The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-10-31

A Little Comedy of the Summer Hotel
Perhaps You Saw 1t There. :: i" .



ed for its distinct air OF aristocracy,
were causing a great deal of quiet am
usement to the older guests, amuse-
ments which, as time went on, became
more general, affecting even the walt
ers and other servants, who discussed
1t among themselves and awaited de-
yelopments with the same amount of
interest as the person whom they
served
Miss Kennedy was a coquette. Every
one but few Of her intimate friends
would tell you this without hesitation.
This fact, however, should not have in
terested the guests to any great extent.
Coquettes of all ages and degrees Of
beauty were not uncommon at the
Westminster. But the trouble was that
Miss Kennedy was different from the
ordinary run Of coquettes; so decided
ly different, in fact, that the amuse-
ment furnished by the young men, Of
which amusement Miss Kennedy was
the indirect cause, grew into specula-
ton as the guests tried to explain her
peculiar actions and the strange in
fiuence which she welded over young
men. Influence she certainly had. New
er in the history of the Westminster
had so many young men fallen so des-
perately and Uncompromisingly in love
with one g'rl. 1t seemed impossible for
them to now her simply as a friend.
In fac, a'atOnic friendship seemed
quite out e. the question so far as
Miss Kennedy was concerned.
1t was Or inexplcable She was
good-looking, of course but then there
were numerous girls in the neighbor-
hood, and indeed, some at the West
minister no less fair, who never in their
careers had caused such general furore
among a gathering Of young men.
Her enemies said that her heart, If
she had one, was as cold and as inn
pervious as steel If this were not so
how could she lead man after man
along, keeping his hopes at fever heat?
Her enemies thought this cruel. Her
dear friends, however, thought other
wise They said that if she really was
as cold as steel then her sweet smiles
and her sincere and winning manners
certainly belied her If men insisted
on becoming so enamOred with her,
was it her fault? And if her sweet and
sympathetic disposition and smiles
which she bestowed on all alike, were
miscOnstrued by some ardent though
deluded admirers, would she be cen
sured when, as time went on, it be-
came her painful duty to dispel the
hallucinatiOn? No; they thought she
was rather to be pitied One of her
philosophical friends, young law stu
dent, hit the nail on the head when he
said that beauty was not the essential.
The real thing, he said, that appealed
to men was the knack of appearing
congenial and sympathetic; in short,
to understand man and have an
adaptability to various natures; to give
weight to ones opinions and to exhibit
other fattering marks of attention and
respect which could not fail to impress
the average man. Some girls feign
this, according to the law student, but
Miss Kennedy was innocence itself, and
her interest and sympathy for her
friends came not from duplicity but
from pure goodness of heart. The law
student might just as well have kept
silent, however, as he had already been
voted a great bore, and no one ever
paid any attention to what he said
At all events so many of the young
men at the Westminster had fallen
prey to Miss Kennedy's charms, only
to rise sadder and wiser that it fin
ally got so that whenever a fellow be-
gan to avoid the usual evening gath
ering on the veranda,. the boarders
merely nodded wisely and said moth
ing, while the young men Rugged one
another in ecstacy and when, after g
week or two, perhaps longer, perhaps
not so long, he began to mingle in will
the crowd, and with q saddened face t
take up once more the old order o.
life the boarders smiled again, while
the young men, most of whom haC
been through the same course, welcom
ed him effuslvely, and he, though sort
and sour, Joined them while the!
waited for another unfortunate. Thu
prospective unfortunate was general!
designated as next
And so when the depot hack rollet
up the winding driveway one Angus
afternoon and rather good-lookini
young man alighted and walked up tn
steps, a general smile flashed owe
the faces of the older guests, while tn
Young men chuclfled joyously.
Cad, another victim" chuckled
stout young man Of the name Of Jud
son. "AlI we've got to do is to &c
~s,7,,oo5 aod ghar, watch for tn