Milford chronicle., 1883-01-26
THE GRAYST0NS.

The Graystons were one of the decayec
families that abound in New York, as IL
all other large cities. Mrs. Graystor
was the daughter of a well-to-do old
merchant, who gave her comfortable
house as a wedding present, and as hal
husband prospered in business, the
family were almost as fashionable and
prominent as they wanted to be.
But one day Mrs. Grayston's husband
died, leaving his wife three girls and
very little money; her father had died
some years before, after having suffered
some reverses that swept away his prop
erty.
For year Or two Mrs. Grayston con-
tinued to live as comfortably as ever,
thanks to what had come to her from
her husbands business, but just as she
became not unwilling to doff her black
robes and re-enter the society which she
was still young, pretty and spirited
enough to enjoy, she found her bank ac-
count exhausted. Her husbands lawyer
advised her to sell her house, hire
small one, and live as economically as
possible on the proceeds of the sale, but
this course seemed to her as bad as going
out of the world, so she delayed doing
anything until an accumulation of bills
forced a sale, and Mrs. Grayston took
her family to a boarding-house.
Unable any longer to entertain in the
style she had done, Mrs. Grayston
learned rapidly that acquaintances are
seldom friends, and the discovery caused
her many bitter tears.
She wanted to be true to the memory
of her husband. but in her wild desire
to retain the position she was fast losing,
she gave many witching smile to de-
sirable bachelors and widowers who |
seemed to like her. But marriage was
not the result; half a dozen men would
have contended for her had she been
without encumbrances; but three girls.
who soon would need to be dressed as
young ladies, united to threaten with re-
possibilities by which the rashest man
was appalled,.
Gradually Mrs. Grayston's money de-
parted, and so did her friends. Some
antilles moved away; others changed
heir abodes and their social sets, until
Mrs. Grayston was absolutely out Of ]
ociety and without friend. With her
asst few hundred dollars she made
desperate efforts to put herself in the
way Of earning a livelihood for her little
amily. She attempted to teach, to keep t
'oarders, to write for the magazines, to {
'aint and embroider; but none of her S
aculties had ever been trained and she {
allied at everything; so, finally, she and t
er girls came down to supporting them |
elves by sewing for the shops. Bv
teady work they earned food. clothing y
nd shelter, but very little more. Yet in
Il their poverty they eagerly read every S
ne they could find in the newspapers /
bout the fashionable world, and their I
rincipal relaxation was to look into shop I
indows at fashionable gowns and orna- l
tents, to saunter through fashionable il
reefs at hours when well-dressed ladies a
ere making calls, and to wander fl
! Sundays among the fashionable o
lurches b
Such was the condition of the Gray g
on's when Briggs Bergman, who had h
en- a clerk with Mrs. Grayston's father. Il
d afterward gone West and became m
successful merchant himself, came o.
ist to visit his married sister. Berry
IN inquired about all his old ac cl
and was astonished at what al
heard about his old employers pretty SIT
lighter. sa
"a poor widow Nobody knows much vi
out her now? Why, confound it,
tie, it's enough to make man a rag pr
: Communist to learn that society has
elected such a woman" tn
9 What would you have society do,
1ther?" asked the lady. "Take up III
descriptions to maintain Mrs. Grayston
her three daughters in style? So m,
ty has all it can do to pay its own sol
Is. sp
Society is heartless 1t is a hog"
,wled the sturdy old fellow, and asl
he set out to find his
ployer's daughter He was both no
,cked and delighted at what HI saw; wo
S. Graystons beauty and spirits had to