The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-01-13

and herself had taken up their abode some
ten years before the opening Of this narra-
tive.
Whence they came. why they came no
one knew. Mrs. Hamerton was stately,
handsome old lady who made no acquain-
ti.nees, and who seemed to DE fairly well
provided With the treasures Of this wicked
world. Her daughter was at that time
delicate, slender girl, whose face gave
promise OF acquiring that striking bearlY
we know that it finally attained.
Purchasing an historic house near tie
centre Of the town, Mrs. Hamerton settlsd
down TO quiet life and placed her daugh-
ter at school. Then it was that Rhoda
! Hamerton, by nature affectionate co1iG-
ing, cheerful, first tasted the poison that
changed her whole being and warped her
virgin soul.
There is an ancient Saxon verb which has
gone through many changes during the
| lapse Of ages having been written variodsiy
snenp snib. sneb and snub. The meaning
Of the word has fuctuated almost as much
as its spelling, but both its orthography
and significance are now established on
permanent basis. This generation has de-
creed that "snubbing" is the method by
which the different strata of society are
feld in their appropriate places. To snab
the right people, at the right time, in the
right place and in the right way is all that
/ Is necessary in these days to maintain that
social position in which either birth or
chance has placed you.
Now, from the first day Of her appear
ance at her new school Rhoda Hamerton
! was snubbed." Even the teachers
neglected her. anxious, as they were, TO re-
/ taf ba will aF hn in
their charge who belonged to the "old
families" of the town That she was
/ handsome, docile, clever, counted for moth
/ ing. In fact her superiority as a scholar
only increased the unfriendiness that sur
rounded her, for jealousy was soon added
to the feelings OF resentment that inilu-
/ enced her classmates. Who was this
/ stranger who never Numbered, who could
i speak French with a perfect accent, who
/ played classic music with the hand OF u
master, who moved with the grace and dig
nifty Of queen and whose patrician fea-
lures grew ever more charming as the
months went by? Hamerton! Not a bad
name, indeed, but one unknown to the
township. And then again, it might be as
sumed. At all events it was not safe to be
too intimate with people who gave no ac-
count of themselves and who did not even
tell whence they came.
! Those were very unhappy years to Rhoda,
and they changed her from a bright, hope
full, sweet-tempered girl into an ambitious,
jealous, embittered young woman, dis
trustful OF others, self-reiant, restless.
She had measured herself with her con-
temporaries and had proved her superior
ity. Still she had no place in the social
life around her, no recognition from the
naughty descendants of those righteous
immigrants who rejoiced that hell was hot
and gloried in the death-agonies of a
charred and smoking witch.
Alice Imam had been one of Rhoda's
school-mates, Though a few years
! younger than the stran ger, she had been
the only girl in the school who had made
the slightest advance toward the new
conner. About a week after Rhoda's adj
mittance Alice had approached her desk at
recess, and, taking the new pupils hand,
had said:
Il fear you are not happy here. You
| look sad"
The fears came into Rhoda's eyes, her
pale cheeks flushed; then, as if ashamed
Of her emotion, she withdrew her hand and
answered cOlGly:
Thank you; am very well content"
An awkwark silence ensued. Before it
ana
Alice lnman returned to her seat And
never again, though the warp and wool of
their lives were strangely interwoven. did
these two women exchange words. Better,
perhaps, had it been for both if the friend
ship then offered and rejected had been al
lowed to flooIish.
After her graduation Rhoda had led q
life Oh seclusiQn, deyo,ing her time to her
books, her music and Ter mother. Ms
Hamerton, whose lungs were not stroAg,
had been unable to Withstand the treacll-
cries OF Anew England climate and mad
gradually become a confirmed invalid
II was at this time that Augustus Barr,
a rising young lawyer, in good stanC-
ing both professionally and socially. had
fallen in love with Rhoda. he had seen
ner at church one morning, and from i5at
hour his sole ambition had been to ma ke
her acquaintance and win her reydld
Being wealthy, handsome and persever g.
he had been successful in all this and hs
finally made her his wife. Thus M
RhOda's unpopularity in the comuu1li
been increased, for Augustus BaIr, sr.ol
OF an old colonial family had been one ST
the few really eligible young men in u town
not over-stociled with marriageao.e Dac..-
eiors.
married life. Her husband madly infa5tl-
ated with her, had determined to place her
in that social position To which her beaut ,
accomplishments and her new name en-
Titled her Hardly. however. had he taAca
the first successful steps toward this end
than he sickened and died
/. With that regard for the welfare of the
community that had actuated their anres-
tors in the persecution of the Quakers, the
Fossips of the town whispered that Rhoda
Barr mad exercised an evil influence over
her unhappy spouse, that she had coveted
his money and that in some mysterious
way she had been responsible for his
death. Thus it was that as a widow she
was stunned even more thoroughly than
she had been as a schoolgirl
Imagine the influence of all this on a
highly sensitive temperament Is it
strange that Rhoda Barr lost faith in all
things; that she lon&ed for some excite
ment that would aGay for time the bitter
pain that wrung her heart?
II fkft. \ / ~