Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-23


medical advice.
little dinner-party in the house Of one
of the local smart people; II so wanted
to ask you about all this rubbish they
tell me Of
What rubbish, Mrs Lightwood?'
asked Craven with a benignant smile.
And who has shot the rubbish here?'
well, your great friend Miss Weston,
they tell me-this latest addition to our
community"
what is she doing?" He had not the
slightest doubt as to Mrs. Lightwood's
meaning, but he would not give her the
satisfaction of admitting that he knew.
But don't you know really? Oh, sure
ly you must know that she goes out
every morning in the bay with gang
of dirty, draggle-tailed girls behind her,
whom she is teaching to swim and to
dive and to make absurd, indecent eX-
hibitions of themselves-a lot of ser
vants-of-all-work, and the daughters of
journeymen bakers and thinkers and the
like. and that she swims about herself
at the head of her ragged little rabble. "
Captain Craven laughed. He was
thinking in his own mind what very
vulgar, narrow-minded old person Mrs.
Lightwood was, although the daughter
of peer.
REALLY, Mrs. .Lightwood., you are
running away with the storyr'
Gam I? Very well, then, tell me the
story yourself; tell it to us ALL We shall
be glad to listen and to have our wrong
impressions corrected" she added, IN
the tone of a woman who feels sure that
her own impressions never could be cor
rected by any authority.
well, it's very simple story" cap
tain Craven replied. Miss Weston is an
enthusiast about many things
Enthusiasts bore meF' said Mrs
Lghtwood
mo doubt they do Captain Craven
blandly assented. Wont the whole
story bore you? Hadn't we better leave
''oh, nor the hostess called out. owe
are dying to hear all about it."
Thus encouraged, Craven very wiling
ly went on
'You see, Miss Weston has good
deal of property here, and she has got
into her head some sort of idea about
property having its duties as Wen as It's
rights" ;,
1Tye heard that sort of thing before,
Mrs. Lightwood scornfully.
"And so she has been thinking what
she could do to benefit some OF our poor
er friends and as she is magnificent
swimmer, she thought she could 40
nothing better than teach lot OF the
poorer girls of RoXburgh how to swim.
I don't see any particular harm in that
do your .
az think it is a capital idea"
stRut think" Mrs. Lightwood snarled,
chow it must foster the vanity OF those
moor creatures! Fancy her giving them
snowy and expensive bathing-dresses
all for nothing"
"The bathing-dresses," said Captain
Craven ARE not snowy, nor expensive.
anG the girls have to mend them and
keep them in order themselves.
GAN stuff, call iti'' said Mrs. Light
wood, nothing changed IN her OPINION
But Of course Captain Craven would
approve of any idea that pretty young
woman gets into her head"
Cantain Craven disdained any fur
Their argument, but was more heartily
than ever in favor Of Linda's work.
One advantage there certainly ap-
peared to be thus far in that work; il
promoted early rising among the laz-
iest-that is to say, the smartest-class
of the Roxburgh residents There was
always a little crowd at the bathing
time of the more fashionable women OF
the region, which, when the tide al
VI.
numbers of people got up ever so much
earlier, in the hope of seeing Miss Yves
ton and her seanymphs, who took to
the water at the earliest moment when
the tide permitted them. All the same,
the general influence of public opinion
among the richer residents, the more
pretentious shopkeepers, and the visit
ors from London was decidedly unfa-
vorable to poor Linda's experiment
Some of the ladies declared that it was
unwomanly conduct on the part of Miss
Weston, though why it should be I'M
womanly for a rich girl to battle with
poor girls, and not with other rich girls,
they did not even think of troubling
themselves to explain. Some of the ell
der ladies openly expressed their deter
mination to make it hot, not only for
Miss Weston, but also for Captain era
ven, the new agent, who was so oSten-
tatiously backing her up They would
not even wait for the end of the sea-
son, which would naturally impose a
truce on hostilities and would give time
for calm consideration before the com
ing of another summer Craven found.
to his great regret, that the principal
proprietors of the place were among
those whom Miss Weston's harmless
benefieence especially scandalized.
THE fact of it is, Craven" said an
elderly peer, whose wife was among
the scandalized, ''you must see Miss
Weston at once and demonstrate with
her sharply-mind, sharplyw
IF l do" Craven began 20 saw. I'm
-" But in the middle Of the sentence.
and before the terrible climax came a
prudent thought arose in his mind, and
he only said: "All right; I'll go and see
her today"
He did go to see her. ana he luckily
found her at home. The opening of his
explanation did not sound quite in keep
ing with the tone of the message he
was expected to deliver
Look here, Miss Weston" he said
abruptly, there are a set Of old fools
Of both sexes here who are going TO
make row about you and your swim
ming club. | suppose you have heard
something about it before this?"
Yes" she replied with smile, "Tye
received a great many remonstrances
from good-natured friends They tell
me l am disgrace to my sex-and
don't know what else,n
Il have been sent to advise you and