Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1884-02-02
An Ideal.

Ing o1 the creamy outer petal, ana one nluSC
nee Is think of this in looking at MIS-. Fer
nalde. IL have had my threescore and ten,"
she used to say. ~ have had all that nature
has to give, and now l am living on grace"
1t was a sunny spirit that informed her, a
lightsomeness that never let the substance of
a tea. penetrate beneath the surface that
cculi endure nothing but happiness. Her
unfaling good nature was like a fairy wind
that smoothed every trouble out of her way
and out of the way of every one about her.
If her hair was white, no great sorrow had
made it so; and it's contrast with the soft
briliancy of the black eye and the velvet
flush of cheek unwritten by many lines,
made her perhaps as lovely as one standing
in all the full radiance Of youth. As for Mr..
Felnade-tall, dark, spare-he was by no
means unattractive, and his courtly manners
had a unique elegance. He loved his ease;
and annoyances, when they CHANGED to break
through the magic circle his wife drew about
him, vexed him, as they usually do nervous
person. For the rest, he was one of those
men who, having led a singularly fortunate
life, maintain to themselves a fancy that
they have Just missed the last stroke to make
the crystal complete, who have vanishing
ideal always just beyond the sight and
reach.
The Fernaldes were neighbors of ours.
Wealth required no exertion OF them, and
advancing age secluded them in some
measure from general society; their home
was always cheerful; they were always in it;
and if there had been no such person as
Grabbed old Mrs Talliafero. who had spent
the last six month with them, it would have
been hard to see how heaven itself could be
much Improvement on it. However, she was
going at once, and then where would be the
crump!e in the rose-leaf!
They loved young people. fne new
generation lends us a part of its freshness"
they used to say. They always welcomed
any of us, and indeed made me so particu-
larly conscious of their flattering favor that
i spent a good portion Of my time with
them, threaded the sweet little lady's needles,
read and wrote more or less for Mr..
Fernalde, and was gradually taken into
their confidence in way l did not desire,
since am about to violate it.
Gould / imagine happier old age than
this, my child, with my wife, my health, my
flowers, our birds and pets and friends" he
sail once, repeating my question why,
yes, my DEAR it was much happier before my
wife brought Mrs. Talliafero to stay with
U.S.. Some old schoolmate or girl friend OF
hers, / don't quite know whom, for the fact
is she nettled me so the first day she came
that wouldn't ask Rosalie word about
her, for fear should show my displeasure
at her having brought her home when she
turned up. 1t is astounding how an invisibly
small thern will destroy your equanimity.
And then this woman has a quality that
would turn honey into vinegar, do believe.
She has changed our quiet, peaceful, sun
hot ,aI ila dav in
June, into sharp, raw day in November.
There is something very rasping about her.
don't see why my wife invited her to spend
such a season with us for. / wonder IL she
thought that at the end of the time l should
press for continuancea My dear, have
counted the days-it sounds sadly against
all hospitable rites-I have counted the
days till / should see her consult railway
time table, as she did yesterday, about going
home to-day believe she is not in affiuent
circumstances now l would bo glad to
meet the expense of boarding her awayi /
am speaking strongly. Yes, Rosalie," look
ing at his laughing wife, 81 know you say
too strongly. But 1t is argument, assertion,
contradiction, differing, pickering, finding
fault with the servants who have suited us
half a lifetime, questioning the expenditure,
disordering the arrangements from ono day
to the next Think of it, when she comes
into my study and declares that my wife
has the patience of the play to endure such a
den of disorder in her house. She wonders
that do not wear a scratch. She warns mo
of indigestions, she threatens me with night
Mares she reminds me Of my age, sho inter
feres with my pipe! And then she wants so
much fresh airl Thank heavenl her time is
up to-day, and my wife will not invite
another guest for a half year with
out giving me time to arrange a residence
elsewhere! And such voice, tool When one
hears it, one longs for the proper inflrmities
of age that dull the hearing-sh ,rp as a file,
piercing as locust's whirr! What are you
laughing at, RosaleF
''Ah, you are not quite just, my love-" said
the sweet little lady. "Mrs. Talliafero has a
fine mind. She is really waking us up. She
prevents our sinking down into a jelly-like
existence, as SO many at our age do. She
keeps us bubbling."
''There, there, there, my dearl Don't say
another word about your Mrs. Talliaferol Go
and spend a season with her at Saratoga, IL
you ever want to see her any more. I'll go
to Richfeld. Bubblei She'd make sulphuric
acid bubble out of the sands Of the desertl
I've no doubt she worried Talliafero, poor
man, into the gravel But there, I've said too
much" he added directly. II beg your par
don, my sweet, il hurt your feelings about
an old friend, but really Now, Rosalie,
my love, If you don't care to go over
these accounts, our young friend will
And then Mrs. Fernalde tripped off
with as light foot e. girl of II,
and 1 drew up the great folding-screen
around our chairs, stirred the fire little,
and took pencil and paper to add up the
figures Mr.. Fernalde was to read out to me.
But Mr.. Fernalde was in O brown study for
little, and let him stay.
at was strange you should have asked me
that question, child" he said at length II
used, at your time OF life, to imagine very
different old age from this, il may SO call
that imagination, for, in fact, old ago never
entered into my calculations. imagined
nothing about the passage Of time, only Of
tho continuance Of condition. And that
condition was the perpetual paradise Of
Alicia's smiles"
"Rosalie, you mean," said I.
~ beg your pardon" said Mr.. Fernalde
shortly. 81 mean Alicia"
"Aliciar
"Alicia. who, when was twenty was the
81 don't know what you mean, SIR"
"Of course you don't, Of course you don't
I've half tho mind to tell you, though. It's
a long time ago-a long time-and no harm
done. One is perhaps fool at TO-"
said Mr.. Fernalde presently again. "Pm
not quite so. One Is certainly fool at
90 l was, at any rate, but I didn't
know it, and walked in a fools paradise.