is the
little cheering elixir with which the wesred man
of business be he simple shopkeeper or mer
chant, dealer in money or Spectator in shares
reviyes his Tagging spirits when the Oppres sion
of summer makes London intolerable. Ii must
be so. When men have stood to the wheel of
business, day by day, for ten or eleven months
out of the twelve, they must have a little rest,
little pause from the everlasting grinding of that
wheel, or they would die. And where is the
heart IN London that has not the impulse within
it TO be off and away; to throw off the burden if
il be only for a week. to find quiet corner some.
where, where business will not follow? to the
mountains, TO the sea, to country cottage
amongst fields and woods, away from the carking
cares of every day; where counting house and
office hours prevail no longer; where you may go
and come and do as You like where you NAV
SLOUGH about in untanDed boOts, in a green wide.
awake, and an easy tourist suit OF sky.blue if it
please you where you need not wear gloves if
you don't wish it, and may wear blue spectacles
if you do.
Yes, that's the life for merchant and clerk, the
first for many weeks the second for one all the
more intense in its pleasure in an inverse ratio to
the length of time or the depth of the purse
which permits its enjoyment. OF truth, life ia
London, with all its pressure and anxiety, its des
perate speculatiOns its hair-breadth escapes from
ruin, its noise its exhausted atmosphere its jostle
OF man with man, its wear and tear of mind and
body, could not be carried on if il had not its
dash out into fresh air. its plunge into the sea- its
pedestrian excursions through Scotland or Ire
land-or somewhere. Yes, II is blessed thing
that God-m the country, and that man has a.
yet, left portion of il untraversed by his rail.
ways, undug up by his mines, unpreserved for his
game, where the poor, tired L0ndOner can rush
out and shake himself free, at least for a time,
from the shsckles of trade.
Now and then also it happen that good we'll
TODD city merchant like our friend Mr. Lillifant
may have his own private reasons for taking
"Bessy and the girls TO the seaside, or some.
where.n
will explain myself; but first a word or two
regarding this worthy gentleman. he was ad.
vanciDg towards 60; stout and comfortable to
look at; very prosperous in the corn-market:
stood well with his banker was lucky in making
very few bad debts altogether q model city m an
His only son was established at Dantzic, where
he ably conducted the business at that end Lilli.
FAINT was supposed to he worth two hundred
Thousand pounds-at all events that was the limit
he himself set to his monetary ambition; fifty
thousand pounds each for the two eirls-who
were considerably younger than their brother:
fifty thousand pounds EACH and twice that sum
for Tom, when he and his wife should have done
with this world-thst, l say, was the scale of his
ambition.
first at Lower Clapton, then. as he descended on
the monetary ladder, in a larger house with am
pie grounds at Upper CaptOn. Here he set up
carriage for his wife and the girls and o;ca zion.
any MIS- Luludnl WOulu call IN an afternoon for
her husband in Eastcheap, and drive him home,
He very much, however. preferred the omnibus,
which was so convenient from the "Flower-pOt"
III he did not go to town with his regular set in
the morning, he as much missed his usual ex.
change OF mods as if he had missed seeing his
Times" They compared notes, these portly,
broadcioth gentlemen, on last nights frost on
their eucumbers or melons; they passed iudg-
ment on last nights debate, or on the new house
that Jones was building for himself; they had
their little lOkP9 and nd olk
gether regular little knot. as much belonging to
each other though they did not all visit as il they
were members OF the same club. Mr.. Lilllfant
had the ion also OF feeling himself the head
OF his set. Nobody would think of taking his
seat; everybody deferred to him, aud gave him
the hrst good morning. In fact, he had good
time of it; and when it began to be talked of that
Lllilfant was going TO live at CamDden Hill or
kensin gton, everybody deplored i as q general
loss. . shall not know the place when YOU are
gone, >" said one. We shall all miss YOU - said
another.
1t did not appear at all popular idea. and
MI Lhllisnt was not hero; therefore-though
1t was rather shabby of him-he laid the blame
of IL on his wife and daughters. Mrs Lillifant
wanted TO go West. The girls liked to go to the
opera and other places; it was a long way TO
drive, and they did not like Shore1itch Yes,
yes; It would have done very well for him bat,
you know, pdtelJdmilidS is not his own MASTER
he has various interests to serve"
Everybody understood. Upper Clapton was
not sristocratic enough for the Lfant ladies'. |
and L doubt not they lost good deal of popu- !
larity, whilst poor Lilifant was condoled with |
He must conform to his domestic circumstances
as other husbands and fathers were Obliged to
do, but they were very sorry to lose him. The |
last morning that he went to the CITY bv the |
omnibus was day Of general mourning to his
friends.
Now, | say, it was rather mean. spirited of Mr. |
Liliiiant TO throw all the blame on mis- wife ana
daughters; for can assure you that no sooner /
bad the girls come home from school, aud he |
thought of them in connection with fifty thou. /
sa3d pounds each, then lie desired that they |
should make great matches, and the idea of a |
house near KensDgton Gardens first entered his |
own head. | don't deny that Mrs Lillifant aud |
her daughters readily adopted the idea. aud 1t |
was they who found the grand new fashionable /
terrace, which so soon became their home and
hat Mr.. Lillitsnt had some little cause for saying
be was fairly torn up by the roOts.n Il is |
rot my doing it is Mrs. Lilfant's and the
girls, he repeated, till he believedit.
! wonder, though, whether it was they who
bought such grand new furniture for the dining.
-oOm, and laid out the thousand po0nds for add.
ional plate, and supplied such a cellar of choice
Eine in expectation Of ali the grand aristocratic
olks TO whom they must give dinners now thar
hey lived amongst them. No, that was not their
loing.
But living a new inhsbitant near Kensno,on
Gardens was not like living with the old SCI AT
Upper Clapton, and Mr.. Llllifant dreadfuly
missed his omnibus ride and his omnibus com
peniOns. True he drove TO business every dsv |
n his own carriage, and q Bessy and the girls .
called for him not unfrequently in the afternoon;
and very pretty and elegant the young ladies
looked IN Their little fantastic hats or bonnets.
and their white silk psrasols but it was ten
lines better IN the omnibus, with the jolly old
set. and their politics and their little Jokes.
a yea. OF TWO went on, and things did not J