The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-07-04
81 FRS GKSllLlI

atself: and a. long a. there are hearts
who. like Miss Matty, love peace and
friendliness. It must endure. Upon
this story does Mrs. Gaskeips reputa-
ton ~ . writer rest. and II Ii . foun-
1 dalton 20 constructed OF pure and sim.
pie thought; Of lessons Of patience and
endurance and self-sacrifces which
surely md their rewards. even In this
world; 20 free from word or line that
an author on his deathbed would wish
bIotted out. that many . more ambi-
tfous writer. many . greater genius,
lcould well envy II. Amid the "ntfu1
fever" which for SO many Of us IL life,
amid the unrestfulness and the unful-
Inlled strivngs of most OF what we call
literature, "Cranord" IL like q quiet
glade In odorous woods In which to
rest while and take heart again.
One Of the strictest rules Of the
Spanish court decreed that, while the
Queen of Spain undoubtedly had legs,
the fact was never to be referred to
Z under any circumstances whatever.
Genteel society in Crawford had q
law no less Draconic. While poverty
undoubtedly existed among its men,
lbers to degree which rendered 1t
iweli-nigh universal, to acknowledge 1t
in any manner. much less to speak
of II openly. as that shameless Captain
Brown did, was to lose caste % surely
as could be.
Even the Honorable Mrs. Jameson,
who lived In q big house on the OUT
skirts OF the village. and kept three
Smaids and butler, practiced her "ele-
giant little economies" a. the Crawford
ladies were 30 fond Of calling them,
and gave her guests remarkably weak
lea ana miraculously thin sandwiches.
Mrs. Jameson was stout. indolent,
mot very well bred or kind hearted.
but she belonged, somehow. to the
peerage (Scots) and dominated Gram
ford society. while Mu1iiner. the butler.
dominatsd the indoient Mrs. Jameson.
But the Honorable Mrs. Jamieson's
leadership was merely Nominal after
all; the real ruler was Miss Jenkyns
Deborah Jenkyns-'.rhe late rector,s
daughter, my dear. and nearly related
to Sir Pete Arley of Arley Hall"
Miss Jenkyns had strong ana de-
termined mind, worshipped at the
shrine Of DR.. johnson and wrote "eIe-
giant epist1es" to her friends in John
sonese. She had q sister. Miss Matty.
Or Matilda, as Deborah always insisted
upon calling her. though no one else
nid 90, who deferred to her In every
thing. That poor, faded flower of gem
tility, Miss Matty. had been a bloom
Ing rose once. and there were legends
Of love story lowering about her;
but, Oh. all 30 long ago and many years
how laid away by the gentle heart
which had thrilled to 1t amid the law
ender and rosemary which perfumed
with faint doors the memory Of a lost
Ind unfulflled YOUTH
Next In Importance in Crawford was
efrs. Forester, born a Tyrrel and
daughter OF one army officer and
widow Of another. SO thoroughly had
xhe ladies OF Crawford schooled them
fact that such a thing as poverty could
exist In genteel society that when Mrs.
FORESTER gave q party and her little
eervfng maid, taken from the work
bouse. disturbed the guests seated on
the sofa in order to get the teatray
from under It. they never dropped a
word in their conversation and acted
es X Il were quite the usual and prop
pr thing for gentlefolk to keep their
fea-trays In such places. Also Mrs.
Forester always exhibited q complete
ignorance OF what the little maid had
brought up when the refreshments ap-
peared. though her guests knew. ana
She knew that they knew. and they
knew that she knew that they knew.
that she had been at work all the
morning preparing the edibles.
Then there was Miss Pole, who pro-
vided always the fullest OF information
at all these little gatherings of the
elect of Crawford and was abaahed OF
nobody unless It was Miss Jenkyns. Nc
one would have ventured to dispute
with Deborah.
There was also Mrs. Fitz Adam. wild.
owed sister of Mr.. Higgins the village
doctor and apothecary. she was mot
quite-well. not quite--but she was ad-
mttted on sufferance. But as for Mr.
Hogsins. he was out Of society entire
ly.
How could a man be named Hog
gins" said Miss Jenkyns. "But then II
would not have made any difference II
IN ~
there were no men In Crawford soci-
ETY.. It was an Adamless Eden inhab-
ited by mature Eves-spinsters and
widows-who agreed that "a man was
so in the way in the house"
That Is, there were no men in the
genteel circles until Captain Brown
came there. How he ever got into So
ciety was a mystery, for 1t was re-
solved at a great council Of the ruling
powers that he was to be excluded be-
cause of his vulgar remark about pow
Nerty. Some one had asked him in the
public street why he did not take a
certain house. and the Captain had re-
piled, quite out loud, in fact in a re-
sounding military voice: 81 can't af-
ford It. : Too poor" The abandoned
creaturel But the Captain was a re-
tired army officer. and the first thing
the ladies of Crawford knew they were
having him into their houses to look
at smoky chimneys and to advise them
In many little ways.
So 1t came about, nobody knew Just
how that the Captain became a guest
at the little parties and made himself
Indispensable in waiting upon the la
dies, assisting to pass around the
sponge cake and the attenuated sand
witches, even taking a hand in their in
nocent little card games. The Cap
tain's two motherlesg daughters were
admitted as o matter of course. There
was Miss Brown, a chronic invalid.
slowly dying from an incurable dis
ease, and her younger sister, Jessie,
who had ringlets and dimples and was
wearing out her life by devotion to the
invalid.
Miss Jenkyns severely remarked that
for a person of Miss JeSsie's age-she
was just past 30-she considered dim
pies and ringlets decidedly improper.
But that was after Miss Jenkyns and
Captain Brown had had their memora-
BILE battle over the relative merits of a
new writer called Boz" just then COM
ing into notice, ana OF the immortal
DR.. Johnson.
"Have you seen this new number of
Pickwick?" asked the Captain one day.
ut is capital. Let me read you this
passage" Miss Jenkyns listened in
grim silence.
Matilda" said she, in a voice sug-
gestive OF Lady Macbeth ordering some
body out for instant execution, bring
me from the bookroom the works of