New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-30
RURAL ENGLAND.
VILLAGE NOTES BY ONE OF THE THREE
GRACES-MRS. PAMELA TENANT
OUTSIDE THE GREEN
DRAWING ROOM.
DRAWING ROOM.


hams three daughters, with Mr.. Wattss IA
nous portrait Of their mother in the back
ground has the power of vitality and the charm
q personality The Three Graces, as the
Prince Of Wales has named them, look alike,
yet are differentiated in character. just as their
white gowns are toned so as to he unlike and in
dividual With their high bred air Of distinc-
ton and refinement Of mind they sit in that
green room among the magnolias for all time
like the Ladies waldegrave in the celebrated
Reynolds. or like Thomas Carlyle, IN his shabby
clothes and in the serenity of phiosophic old
age in the famous Whistler now at the Guild
hail The friends Of the Three Graces are not
wholly satisfied with the posing of the figures,
and some Of the critics find fault with the mod
cling ard foreshOrtening Of the arms Of the
youngest lady but the group piques curiosity
and exercises subtle charm Of refined person
atty over throngs Of spectators at the Acad-
envy.
One Of the Graces has come out of the green
drawing room and revealed herself in half lights
in a volume which Mr. Heinemann has pub
iished. This is Mrs. Pamela Tenant, whose
Village Notes" is illustrated mainly from pho
tographs of her own, charming examples Of
amateur work. It is unpretentious but
dainty volume which supplies commentary for
Mr.. Sargents text to those with the discern
Taent requisite fer reading between the lines. 1t
who prefers the peace and quiet of country life
10 the increasing vulgarity of smart society.
with its nsincerity. aimlessness and ostentatious
display. Far from the madding crowd" she
interests herself in gentle ministrations among
poor villagers. the pathos of whose lot saddens
her while the drectness and grim. unconscious
humor OF their quaint sayings never fail to
amuse her There is more entertainment for her
in this unpremeditated village talk than there
is IN the stilted conversation Of the bored and
snobhish carpet knights and tuft hunters of the
smart set She does not inveigh against society.
but she reveals so plainly her sympathy with
the simple happenings of village life that the
inference which I have drawn is natural and
easy.
HoMELF TALK CLOSELY STUDIED
hflify and power of observation Few book
writer's consider the honely talk OF the unedu-
Gated worthy Of study and deliberate analysis
Mrs Tenant naKvely says that one must go to
II nowadays 70 learn how beautiful the English
lSrgaage can be, for IT is not weighed down
with the load OF overmuch adjective and it has
d eisnplictIy OF phrasng which leaves the mean
ing clear She finds poetry well hard
prose in the lives Of village folk The crude
nees % their surroundings" she says forms
80 perfect background to the expression OF
AtatAL truman nature brkoAHt iutef1cLts % 1T
tie with Il Their tears and laughter stand out
more clearly Cor tee quiet that is around them :
She remarks that the poor never weaken the
tfnse CT what they say by trying to put the
meaning three times over In enc sentence.
She instances the pathetic directpess. of the
childless old woman Lying alone in the cottage
sitter burying her cwn one BY one; Come the
long SEinter evenin's. and sit here-I misses EN-
ard wants err To this sne adds the mothers
lament for her only boy: And that is the
sprsg Of box brought hoam WI me from his
cofsin-hrougiat hcan WI me the day hey put
zen in the chureilyard- And it's grown su'thin
wonderful" The tears in the Cd wonans eyes
s,rorsse Of q he large box hush almost over
shzdowing the light Of the window.
The hulnor OF village talk Is not lost upon this
Keen observer rms was the comment OF one OF
Her CID women IN South wiltshire when she
called with her sister at the cottage: Wen'
&c be sure tnougns as sac were your sister
said to myself as see you coming up the
pasn We'll said they've got one another's
aeses. 1nen tnere Is tns wires puietin OF ner
rheumatic husbands condition; He 90 feel the
e.terauoE In me weather with MS legs So.
There is the plight OF the inmate OF draughty
cottage VINO suffered from population OF the
heart there Is TIE mothers consolation Tor an
ailng daughter shivering at the chimney corner:
AS ten ner- poor girl, II VIII be merclIui
day wnen we hears the bells a-toliing for her.
ano there Is tns homeiy oirectness OF the widow
whose third husband was at deaths door, i've
seen man uie' may say. I've seen men die
sno there's no nope for I'm at ALL
so rare Is hypocrisy anong the cottagers that
the following comment made by selfish woman
in saiRtly ntonaticn is the exception that
proves the rule: And so-er-we've made the
nenhoflse very cornfortab Bile for fnotheri" On the