The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-27

1
 and objects that have meant all to her
 and much to those who lover her. Mrs
 Davis has recently been very ill with
 an attack of heart failure and is still ] very feeble. She is able to leave her
 bed only late in the morning towards noon when she sits for the rest of the | day in a great arm chair by a broad window through which the suns rays
 fall in great streams to brighten the
 pretty room.
 When she is well enough she finds
 her greatest pleasure in the visits which Southerners pay to her, and, When strength allows, she rarely re- fuses to see any Southern, woman who pays this visit of respect and interest. She can move only with the help of a
 cane. and spends much of her time
 reading. If were rich woman," she says. II would soon become poor, for all of my money would go for l books. When we came to this house,
 b years ago, I resolved not to have a book around me-there is the result" She said, pointing to handsome book case filled with rare and beautiful volumes. When asked if her love for books had led her to keep diary
 which some day would be added to the list of readables. Mrs. Davis laughed. T once heard MT. Davis say that a diary was the refuge of scoundrel.' People who keep diaries always take those about whom they write off guard, he said, and never get one as one is. All of my historical papers have been given to the His
 torical Society in New Orleans. So that the Memories of MT. Davis which have written is to be all, I think, that l shall have to tell of those other days. l have remembered so much" she went on that people whom I met
 in those times of crisis have long since taded from recollection, and it is with me now as if much had never been" It has been said that Southern wo-
 men have the sweetest of all American voices. Whether this is true of all. if is very true of the former mistress of Beauvoir. T think the educated Ameri- i can voice is pretty much the same everywhere" said Mrs. Davis. But I
 think the greatest tax on the pleasing quality of the American voice is the present public school system. In large cltles. where the classes in the public schools are necessarily very large, the | constant effort to make ones self heard
 by all pitches the tones so high that children-the greatest of all imitators or course-follow their teachers in this. and the result is shown in harsh. stri- dent, and angular tones! I often thing the Southern women have been most blessed in her surroundings, and. look ing back, am very thankful that there were some things in the South, as
 still are, beyond purchase and price I recall visit I made to Beauvoir one summer before that dear home was sold, when an amusing incident happ- ened which has ever since strengthened
 this feeling of appreciation. After the war it was extremely difficult to get good servants-a' trouble, believe,
 which has grown steadily worse, not
 0nly in the South, but everywhere. As
 Beauvoir Is remote in the country I, of course, experienced even more dis tress in this line than any other house. keepers. It so Happened that this summer of which I speak I engaged for my cook an excellent Irish woman,
 whose skill was fine and whose wages
 were high. That summer it had come
 about that more than the usual quota of visitors come our way, and at the
 end of my cooks first week more than 100 had eaten at least one meal with
 us. At this time my cook came to
 me. .',
 '''I think I'll be lavin' ye, ma'am,' she said.
 Why what's the trouble" I asked, with visions of my cookless kitchen filling me with woe. Has any one done anything to you?'
 No, ma'am.' she answered.
 Is the work to heavy for you?'
 No, ma'am,' she replied, again.
 We'll, what is the matter, then?' asked.
 We'll, if ye will have the truth, ma am, I'll tell it to ye,' she announced. I ain't willin' to work for nobody as runs big boarding house and ain't got sense enough to take no money for it-and she left his spirit of commer- claIism as applied to hospitality is still so remote, I am glad to say, that friendliness and hospitality are yet in the South beyond material considera- tion. However, I do seriously thing
 that many Southern family goes gay ly to ruin through this unnecessary drain in expenses. Unfortunately the day of plenty, as we knew it long ago. is past, and, whereas in those days if made no difference to the old planter when 9 or 10 of his best help were re- tained for household service, nowadays the amount of cotton this number could pick would make such an appre- clable difference that the servant ques- tion is altogether a different story. The The housekeeper of today in that sec ton spends herself now more than she formerly did. ] note a difference in them too, even in the remoter parts of the South for the restless spirit of the times has crept in among the mag noilas and jessamines quite as it has in less tropical climates. The neces- sity for earning her living has done much for the Southern woman, too, and yet 1 am old-fashioned enough in myvieWs to believe that the woman who works does lose something's is like the bloom on a delicate fruit something quite intangible-which is