Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-05-19


enough. And, truly, 1 don't think
those grizzled curls Of yours the least
bit unbecoming. And l couldn't i'm
agine why John left me IN that sudden
way. Rut | saw him presently lean
ing over that tall sallow Paget girl,
and playing with her fan, and | felt as
If had hated that girl from the begin
ming Of time. Still, / must acknowl-
edge that by-and-by, when John took
her to the piano, she did sing most de-
liciously; but then, in the evening
when everybody was dancing-well, |
never saw such dancing before, and
hope j never shall again. Mrs. Rokes-
by said Herodias's daughter couldn't
have done anything more shameful,
and she was glad neither Marcia nor
flung herself round in that style. But
John and her other partners liked it,
noticed-at least everybody wanted to
dance with her. Somehow, if she was
lean and sallow, she was awfully hand
some, and so was her brother, as l said
once to John.
He's young, too, said John, and
that seems to be your sine qua non,
Alice.
1t isn't yours, said l, 'for Miriam
Paget's thirty, if she's day.
And then John laughed, and went
to take the seat that was always kept
for him by Miriam Paget's side.
So the time went on, with rides and
rows and picnics and parties; but it
wasn't very pleasant to me, and I ex-
cused myself from all | could and the
way that Miss Paget conducted herself
about John was simply-simply out
rageous And it was no wonder that
Mrs. Rokesby and Marcia were wor-
ried to death about it, while he hung
round her like moth round a candle,
so dazzled that he was entirely unable
to see her as she was.
Marcia and her mother were to give
a dinner party one day, and as our
places adjoined, it was mamma who
recurred to her former proposition that
| should invite them all afterward into
our garden, and wind up the evening
outdoors with peaches and cream; for
we had the first ripe peaches in that
part Of the country. l protested; but
mamma had gotten it into her head,
and said the peaches were there and
the cream wouldn't cost two dollars,
and we could nip and save from some.
thing else. And nobody but Sissy dis
sented, except myself, and l not be-
cause of the nipping and saving, but
because was tired of doing up that
everlasting white dress over night, and
! did want new one, after all.
I'm sure, said mamma, your white
dress is a great deal prettier than Miss
Mervin's patch work affair, that new
thing
'rhe illuminated Dress?' Oh, man.
ma, it's perfectly lovely! 1t looked
just like a page from an old missal.'
4 never saw an old missal, said
mamma, dryly1+~
We'll, you know what | mean. Just
a perfect harmony of rich colors.'
1t might have been made of an old
bed-quilt, persisted mamma.
What a shame | said, that we
haven't any old trunks and chests full
of brocades and feathers and things,
the way girls in stories always have
them turn up to fall back on ! Just
think what toilettes one could get up
nowadays from such rich odds and
ends 7
There's the old chintz curtains in
the attic, said mamma satirically. NO
body could tell that stuff from Miss
Mervin's.'
And what mamma said made me
think; and as soon as | began to think,
I began to act; and before night I had
the old chintz curtains washed and
dried and starched, and cut out and
based together, and the sewing-ma-
chine was rafting away and bands of
plain colored cambria that cost me just
ten cents, contrasted with the great
Oriental pattern, and there was some
old inserting that I had, and ruf1ing
here and putting there, and when it
was all done, and looped and draped,
it really looked as if it might belong to
some woman of wealth and style, for
nobody else would dare to wear it.
And l then remembered Alec's old
broad -brimmed fishing hat discolored
as dust and tan could make it. All the
better said | to mammals remon-
STRANGE. And I lined it with my plain
cambric, and there was some yellow
mosquito netting in the house that had
grown dull and dingy too. l took
good care not to wash that, but l
wrung it out Of some mucilage water,
and clapped it dry, and pulled it out
and wrapped it round that hat, and
tied down over the brim in a huge
bow under my chin. There said l,
that will set off my eyes, and deaden
my hair-my hairs too bright to be
fashionable in this old gold mania.
Don't 1 look as if I'd just stepped cut
of an old Illuminated manuscript, the
'Romaunt Of the Rose, Or
That you dot said mamma And
Pm well enough to see to the peaches,
and I'll have the chairs all in the gar
den at seven o'clock And off I went.
'Ohv said Miss Paget. If you don't
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