Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-20

No. no. Count out that upsetting
haunt of fashion at once. Even if il
could be afforded, it is clearly not the
place in which to pass a restful or i'm
proving holiday.
Another still on your list goes to the
far extreme-you hear that it is osten-
taciously quiet and simple. The same
people go there year after year, of plain
dresss and unaffected ways the very
laristocrats of good birth whom it Is
desirable your young ones should know
| 1t is almost impossible to get in; one
must be recommended, but an open Sc
same has been miraculously provided
| for YOU the chance of a lifetime. Sup
pose 1t is inaccessible, that you, daddy
| dear, can only cover the distance once
| in a couple of weeks at the best, what
of that? Must not everything give way
before such glorious opportunity OF
squeezing into the social register
Why hesitate?
| Alas, alas! 1t seems that these de-
lightful people are sufficient unto them
selves and do not welcome newcomers
and passing the time O day, but there
| it ended. Advances went no further
and the poor Clymers, Drawing it out
came away In the fall crushed, sore
and smarting.
When you have heard this you
knock the ashes off the end Of your
cigar with fierceness, sir, and VOW
| that not for the wealth of Ormus or of
Ind shall any of your Womankind put
themselves in the way Of being
snubbed or scurrilously treated by q
set of snobs. Isn't this a democracy?
Who talks of blue blood; aren't you
| Just as good as they are?
Then your eyes falls upon George
Meredith's remarkable story of Evan
Harrington, or He Would Be Cen
tleman," and the revolutionary dia-
tribe, "a bas les aristocrats!" SUBJ
sides into an inarticulate growl, while
pleased smile plays about your lips.
There was a noble youth far better
fitted in mind and person than the
Clymers to move in circles higher
than his own. Yet he, too, had to learn
as they did the futility of forcing So
cial issues. To come out ahead is Ger
tain to be at loss Of self-respect. Let
Well enough alone. Be content in the
state of life to which, in the language
of the catechism, it has pleased God to
call you, and know that social prefer
ment, like happiness, is most likely to
those who do seek it.
Something of this you deliver to the
little woman at your side. bone of
your bone, flesh of your flesh. who lis
tens, proud Of an eloquence that places
you on a plane with Demosthenes and
Chauncey Depew, but wholly uncon-
WINGED by it. She feels quite certain
that with patience, audacity and dip
lomacy the stronghold of the Rich
ard Rude might be successfully at
tempted, and in her secret heart would
like nightly to try it.
However, she does not press the
point, and no more is heard of the
Brahmin Inn.
There remains one more hotel on
your list of such as would make fair
| terms, a great caravansary down the
harbor to which you could repair by
| the late boat every afternoon. So
much In it's favor, but an atmosphere
Of excursions and clam dinners and
side shows is not wholesome for the
children-perish the thought!
| Why not send them to school
| camp? The boys have clamored to go,
| and where too many are not taken for
! personal supervision by the masters,
| the combination of mild study and
| carefully directed out-of-door life is
certainly an excellent thing. Ruth
and Margaret could be disposed of un-
| der Nine. Coramon's care; she has a
| summer home for girls where they are
taught manner and morals and French
| and English all in the open air.
For a moment you hesitate. Then a
| pang sieZes you, and the thought of
being separated from the darlings for
two long months is not to be borne.
What? What's that? Camps where
| entire families are entertained?
Suppose you older people also try the
experiment of a summer al fresco,
| where shrtwaists and foulard for
Sunday are a sufficient wardrobe, and
the board is plentifully If plainly set
forth with milk and berries and coun-
try bread and butter.
Think of the sewing that would get
itself accomplished as If by magic
while mother lounged pleasantly I'M
der the hemlocks! The books she could
read! The walks she could take, the
rows on the lake, the long happy holi-
day sharing the childrens fun!
Tempting is the prospect, and, more
than all, it is cheap in comparison
with any other arrangement. The
principal drawback lies in the fact that
Boston is three good hours away by
train, and daddy could only be with his
beloved ones once a week, which is
serious and must be taken gravely into
| account.
The alternative is a cottage, and cot
tages open up long vistas Of possibili-
ties, as well as of Representatives,. In
desirable places, rents run very high
Nowadays, one can hardly find a small
house furnished in the simplest way for
less than $500 in any neighborAood
where one would care to risk one
olive branches. Even in the best of
these so much is lacking for the COM
fort of life that a load of furniture
must go down from town, at con-
siderable expense, and all through the
summer one little thing after another
has to be bought to supply de-
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