Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-03-07
CHAPTER V.
PREPARING FOR THE FETE.

Vaudeville confeSsedly never saw its
like, never expected TO see it's like again.
There were those In that conServa-
tive village who fatty maintained that
such magnificence was entirely out Of
place. They were sure history never
recorded greater ado made over the
coronation Of royalty or the installa.
tion Of presidents.
After all. Vaudeville was only Man
deyille. and she in whose honor the
world had just been turned upside
down was nobody but little Ollie Mat.
thews, who had grown up among
them with no particular claim to uni.
versal homage, nice enough girl,
pretty. amiable. social. and all that, but
"such doings over her coming Of age
was just nothing short Of nonsensical." :"
Vaudeville possessed, among its an
tiquities. those who remembered the
very day when Horace Matthews first
put foot in Vaudeville. the only son Of
a poor widow music teacher whom Ru-
fus BroXton's father befriended as he
always befriended the needy ones Of
the earth. The antiquities shook their
hoary heads aud groaned inscrutably,
"And look at him now"
Such coming out party" had never
been dreamed of in the widest fancies
Of the most imaginative Mandevillian.
Coming out party" had sense and
sound Of its own. 1t meant what 1t
sounded like. "Fete champetre" was
q combination of the alien and the in
comprehensive. One language was
more than sufficient for all Of Mande-
ville's pathological necessities. 1t
frowned down all others.
But there was no disposition to frown
down the glittering fact that from fu-
nereal gloom to dazzling hilarity the
old BroXton place had passed without
the saving grace of an entracte-Such
q painting Of fences, and trimming OF
long neglected shruDbery, and string
Ing Of lanterns, and planting Of pallid
statuary that rather made some Of the
oldest ladies blink with amaZement,
and grouping Of tubbed eXotics. and
waxing of floors for giddy feet, and
carloads Of crockery and glass. and a
band Of music in blue breeches with
red stripes down their legs, and-and-
Vaudeville was absolutely breathleSS
with excitement. There were those
who said 1t was good thing for the
town, because it gave Jobs" to so
fNrnnnfin11
dresSmaking had been found good
enough for Mrs. Colonel BroXton and
for this very Miss Matthews mother.
didn't see where the good Of the town
was being consulted when nobody this
side Of New York could make good
enough dress for the coming out heir
ess. That was what they called her,
"the heiresS." and Lawyer Matthews
reckless expenditure Of money on the
coming fete warranted any amount OF
wildness in the matter Of nomencla-
ture and conjecture.
Miss Malvina had been retained as
general superintendent Of the whole
magnificent business. She was to act
casion. She had been privileged to Sc
lect the very sample the gown had been
made from, all Of which invested her
with an Importance she could never
otherwise have achieved.
The Spillman cottage became the
most popular resort in the neighbor-
hood. The few who had been hidden
and the many who only expected to en-
10Y the fete through the medium OF
their ears all found urgent call to the
cottage.
Mother" Spillman's cottage was vir'
tually on the BroXton grounds. II
had originally been built for tHe por'
ter's lodge to Broxton Hall by a
wealthy Englishman, who, having In
vested largely in some tile factories on
this side. fancied he should like to live
in close proximity to them.
1t was n fancy that died in its early
infancy, and the lodge, with all that
appertained thereto, passed into the
ownership of the late Colonel BroX-
toms father, q stakeholder In the same
company. The Englishman returned to
the country where porters and porters'
lodges were q genteel necessity, and
the little lodge was closed up.
When the Rev. Isham Spillman was
called to preach and to teach IN the
neighborhood of Vaudeville, the por-
ter's lodge had been donated by Toms
grandfather for parsonage. When
the Rev. Isham died, full Of years and