The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-01
MISS MARRABLE'S ELOPEMENT.

Miss Martha Marrable, spinster lady of
five-and-fifty, is the last of her race. Her
only brother. Mr.. Clement Marrable, never
married, and died twenty years ago at
Baden Baden, whittier he had gone to drink
the waters; and her two sisters, Maria and
LRtitia. although they did marry, did not
live to become middle-aged women. The
elder, Maria, after becoming the wife of
Mr.. LangtOn Larkspur, of the firm of
Scrip, Larkspur & Co., bankers, of Thread
needle Street, gave birth to a single child,
a daughter, who was named Lucy; and
the younger, LRtitia, having been led to
the altar by Mr.. Septimus Allerton. of tine
firm OF AllertOn, Bond & Benedict, brokers,
q Pancake Lane, presented her husband
with twin girls, of whom only one-and
she was called Amy-Survived her eX-
treme infancy. 1t is therefore not aston
ishing that Miss Martha Marrable, a we'll
TODD woman without family ties, is ex-
ceedingly fond of the daughters of her two
dead sisters. She usually nad them to stay
with her at least twice a year-opce in the
early summer at her house in GrOsvenor
Street, and once in the autumn at the sea-
side, or in Italy, whittier she goes occasion
ally, accompanied-tO the great wonder of
the foreigners-by a courier, man-serv-
ant, two maids, eleven boxes and green
parrot. And as she is very kind to her
nieces, and denies them nothing, it is not
surprising that they are fully as fond of
her as she is of them. But Miss
Martha Marrable is growing sold;
whereas Miss Lucy Larkspur and
Miss Amy Allerton are both young, and
intend to remain so for some years to come.
1t is not, therefore, to be expected that the
three ladies should invariably think ex-
,actly alike on all subjects. And, indeed,
am happy to say that there are not many
women who do agree with Miss Marrable,
upon all questions; for although she is as
good an old spinster as ever
breathed, she is, unfortunately, q man.
hater.
l have looked into the dictionary to see
what the verb ''to hate" signifies, and l
find that it means ''to despise," or ito dis
like intensely" Let it not, however, be
supposed that the word "man-h ater'' is a
stronger one that ought to be applied to
Miss Marrable, for am really not certain
that it is altogether strong enough. She
regards men as inferior animals, and looks
down upon them with lofty contempt.
"Who," she once said to her niece Lucy,
t'has turned the world upside down, filled
it with poverty and unhappiness. and del
uged1t with blood? 1t is Man, Lucy. If
woman had always governed the earth we
should have had no Cesar BorgiaS, no
Judge JefferieSes, no Bonapartes and no
Mana Sahibs." And yet Miss Martha Mar
rable can never see a vagrant begging in
the street without giving him aims. The
truth is, that, although she detests and
despises man, she pities him; just as she
pities the poor idiot whom she sometimes
sees grinning and gibbering by the wayside
in Italy.
These being her sentiments, Miss Maria
ble has not, of course, many male acQuaint-
ances. She is on good, but not affectlonate,
terms with her widowed brothers-in.law,
Mr.. Langton Earkspur and Mr.. Septimus
Allerton. She once a year invites her man
of business, Mr.. John Bones, of Cooks
Court, to dine with her and them in Gros-
venor Street; and she is civil TO the rector
of her parish, and to the medical man
whom she would call in to attend her in
case of illness. Yet Mr.. Larkspur once
told Mr.. Allerton that this feminine dragon
nineteen; and Mr.. Allerton-whose con-
nection with the MaFrable family is of
much more recent date than that of Lucy's
Enthusiastically declared that he could
well believe it. If, however, Miss Marrable
did have love affair in her youth, l am
not inclined at this time of day TO cast it as
q reproach in her teeth. BOYS will be boys;
and girls, suppose, will be girls, though
thew NAV live to see the error of their
WAYS, and be none the worse for their
follies. One thing is certain, and that is
that at the present time, and for at least
fiye-and-twenty years past, Miss Martha
Marrable has ceased todream of the tender
passion. She still occasionally talks
vaguely of going up the Nile, or Of visiting
the Yellowstone Region ere she dies; but
she never contemplates the possibility of
getting married; and / believe that she
would as soon think of allowing a man to
believe that she regarded him with any