Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-12-15
important

An elderly. ptnched little man tcds mo
rlotOnOuSly Scrapillg battered fddic
ooh! Are they Republicans or lem
crats" I inquired. sure that | really
was being intelligent at last. for Id
heard Stan say that in America the
Republican party was rather like our
Conservatives. and the Democrats like
our Liberals, and I'd remembered be-
cause believe should he very muc'l
interested In politics If only uItcr-
stood more about them But Sally
seemed TO think that question funny
too.
"They can be either. my poor lamb
she exclaimed. "and they can he al.
most anything else they like if only
they're Just awfully. dreadfully rich
and can manage to scrape up u family
crest. It used to be the crest that
counted with the man who invented
the Four Hundred, but since his day
that idea has got buried under heaps
and heaps Of gold. and pearls and Ga.
monds. especially pearls. In those
places l was telling you about YOU
don't exist unless you're In the -Four
Hundred, which is now being sifted
down to Two Hundred. and will prob.
ably be .Seventy-fve in a year or two
You may have the bluest blood In
America in your veins: yon may L."
simply smeared with ancestors. but If
you haven't managed to push forward
in clever, indescribable way, neither
they nor you will ever be noticed. an
your gray hairs will go down to the
grave in the wrong set. Now do you
understand why my cousin Katherine
makes narrow eyes for some people
and broad smiles for others?"
"Ye-es, suppose do" ! answered
"Only-we are quite different at home.
I haven't been about at all yet. but !
know; because some things are in the
air. How did Mrs. Stuyvesant-Kaoy
ever have the poor wrong settlers FOR
acquaintances, thought
Because shed kill me II she heard
this) she has only lately got into The
right set herself and after trouble
enough to give an ordinary woman
nervous prostration. That kind OF
thing does give II to lot Of women
especially II they fail. But Cousin
Katherine very seldom falls. She al!
most always carries things through
II you knew anything about America
IN general and New York In particular
you'd be able to realize what hard
time she's had, when tell you that til
her husband died she lived west OF
Chicago. To get into the -Four Hun.
dred II you've lived west Of Chicago
unless you're Californian, which Is
getting to be fashionable). is just like
having to climb over one Of those
great high walls of yours in England.
bristling with nails or broken glass"
"Afy goodness" exclaimed. How
funny! Fancy If people who live In
Surrey should glare ut people who liv"
In Devonshire."
That's different. You see. Chicago
Is new"
"But so is all America. isn't lt?' |
asked stupidity. what difference can
a hundred or so years maker
1--WE haven't begun to think In cen
turies yet on our side Of the water. my
deah." (She has the most delicious
way Of saying my deah," and all her
"rs" are soft like that; only it's too
much trouble to write them for no.
body but myself to see) Anyhow, II
is so, between New York and Chicago
people-that is. the people who count
in Society with big Sand 1t was
great triumph for my cousin to become
the three hundred and ninety-ninth In
the Four Hundred. She did 1t by buy
Ing a Russian prince"
Buying az
Eyes. love. he was going to the high
est bidder, and she bought him. That
Is, she entertained him so gorgeously
and did so many nice things for him
that he posed as her property. and. as
every one was dying to meet him. II
made her. She'd been working killing.
ly hard before that. for whole year
after taking her house on Fifth ave.
nue. and building her cottage at New
port. but 1t was buying the prince
which did the trick. On the strength
Of that episode and Its consequences
she went to Europe with very nice In
Productions. and. as you know, deah
she has made some valuable as well
as pleasant friends. To live up to
them and her reputation, she will