Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-10-10
can Old Nuisance" "

Cufeo UT louI tq udily dPPlopii"V0 oi'le0'
I chose the one being the oldest, and |
always had fancy for odd things.
And nav for my story.
On what my aunt (by marriage) and
her family founded their claims to aris-
tocracy I never could discover. My un-
Gle had been merchant, it is true, and
one of considerable prominence in his
day, l have been told, and SO had been
his father be fore him, and his fathers
father before that. That his business
in its most prosperous time was intimate
ly connected with China is impressed
upon my mind q became an inmate of
his house when | was about six years of
age, in consequence of the death of both
my parents within week of each other,
leaving me with no means of support,
and no other relatively by the fact that
every first of June saw bright new mat
tings laid on our floors, to remain there
until cold weather came again, and that
our mantels and whatnots were decorated
with many pretty, dainty little cups,
thin as eggshells-rarities in those days
but in these plenty and cheap enough.
Now, according to all have learned
on the subject, real Simon Pure aristo-
Gratis look down upon trade even on the
grandest scale, and never have anything
to do with it further than once in
while marrying one of its sons or daugh-
ters who have become possessed of mill
lions enough to Offset the honor.
However, our family q venture to in
clude myself, none of my cousins being
within hearing) assumed all the airs of
the "blue bloods' of the old country.
Eleanor, our second, wore a look of
deep indignation for several days after
manly, clever, good fellow, the brother
of one of her old schoolmates, with
comfortable income, but who was junior
partner of a firm keeping retail store
on Sixth avenue, proposed for her hand.
"The presumption of the man p she
exclaimed, raising her arched eyebrows
in astonishment, and curling her full
red upper lip in scorn: "to imagine for
a moment that because l honored him
with my company to the opera two or
three times, would marry him If
his business had been wholesale it would
have been bad enough: but fancy per-
son who sells pins and needles by the
paper, and lace by the yard Never
l would die first"
Minerva, our fourth, was equally hor-
ror-stricken at the effrontery of young
book-keeper whom her brother Laurence
had introduced into the family circle-a
rare thing for one of her brothers to do,
for, like all other men, as far as my linn
tied experience goes, they scarcely ever
thought their companions good enough
to be the companions of their sisters
when he ventured to express his admira-
tion for her. The young man soon after
succeeded to very handsome property,
and became great swell-"a perfect
too-too," as | believe the fashionable
manner of expressing it now is--a kind
of being after Mincrva's own heart; but
she never was invited to ride behind his
fast horses, and what was much worse,
never again asked to take the head OF
his table.
And in like manner the graceful and
) enthusiastic professor of music, the stout
good-natured proprietor of the extensive
iron works ('wholesale and retail'') or
the next block, the young artist, who
has since risen to wealth and fame, and
sundry others, all falling short of the
+ aristocratic standard set up by our fam
lily, were snubbed by my lady cousins
% aided by their brothers, and not wholly
o unassisted by their mother. I ncve
It had had, at the time this story com
Il mences, being then in my eighteenth
year, chance to snub any one; for
), lacking the personal attractions of m,
$ relatives, as we'll as their "high.toned
A natures-truth to tell, having decided.
|, democratic tendencies-I was kept i
J. the background on all occasions.
> Let it be remarked in passing tha
Eleanor eventually married, when rathe
an old girl, a widower in the milk bus
n ness-very wholesale, however-the ia
N ther of four children At the sam
g time, Minerva, a few years younger
of deigned to become the wife of an elderl
~ bachelor, something or other in a she
- mandatory. But they held thei
$ heads as high as ever, and declared ths
It they had sacrificed themselves for tn
ne family, uncle having failed for the SCI
Il, ond time-through no fault of his owl
Oh Oh dear old man-a few months before Ii
:. double wedding.
o. That their sacrifice was for tt
good of the family l don't deny; bl
there still renamed at homo to be take
Q. care of after their departure three ol
re maids, young one, and two helple
h: young men, who, having been brougl
re up to do nothing, did it to perfection.
is is After the failure, uncle got stu