The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1895-09-04
A SOCIAL VERDICT.
BY MRS. II. Il. BAYNE.

Royal Mathews was invited to dine
at the Lossings, strictly family al
fair, a,.l was duly elated, for he knew
it meant the crucial moment of his
life, when he would be considered n
possible lover for the clever Edith
Lossing, to whom he had lost his
heart on first acquaintance. He knew
that men quite as eligible as he had
been thrown over, but he had a mans
confidence in his own ability to make
successful love, only give him the
chance. And here was his chance.
To sit at the same table with his be-
loved, to eat the same ambrosia-it is
always ambrosia until love is married,
and his normal appetite returns-and
to hear the brilliant sallies of her wit
If he had known, poor insect, that
he was to be put under microscope,
he would have gone to his doom with
fear and trembling, or staid away a.
together, but he had no fears what
ever on any score, except of his deep
unworthiness, in a general sense, of
the charming girl to whose hand and
hard heart he aspircd.
The dinner was one of those dainty
aggregations of silver and cut glass,
and decorative china. which give
bizarre effect to our meals ut the pre-
sent time, even when ones feelings
must he tied with blue ribbon or kept
out of sight, and when it is social
crime to eat anything with n spoor.
But Royal Mathews was accustomed
to modern luxury, and would have
died before he would have admitted
that he did not know tho whole social
shibboeth. That Elith Tossing would
attempt to judge of mans morals
by his manners never occurred to
him. He would have secuted the idea,
for while he gave due consideration
to the small social courtesies of life,
he valued them very little and always
suffered from their l. ,straints counting
somewhere in his veins a strain Of
honest Quaker blood.
Before the dinner was we'll bagun,
Mathew was aware that in some way
he had offendc Miss Losing. As
tho conversation was informal and of
desultory character, he could no:
recall all that he had said, and could
find no cause for off.nse. 1t must
then, be something he has done but
what He certainly had not eaten
with his knife, nor drank from the
fiDger-bowl, but what then had fr zen
the lovely Edith into a statue of ice?
He tried to thaw her and became frost
bitten himself. He had the pleasure
of long and tedious conversation
with her father and mother, for what
will man in love not do for those pro-
spective relatives, and he felt that
from them he has won golden opinions.
And with that he was obliged to con-
tent himself.
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 iigurative
crooked stick, as n last resort oppor-
tunity. So many eligible men have
sought her hand and been refused
that it was currently reported that she
had been disappointed in love and was
determ ned to live and die an old
maid. Her friends had on several oc-
casions announced them selves sati s.
fed with the candidate only to be told
that Miss i lith had refused him.
The trouble was that Edith was
hypercritical. 1t was SO with other
things besides the affections. Sh,
took all the sweetness out of life by
finding its sugar was adulterated witt
chalk. She left the sky out of hel
lnndsc ,pes, and mntilated her friend,
by petty criticism. She had heard oil
read somewhere that manners wer,
the shadows OF morals, and by thi,
1
half-inch rule she measured men.
The day after the dinner she wen
! to lunch with her Best Friend, wh'