Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-02
COPYRIGHT BY AMERICAN
\ pREss AssOcIATION, 1909

q she lrO1tld hare fallen heartily II HCctor'S
shoulder had not been in the right place.
. Mss Cornelia Beverley had reached
? The age of siXty-three without having at
! tanned modicum Of the patience. self
e control or gentlenCss inseparable from
all iCea of a gracious, kindly autumn.
} Hers was the autumn of equinoctial dis
turbs noes, rather than the loneliness of
} Indian summer.
: Without being a clever woman, or
deep thinker or IL student of philosophy.
5 Miss Beverley had arrived by sheer in
stinct at scheme of life that, for pure
mateIialism and unconscious eXaltation
of the eternal selfhood, beggared all phi
lOsopty The earth was hers. and the
inha tants thereof-created for her
benefit, TO minister to her whims and
wants in the ways she deemed BETTING
Having been born into world incom-
plete until her coming. she had accom-
plished all that could reasonably be ex-
pected of her. She had given creation a
center-herself; that was her merit, for
which she must be rewarded: if creation
failed 10 avail itself of the privilege of
going around her, that was its sin, for
which It must be punished.
In short, Miss Cornelia Beverley was a
silly and selfish woman, who. without
having ever read a line of Emerson in
her life, made one of his maxims her
daily rule of conduct-the one which re-
fers to the soft side Of existence being
the special perquisite of the cantanker-
Gus and foolish
1t must not be understood that Miss
Cornelia was an anomaly, unlike other
human beings and utterly intolerable
and destitute of redeeming qualities. for
such was far from being the case. She
was extremely good natured when her
wants were properly attended to and she
was given the best If everything and
she was Nt,tral in way-that is, she
. would l3vishly bestow such favors as
We're il her gift on the person who
, happened to please her, and she never
said III natured things Of people behind
their backs unless she were unusually
angry. She possessed the negative vir-
tue of being spiteful TO their faces. It
was common saying among her kindred
that 1.-THE worst thing Cornelia ever says
about you she says to your face"
PERHAPS those whose daily life and
conversation We're tinctured with her
: presence ut times deplored this excel
lence, and would have cheerfully sub
mitted to any amount of backbiting
could they have thereby escaped the
many trials in which they were both
criminal and counsel for the defense
Still, so elastic is human nature, and so
noble in the main. even the people who
lived with Miss Cornelia found MANY
excuses for her. She had had a great
deal of trouble in her youth, and some
very stern affiiction. and in compassion
: for her sorrow her family had gradually
{ learned to throw a mantle of charity
over her sc lishness. Trouble like hers,
even when self caused, carries with it
: an atmosphere that touches sympathy
SO keenly as not uufrequently to disarm
: Judgment.
In her youth Miss Cornelia had been a
handsome, high spirited girl, Maynard
2 and passionate. but attractive enough to
have many admirers. At eighteen she
became, with the consent and blessing
of both families, engaged to young
man of the nelghborhood. Mr.. Spots
wood Carrlngton The courtship was
stormy one, the engagement stormier
and the end total wreck. The lady in
sisted upon carrying on foolish, willful
Irritation with another man for whom
she cared nothing, simply to demonstrate
to her lover that she would submit to no
interference or dictation. The gentle
man was violent in temper and Jealous
IN disposition, and the termination of the
miserable affair was fierce quarrel be-
tween the two men and duel, which re-
2 suited in the death of one and the maim-
ing for life of the other
! After the death of her lover Miss Bev-
erley fell into deep melancholy. alter
mated with wild gusts of remorseful
passion, which unsettled her brain to
such an extent that for years she re-
quired strict attention and most careful
nursing. The horror of publicity which
distinguished the old time gentry pre-
vented her family from sending her to
an asylum, even when she was at the
worst Tender care and years of tram
quillity finally restored her mind to its
balance, but 10y the time she resumed
her place in the family her natural sell
fishness had been fostered by unlimited
indulgence and developed by the consid-
/, / Grafton which had become the habit of
the house.
She had some trifling property derived
from her mother, sufficient for her sup
port in other peoples houses, but not
/ enough to enable her to have one of her
own. 1t was n standing grievance with
her that her brother Hector. her guardian
and trustee. had sold her land and invest
ed the proceeds in such way that the
principal was beyond her control. Her
nephew Hector had been equally faith