Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-09-05

H''" fAAfAheoo f'bhi"h ass aS'as Nhh
Gained.
peclalcorrespondence Of Gazette aud Journal
Il Little Crawford, y N. Y, Aug. 80
! THAT was what should call it, for it
' seemed to me that, after all, it was the
reproduction Of the original Crawford.
There were the dainty little houses,
with the neat wel-kcpt gardens, and
lpervading the entire place was the
peculiar air which betokened the pres
ence of woman-not woman in the singu-
h lar, and certainly not the singular
woman-but woman in the plural, and
to such a degree that she seemed to
override and override everything. Ii
was conceded in this queer little place
that to be rich, or, indeed, even to be
comfortably off, as far as the goods of
this world are concerned, was to be
vulgar, although it would have been
considered equally vulgar to have
spoken of ones poverty. Gentility was
the state which seemed most desirable.
as fur as | could find out, both here
and hereafter, and gentility meant
having no nasty, rough men about. 1t
meant having to be very careful as to
the spending Of ones income, and to
always preserve proper position in
the world.
In this new Crawford had been in
England, there could have been no
closer line of caste drawn.
rRApEsPEoPLE NOT RECEIVED.
II was funny to sit in the little
library and hear her recommend books
to the young girls and boys. She tried
to induce the boy of to-day to read
Cooper's Pathfinder while "John
Halifax and 1.-THE Heir of Radcliffe"
were advised to the young girls in
place of the modern novels, for, as she
said in her odd little way, my dear,
these new books are often very clever,
but quite as often they will teach you
things you had better not know" This
was hot always the best course, to take
to induce the youthful reader to let
them alone, but Miss Dorothy believed
fully in girls as she had known them,
and the girl of to-day was an unknown
page to her. With my appearance
there came, for this little town, great
gaiety; during my weeks stay / had
as many as four tea parties given tea,
made rich with cream and sweet with
importance. 1t means the putting on
of best frocks, preferably those of black
silk, starting out at 5 o'clock, and sit
ting up in state until half-past six, in
dulging in what is known as polite
conversation. Then we had, with
cups of delicious tea, rich with cream
and sweet with real lump sugar. water
like bread and butter, thin cakes
and delicate, amber-like preserves.
Nobody ever had anything more than
this. That would have been counted
vulgar.
Bah GETS ONE SQUARE MEAL.
L. 7
present at what might have been called
a supper"was at the house of lady,
the widow OF man who had kept
wholesale shoe store. When she APP
peared there was a question as to
whether she should be received or
not, but as she was a kind, good
natured soul she was accepted after
awhile, and it was agreed that the
remembrance Of the shoe shop should
be ignored altogether. At her house,
lobster outlets, sliced cold meat,
coffee, hot rolls, and glass of rich,
sweet wine would be offered and the
old ladies would all eat and drink
heartily and remark, after they left,
sSuch abundance, my dear, but of
course, poor soul, she doesn' know any
better, and SO we make the best of it,
and agree to overlook it. y
There was the intensest fear of get
ting acquainted with anybody in trade,
but as nearly all the ladies we're un-
marred-though what was known as of
suitable age--or the widows of men
who had been in professions, the ques-
tion OF who should and who should
not be received did not often come up.
The friend | visited had this in her
favor, as far as position went; she was
the daughter of an English clergyman
and came to this country hoping to
! make her fortune as a governess, never
dreaming, dear soul, that the life of
goyerness here was not as hard as it
was in her own home How she came
to this town / do not know, but she
found there was great need, crying
need, as newspapers would say, for
books, and that nobody could afford to
buy them. She had to do something
to earn her living, and having a mum
Der of books to start with, she invested
her little capital in subscribing to the
various magazines and getting some of
circulating library. 1t did suggest the
shop; but then the widow of a doctor
in the Navy said, Whatever lady
does becomes dignified, +" and after that
nobody ever questioned Miss Dorothy g
business.
CLEVER MODERN NOVELS NOT RECON-
MENDED.
/ ioyed in their delicate china, in
the thin, worn, old silver, in the
damask napery which was darned until
the original pattern was lost in the
many new threads, but, most of all, /
delighted in seeing the arrangements
made every night to protect the house
hold from thieves. Miss Dorothy's
five silver tea spoons, two tablespoons,
three forks and pair of shutters would
be carefully put in the old fashioned
silver basket, and then Miss Dorothy
would say to the little maid, aged II
years, Janet, carry the silver and keys
up stairs - And Janet,
A PROCESSION OF ONE,
would march up solemnly, weighted by
the basket and bunch of keys, and she
would deposit them on the chair re-
served for them, which was set just
opposite the head of Miss Dorothy's
bed.
AS ! said before, in New Crawford
as in the Old, men were disapproved of.
They We're supposed to upset things, to
be rough and loud and not ALWAYS
quite proper. | heard but one lady
refer to them as desirable, and she was
not very strong mentally OF physically
she said that she thought man would
be handy to have in the house to lift
things. Everybody was very kind and
all sorts of nice little things were
thought of. One dear old lady made
me, out of piece OF marvellous bro
cade wonderful case for holdino