Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-08-07
A SOCIAL VERDICT.
BY Mrs. NJ L. Rayne.

BY Mrs. NJ L. Rayne.
Royal Mathews was invited to dine
at the Lossings. strictly a family affair,
and was duly elected. for he knew IL
meant the crucial moment of his life,
when he would be considered G posi-
BILE lover for the clever Edith Losing,
10 whom he had lest his heart on first
acquaintance He knew that men quito
as eligible as he had been thrown over,
but he had a mans cofdence in his own
ability to make successful love, only
give him a chance. And here was his
chance To sit at the same table with
his beloved. TO eat the same ambrOsia-
it is always ambrOsia until love is mar
ried. and his normal appetite returns
and to hear the brilliant sallies or her
wit. If he had known, poor insect that
he was to be put under q microscope, he
would have gone TO his doom with fear
and trembling. or stayed away alto
gether., but he had no fears whatever
on any score. except of his deep unwor-
thiness. in q general sense, OF the
charming girl TO whose hand and heart
he aspired.
The dinner was one Of those dainty
aggregations of silver and cut glass, and
decorative china. which give a bizarre
effect to our meals at the present time,
even when ones feelings must be tled
with blue ribbon or kept out or sight
and when il is q social crime>to eat any
thing with a spoon. But Royal MaJh-
ews was accustomed to modern luxury,
and would have died before he would
have admitted that he did not know thd
whole social shibbOleth. That Edlth
LOSING would attempt to Judge OF
mans morals by his manners never oc-
CURED to him. He would have secuted
the idea. for while he gave due consld-
Grafton to the small social courtesies OF
life. he valued them very little, and al
WAYS suffered from their restraints,
counting somewhere in his veins
strain of honest Quaker blood.
Before the dinner was we'll begun,
Mathews was aware that in some way
he had offended Miss Losing.
Edith Lossing's friends were much
afraid that she would end her days IN
single blessedness, or else go through
the woods and pick up the tguratlVe
crooked stick. as a last opportunity. SO
many eligible men had sought her hand
and been refused, that 1t was currently
reported that she had been disappolnt-
ed in love and was determined 10 i've
and die an old maid. Her friends had
on several occasions announced thein-
selves satisfied with the candidate only
to be told that Miss Edith had refused
him.
The trouble was that Edith was
bvnercritical. 1t was so with other
things besides the affections She took
oU the sweetness ont of life by finding
its suear was adulterated with chalk.
She left the sky out Of her landscapes
and mutilated her friends by petty crit
icism. She had heard or read some
where that manners were the shadows
of morals. and by this half inch rule
she measured men.
The day after dinner she went TO
lunch with her best friend, who board
ed at q stately hotel and was a person or
common sense. the scarcest commodity
ON earth. She was fond of Edith, Wnlla
bewailing the positive virtues Whlch
made her so disagreeable.
- met Allen HOlbro0k in the loDDy
and he stood and talked with me With
ont removing his hat she announced
- ber hest friend after they had lunch
al and were seated in one OF the par
lors of the hotel.
"Tben / suppose you Will dlsalloW
him a single good quality, remarked
the B. +. - ,.o.,oo4 -
complained Edith. ,.-
"put il on another basis. fernaps'
NJ. Woman. he was treating you with
H. freedom of good comradeship?
Could COM he pay you a greater comph-
-. ,.1-be new woman viii demand every
,o,,nowledgment of social form, an
eTered Edith. 1T was unOearaole
rudeness. ,-..,..- .,, co clad n
sea Won that he never once tnousnT VI
his hat: il will be more cnarlCaOie
pnt +eu me. for / am dying 10 Know q
Poval Mathews to be the happy man
.,Rovol Mathews is an insuHeraOIS
too,. ., retorted Edith with a good oesl
esneritv showing that she was secreuy
d "a ..[vbat did he do? You told me he
,,-os m dine with you yesterday. Ola
he eat with his knife!
Worse thousand times worse,
ND 4 he do as Emerson did when
Margaret Fuller was his guest-eat IL
his shirt sleeves2
.No-aud ne is not an Emerson 49,.
Il insist upon You telling me me
.o,t, and breadth OF his transgression.
yep IS Won '', do not I shall ask him myself
when W en- he calls at five, as he promised,
" " Very wei, will tell you, and tn, the
consequence be on your own head. , You
know that pride myself on housekeep-
ing and that all the glass and sily'f IS
taken care of by myself. ! THINK , can
claim spotless brilliancy LOT inc .@Oie
ware. vet when that man sat down 9,
the fable what do you think be aid?
Rut Won would never guess-no, not Ii
= lifetime. The wretch picked up
corner of the table cloth and deiioeE-
ately polished first his glass, then MS