The Penn's Grove record., 1888-06-16
my MODERN GRANDDAUGHTER.

w n6n IIe > long stfuRBio snaii " o uiooS
With music of Eternal Restt
MY MODERN GRANDDAUGHTER.
I am an old lady-no matter how old
but not infirm; and l am also old
fashioned enough to prefer the old
to the new. l never lean
against the back of my chair, nor ap.
pear at the breakfast table in my
wrapper, and no one, except my maid,
ever sees my curl-papers. l was
brought up not to take my ease In pub
lie.
But my granddaughter, Ethel. is
very different. She says: "Oh, let's
be comfortable, grandmal" She has
'given up"-actually given up-wear-
ing corsets.
They're not hygienic, grandma.
Hygienic to a woman of my age, who
never had a headache"
"What kind of a figure do you expect
to havef" l asked severely.
"Grandma." she answered, shaking
her pretty head-it is p~retty-''my
waist measures Just three inches less
than the Venus de Medici's."
Then all I a say is, that Miss de
Medici would have been considered a
very dump young woman in my day."
/ answered.
Ethel laughed. Times are sadly
changed. The modern young girl
laughs at her grandmother, and does
many other curious things. She learns
curious things at..school, too. One day
she rushed home from school, her curls
all flying In the breeze.
"Grandma,' - she cried, "I've learned
something wonderful today If you
should cut your brachial artery"
"But Idon't intend to cut my bra
chial artery at my time Of life." said l,
with some dignity.
"But If you should, grandma. I could
stop the flow Of blood instantly, and
save your life. See herel" and before
I knew What the child was doing, she
had my arm all tied up in a knotted
handkerchief, with a broom stick
twisted through one end so tight that
I thought she would amputate it on
the spot. That Is a very strange sort
of knowledge to give a young girl. 1t
doesn't seem ladylike.
Then, too, she has such perfect self.
reliancel Why, my granddaughter,
Ethel Starr Raymond, sits down some
times and looks into my eyes with such
a level gaze, and talks to me with such
reliance on the accuracy Of her own
views, that I might be the schoolgirl
and she the old lady, for all the defer
ence she pays to my views. More
over. something that happened recently
gives the child a great advantage over
me; and as SURF as 1 say, ETHEL, do be
q little more femininep she has a
rogutsh CLEAN In her brown eyes, and
is sure to say:
"But, grandma, II I must be SO soft
and feminine, what will you do il the
'man-in.the-moon' comes down AGAIN."
suppose I must tell the whole story.
I have been a great traveller in my
day-north, east, south and west. l
haven't been to Africa yet, but there's
no telling but that I yet may round
the Cape Of Good hope.
Last autumn, when Ethel took a bad
cold, which gradually developed into
bronchitis. I thought nothing of pack
ing up and starting of for California
with her. We stopped at a beautiful
little town, situated in a valley not far
from San Francisco Bay. with the soft
hills of the Coast Range all around US,
and taking a furnished house. settled
down comfortably for the winter.
Now I have spent a great deal of
time in my life looking for somebody.
1t is a Man. No matter how incon-
venient it might be, neither heat nor
cold, late hours nor early, company
nor lack of company, could ever induce
me to neglect the time-honored custom
of looking for that man who hides
under beds, shuts himself up in closets,
folds himself behind doors, or doubles
up In dark corners, for the purpose of
robbing and soaring peaceful and
unprotected women.
II all the precious hours that good
women are forced to spend in this pur-
suit could be added up, turned into
dollars. and put out at interest, I am
sure they would pay the national debt,
with something left over to put in the
bank.
Well, the house we took for our
California winter vas an old~-fashioned,
rambling house that had been drought
around the Horn In 40" In pieces, and
was full Of hiding places.
All around the front and sides wero
wide verandas. shaded by great acacia
and evergreen trees; then the original
house had various additions, wings,
and LIS up n step, or down two, or
attached by long, narrow halls, full OF
dim outlines, that a lively fancy would
turn into the shadow of a man.
A stray black cat, which no persua-
sion in the way Of sticks and stones
could induce to retire, furnished many
q nightly alarm, and caused a more
nightly search.
My maid slept on the same floor with
US, but the other servants, who, after
the fashion of the country, were both
moon-eyed Chinese, rooIned in a small
detached house at the end Of a large,
neglected garden, beautiful with feath-
cry locust trees. fan palms, great rose
bushes, one or two orange trees, and
beds of brilliant flowers, which grew
with the wild luxuriance of a semi
tropical climate.
The garden was full Of fragrant
full OF hiding places. l
never dared even look into it after
lark.
In the evening-it was now April
Ethel and l usually sat on the upper
yeranda, and there spent the hours,
trlnking In the soft, delicious air, and
u eyes, IL it vas moonlight,
On the lovely landscape, the valley clad
In the tender green of early spring.