The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-07-20
Selttt StOrg.
WHICH WINS2

Mary, Countess de Villermay, was a
widow who lived at Hampstead. Her
father had been pig killer in Chicago;
but Mary had long forgotten, in the delight
Of spending his moucy, how the money
was made. When she found It necessary
10 allude to her fathers trade she used 20
say with the frank air that was one Of her
points lie made his money in business,
think k-ssmc,hing to do with steel r.
which vas true, a. far a. IL went
When Mis- Mary Sehwell married the
Com,e De villeTmay she was twenty four
and he xas seventy. The speculation
turnei out admirably--lor her be died
within year Of her marriage lie had
becu very kiad To her, and shc had be
come really attached to hiR. She mourn
ed very s;ncercly the suceess Of her spcCu
lation. and. losing sight Of she motives
which had induced her marriage was quite
ds,solstssl for some months When she be-
gan 10 go out again she was much coaT'ed
by Younger soas aal inclligiaIes generally
and also by more prosperous persons of
sporting ,endeacies, who admired her
figure and style.
The Counties De Villcrmsy was what
Joe Garxriy called "a 6Be figure If a
woman. She had large arms aud an Oh
trusivc buss. Her throat was ma~sive aud
round- her hands anI feet very plump
Her face was large aaj dimplsd-she had
two veil formed ebins, aud a promise Of a
third Her bose and ears were smaIi.
She worc her ample red hair IN a 6reek
hy away kno, Al the back # her bead
Her white, cvcu teeth showed when she
laughed, and she was always laughing.
Women caIlci her roarsc, men eallsd hes
Jolly. AL who kncs her called her good
uafurcsl. thosc who did noi kRow her called
her loud. She vas ths kidd of person
AZ whom even the best bred women will
turn rouud and stare Being rieh. she
was extravsgaat aud generous in an impui-
sive aud unrcasoning way Had she been
poor she would probably have been an ex-
ceIlcnl hoas.,hoid manager and the rigid
both ends would in her hands have
grown elastic and met. She Vas fond of
poetry" she liked Tennyson better than
Shakespeare, and Loagfellow better than
either. But she never confessed IT. She
knew her world brtteT than that
For her main ambition, since she hal
been free Counties, Was to be considered
cultured To this end she erammed
somewhat, and got up good deal Of the
current jargon.
She could floor the ordinary person eoia-
pletely on such subjects as square marked
Worcester, Book Plates First edi-
tions. Bariollezris. and the sonnet
idea But it vas noticeable that the
specialists in these lines soon exhausted her.
In word, the Countess was one Of those
unfortunate and embarrassing persons who
will not submit 10 the evident intentions Of
nature, and be commonplace.
Her servants and social interiors adored
her Hers was the nature that insists on
Z love aud admiration, and, to gain it, viii
4 do thousand kiudneSses which it would
never enter into the mind Of your really
unselfsh person to conceive, much less te
carry out This kind of selfshness IS al
the bottom of a good deal of philanthropy
and one would not quarrel with it were II
not that it Is apt to grow exacting IN the
returns which it demands for its acts ot
benevolenee. The Countess would visit
her servants if they were i'll, and her com
mon sense taught her to take more frui
than flowers. and more beef tea than either
but there was no limit to the amount o
service and endurance which she exaete'
| from them when they recovered. She woul'
give the crossing sweeper shilling, and fee
Though she did not think that the none.
was well laid out to purchase the smil
that thanked her, and the bright recognl
tion that met her next time she passed tha
way She had many proteges and pension
ers. who had come, by all sorts of odd road;
within the radius of her patronage.
In spite of all this the position of tn
Countess companion was not an er
viable one, and more than one young won
an had preeipitately resigned it, worn OF
by the perpetual dropPings' of an ii
exhaustible egoism. The Countess con
panion had no time of her own. Even whe
+ the good night had been said and the be-
room key turned in the lock it was not
!. all certain that tap on the door would NJ
It onnounce n dreSsiDo-go goWned Countess. an