The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-05-22


The drawing room at Harley House
is, of course, a large room, because it
belongs TO one of the large houses of
Cleveland Square, Bloomsbury. The
curtains, the wall paper and the carpet
look as though they had done service
enough, and might now be dismissed.
4 But everybody in the house knows very
well that there is no money to buy new
4 things, and that, like the stair carpet,
which is in holes, they will probably
have to last long time yet. Now, in
the home without rules, the ladies will
unite to contrive new curtains and car
| pets and better wall paper, and will
be always trying to make the place
pretty with the little odds and ends
which cost nothing but little taste
and ingenuity. So that there viii be
none of the shabbiness which does I'M
doubtedly hang over Harley House.
But what matters shabbiness, since
! there are no men admitted?
! The residents of Harley House are
not all girls. Some Of them, who have
been here for long time, and occupy
chairs near the fire by prescriptive
right, are middle-aged and even elderly.
Most of them, however, are quite
young; they are floating and uncer-
tain class; they come because they are
hard up, stay a few weeks or months
because they can not help themselves,
sniff at the regulations, speak con-
| temptuOusly of the committee, and
then, If prospects brighten, hasten to
some place where the presence of
young men is not forbidden, and where
one can be out after half-past without
seeking permission beforehand and ex-
planning the reasons for this wild burst.
To the former class undoubtedly be-
longed two ladies sitting side by side,
bolt upright, with certain primness
of attitude which recalled, to those who
could remember the early days Of her
Majesty's reign, memories of COVER
nesses in the forties. In fact, they had
been daily governesses in the fortles
when they were young. Now they
were gray haired, and each wore a
little prim curl at the side, and to
| those who might remember the forties
they looked as il they ought to have
! a black velvet band across the fore
head with a steel buckle. They were
dressed in black, they were exactly
alike. and they were quite clearly sis
tiers. In their hands was some work,
but it advanced slowly. Their thin
faces were beautiful, with the beauty
given by patience, resignation and suf-
fefing-they had now found rest and a
haven for the remainder of their days.
The regulations caused no discomfort
| to them, because they asked for no
male visitors, did not desire to be out
after half-past 8, and wanted nothing
more than a place where they could sit
| down and mediate on the long rest
awaiting them after their hard days
work. They were Miss Augusta and
Miss Beatrice Apsey. In the distant
time when they owned living father
! they lived in a Cathedral Close, and
| their father was a Canon.
! On the other side Of the fireplace sat
another lady, who was also clearly one
Of the permanent residents. She was
guant and hard Of features, with dis
content and restlessness marked in her
face. She had a book in her lap, but
she read very little. For her, too, the
| past was nearly done, and the only flu
ture before Ler was that which has to
be reached by crossing certain river.
At table, bundle in her lap, sat a
woman still young, not more than thir-
ty, at work diligently, even iercely,
never lifting her head from her work,
but sewing as if for life. Persons ex-
| perienced in such matters would have
recognized that her work was of a
very difficult and beautiful kind, en-
broidery of the highest art, which
should be worth large sums Of money.
She was dark, of regular complexion
and beautiful still, with shapely head
and regular, classical features, and had
she raised her eyes from her work you
! would have perceived that they were
such as a painter loves to gaze upon
and to draw, deep and dark and limpid.
But they were full of sadness; there
was no light of laughter in them; and
on her lips there was no light of smiles
1t was the face of woman no longer
happy. While she worked. her lips
moved continually, ais if reproachlng
somebody perhaps herself.
The table had few magazines and
4 papers upon it, There were the Illus
trated and the Queen, and certain
harmless and cody periodicals such as
committees of institutions consider
adapted to the intellect of lady resi-
dents. Nobody, however, though the
room was pretty full, was reading.
Perhaps this was due to the fact that
it was Thursday evening, so that the
weekly papers were stale. Perhaps,
however, it was because the people in
h the room were all tired. and cared not
to do anything.
They were nearly all girls between
eighteen and four-and-twenty. 1t was
for them, and not for the elder ladies',
that the institution really was founded
and the regulations framed, so that
they ought TO have shown in their faces
and their demeanor the liveliness Of
gratitude No doubt they We're CRATE
full, "and all that" but they were
heavy-eyed.
There were about fifteen or twenty Of
them; theya were all young ladies who
work, not ladies Of the ballet, Or ladies'
Of the bar, or ladies who pose upon the
stage in lovely costumes, Or ladies who
stand behind counters; nor were they