Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-07-03

!. >>& ness Of money get
ting is over with.
It is luxuriously furnished, to be sure,
but 1t Is homelike to a degree-it lacks
the formality OF the library and the
grandeur OF the drawing room. The
books on the shelves of Mrs. Sage's
room seem meant to be read; the pic
lures on the walls are Of places and
people genuinely dear to those who
look at them oftenest. The golden
framed clock on the mantel ticks
cheerily. The very purring and new
ing of Mrs. Sage's maltese cats-there
are two OF them-haye a thoroughly
homclike sound. These cats, named
Malta and Miltiades, divide the honor
OF being the household pets with the
big, green parrot that has a little hall
room all to herself upstairs. Mrs.
Sage likes to talk Of her pets,
did you ever see eyes o stead
fast and Intelligent" she says, hold
ing up one of the cats that the WISH
tor may look him fair in the face.
my cats love me and when / am out
they watch for my coming. II they
are upstairs and hear the street door
open they peep through the banisters
to see who is coming in. When they
recognize me down they come to give
me greeting. The girls tell me that
when / was away in Troy last week
the cats seemed really lost and dis
Stracted.
Where did l get them? From a
friend at Cedarnurst, on Long Island,
where / spend each summer. They
were tiny kittens when they were CIV
en- to me. When we move to Cedar
hurst they go along with me in the
train, in two baskets. They are used
to the trip now.
"The parrot and l have quite long
arguments" continued Mrs. Sage,
particularly when she thinks her
room is not warm enough. Mrs. Sage.
Mrs. Sage!' she protests, in an indig-
nant tone, and then / have to go and
put Der in a good humor. She is a
good deal spoiled, I'm afraid, and she
is exncting. But she is very interest
ing when she wants to be-"
Mrs. Sage is an interesting figure.
Though alert and active, she is far
more the intellectual AMI spiritual than
the material type Of woman. There is
character in the pale. oval face, in the
firm mouth and chin and the clear
blue eyes that look kindly forth. She
wears her abundant gray hair in soft
coils and crimps, and there is a dignity
of presence about her that one feels
would be hers If she occupied an OBJ
scure rather than a conspicuous niche
in life. she usually dresses in black or
soma sober color, but this morning
there is a touch of pink about the
wrists and collar of her gown, and. a
bit of delicate lace that is becoming.
Her face kindles with interest when a
subject appeals to her.
"What do / think about the higher
education Of women" she says, re-
heating the visitors question with an
ipscrutable smile about the lips. "They
have advanced the standard Of wom-
anly attainment much during the past
twenty years, but to my mind there is
something lacking yet. l believe in
our young women having all the
strengthening and broadening influ-
ences that study and cultivation can
give, but / hold that they must be
trained first in the humanities of life,
A girls education, as now almost uni
versally sought and bestowed, gives
her a taste for art, for the refinements
of personal appointments and sur
roundings, for dainty coloring. subtle
effects and the like, but it blunts heI
sense of the practical. I doubt serious
ly IL the modern higher education OF
woman is an unqualified good. 1t tends
to develop the mind, very often a
the expense of the heart.
Before 1 was married" went or
| Mrs. Sage, II had relatives with whom
/ might have lived after my fathers
losses, but 1 always believed in the dig.
nifty of labor and / searched round FOL
a position of teacher and got one.
lived in the house where the school wa!
held. My room was small, no bigger
than a New York hall bedroom nov
is, and there were two other girls who
shared it with me. / had been an in
dustrious scholar at the seminary ant
had been taught that unless n coult
give expression to ones knowledge
could impart 1t to others, she could no
be fully mistress of what she knew.
worked earnestly as a teacher, Away
going into the class room with the les
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