San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-25

again, what does your preclOi-; libel
Jones do as soon as she gets her hbertyT
And oh! will the discerning reader
please imagine how little | cared for
serried ranks of dowagers? l could bear
their saying that it showed had only
married Penny fer his money! he did
not believe it, and what was my tri-
umph as swept into the assembly that
year! how different my feelings! With
my cheeks rosy and dimpling, my eyes
flashing, the soft and glistening coils of
my hair making my neck show all the
whittier and more slender, the dazzle and
brilliancy of my shoulders and arms
shaming the high dresses of most of the
women, never had | looked so we'll be-
fore.
Instead of a simple white tulle wore
a cream yellow satin thick as board,
cut more simple than any tulle could be,
and with my dozen of bouquets slung in
a string over my free arm, by the time
that had made half turn of the room
| had half the men in it at my side. Low
neck was questionable that winter, and
even Mrs. Jimmy Naples could only
scott at me for outraging the mode; but
if the appreciation of the men counts for
anything fashion was wrong, terribly
wrong! Even Penny himself would
hardly leave my side. exulted-I tri-
umphed. Wherever went, like comet
carried my train with me.
Nor did loiter through the galleries
or hide myself for hours behind the
shrubbery flirting with one man; my
progress through the galleries was tri-
umphal. Look! felt like crying to the
other women, can not wear diamonds
as well as if they had been handed down
to me from my ancestors? Can / not
carry my head as high as do they whose
backbones have been stiffened by hun
dreds of family traditions? Such were
the pardonable feelings that agitated me;
but smiled at the dowagers as sweetly
as ever used to do in my demure days.
l went down to supper still triumphant,
with dozen men disputing over me,
and somewhat to the disgust of Penny,
who wanted to fetter me in corner of
the stairs by ourselves, established my
self at one of the little tables with all my
queue around me.
Just as sat down Bran Boullter passed
by. had not seen much of him during
the winter, but now he turned and asked
for place in my court, and laughed as
loudly as any of my courtiers while we
emptied the bottles of champagne that
they bore boldly off from the supper
table. had not placed myself where l
was from any ostentatious feelings, and
it was only careless gayety that led me
to approve of the frohcsome humor of
my cavaliers. l suppose we made
great deal of noise, and we certainly sat
out everybody else. Several cigars had
been lighted about the dining room be-
fore left it, and not even stray rib
bon on the stairs kept my sex company.
Never had there been such success
might almost have thought that was
the assembly. | dare say my female
readers will think that my head was
easily turned. "If," they will say, every
girl who had not much attention during
her first winter were to fancy that be-
cause she had better time in her sec
ond she was the belle of the season, no
one would be wall flower" Very true,
young ladies, but | assure you knew
how to measure my own success. What
was the meaning of the constant throng
of men about me-not five men, not six
men, but dozen, fifteen, twenty? You,
when you go to the assembly, gather
around you the men of your own set;
when Emily's latest swain talks to you
ten minutes longer than he does to EN-
lily your blue eyes CLEAN with pleasure;
when, for three turns of the room, four
men are by your side, you look sideways
at the girls who can boast of only one
man, and he a man of their chance, not
of their choice.
You look at them, say, in scorn, and
you are right. If you have not enough
spirit to enjoy your conquests you should
never be a warrior. But do you know
what is meant by the height of popu-
larity? Can you imagine what the feel
ings would be of popular song, a popu-
lar novel-your name in every ones
mouth, your form in every ones eye,
your qualities in every ones thoughts2
My dear girls, l have reached these
heights. The men who spoke to me, who
rushed after me. who were whirled in
the eddies about me, were not the men
whom l saw at every party to which |
went, with whom l cracked the same
little jokes; they were of every set, of
every sort-callow youths with budding
mustaches, half afraid, half valiant,
stately peres de famille, superior young
I
aloof, familiar friends, laughing ac-
quaintances, smirking foreigners, eager
strays from Boston, Baltimore, New