Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-09-25

in oo.-.~ W. iuuCn charitable work
h,t connection with DR.. Sings church,
Ius Is OF no Importance to us, though
h. caused some trouble, hereinafter to
oe e%Xpounded. to our hero. that there
snou.a DO q Miss Philpot, as well as
Two Misses Eugenia Phiipot, aunt and
Not that they were ever confused in
c,e'r own household, for the aunt wa,
always called Jenny-ienominious
slavesty OF a stately name, but still
uhav'ng It's W conveniences. Eugenia
the nleco was a girl of eighteen. and
really exqu'sitely lovely, with a com-
Plexlon of pinks and snow rather
nan roses and lilies, 80 trans
parent was her fair skin and
SO delicate the color that mantled be-
meath it; her hair, profuse, long, silky,
n Just rippled enough to show lis
brightness, was a silvery fax-color.
barely touched with gold on the edoes
Oh the aforesaid ~ripples-hair that
Ieally dehes description, its tint and
texture were both SO peculiar, and so
accentuated by the delicate dark eve
brows and heavy dark lashes of the
most beautiful gold-hazel eyes ever set
in a girls head.
Eugenla Philpot would have made a
great sensation IN society had she en-
tered its charmed precincts, for nature
had given to her also a sweet child
like a and a delicate graceful figure,
tact enough to make her pass muster
anywhere, not an oppressive amount
OF brains, and such a kind honest little
heart!
"a perfect woman nobly planned"-
''to comfort" certainly, but warning
and commanding would never be her
forte. But although the Philpots were
that deadly respectable sort of people,
IAN old New York family" the branch
OF Philpots to which they belonged had
outlived its money, it not its useful
ness. 1t amounted to just so much to
them. this antiquity of descent, that
they owned the house they lived in,
which their grandfather had kept in
his own hands, being the end house of
q block no had built on the last re-
naming r of the Philpot Manor.
Their father had just money enough to
live on decently, and some of this was
lost in his bad management; his two
daughters and his granddaughter now
starved g~enteelly on the remainder.
Perhaps more meat and milk would
have rendered Eugenia less ethereal
and less b%ewltching; as it was, she
could not exploit that wonderful beauty
in society, for the prosaic reason that
she could not afford the needful clothes.
She had a pretty taste in dress and deft
fingers, and that resource of every
modern heroine. a trunk in the garnet,
was not altogether wanting. But, alas!
there was very little in that trunk avail
able for her. These aunts had a prior
claim to it; and if there was a dark
blue turk satin," as our grandmoth-
ers called it, left for the girl, there was
mighty little of it. and she had to buy
a remnant of serge to exc out her Sum
day costume. and also a cheap bunch
of steel blue feathers to adorn the little
bonnet made out of n old hanging
sleeve. Now Miss Philpot privately
took fine sewing from a ladies' fur
nishing store, and toned her clothes in
tho lowest key of sombreness that she
might have a little to give in charity.
But when you are fifty years old, Sera-
pima, and have a large Dutch nose,
thick pale lips, a sallow skin, and
prominent grecn-gray eyes, nobody
will notice what you wear if you are a
saint; and Miss Philpot. who inherited
the name of Annette from that ''old
New York family was as near . saint
as modern manners permit.
1aiss Jenny Philpot had a taste in
dress, too. She was ''only'' thirty-five.
| and had a certain style and poise about
her, a still supple and elegant figure,
and an abundant length of tlaxen
tresses that pleased her own eye, and
made her forget that her face was as
| thin as 9 Ratchet; her nose Ga
truly aristocrat:c nose. she imagined),
high. sharp and aggressive; her eyes
cold and pale; her lips a narrow red
line; and her chin long and obstinate,
not even lit by a dimple-for where
could q dimple have found depth
enough to lurk in those wan cheeks o,
that lean and fabby c~ountenance? But
Miss Jenny made the most of herself,
since she had long ago resolved thai
her duty and destiny was to marry; not
perhaps to marry we'll Chat was hel
niece's role), but to marry somebody
who could Support her in comfort-a
modest wish. but SO far ungranted.
Now Eugcnia, who had a middle mi
tial that meant nothing, but was merely
a letter put in so that her clothes should
not be marked or her correspondence
directed with her aunt's name, had 8
good deal of taste in drawing, and loved
ppictures; she would have liked to be
educated in that direction. but could
not afford a master, and her aunts
%shuddered at the thought of sending
their only and orphaned niece to thu
Cooper Institute, where none of thu
old New York families eve sent thei1
scions. So they consoled her by thu
promise of a ticket to the Academy
annual exhibitions; and it was in those
rooms. clad in that very gentian blue
costume, that Augustus Holloway frs
beheld the lovely creature, who STRUCK
him dumb with love at first sight
He followed her about and stared q
her necessarily, but h did not know
it; she observed his peculiar aspect
but thought he was admir,ng the pct
ures, too. and in her gentle heart sh'
p;tied the poor man who looked 81
dreadtully, and thought ofhim..no more
But, alas! Augustus never from
that hour thought of 'anybod.