The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-13

FEMININE air tnat WAS uSClueuls utAA@S-
tive. And that is, after all, the duty of
a woman in life-to be attractive. There
are a good many other things that come
in, but the being pleasant and the being
| found agreeable is really part OF her
duty to her neighbor.
That's where you find the difference be-
| tween lady and she who is merely q
woman. The first finds herself being
pleasant, and that is the beginning of at
Effectiveness, to everybody; the last is only
pleasant where she thinks it worth while
/ She puts away her good manners as she
does her frocks and only assumes them
! for company.
| have always maintained that the wo-
men of the South were less apt TO be az
! fected by the power of the dollar than
any other women; but want to apologize
to the women of the rest OF the country.
The Southern woman, when she is cad,
/ is the most offensive possible. Probably
/ it is because when she reaches this state
of affairs she is a rara avis. At least |
like to think that is the reason. This is
what has made me alter my opinion. a
woman | know dropped in for a cup OF
tea the ohter day, and said to me:
If you want to have your eyes opened
very wide visit the home of your child
hood after an absence of about ten years,
Your eyes will fill with tears when you
discover that many friends have gone
never to return. There will be a lump
in your throat when you see the changes
that time has made here. there and every
where. People who were rich are poor.
Those who were young are old. Some
4 a. T. II. lt.k
may be pretty sure that you will have
your angry passions in turmoil before
your visit is finished. When | reached
the home of my ancestors-most of my an
cestors are dead, and the house they used
to live in belongs to somebody else-but
still speak of ii as the home of my ances-
tors because | own three lots in the Gene
terry there-I naturally sent out cards to
the friends of my girlhood whose names
we're cited as being still among the living.
One Of them, a girl who, as | remembered
her had been an insipid. wax doll, only
cared for by the other girls, because she
had clever mother, who made us enjoy
ourselves, was on the list. In the decades
that had passed she had married a man
who had made a fortune as baker
why is it that bakers in history from Pha-
raoh's down have never been particularly
noble?
THE baker the doll married was de-
cent enough fellow, whose baking had
consisted not in making the world better
with home made bread and good, healthy
rolls, but in selling to populace over
willing to become dyspeptics, those abomi-
nations known as ginger snaps and salt
crackers, with other delicacies Of the
same kind too numerous to mention.
When first heard of him the baker was
known as Mr.. John B. Jelly, and he was
commonly spoken of by his intimates as
Johnnie One day / found, on my re-
turn from a luncheon, that / had missed
visitor, whose card read: Mrs. j. Bread
Jelly / should never have known who
this represented, but as another card was
with it-her mother's-th explanation
was given-I suppose really that's the
reason she takes her mother out with
her, to explain her existence. The day
before | left, much against my wish, for
there were so many thoroughly nice peo-
pie / wanted to see, | made call at he
paiatial mansion of the Bread Jellys.
"Then | realized how, giving a fool
few dollars, an undesirable result may
| be achieved. The door of the Castle
Jelly was opened by manservant who,
like his mistress, kept his best clothes
for times when company was expected
Then / was shown into drawing room
that, as far as taste was concerned, might
as well have been furnished with gold
dollars and papered with certified checks
| Handsome furniture? Yes, / suppose 1t
was, but the whole place had that vulgar
I n fnrs
and not for use. In the next room a
child was taking music lesson. Mrs.
Bread Jelly had not learend that in houses
where good manners are understood
children are not given lessons in the draw
ing room during visiting hours. In a
few minutes the bake lady herself ap-
peared The face that had been that
of wax doll had, with the years, grown
fat and flabby. The nose was hooked,
and the manner and voice were as en-
| tirely changed as if the woman herself
/ had not grown from childhood to girl
hood, and from girlhood to womanhood
but as if she had been remade even
| physically through the sudden accumu-
! lation OF dollars.
my call lasted exactly eight minutes.
I LiitL TIME MIS-. DtdAd OSiiy dlldISA
on the number of her charities and the
great trouble forced upon her by the
popularity Of her daughter who, during
| the eight minutes Of my stay, was
brought into the room and suggested in
her utra-stiff white frock and her long
hair nobody so much as Morleena Ken
wigs. Now, remember, my dear, this
woman had been born of good people,
had the average education, although
she was always a fool. But how can
you explain, even on fool, the mere
possession Of wealth, resulting in an abb
solute change not only in her appearance
/ but in her voice? Some clever man said
once, 'Heredity may lie; but voices do not.
Low people make money, drive in state,
throng to palaces, but their antecedents
always croak out in their voices. They
either screech or purr; they have no
clear modulation.' Was there a coarse
streak somewhere in her ancestry?
II was sufficiently curious to ask among
the people who knew whether the Bread
Jellys, through their dollars, were in