Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-08-17
EXCELSIORS At HOME

y
Jimmy. l can't understand how SEN
sible woman like you can believe such
awful ro-such folly, l had better say.
Why, it's enough to make your father
poor uncle John-turn in his grave"
MY fathers idea of the whole duty of
woman" answered a tall, masculine fe-
male, between two puffs of her cigarette,
from the hearthrug on which she was
standing before a blazing fire, in the pO-
sition SO much in favor with elderly gen
tlemen, was that she could be so soft,
cllnging, cOnfiding, and, If possible,
economical. He expected her to look
pretty-('He wasn't so far wrong there.'
calculated her male listener. with cOnvic-
tIon), to have about as much character as
his favorite water-spaniel, and as great
power OF resistance as Jelly fish. he
did not want her to have an opinion of
her own. or to differ from him in any re-
spect. She was always to bark to his
hallOa, as he himself would have put it,
and to have but one ambition in the
world-to make him happy and comfort
able"
Not such q bad ambition. after ALL
said Philip Freke; ''better, at any rate,
than the everlasting war between the
sexes that women proclaim nowadays
0ne-sided affair at the best of times-a
servile war, in which they are bound to
come off second BEST
"A seryile war; screamed Miss Je-
NINA, and for the next ten minutes her
How OF words was perfectly amazing.
She talked, she gesticulated, she strobe
up ana down the room. \ servile war,
indeed If so, she would take care that
the groans Of one female slave were
very audible, that the chains of at least
one of the doWn-trOdden were ratified
noisily
Freke wished himself far enough, and
felt hearth sOrry-in spite of the pretty
face OF his younger cousin. who also
table-that he had come to dine with
them that night.
But he had only run up to town on
business for a few days from his home
IN sleepy Devonshire, had felt rather out
of it in London. hardly knew what peo-
pie We're talking about at his club, had
naturally looked up his nearest relations,
and had been distinctly pleased when
they had asked him to dinner.
His elder cousin, ,Jemima, had never
been much of Il friend of his, but he had
q very soft corner in his heart for sweet
Alice, so many years her junior, no
doubt, III intelligence but so very much
more like her father sand. indeed. his
own-ideal of What a woman ought TO
be.
he said to himself, as she so volubly
held forth. If she is a born leader of
women. as she fondly believes. heaven
help her followers, She changes her be-
liefs every day, and expects them all TO
do the same. She drove poor Uncle John
nearly mad by declaring herself The
0sOphist, with a tendency towards Budd-
hism. If he had lived a few months
longer, he would have seen her converted
to the Church of Rome. After that she
became an aggressive agnOStic, then she
condescended to own first cause-called
icf nd ,rn+
salvation out of Swallow street, Picca-
dillyi Heaven knows what she is now
as far as religion goes. l see she has
turned vegetarian, and a more unWhole-
some meal than the one she has just pro-
vided US with | have seldom sat down to
"a tough mutton chop conceded in pity
to my weakness as d feSh-eating animal.
with haricot beans, and pastry, and
heavy buildings to fill III the chinks. | re-
member when she stuck to nuts and
apples alone-nuts, she used to assert at
that time, being capable of supporting
life, if you only ate enough of them. A
mercy that fad is off-One might as we'll
have been a monkey at the Zoo Temper
ance, too-a glass of wine is as poison in
her eyes. 1t would have made my mutton
chop more palatable all the same. | won
der what she will do next? l see that
she and Alice are very queerly dressed,
so | suppose there are more theories in
that direction"
Having nothing to drink, and only nuts
to look at in the shape of dessert, he
had time to study the appearance of his
two cousins. The uncomfortable repast
being over, Jemima lOunged in masculine
ease against the dining room mantlepiece,
while Alice and he faced each other
across the table. Any one might have
taken Miss Jemima for mana badly
made and stumpy man-at least as far
down as the waist. Her short hair
,%NI
ion and determined cast of cOuntenance,
her high, hard collar, her tie BADLY ted,
her shirt front (slightly Grumpled). her
coat and waistcoat, all helped to carry
out the illusion.
Her dresser was it a divided skirt?-
dark. with narrow white line in it, and
of the material that goes by the name of
trousering, alone Indicated that the
weaker sex claimed her as its own.
Alice was attired in much the same
Style-Was, in fact an understudy of her
sister as far as. clothes went-but even
her shortcut hair could not make her
sweet little face look hard and unat-
tractive. Those auburn locks had a nice
little curl, pretty wave, half natural
and half art. that told it's own tale, and
the hard shirt could not entirely hide
the rounded bust and delicate proper
tons of the wearer.
Bones and busks were anathema to
Miss Jemima. and she was an awful
warning of the awkward set of n coat
and waistcoat on a stayless woman. AL
ice was also innocent of that Support of
her sex, but it was wonderful how slim
and slight she managed to look without
such assistance.
Times up" said Miss Jemima at last.
abruptly, as she drew a solid gold watch
from her waistcoat pocket and looked at
its large face. "Half past s. and we are
due at the Excelsiors at at the latest
| can't afford to lose a word of the de-
bate. We're going to take you with us.
Phil" smiling graciously at him, as if
he was a mere appendage.
Take me where? What debate? Who
are the Excelsiors?' he asked, utterly at
sea.
Zone question at time, my dear boy"
she answered condescendingly, though 1