The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-01

me that. after an, il was a reproduction
Of the original Crawford. There were the
dainty little houses. with the neat well
kept gardens. ana pervading the entire
place was the peculiar air which betokens
the presence OF woman-not woman in the
singular. ana certainly not the singular
woman-but woman in the plural, and to
such a degree that she seemed to override
and override every thing. 1t was conced-
cd in this queer little place that to be
rich. or, indeed, even comfortably off, as
far as the goods of this world were con-
cerned, was to be vulgar. although IL
would have been considered equally vul-
gar TO have spoken Of ones poverty
Gentility was the state which seemed
most desirable. as far as 1 could ind 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 al
ways preserve a proper position in the
world.
If this new Crawford had been in Eng
land there could have been nocloser line
OF caste drawn.
1t 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 Path
finder" while John Halifax" and THE
Heir of Redcliffe" We're 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 not 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 Of Importance. II means the
putting on Of best frOcks. preferably those
of black silk, starting out at o clock ana
sitting up in state until $50, indulging 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 pre-
serves. Nobody ever had anything more
than this That would have been count
ed vulgar.
Indeed, the only time I was ever pres
ent at what might have been called "a
supper was at the house of a lady, the
widow Of a man who had kept whole
sale shoe store. When she appeared
there was a question as to whether she
should be received or not, but as she was
a kind, good-natured soul she was ac-
cepted after awhile, and 1t was agreed
that the remembrance of the shoe shop
should be ignored altogether. At her
he rrf
coffee, hot rolls, and a glass of rich, sweet
wine would be offered and the old ladies'
would all eat and drink heartily and re-
mark. after they left such abundance,
my dear, but, Of course, poor soul, she
doesn't know any better, and so we make
the best of it, and agree to overlook it
There was the intensest fear of get
ting acquainted with anybody in trade,
but as nearly all the ladies We're unmar-
ried-though what was known as of suit
able age-or the widows of men who had
been in professions, the question of who
should and who should not be received
did not often come up. The friend ] Wis
tied has this in her favor, as far as posi-
ton went; she was the daughter Of an
English clergyman and came to this
country hoping to make her fortune as q
governess, never dreaming dear soul
that the life of a governess here was not
as hard as il was in her own home. How
but she found there was a 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 number
of books TO start with, she invested her
little capital in subscribing to the vari-
Gus magazines and getting some of the
new books, and then she opened a circu-
lating library. 1t did suggest the shop;
but then the widow of a doctor in tbs
navy said, Whatever lady does be.
comes dignihed," and after that nobody
ever questioned Miss Dorothy's business
l Joyed in their delicate china, in the
thin, worn, old silver, in the damaslS
napery which was darned until the orig
maj pattern was lost in the many new
threads, but, most of all, 1 delighted in
seeing the arrangements made every
night to protect the household from
thieves. Miss Dorothy's five silver tea
spoons, two tablespoons, three forks
ana a pair of shutters would be carefully
put in the old-fashioned silver basket.
and then Miss Dorothy would say TO the
little maid, aged IL years, Janet. carry
the silver and keys up stairs" And ia
net would march up solemnly weighted
by the basket and bunch of keys, and she
would deposit them on the chair reserved
for them which was set just opposite the
head of Miss Dorothys bed.
As l said before, in New Crawford as
in the Old, men We're disapproved of
They were supposed 10 upset things. to
be rough and loud and nor always quite
proper. l heard but one lady refer to
them as desirable, and she was not very
strong mentally or physically; she said
that she thought a man would be handy
10 have in the house to lift things. Ev-
erybody was very kind and all sorts of
nice little things were thought of. one
dear old lady made me, out of a piece
OF marvellous brocade, q wonderful case
Tor holding spOols of cotton; while an
other, knowing thatI had all of a south
erners love for sweet scents. devoted
day 10 getting the best of the rose
leaves and making me u potpourri. that
/ might really and truly have the at
mosphere Of 'Araby the bIest'' about
me. Another gentlewoman did me up
bundles of lavender so that my linen
might smell sweet, and all these dainty
little ways made me wonder if the I'D
vanced Woman" with all her much
talked of ability, would ever have the
sweet and gentle ways Of that woman
who never thought of herself as "ad-
yanced," but who prided herself much
on her gentleness and her duty to her
neighbor and her God
one long summer evening my friend