Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-08-23

Miss Cornelia put her threat of aban doning Mary to her own evil devices into execution the following day; but before her departure she wrote notes of farewell-an unprecedented thing-to all her neighborhood friends for the ex- press purpose of letting them know what viper they had warmed in their bo- soms. She made no overt mention of her niece's name, for she was lady in most things, despite her dreadful tenn per. But she inveighed at length and with bitterness against the degeneracy and dangerous democracy of the times, which overthrow all class distinctions and allowed the upper and the lower crust to come together in the social pud- ding without even thin layer of proper pride to keep them from welding into one sodden mass.
 Her outraged feelings and sense of the stupendous importance of her theme gave the foolish old lady certain elo- quence that was touching and almost pathetic in its futility. It was the voice of the past crying out on the present, the voice of conservatism protesting against innovation.
 The notes made considerable stir in the county, provoking a good deal of comment and-oh, shame!-much laugh ter. The ladies, it is true, were trife nettled and somewhat resentful just at first, but more because they had been kept so long in ignorance of an animat- ing bit of gossip than from any feeling of pique at having extended hospitality 10 a social inferior. In their own minds their position was too well assured for any mere external to derogate from it, and Anthony touched their lives in no other way. When the gentlemen were made aware that they had been frater- nizing with the son of an overseer, they appeared to regard the matter in the light of an exquisite joke, and chuckled over it immensely among themselves. Like their wives and daughters, they were too accustomed to their own posi- tion to dwell upon it much, and they had all along been perfectly aware that Anthony was what is called self made mana fact which he had never either thrust upon them or concealed. The discovery that he was the son of old Bill Anthony, who had lived all his life among them and had been well thought | of ill a way, served to invest that proc ess of self making, which had been so | successful i'll result, with a personal in stead of an abstract interest for them. | They were proud of him as county man and a fellow Virginian who had gone out in the world and done the old state credit. They beheld him through the illusive rose color of pronounced sue | cess, and bestowed upon him both ad- miration and approval
 "To think of old Bill Anthony's boy | turning out such a clever bladew | chuckled Judge Winner delightedly. ''I remember the old man perfectly-a slouching sort of fellow, always whit ting sticks, with his mouth full of to- | bacco Capital overseer he was too | kept the negroes up to the collar and wasn't brutal to them. Any of us would | have snapped him up if we'd had the | chance; but Beverley hung on to him. Beverley thought a great deal of him, I | remember. lie came out well during the war too-saved Electors life at Nal vern Hill. There's good stuff in most Virginians."
 Mrs. Winner let this bit of vainglory pass, while she took up stitch in her knitting. She was Virginian also.
 "Weren't there a good many broth ers?' she questioned. II seem to re- member quantity of towheaded chil- dren across the ravine."
 ''They were all killed during the war ' replied the judge cheerfully, "and a mighty good thing for this fellow too. 1 They were worthless set, and would have hampered him. He need not be ashamed of them now, however, for they all died well, with their faces to the foe as brave men should. That is the soli. tary good feature of war; it can burn away refuse creditably."
 "I wonder why he never told us that ho belonged to the neighborhood?' unused Mrs. Wilmer. ''I think he should have It doesn't seem altogether fair"
 Nobody ever asked him any ques tions that I ever heard of, replied the judge. "A man isn't obliged to gc around with personal history pinned to his back. You wouldn't expect it oi one of us if we returned to place after twenty years absence and found none of our belongings about. The mar didn't change his name, or make bis
 mystery of himself, and he hasn'
 thrust himself upon us. can't see tha
 he has done anything amiss in keeping HIS ulOuUu SuuG dDOuG HIS OWL dudlTS
 If he had become intimate in any of ou,
 houses it would have been different; bu
 he hasn't been intimate anywhere ex
 cept at the Beverleys', and it seems tha
 he did tell Mary"
 "Cornelia is terribly afraid that Mar!
 will marry him, observed Mrs. Wilmer
 "I was over at Repton the evening
 before she left, and she was in a miser
 able stew over it. There had been
 scene of some kind that morning abou
 him. Cornelia wanted him forbidden
 the house on account of his birth ant
 Mary refused to do it. Cornelia wa
 leaving for that reason. She said tha
 Mary had insulted her"
 "Mary is a wonderful woman not t
 insult her every day she lives. Corneli
 Beverley is enough to make saint cape
 and blaspheme," the judge said grossly