Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-06-11
Y.

THE LIVES OF OUR CHARACTERS
Five years had passed away since Sophia
and Percival were parted, and m had left
its marks upon other personages OF our story
beside its heroine, Without any question,
Sibvl had greatly increased in personal at
Effectiveness. Her dark superb style was de-
veloped and heightened as she drew nearer to
the meridian Of life. No doubt the early
bloom of youth was gone; but her form mad
become more finely rounded, and her carriage
had become more stately. She was a beautl-
full woman of the world; nc man ever looked
at her once only. But her manner had be-
come more ~reticent than ever. She relied on
] her beauty for a place among her sex, and
was at no pains to cultivate conversation,
letters or any branch of the art OF pleasing,
except the setting forth of personal charms.
Had her manner and her talk been what she
might easily have made them, she would have
shone out as a beauty, indeed, in the prime
of her womanhood. For Sibyl had no lack
of sense nor of education either; but proudly
~reposing on her incontestible loneliness, she
rather withdrew than put forward her other
attractions. Still she could display herself
when she pleased; one occasion l well remem-
Der, when she met in company a vlvaclous
Italian. who was extremely struck with her
appearance, and paid her a profusion OF gay
compliments. At last, his English failing. he
tried to enhance his polite speeches by some
poetical quotations in his own language, adding
that he was afraid she would hardly under
stand what he had said. On the instant Sibyl
answered him back with a return quotation,
as I understood. from the same author. Not
- IL 7 .@-1l NOT n1NnIsopiptn hQIs
readiness; but that the retort was lively and
happy was sufficiently proved by the torelgn-
er's delight. His eyes sparkled with pleasure.
"You know more than | do" he exclaimed,
c%lapping his hands. "You are a wonder-a
wonder, my dear LADY,"
But Sibyl relapsed into silence, and treated
her success with a sincerity of indifference
4 which showed how lightly she regarded any
mental achievement.
Car had meanwhile changed in a way the
very opposite. She had grown thinner; and
her frame, which was a large one, was more
prominent. Car had gone in for intellectual
ideas, and was improving her mind diligently,
and was last obtaining in our little town the
reputation of being what is now called q
woman's rights woman. She had become
rather too fond Of talking i'll mixed companies
on high subjects, and so fell into the very
error her lively little mother had ~foreseen ten
years before.
"As to Car" Mrs. Barbara said one day,
ashe is turning schoolmistress. She talks lee
lures. | wonder she does not get a few les
sons in action" the little satirist said; "it
would become her drawing room and dinner
table finely. Any actor or popular preacher
could tell how to arrange her elbows when
she is discoursing. can't; form my education,
dears, was neglected-in that particular de-
partment. We only danced and sang and
firted when l was a girl. Why, | remember
once meeting a man who talked Of Peru, and,
assure you, dears, l thought it was some
where in Germany! But what matter4 The
world was ours, andsw we had only to live and
enjoy and make others enjoy. And we did
it. girls; we did It'll o, that l was young
Z again|
Caroline Doolittle, however, was not very
popular in Kettlewell; and this was undoubt-
eddy owing, not to her sound mental cultiva'
%tion-which was as genuine as it was laud'
able-but to the mischievous habit she had Of
bringing her attainments into prominence.
suppose she did it to manifest her superiority
over the rest of the women; but, unfortu
nately, the result was that, while she vexe6
the women, which she did not mind, she re
PEELED the men. which she did mind very
much.
One man, however, paid her the tribute O
a homage which was as unceasing as the voict
of a waterfall. Morning, noon and nigh
Egerton sounded the praises OF his wife. HI
had grown stout and healthy looking, and h
was as great a simpleton as ever. Indeed
his giggle had got new notes of imbecility i
ii, and was now a perfect wonder Of vacuit.
in warticulated sound. He had slight droI
in his lower lip, too, and a fixed smile, whicI
might have made his very dog UNDERSTAND
what mental weakness is in mankind. Blu
Egerton adored his wife. They had thre
children now, and from infancy he pointe
these children to their mamma as the sol
model Of excellence and strength. Egerto
was very fond Of nursing his children, an