The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-29

High-Bred Manners, SlipshOd ways,
Uncertain Housekeeping and Fa-
miliarity Sometimes Startling.
Queer Postal Arrnng ements-Kfnd
ness of the Entertainers.
From the New York sun.
you can never really appreciate what
boarding means until you are a paying
guest, as our English cousins say, in some
Virginia household"
1t was at womens luncheon, and the
speaker was a pretty, dark-eyed matron
just returned from a summer spent in the
Blue Ridge The experience was a novel
one, and. in retrospect. altogether anus
ing; but while 1t lasted the boarder did
not always see the funny side.
Il never knew before" she went on
that gentle-folks resorted to such means
of making a livelihood, but 1 find 1t Is
quite unusual to see any home there with
out it's foreign inmate. 1t costs them
nothing, you simply go as one of the
family, and there is no question of land
lady and patron; it is simply that one lady
is the guest of another and in perfectly
delicate. unobtrusive way, contributes her
share to the general fund"
do go into particulars" urged several
voices. 1T sounds so interesting"
If you really want to hear il. l will tell
you about my case. They are all alike
Col. Mason was a gentleman farmer and
spent most of his time going through the
plantation on horseback or doing in the
sun with a glass of something beside him.
A widowed daughter and her little boy
lived at home, and there were two young
ladies, besides the aged grandparents and
a boy of twelve. Wants were many, ana
the wherewithal to meet them, scanty. So
Gusts said one day, triumphantly:
Mother, let's take boardersr
1.-The house is very small and the avail
able space crowded to the utmost; and this
fact, Mrs. Mason mildly suggested.
Well we can have one anyway, a SIN
gle lady; or even two on a pinch. I'll give
up my little room, and go in with Matoaca
and sister. Ii won't cost cent, and, may
be. we can make enough out of it for me
to go TO Savannah this winter"
80 an advertisement appeared in
Washington paper. Unsuspectingly. I an
swered it. and on a certain summer even
ing about dusk l arrived al Woods Cross.
ing. As the polite brakeman helped me
down, l saw in the half light a crowd OF
people pressing forward and | was tride
disconnected when a handsome veteran
past middle life raised his shapeless hat
CALAMITY and said:
MIS- oAIdHStA COl. mason. madam.
at your service. Your sachel. If you please.
This is my wife, Mrs. Mason, my daugh-
ters, Matoaca and Gusts; my daughter
Mrs. Murray; Mason Murray, my litte
grandson May I have the honor of pre-
senting TO you my wifes parents, Mai and
Mrs. Delaney? Children. see 10 Mrs.
Strangely's trunk and relieve her of her
umbrella. wiz you accept my arm,
madam
Mrs. Mason was a hgh-bred. refined
looking, faded woman, bearing the scars
OF a lifetime of drudgery and privation.
and the married daughters odd beauty
was almost gone at % after six years Of
welded harship. Gusts and Matoaca, as
they climbed the hill beside me. 1 saw were
startlingly pretty girls, dressed cheaply in
eager imitation Of the style OF a year aeo
The old couple were types of a dead and
gone generation. All talked frankly and
cordially, and il was with much heartiness
that l was welcomed into the shabby colo
nial house. one by one they disappeared
and l was left alone with the gallant Colo