The Virginia enterprise., 1898-11-11
Bab's Bright Babble

glass Df ldUcJ vase. OD, dear, no.
They must shine from punchbowl.
Their stems must be cut 80 that they lit
in a carcless artistic way, for while the
leaves are often taken from the flowers
yet quite ~ often their foliage il framed
all about them. The bowls most fa-
yored are those wonderful deep, round
with the lovely ladies from Japan walk
| ing up ladders On their heads, or coming
down in sideways fashion-fne cut
glass bowls, or, best of all, great big
| silver punchbowls. These glitter, and
| seem to reflect almost like a mirror the
white or yellow beauties that are the
flowers Of the season.
There is something dignifed about
| cnrysanthemums, not to wear but to put
| about q room or to Use to decorate
table. They have an odd way Of stand
ing up, as if they wished each visitor
70 reaiize that each one Of them had a
| special dignity. of her own, and she want
cd you not only to realize it but to feast
upon it. The chrysanthemum, to my
way of thinking, Is heaIthy-looking
flower. Even when it is bit droopy,
It simply droops its petals, permitting
| them to blow away, though they never
curl up OR manage to get an unpleasant
odor, not they! They simply disappear
| INTO that famous iunocuous desuetude,
winch is the one phrase that will carry
one man down through posterity.
A girl know has just come back from
| sweden, and as she is victim of hay
| IeYer she. thinks of going to live there.
! Inc reason why? Because there The doc
| tor never sends home a bill. But when
you are cured you write out what you
| think the bill ought to be and forward the
ducats to him. If you have made a won
derful hit in wheat if you have been
| made vlceroy of India, if the President Of
the United States has concluded that you
are the proper person to be ambassador
TO England, if any good luck has come to
yon, then you write on visiting card
$ioOO or 5000. l cannot imagine higher
| than $4,000. But if you have had
hard time of it that year, if there have
been good many mouths to feed and
they are tired Of oatmeal, or if your Old
est boy is beginning to see the charm of
dress suit and white kid gloves when
he visits the young woman who is making
a fool of him, why, then, after a long ill.,
ness you send a modest card with your
name written Oh it, and underneath it
you put 80 cents or IS cents or whatever
seems suited to you. not to the doctors
good reputation. not to the doctors ability,
but perfectly adapted to that thin little
pocketbook. which looks as if il had been
to the circus and had been trod upon in a
moment of airy persitiage by the larges:
elephant.
A thin pocketbook leads to desperation.
If l wanted to make a woman a saint.
If wanted her to care for the poor. make
the sick happy and well, give to those who
are hungry, and make the little children
all as happy as happy could be. Id make
that woman rich. and then I'd teach her
how to spend her money: Do you ever
think that the rich people are. after all,
extremely kind: The average wealthy
girl gets hundreds of letters day. most
of them from frauds. and the one true re-
quest among them must be treated like the
fakes, or else we vii! have an anarchistic
government, which means lack of repose
entirely.
bic sense Some people consider sleep
repose, there are Others who drown them
selves in good book and consider that
repose, while there are still others who
trot around from here to there and really
haven't the remotest idea of what repose
is. ReIose. as it used to be known. was
dignity. and good dignity. There are
only few specimens of it to be found
now. 1t is as rare rs real old Sevres
china and requires the same amount of
care.
An elderly lady-she speaks of herself
as elderly, although she is 50 years old
complains of the folly with which the girls
of today talk. why" she said. when
was young. it was considered vulgar to
bc purse proud. and the people who be-
longed to the real knickerbocker circles.
especially those who were very wealthy,
were taught as soon as they could under
stand anything that it was extremely vul-
gar to make any display Of their belong
ings or to talk about th:ir possessions.
Then, too, the old 'noblesSe oblige' were
taught very early that because they were
what they were they must be gracious,
tender-hearted and loving to everyone they
met, but today the girls talk about the
value of being rich. the advantage of hav-
ing rich friends, what can be got out of
Jack So-and-So and how much can be
obtained from Mrs. Black Diamond. To
me it is hor1ifYing. could not tell you
just what think it is. but the women
who sell their immortal souls-poor
wretches-are not any worse than those
who see life in its hard and mercenary
way and make no effort to find anything
that is sweet, desirable. gentle or kindly
Whose fault?" That was asked of a
great man. and, with surprised look at
the question. he said. The mothers, of
course" And We who looked at him won
dered that the mother who thought she
was doing right found. with toss of
her pretty head. that it was too much
trouble to think about Generalizing.
]
about.
The eyebrow pencil or the light blue
pencil to outline the delicate veins. the
exact shade of rouge or just the clear,
white powder that gives an ivory white
look, all these are of Importance. of great
bies-well. it is darling. 1t sits in the
carriage beside its mamma. wearing its
white cloth coat trimmed with ermine and
it's great white bonnet rich with little
ermine tails and the high white ribbon
bows until mamma and the baby make Il
lovely picture: Ten years from that time,
when the baby is Is. an awkward age
and decidedly in the way, he discovers
that he has a soul: he learns that there is
such a thing as a heart. usually from the
kind servants in the kitchen. in whicl,
place he learns many other things that
it is not so we'll for him to know. He
hears divorce spoken of as if it were a
lest, and he is surprised. since they squab-
bic so much. that his daddy" does not
get a divorce from the ''old lady" the
beautiful names that he has learned at
school from the other boys.
Do you know, It seems to me that if
there had been put into my care an i'm
mortal soul would love it. but would
care for it almost in fear. for l should
remember that while in those command
ments there is one which charges us to
honor the father and mother we should
also read it as demanding honor from the
mother to the child.
Did you ever think that YOU have taken
heavy responsibility into your arms
when you laugh and coo at the bundle of
lace and null. at the tiny face and funny
little hands? Did you ever think that
there is growing every day not only an
immortal soul for which You must All
swer. but heart to which you must
teach the value of sweetness and love:
We laugh at this phrase. you and I. but
yet. when the oldest boy regards you
with ingratitude, when the daughter neg
lects and makes h jest of YOU and
when the other little ones find first
amusement and then sarcasm in your
pleasures. don't you feel pain just where
your heart is? Or have you so thoroughly
hardened your heart that you laugh and
count the children as bothersome and 10
be out of the way?
l can see before me beautiful child
years old. Her mother was like picture;
but like most pictures, there was no heart
in it. Her father was u gentleman, and,