The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-06

througout Hill Rise there was not much ready cash and nearly all that there was fell into the hands of the sons and little enough was left for | the daughters.
 The headh of the families were gen. l try-neither more nor less. They bas- i ed on this proud title their pompful pretensions, and never asked the world to believe that they were secret mill lionairec. Mir. Garrett, although a solic- ttor was man of good family; pr. Flake, who practiced medicine, was ex- tremely well connected; these were the only two resi- 5ents tainted with dan. l gerous derogatory professions and on the plea of good birth they were par 1 doned. For the rest. there were Ad. l miral Lardncr. Colonel Beaumont Ma. jor Meldew. Captain Sholto. and so on; Mrs Granville and Mrs. Padfeld | and other widows; the three Miss Wig ors, who made a joint household of No. 1 10. and who were so religious that If you wanted to see them your better | chance would be to seek them rather in the church of St. Barnabas than in ther own home .etc.. etc.--sll gentle. folk from No. 1 to No. 20.
 Theer were many sons and daughters l-every house possessed it's second generation-except of course the house of the Misses Vigor-to carry on the good Hill traditions. The Hill Rise girls had splendid style of their own. l a manner and tone which might be initiated by the rest of the commu- nity, but which could not be repre- duced. They ran in upon one another from house to house; they called each other by their Christian names; they were really one large family, though not under one roof.
 They were neglected almost ignored, by their brothers; but they had tn cir own little sports-the golf. the ten- l is. rides with MT Banker. the riding master. and, one may suppose, their own little love affairs. which culminat- ed--one out of each five hundred | in orange wreath and organ music: a real Hill Rise wedding with red cloth. beadle. and policeman at St. Bar rabas, with all the town girls hurry ing up the hill to see the rare and brave sight of the Hlll Rise young men in toppers and black coats, with Sir John and Lady Vincent driving l down from Hill House In the victoria and pair. cockaded coachman and foot man in white gloves on the box seat.
 They were happy, high spirited girls l in spite of brotherly, inattention: and they could reflect that they had all the other girls on the universe beneath Hill Riso to look down upon. Beyond this comforting reflection, perhaps from year to year theA dominant thought of their lives was Selkirk-the old es- tablished fashionable draper. Proud as they were. they might all have been described as the slaves of Sel- kirk: they brought him all the pen nies they could scrape together. If lnncles or aunts promised them a pres- Tent. they pleaded to have it in coin. You see, they wanted something to take to Selkirk, and SelkirlS would not exchange a cuckoo clock or a Ma | fITIa xrnf1
 motor hats and gauge clouds.
 They did not realize that they were slaves and yet could plainly see that their neglectful brothers suffered from Selkirk bondage. Dr. Blake's son, Mrs. Granville's son, Geon Garrett Tommy Page, and the others, too, openly car ried on with the shop girls. The shop pies from Selkirk's sometimes insisted upon a parade in public places with ther admirers, made good their claims to dog-cart drives. a trip to London for the pantomime, or other expensive treat beyond the ambition of mere sisters. The young ladies of the Hill we'll knew about these philanderings
 of their brothers and friends brothers The young men had a most dreadful expression: All right. say. Is Lot tic" or Florrie, as the case might be-"is Lottie all right? I wish you'd tell me, because I don't want to waste my time Is she all right?" It may be surmised that-from the point of
 view of the strictest propriety--al
 right meant all wrong.
 The high spirited young ladies of
 the Hill knew also of this odious phrase
 and used it, among themselves, apt
 "Oh. my dear" said one of them
 after the Tennis Club ball; "don't talk
 about my sitting out with Captain
 Biddulph! had to ask him to con- duct me to my mamma. He went on
 as though he were under the impress sion that was all right" Then the Hill young ladies gigled fol
 ten mil. .utes Amongst themselves they
 were great gigglers.
 The Hill Rise young men--the sons oi the widows especially-were born loaf. CTS. They seemed lazily but supreme ly content to loaf through life; they wished they were immortal and could
 go on loafing forever.
 Their parents felt that there mighr be loss of prestige, but there would . certainly be great economical gain il , they would go away and work-eVeT at common trades. But they never dit work of any kind. For this reason they were debarred from entering the arm! . or navy-beC use of the examinations } They rarely tried-they always failed
 to pass an examination. Sometimes |. when one of them loafed into difficult . ies-entanglement of small debts excessive conviviality. alterations witt 2 the local police, etc.-Hil Rise mad a gigantic effort and packed him off t'
 the other side of the world-AustraliaI sheep-walk, Californian garden, Cana dian ranche.-the farther away the bet ter. But before you could look around
 he was back again. T have arrived, 7 he wrote from the distant goal, "thougl have not yet shaken down. I canno
 snI I am eaten m with this nlace Ii