The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-08
THE OLD woMANIsH YouNGsTER.
The Kind of a Girl That Some Mothers
Pride and Training Makes.

There are mothers girls-sweet little
dears brought up at mothers knee, and
taking in, with the extraordinary quick
ness of sharp witted child, everything
they hear mentioned. Such children be-
come little replicas of their elders, copy
their conversation, their gestures, their
tones, ideas, faults and foolish idiosyn-
crasies The. parents think it so cute, SO
cunning, and, proud of dear Mary James
old womanish ways and complacent affec-
tations. drag her about with them wher-
ever they 20, and force her upon their
friends and their visitors I'LL Mary Jane
becomes inflated to bursting point with
the consciousness of her own charms, and
the family acquaintance feel that they
would like to incarcerate the dear, clever
little woman" in some far distant spot,
where the babies cease from troubling and
the listener is at rest.
Mary James mamma is always foisting
her brilliant daughter upon afternoon WIS.,
itors, who come at untoWard times when
mamma is up stairs in the comfortable
neglige of loose white sack and a short
white skirt. When she receives the cards
she becomes extremely Hurried, after the
manner of women, execrates her guests
with the true feminine hospitality, and
finally tells Mary Jane, who is standing
about and silently enjoying the breeze to
smooth her hair, pull up her stockings,
and go down and entertain the ladies until
mamma comes"
Nothing is dearer to the heart of Mary
Jane Plastering down her bangs with
wet brush and donning a clean pinafore,
she trips down stairs and enters the parlor,
imparting to her back draperies gently
pendulous swing, as she has seen her Aunt
Fanny do when dressed up to meet her
young man. Mary Jane has a perfectly
self possessed and complacent manner,
copied from mammals and Aunt Fanny's.
She greets the guests with gracious patron
age, then, sitting on the edge of her chair,
smooths her pinafore, crosses her ankles
and proceeds to direct the conversation
into interesting channels.
First, she calls their attention to the new
draperies over the mantel. They were
papa's taste "He went off one day and
bought them secondhand; cheap, you
know. And mamma was furious. She
says any one can see they've been bought
secondhand. Do you think you would
have guessed it if hadn't told you? No;
perhaps not"
Then her eyes lighted on silk sofa pill
low, she designates it with a languid wave
of the hand and continues:
THAT is new too. Mammals friend,
Miss O'Neil, made it. Miss O'Neil, you
know, was at school with mamma, but
afterward she didn't get married, you see,
as mamma says her offers were so poor, and
so now she's an old maid and teaches
music. She's worn very badly, mamma
says, and is getting a little short in ho-
temper. She gives me Iessons-it's really
out Of charity, for she is not at all good
teacher. She also comes to dinner once
week, and sometimes twice. We're begin
ming to think that she comes a little too
often, because we have to have three
courses and dessert when she comes, and it
does make the bills run up sop
After this she falls back on the photo
graphs on the table, and points them out
with appropriate descriptions:
"That man there with the big mustache
is Aunt Fanny's beau. He's been coming
here for three years, and papa calls him
the forlorn hope / don't know why he
does that. Aunt Fanny sits in the parlor
when he comes, and we all sit here in the
library and listen to Aunt Fanny laugh.
Mamma says it's pity he's not so enter
tanning when he talks to US. He never
makes US laugh at all.
1.-The next man, in the enamel frame, is
Mr.. Smith. He's a friend of papa's Last
winter he lent papa some money, and it
isn't paid yet. As soon as it's paid NAM
mas going to get her set of cut glass, but
papa says she can't have one piece until
then. Mamma gets awful mad when he
tells her so, but papa says honesty is the
best policy, and when papa says thing,
it's just like the Modes and the Prussians."
Here mamma, nicely dressed up, but
somewhat out of breath, enters rustlirg.
81 am afraid this little chatterbox has
been boring you," she says, with beaming
maternal pride. The guests politely dis
claim such a possibility. In truth, they
have been enormously entertained-Sa
Francisco Argonaut.