Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-08-10


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 " on 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 family, were snubbed by my lady
cousins, aided by their brothers, and not
wholly unassisted by their mother I
never had had, at the time this story
commences, being then in my eighteenth
year, a chance to snub anyone; for,
lacking the personal attraction of my
relatives, as well as their "shigh- toned y
natllres-truth to tell, having decidedly
| democratic tendencies-I was kept in the
background on all occasions.
Let it be remarked in passing that
Eleanor eventually married, when rather
an old girl, widower in the milk bust
| ness-very wholesale, however - the
father of four children. At the same
time, Minerva, few years younger,
deigned to become the wife of an elderly
bachelor, something or other in a shoe
mandatory. But they held their heads
as high as ever, and declared they had
sacrificed themselves for the family, I'M
Gle having failed for the second time
through no fault of his own, dear old
mana few months before the double
wedding.
That their Sacrifice" was for the
good of the family I don't deny; but
there was still left at home to be taken
care of after their departure three old
maids, a young one, and two helpless
young men, who, having been brought
up to do nothing, did it to perfection.
After the failure, uncle got situation
as superintendent of one of the many
departments in the large establishment
OF the gentleman who sold "pins and
needles by the paper, and lace by the
yard Che was now head of the firm, and
had a pretty, lady-like wife and two
pretty children), and we dismissed one
Of our servants, and moved into a much
smaller house.
But in spite of all our efforts at
economy our income proved vastly in
adequate to our expenses, and this was
the cause of so much bewailing and be-
moaning that our home seemed to be be-
reft Of all gladness and sunshine. And
one evening after Ethel, our youngest
daughter, had burst into tears because
aunt had declared it would be impossi-
BILE to have ice-cream, meringues, wine
jellies and similar dainties every day
for desert, for the two sufficient reasons
that we can't afford them and our pres
ent cook couldn't make them, l ventured
to suggest to the weeping damsel that if
she found life positively unbearable
without the above mentioned luxuries
Gall the Egberts, by-the-by, were ex-
travagantly fond of good things to eat),
she might knit and crochet some of the
wOrsted articles she was in the habit of
making SO artistically for herself, and
sell them to-Mr. Lee, uncle's employer,
[ was about to say, when 1 was inter-
rupted by shrill shrek.
"Work for a store !" she cried. "Pd
starUe first"
"You wretched girl !'' added my
aunt. 'tHow dare you even think Of
such thiug?. Ethel, my darling, calm
yourself"
cit is not enough that strangers
should presume upon QUIZ poverty"
me, 'but one bound to us by ties of
blood. though it must be confessed more
alien than many stranger would be,
must advance ideas that shock and wound
US. Imagine turning to her brother
Roland. who lay on the only lounge in
the room, complacently regarding him
self in the mirror on the opposite wall
"that impairment Mrs. Bradshaw COM
ing here this morning, with the air of
doing a kindness, too, to offer me posi-
ton in her academy y
':Great heavensr' exclaimed Roland,
springing to his feet-and the cause must
be mighty one that brings Roland to
his feet. ''One of my sisters teacher
Great heavens p and he went stamping
about the room in the new suit of clothes
aunt had just paid for by parting with
her handsome pearl ring.
Whatever is done, we can do moth
ing" sobbed Ethel.
"Of course not" replied Roland,
grandly; '' the women of our family never
work"
I thought to myself, ''Nor the men
either, except poor old uncle, who is
tagging at a desk from morning until
night"
But our income must be increased -
said Alethea, looking up from her novel,
and joining in the conversation for the
first time. Alethea was our eldest, and
still wore her hair in the fashion of her
youth, loose curl dangling over each
cheek bone, being fully persuaded that
no other fashion was half so graceful or
becoming.
Discharge the chamber-maid, pro-
posed Ethel, "and let Dorothea q am
Dorothea) do her work. It is about
ali she is fit for. She never had any fine
feeling OF style about her."
"No, she never had; she always
would bite her bread" sighed my aunt,
and she has seemed sadly out Of place
among my children She comes of a
working race, and her ideas and tastes
smack of -trade-trade." I dis
covered that my aunt's grandmother, on
maternal side, made fortune out of to-