The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-11-30
9tlect 9torp.
A THANKSGIVING BREAKFAST.
Harriet Prescott spoford in Harrcrs for November.

Harriet Prescott spoiord in Harpcrs for November
Perhaps you remember the house. Il lit
tie remote from the avenue and its ap-
prnache< in that part Of the town which
i, now the fashionable centre but was
then om the edge Of Il wood. Il house sitting
HIGH ON its terraces. half covered with
huncysuckles green all winter. and half
! hidden by its hedges.
Here Miss Veronica and her sister lived,
intrenched not only behind their hedges,
but behind Il responsibility that took small
note Of new people and affairs; and as some
trees find Sltstenance in the decay Of their
roots. they nourished themselves upon past
grandeur. Administrations came and ad-
ministrations went; they passed like ephe-
mera before Miss Veronica and Miss Sed-
I ley In forty years they had not thought
it worth while 10 attend President
levee. or to enter the White House at all.
The Capitol had blown up the bubble Of
its mighty dome unvisited by them. The
civil war had surged over the country,
scarcely causing them 4 hear-throb.
When Early made his raid upon the bord-
ers of the town they only smiled to hear
of it; they were Southern ladies and safe
in any event. Soldiers marched and coun-
termarched in street and avenue: they only
bowed their blinds and sat further back in
their parlors Alilly and !iark became
free people and the country rocked with
Iubilation and hlazed with banners: 50 far
as they were conscious Of ii they regarded
it as Il part Of the latter-day ruin. \
President was impeached: it did not signify;
the new Presidents were like children play
ing with crowns and sceptreS. As nearly
as possible time and the march Of nations
stood still that Miss VERONA Sidney and
her sister Sedley might pass pausng it
not with the President who had been an
uncle-in-law of some long-dead aunt Of
theirs. vet with his immediate successors.
The income of these old @entlewomen
was very small consisting ni' the rents Of
certain houses. sometimes paid and some
times not and ii was now smaller than
ever, since under the new system OF street
improvement some of the houses had SIM
PLY been swallowed in the abyss Of the
hettements. But their needs were very
small also They changed the fashion Of
their garments but little: one wax candle
burned long while; and the best part Of
the table was its thin old silver The
Faster ham. stuffed with chives and shall
lots. lasted them almost to Ascension; and
r Il,
left for TweIfth-night They paid wages
nov to Milly. smalI ones but none at all
10 Hark. who waited at table and on the
door and had his satisfaction III Ii; and
the two old slaves beamin@ and content
said nothing about the fact that they were
much better off than their mistresses, hav
ING long ago s,tiatted un some vacant lots.
and having now sold out fog al indepen
dcnce AIilly went home every evening,
and came back every morning as Miss We
ronica opened the door to 90 out 10 six
y clock mass, for the sisters were devout
| Catholics. And with Milly came half Il
dozen little pickaninnies in every size and
shade. who played all day on the brick
foor Of the great kitchen or in the area be-
| hind ii. and who were fed at no particular
! cost ON potatoes and gravy. ;!ark did the
| marketing aud whatever might become Il
man; and if now and then daintieS in the
! shape Of an early radish or i crisp lettuce,
shaddnck dressed with sherry, Il deviled
crab Il bird appeared on the table, the
ladies only thought how apt Hark was at
! getting the moneys worth. and never
dreamed that it was Hark money.
So Miss Veronica 5 aud Miss Sedley 5
days went by in Il great quiet. They had
few friends somewhat like themselves,
with whom they exchanged visits. They
occasionally went over to the convent and
cot the news of the world. They now
and then read newspaper, but with the
air Of holding it with pair Of tongs.
| They regarded a woiaan who wrote for the
papers as false 10 her sex: an intervlSX&1
was something less reprehensble Oh q
house breaker perhaps; and they ASST
! suffrage in their minds with divorce. and
regarded them both us scandals. for men
ton of which. were it necessary to allude
to them. You lowered your voice. Their
contempt for the North, its fasts and feasts
and people. was inbred but was not active,
the subject being too remote to concern
them. They looked askance al the en-
pIoyment Uf women in the Treasury; and
they took almost Us much care not to rush
their skirts against Treasury girl as
against Il play-actress as they called it
person who represented 10 thea III I'M
known quantity, not exactly human, but
allied to the power of evil. And as for
modern science, so far as they knew any
thing about it, it was fairy story, or Il
lure Of the devil. and they regarded men
tion Of protoplasm on germs or evolution as
uncomfortably near profanity. They did
and some beautiful tambour- work on mus
lin They had week Of dissipation when
one of the fairs Of their church took place,
and they would revel in half the bad pas
sions of the race over he countless raffles
for picture, an India shawl. lace man
tie, there When Miss Sedley broke her
arm. Miss Veronica kept the bandages
wet with holy water, and was confident
that the dressing did more good than the
surgeon splints. And Miss Sedley had
for some time been putting by il secret
hoard, if by possibility it might reach such
proportions that Miss Veronica could make
the rilgrimage to Lourdes, not very long
known then, and wash away the little
knobs that were coming on the joints Of
her long white slender fingers.
SO, neither of the world nor in the world,
they sat one summer morning, now and
then murmuring a sentence or two, wear
ing their old sheer muslin gowns, little
open at the ruffied throat, faint color
from the heat upon THEN withered cheeks,
the slightly loose and thin gray hair hav
ing the fine curl about the brow which be-
longs alike to age and infancy us beauti-
full, alas! as it is given to old women to be.
And they slowly waved their great feather
fans more with q sense of the terrible heat