Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-01
SUMMER WOMAN.
Rose Terry Cooke Sketches Famil-
lar Seashore Characters.
Whose Home Life in Winter Differs
Materially From Her Fashionable
Life in Summer.
Women Who Try to Wear the CARDS Of Ladies'
and Fan-Ths Literary Woman, Who
Knows Every Author Of Repuss.
Copyrighted by the author.I


For the Gazette.
Morality is not ambu1atory,'' said Sir
Thomas Browne; but the dear old philosopher
said it in his haste, meaning, no doubt, that the
eternal essence OF ethics was interchangeable
everywhere; of the practice of morality what
nortal shall dare indorse his dictum?
! fHere is Mrs. A6riance-for we win adhere tn
9he alphabet in giving our fair friends "a local
iShabitation and . name"-at home for ten
months of the year she is frugal housekeeperi
she ties on an apron Mondays and washes the
dishes to help her one servant; looks after the
cold remains Of dinner with an eagle eye; intim-
idates the butcher by her knowledge Of the best
cuts and lowest prices; turns her black silk
gown as thoroughly as the Devonshire dame de-
manded Of her tailor the entire renovation of her
skirt: "Talleorl thee mum TAX ms this petcut,
thee mum turn it insid' out, hindsid' afore. tap
sid bottom; thee nun bind it, an tap bind It;
thee can do u, thee nun do It, an thee mum do
It speediyt''
There are no buttons missing on her husbands
shirts, no holes in mis- stockings, no burned soup
or fried steak on his simply spread table. She
does her duty in the state to which she is called
in manner to be respected and aamired-til
summer comes. Then there is change in her
aspect and manner; the ohrysalis becomes sud-
denly butterfly.
All the laid-away fnery Of summers past is
brought out and refurbished, moro is added. the
dressmaker is haTassed, the fashion books ram
sacked. WIN cheap SILKS, imitation lace,
Rhinestr .es and Palais Royal trinkets stored in
jewell -oxes to simulate reality, with wide hat
for me shore, muslin hat for the piazza,
dsinty scrap Of wool and ribbons for cool night
promenade, Creation of Haunting flowers
and tulle in case she should ever go to church.
even as Miss Betsy Trotwood kept friIled
night-cap ''in case of fire''-wlth all these
packed IN two huge trunks Mrs. Adriance dis
misses her maid-of- all work, leaves her husband
to take his meals at q country tavern and sleep
in his empty and darkened house, and betakes
herself to the seaside,
She is no longer the plain, respectable wife Of
Sam Adriance, who keeps the general store"
dresses three times day. she makes acquaint-
ances by the dozen, to whom she bewails the
to manage instead of honest Betsey CLARK, who
has lived with her twenty ye and feels
quite IS good as Bell Adriance.'' She talks
Of her country place as IL it were Lenox "cot-
tage Of gent1Iity." and speaks of her horses
with such regret that she was so foolish as this
once to leave them behind. coming to new
place.
Poor old farm horses-ons being alternated
with the other on the delivery team Of the
BiIly's unsroomed, boDy body. or Joe's Roman
nose and awkward yellow-gray back. both
adorned by rusty harnesses, eobbled with bits Of
rope, appear on the scene drawing the ancient
and rickety rockaway that she calls her carTiagei
Mrs. Adriance likes to manage her own trans
formation scenes and place them in her air cas-
ties.
It certainly gives her some pleasure TO exploit
all these pretensions or she would not do it; her
sense OF honesty Is keen and practical as long a.
she lives in Pineville. She does net put on
these airs among her neighbors and friends nor
do they imagine that she Is possessed Of the
subtlety that she exercises to make her assump-
tons safe. She never tells Pineville people
where she is going. She says. careless1y:
81 don't know where shall go this year.
Doctor says must go to salt every summer on
account Of my asthmy. hear there's real
nice, quiet places down on Cape Ann But
never by any chance does she go to anything
less than crowded and fashionable resort.
1t does not seem TO occur to her that wherever
she goes and whatever she szys or does, she, taas
real Mrs. Adriance, is still present underne9kk
all these frills Of fashion and airs of wealth.
Her measure is taken by keener eyes than hegs
gym; her wardrobe il weighed and found wat7tf
7EAg by people who know well the pricaQa<l "
sbf 1imsy silk. cotton lace, imitasiSn Jew u,
and her grammar shamelessly betE<ys her. She
xiii say, now and then, 81 done - or isAin't
80 She will talk of ''voilets' Ind ''cold coli
lections, % though she may be fary enough tas
avoid books and ignore quotations IL hex e3A-
vsrsation. She lies and evades and prefeHds to
be what she is not for two months, and then
goes back to PineviIle and her natural condition
certainly no better for her outing.
Is she no worseY Is her self-respeet Arm, h.
conscience quiet after AL this moor eetnRi Ell