The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-04-06
LIFE IN HIGH SOCIETY.

An Interesting Story of New York, London
and a Western Belle.
"There is certain class of women in
New York, " said Mrs. X, "who are Just
as 'insular' in their prejudices and mar
row in their views as is the most pro-
nounced type of the British female of the
upper middle class-and not unlike her in
their shortsighted and ignorant belief that
no desirable society can exist outside of
the particular inner circle of the world in
which they move. When, therefore, Jack
Knickerbocker brought home pretty wife
from the west and installed her in a tiny
house in fashionable locality, his two
married sisters, Mrs. Van Amsterdam and
Mrs. Haughton, took no pains to conceal
their disapprobation and disappointment
and treated their new sister-in-law with a
frigid and distant politeness, which, luck
lily, made no impression upon the charm
ing bride She was too happily absorbed
to be conscious of neglect or to feel much
interested in the plans of Mrs. Van A,
who talked grandly of having her oldest
daughter presented in the spring and
bringing her out in London before her
debut at home the following winter
"Once, in England, however, the Amer
lean matron did not find life in Mayfair
all that her fancy had painted it, for, de-
spite her excellent letters, her acquaint-
ance with those Of her townswomen who
had married abroad and her undisputed
social position in New York she felt dis
tinctly and uncomfortably out Of it,
Her i'll humor with her surroundings was
not lessened by receiving letter from her
brother Jack, informing her that he and
the BRIDE proposed taking a run over
and would look her up in London. He
added, 'Milly likes England, and we think
of settling down in London for a few
weeks
"'If Jack and his wife think they are
going to use me to see something of Lon
don society," exclaimed the irate scion of
the Knickerbockers, on reading the letter,
they are vastly mistaken. ] do not pro-
pose to be hampered by a nobody from the
west, and Jack may just as well realize
now as ever what he incurred when he
chose to marry out of our setP When, a
fortnight later note was brought to her
from her sister-in-law, saying that they
had taken rooms in Blank street and ask
ing her to call the next morning she wrote
an icy reply, excusing herself from calling
just then on account or numerous engage
ments. She added that she hoped to see
them before they left town.
"Mrs. Jack laughed good humoredly
when she received the reply, understand
ing the situation with ready wit and
quietly ignored the presence of her 'aris-
tocratic' relative in London, but Mrs. Van
A. thought her savoir faire decidedly at
fault, when, a week later, she attended
very smart dinner at the Duchess of
KS, to which she had looked forward
as the most notable event of her London
experience and found her pretty sister-in-
law one of the most honored guests of the
occasion, perfectly at home and on terms
of the greatest intimacy with the hostess,
who showed by constant illusions to pre-
ceding seasons that the western beauty
not only had lived abroad for several
years, but had been a decided social sue
cess. New York Tribune.