The rustler., 1891-08-28
THREE YOUNG OLD-MAIDS
They Found Men Preferable to
Science, Art and Literature.


'No, shall never marry" said Enid
"Nor l." said Grace.
"Nor l." said Sophy.
81 am welded TO art" continued the
Grst speaker
"And to literature" said the second.
"And to science said the third.
They were all young, they were all
rich. they were all pretty, so that
the chances were against the above res
-olution being fulfilled, even in this
nineteenth century, when brides are
scarcer than they used TO be, and the
votaries of science and art and litera.
ture more numerous.
Sophy and Grace we've sisters. Enid
was their friend. Grace was the eldest,
Enid the youngest of the three. The
sisters were both tall, fine girls, with
dark eyes and hair, and white com
plexions, smooth and spotless as mar
BILE. Grace was beautiful, Sophy hand
some; Grace was the paler, her features
more delicately cut, her eyes softer.
Sophy was the more vivacious, her eyes
brighter, her smile more animated, her
laugh merrier.
Enid was not the least like her friends;
she was small and very fair, with blue
eyes and quantity of pale golden
hair. most of which was coiled into u
crown ON the top of her head, and the
remainder curled about her forehead.
She was dressed in the aesthetic style,
and was one OF the very few who can
do so with impunity.
Max Leslie, brother to Sophy and
Grace, was hopelessly in love with her,
but he was lawyer, while Enid was
the bride of art, and what have law and
art in common with each other?
"Mea are so prosaic," said Enid.
'And sc stupid" said Sophy.
"And so wicked" said Grace.
We'll have none of them" cried the
trio.
"Girls, have a plan; listen" said
Enid.
I'VE three will go away TO q lonely
isle-I don't mean Il desert islaud-but
to Nantucket, or the Shoals"
II was to Nantucket that they deter
mined to go, agreeing to take house
for three months, and solemnly vowing
that not a man should cross its thresh-
old from the day they entered till the
day they left.
Only a fortnight later and they were
settled in n big old house overlooking
the sea.
There had been obstacles to over.
come in the form of protesting fathers
and scandalized mothers, but the pro-
posed exclusion of the stronger sex
pacified the fathers, and the fact that
Enid's old nurse. u veritable duenna,
was to make one of the party, allayed
all maternal fears, and in the end the
young people got their own way, as
young people mostly do nowadays.
The first month passed away without
anything more exciting than thunder.
storm occurring. The three aspirants
to celibacy led a very simple life They
brealsfasted at nine, dined ut one, lad
tea when they felt inclined, and supped
Mt six. In the mornings the bride OF
art sketched from nature, or painted in
her studio; the bride Of science shut
herself up in the library with a skele.
ton and studied medicine; while the
bride of literature lay in u hammock
and evolved the plot of three-volums
novel which was to take the world by
storm.
On Sunday they drove to church
where they attracted so much atten
tion that after the second Sunday peo
pie began to call upon them; they
were prepared for this contingency
and Rachel, Enid's nurse, met all visit
~ors with q very solemn face and tn,