The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-01-03
MISS MARIA'S ROMANCE,
BY + T. BENSON.
lAuthor OF "Dodo."l
From ID PhIadelphia Tlmes.

luOuHu bOtu the Miss Clermslua
might be described in stable parIance
as aged, " there was, perhaps, differ
ence of ten years between them. The
elder one, Miss Jane, was of strong
mind and feeble body; Miss Maria, the
younger, was OF romantic turn, and
swarthy. Morally, Miss Jane was in
the habit of sitting on Miss Maria; in
effect, Miss Maria had been known to
burst into tears at the moral weight of
her sister, leave the room with the
tread Of grenadier, aud bang the
door behind her with such force that
the pictures trembled.
They lived in charming old red
brick house in the city Of Winchester,
a house to0 large for their needs, but
enabling them each to have a separate
sitting room, TO say nothing of the joint
drawing room and a small dark cup
board domestically known as the study.
Miss Jane was not much of a reader,
and only one shelf of the handsome
oak bookcase which stood between the
windows of her sitting-room contained
books. These consisted OF lhe COM
plete works of Charles Lever a.d a
few volumes of the modern and pre-
posterous English school A galaxy
of medicine bottles occupied the lowest
shelf, and the other two were empty
except for box containing four aud
twenty mild cigarettes Originally
this had been bOx of twenty-five, and
its purchase was induced by perusal
of the preposterOus novels referred to
above She had smoked the larger
part of one; she had no immediate
intention of smoking more. The
twenty-four cigarettes and the row of
medicine bottles were, in fact, the pro-
jections of Miss James feebleness of
body. The rest of the furniture was
the product of her strong mind. She
had knee-hole table, with a stout,
nannish, military desk on il, and by
its side stood an ashtray in which she
kept nibs, no less. Two or three sport
ing prints hung on the walls, and Oh a
side table was mounted hoof of
horse, which she had bought for one
and ninepence in pawnbroker's shop
off High street. She ordered dinner
and wore brown shoes.
Miss Maria, the younger, wore ring
lets and wrote poetry. Poems formed
the staple Of her small but well-assort-
ed library. Her favorite authors were
Longfellow, Mrs. Hemans, and in her
wilder moments, Lord Byron. The
diction of Shelley she found obscure,
and she considered Keats coarse. In
confidence she would have intimated
that she thought Shakespeare very
coarse, for she sat in unbiased judg-
inent on the socialist authors, and took
none in hearsay. Not that Miss Maria
would ever have uttered the word
coarse, 4" for her method of intimating
it was to shut her lips very tightly and
take down from her shelves volume
of Marie Corelli, who 10 her mind
ranked almost as poet. She had an
enormous admiration for what she con-
sidered powerful; she considered the
sorrow Of Satan very powerful, in
deed.
For the most part Miss Jane and Miss
Maria used to live together in the most
sisterly harmony. Their breakfast
hour was five minutes past s, OF, as
Miss Jane said on one occasion, when
Miss Maria had been lett waiting,
"Call it a quarter pas,r' Tney passed
an industrious, even an ardaous, morn
ing: for while Miss Jane was ordering
lunch and dinner, washing up the
breakfast service Of Crown Derby, and
truculently looking for snails iii the
ga den, Maria retired 10 her room and
T ,ad SIMPLY masses of poetry, the
greater part of which she transferred
in fine angular hand To procigious
folio extract book. Indeed, should the
works of LOngfellow, Mrs. Hemans,
and Lord Byron be ever lost 10 the
world, the bulk Of their masterpieces
will be found by the delighted anti.
quarian in Miss Maria's extract books.
An hour or two of such inspiring
labor produced, as was natural, inspi-
ration, and for some two hours before
lunch-they luuchrd at quarter past
Miss Maria would write poetry.
Years ago she had used rhyming
dictionary, bat by now, it may be fair
ly stated, she was acquainted with ali
the suitable rhym,s Of all the words
she was likely 10 employ. she was at
tue present ume employed on tragedy
of the most surprising nature, which
was TO be complete in five acts. The
names Of the principal characters were
Olando aud AnnaDel; they met in
grove. There were among the dra-
mats pers0nae perfect legion Of shep-
herds, shepht rdesses, executioners,
armed mobs, mobiles, foreigners in exile,
and princes ia disguise.
After lunch Miss Jane went on her
bicycle, which she rode slowly but
firmly. TIE bicycle had been the cause
of the last great disagreement between
the sisters, Tor Miss Maria held that a
bicycle was q modern and detestabIe
development, and that the great wo-
men of romance would never have
ridden such things, even if they bad
been invented ia their day. Miss Jane
had retorted rather unkindly, saying
she didn't care pins head-whieh
was true-for the great women Of ro-
nance. "Yoa and your trsgediesw
she wound up. The door had Slam
med.
The country round Winchester is
rueal, aud red rooted villages nestled