Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-08-13
A NEW DEPARTURE In EYOLU.
TI0N.
BY LOUISE V. BOYD.

| have had a tea-party; not the tradi-
tiOnal ladies' gathering to partake of the
cup that cheers but not inebriateS where
gossip is the order of the evening, where
the news is all stale as the cheese, the
conversation insipid as the Sponge-cake,
and the Jokes dryer than the toast; nor
was it Boston Harbor Tea Party: no,
never harbOr such an idea-remember it
is 4 hundred years too late for such an
affair to come off originally. A centen-
NAL, then? No, not even that; but a
party of my husbands and my own
fricnds-our scientific friends; and they
were scientific to such an extent that |
had some trouble in grasping the stu
pendous thoughts clothed in words that
had no place in the spelling books |
conned in my school days But though
unlearned myself | dearly love the
sound of big words; and on this occasion
/ was more than gratified, and,
indeed, sometimes wondered whether
part OF the conversation was not carried
on in Greek or Choctaw; but knew the
outlines of their discussion, and guessed
At the meaning of the words by the look
of the parties giving them utterance,
and was overwhelmed by the contem-
plation of the grandeur of human inge-
nulty.
The great man or autocrat of the oc-
CaSion was Il doctor of overpOwering
presence and overtowering height, in the
full enjoyment of an immense bump of
Self-estcem, while the light of his cold
eyes shCne from beneath gray, shaggy,
fearfully oyerjutting eyebrows
There was graduated lady with a
squaky voice, and laugh like a cackIe
that leaped out of her at the most uneX-
pected periods. A pair Of green specta-
cles almost concealed her pair of weak
eyes, what the new English poet, Robert
Buchanan, describes us small hens
eyes 1t would have done your heart
good to hear with what emphasis she
gave her opinions, and how impressive
was her presence when, in reply to a
modest question from our schoolmis-
tress, she said somewhat sternly: But
you 10 not understand Darwin, and
cerg fe7o people can"
| had no trouble in entertaining these
guests further than TO provide for their
reasonably good mortal appetites.
Broiled chicken, chicken salad and
poached eggs were devoured without
either stint or comment They came
with their heads preoccupied, if not
turned, with one great idea, and that idea
WIS, " lClC NllOl Nt COIllC from. IOOE,
ignorant little me had all nv life
thought, in the words of the hymn in
which Il congregation know of are wont
to praise the Lord:
The good old way is good enough for me,
Had thought, even, my being here was
accounted for by a concise statement
made by Moses in the Book of Genesis.
and had rather prided myself upon being
descended from the grand old gardener
and his WIFE" whose HONEYMOON was
spent in Eden. As that was six Thousand
years ago at least, and possibly good
ieal more, | had never longed TO grope
imong the wierd shadows back of the
beginning, as set forth in the wonderful
Word.
Then, too the problem of futuritv is to
be solved for me so soon, | have been
content in my commonplaceneSs to dwell
in the present and hope toward the here
after. But | discover it is the fashion
now in polite society to be much more con-
cerned about where we came from than
where we are going | found, too, that
the individuals whose minds had so en-
rely mastered the great theory of evo-
utiOn as to be well convinced, with
out a doubt. and far beyond a shadow of
peradventure, that they were descended
rom primeval tadpoles and progressive
monkeys were the crowned kings and
4ueens Of the empire Of philosophy, and
he embodied amazements of the multi
nde
As | said, l had a tea-party, and when
was over, the company dispersed, the
shes washed and the great tidal wave
ais new and most eloquent expression
so much to the point I'll say it AGAIN.,
), repeat, when the great tidal wave
my thought, that had been dashed into
very "aae5stron by the whirl of big
ards buffeted about from mouth to
nth at my tea-table-when, say en-
atically, when the great tidal wave of