Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-27

I always believed Mrs. Tivvers to be
a most estimable lady. She is transpar-
entity honest, her simplicity is childlike,
her liberality to those poorer than her
self has been so persistent and so large
that the category has constantly dimin-
ished in direct proportion to the de-
crease of Mrs. Tivvers own once con-
siderable, wealth
Nevertheless, Mrs. TivVers is not as
popular as she deserves to be. Through
that seIf-same popularity which once
caused her to be esteemed among the
most precious belongings of our some
what narrow social circle, she became,
not long after her arrival among us an
object, not of aversion, it Is true, but of
apprehension as well as pity. The most
sceptical could not pretend to controvert
the genuineneSs of the exhibition that
| startled us all at Mrs. Alfred Landon' s
memorable afternoon tea. When Mrs
I Tivvers herself, humbly apologizing,
pleaded that she did not possess the
common sense to handle her own eX-
traordinary gift with safety, no one was
| disposed to question the statement. The
| incident was generally voted too pain
| full for discussion in our circle And
| all were of one mind that after this
| one could never tell what poor Mrs. Tiv-
( vers would do next. So from and after
that dreadful afternoon" as it is still
! called, poor Mrs. TiVvers ceased to be
| in request for purposes of mere amuse-
ment. How it happened is my story.
| The mother of the two Landons was
! French. She had married an American
and borne two very creditable Ameri-
can sons, the elder of whom Alfred, was
the husband of our hostess that after
| noon But in spite of her more thar
twenty happy years of married life il
this country, and of the ten following
! years of peaceful and dignified widow
! hood, during which she had seen hel
sons grow and flourish like green bay
| trees in the valley of the Ohio, she re
mained aggressively French bourgeoist
-as she worded ito the end of thu
nails"
1t was. always good form and gooC
policy in the Landon home to say tha
both the boys had a decidedly foreign
air, although there was no truth in thu
remark. Strangers We're always eau
toned in advance Of introduction to cal
Alfred's mother, Madame" with thu
emphasis upon the second syllable. |
was secretly reported that Alfred's wifi,
had adroitly assisted his efforts tt
make her madames daughter-in-law b!
first mastering the elements of th
French language and then reverentl!
begging madame to teach her the rea
Partisan accent before Alfred was al
lowed to sound his mother about tn
match.
To this so far comfortably peaceful
and united family came Miss Carol
! from Chicago Miss Carroll was col
| lege chum of Mrs. Alfred so much W
were told; we could see that she was
) gentle, sweetly disposed young woman
with quiet charm that grew upon one
) We-the more intimate friends of tn
family-could also see that this CHAIR
had grown with particular vigor upo
Eugene Landon, Alfred's younger broth
en-, and Furthermore we OWNED tha
there was a hitch, and that Mrs. Alfre
could, If she would, have told what tn
) obstacle was.
On that dreadful afternoon it SCENE
to me, coming in when the cups wer
rafting and the clatter should hav
: been at it's highest and merriest, tha
there was an unpleasantly surprising
: lack of animation about the proceed
ings. Madame, to whom afternoon re
: ceptions were at best an uncongenia
form of entertainment, seemed to be un
der the depressing influence. MY dear,
she said, as we shook hands, 81 hopt
you will tell them some of your anus
ing stories-Yes ?-The assembly i.
most sad today-I even feel it, my dear
who have so long lived in your sad coun
try" Then, as another man came III
to take his leave, she said to him, "Ah
you must go so soon, eh? Miss Carol
goes, and so all must leave us"
but" I said, i thought Miss Car.
roll was to be here until after Christ.