Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-20
INSTRUMENTATION
Of Aunt Margaret
BY JOHN. WIcKLIFFE GRAY :

-
- er ridden bicycle" Millard sug-
upon which to make stand in his ar
gument.
Willard Robkini" Miss Margaret
Strengthened up in her chair and gasped
The tilt of words had lasted some min
utes and was growing heated. me! Me-!
ride a bicycle! How dare you suggest
such thing! / wouldn't touch one Of
the pesky handles with a ten-foot pole.
I have despised them ever since people
began to run round after the things,
and the women began to ride them in
those disgraceful boomers and divided
skirts It was shame upon every mem
Der of the sex. Do you suppose would
have put on boomers, or that would
have perched myself astride one of
those nickel-plated nightmares and
paraded myself on the public highways
in the sight of every living soul who
cared to look! am surprised that you,
Robkin on your fathers side at least.
should think of such a thing-to even
connect my name with a bicycle. Or
course have never ridden one and never
expect to. And now you want to spend
your hard-earned salary to buy"
Words failed and Miss Margaret paused
to gain breath. Willard said nothing,
though he chuckled inwardly at the
picture that his aunt had conjured up
from his negative suggestion.
"Myrtis Fuller never rode a bicycle, =
Miss Margaret continued. sShe was
too well brought up for that, and she
has my opinion of the man who loses his
dignity so far as to ride them. Your
father never rode one, even after he
lost his money; nor did your grand
father before him. They had no use for
such an outrageous affair as bicycle. =
''But Aunt Margaret, bicycles were
not in use when father was young,
and"
cit makes no difference. Divided
skirts were not in use when was girl,
either, and would as soon do like those
horrid women on the stage as to wear
one of them"
"But, Aunt Margaret, divided skirts
needn't be worn. Anyway,NI wouldn't
wear"
tits all the same. No man ever be-
came a drunkard if he did not take his
first drink continued Miss Margaret,
in womanly wise missing the point Of
the argument altogether to carry her
point $40 do one is as bad as the
other. and the first step leads to the sec
ond"
stDr. Bradley says 1t is the best ex-"
81 don't care what DR.. Bradley says"
woe Gil nm hrnlyoY1 couo hxy
the ticking of grandfather's clock in the
hallway and even that was muff1ed and
deadened by the intervening tapestries
and heavy carpets.
Then Willard queried:
"Say, Aunt Margaret, is there moth
ing that would change your attitude
toward bicycles?"
NO" promptly and firmly responded
the old lady. Her rather thin lips set in
straight line.
mot even Myrtis?' queried Willard,
his attitude and expression veritable
question mark. Perhaps his heart beat
an extra stroke or two also. This was
liable to be volcanic ground, he knew,
but bold tactics must be employed. For
Myrtis Fuller, though not blood rela-
ton, was the apple of Miss Margaret's
eye, A friendship as strong as it was
strange had grown up between the two.
And, queerly enough, Miss Margaret
looked up to the younger woman in
many things, despite the bare twenty
one years of the latter. Her love for the
old lady was manifested in all manner
OF small ways, chiefly in seeking @her
companionShip. Thus Miss Fuller was
set upon throne in Miss Margaret's
heart. And her opinion of what Miss
Fuller did correspondent. Herself the
child of a by-gone day, she accorded
Miss Fuller that half-timid, loving rev.
erence that one generation may give
later because it is "up-to-date." Miss
Margaret was herself old-fashioned,
and, by contrast, could admire the up
to-dateness in this other, whom she
fondly chose to call another edition of
her younger self
There was both perplexity and hesi-
tatfon in Miss Margarets voice when
she answered.
T-L-that might be different.
had never thought of Myrtis on one of
the things, She's go pretty" the
speaker began, mustng. She was calm
now, and Willard endeavored to
smooth the ruff1ed feathers more be-
fore he left the house.
He'd have to do it, he thought. 1t
was the only way out of it. Aunt Mar
garet was rich: her nephew was poor.
He could afford to get a bicycle, but he
couldn't afford to lose Aunt Margaret's
good will. He was not mercenary. for.
he had great fondness for the old
lady, Of the sort that delights in teas
ing