Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-08-24
LETTERS OF PEGGY POTTS.


and | were going to improve ourselves
by studying human nature. We'll, We
have begun and l am not sure like ii.
You know Lucy is getting so elegant
and severe that she puts on an air
that makes you feel kind of small when
you begin to talk about golf clothes,
and shade hats, and parasols, and beach
costumes, and says she thinks it lie so
foolish and vulgar to follow the
herd, as she calls it, and gather to-
gether at summer resort and frivol
the weeks away, so she has decided,
and she has rather made me feel small
if | did not do it, to give up Cape May
this year and stay ut home quietly aud
do a great deaf of reading. She talks
SO much about poor accommodation at
hotels, and how comfortable Whining
ton can be in summer, il you know
how to go about, and how much better
fruit and vegetables we have, and what
lovely spots there are just round the
city, and she said this going and seeing
the same things and doing the same
old round of amusements at q crowded
summer resort was degrading to our
hest natures. And it sounded so kind
of grand, and big, and elegant, that l
walked right past the drug store with
and decided right then and there to
give up going away.
But when | got home and thought il
over and found letter from Tillie
Flash. telling me all about the gowns
she is having made to wear at Bar
Harbor. did not quite see why it was
foolish to do the same things year after
year, and why it degraded our natures
TO have good time. But / am going
to stay at home and see how improved
1 can get. We decided we would do
some OF the places nearer home for
the day, and study human nature at
the same time. So we started, last
Tuesday, and thought we would spend
day at Atlantic City: we had in
tended to commence studying about
Old Swedes and historic landmarks,
but everything looked SO hot and
deserted-like that morning we con-
cluded we would go down to the shore.
We left on the early train and it was
just fun to watch the people travelling;
it helps one in ones study of human
nature. | like to watch the peoples
travelling bags; some of them arc so
stylish and others so frumpy you can
Just tell What kind of people belong to
them. Right opposite sat sickly
case SO decorated with labels of foreign
hotels that you could not toll whether
it was made Of paper leather or vul-
canized fibre. His expression was SO
much on the style Of the young men
who say, Cash, and We have some
lovely new silks in this morning;
wouldn't you like to look at our light
blues, F" "Charge or Cash." "Shall
l send it homer" that just knew he
had never been abroad, and it Just
made us perfectly sick to see all those
simple looking labels.
Right in front of me sat an old lady
with six bundles, and two bags, and a
vinaigrette, and basket with kitten
in it. and a cage with canary bird.
and every time we stopped she asked
the conductor if this was tlantic City.
Well, when We got to Atlantic City
there stood Joe Freeman with his pair
of cobs and his drag, waiting for hi
sister and corking looking girl from
New York who came down on the train,
but had not seen them, for they had
been in the parlor car, and Lucy in
sisted that we shouldn't go in there,
but just sit in the ordinary passenger
car, for she said it was SO much
better place to study human nature
l'up w NV ooo why you nthNo W manu-
yourself uncomfortable Just to study
human nature. must confess, when /
saw Joe Freeman in that elegant drag
of his, my desire to be so intellectual
with Lucy weakened little, and later,
when We were sitting on the beach
watching the people, and saw him
walk in the Windsor Cafe with those
two girls, just had to bite my tongue
to keep from saying something to Lucy,
for she would not even go to hotel
for dinner. She thought it looked Queer
for two girls to go alone to hotel. L
am sure 1t would not have looked half
so queer as my hunger made me feel.
She said 1T looked so independent TO
walk right by, but did not see any
independence in walking right past
dining room window when you are half
starved. We sat under the pier and
ate our lunch out of shoe box. /
watched Lucy unite the box, with
visions, of cold quail and lettuce, and
my dear, what do you think she passed
out to me? A dried up old beef sand
wich and two bananas; it was fearful.
| had on my new best tight skirt, one
of those regular standing UP affairs and
had to crunple it all up to sit down
on that dirty beach, and it was awful
and l had wornout old gloves on, be-
cause Lucy said it was better not to
look so dressed-up; and we got all
greasy and stained with fruit and
made a mistake about the trains, and
had to run and catch the trolley car,
and got my shoes full Of sand and
my face all blistered and boiled, and
when we got seated in the car to como
home l just told Lucy she need not
expect me to go again on any more of
her excursions.
To top off the day mother had not
saved any dinner for me, and Joe would
not take me down to the Walton, for
he said l looked NO frowsy and all
boiled up. l cried myself to sleep, and
the next day Joe bought me a new
parasol just to make me feel better, but
when l opened it and found it was a
red one and not shade lighter than
the end of my nose, and made me
look more like lobster than ever, /
Just sat down and cried, for had
vision of all those jolly girls sitting on
those Atlantic City hotel piazzas. with
lovely white ones lined with pink, and
when my mail came in with two letters
from Maud Smart, begging me to come
right down to Atlantic City and to
bring all the ball gowns l had, and to
lie sure not to forget my yachting
jacket, | just concluded that Lucy
Larkin and her study of humpn nature
could keep 1t up by themselves this
summer at home, for l am going away
just as soon as l can get clothes enough
to put in my trunk. am going right
off TO the dressmaker's now, and get