Gilpin observer., 1910-12-01
SHE WAS
SUPERIOR


AS Ethel Lingler said, Of course
their house was the biggest and I'M
est in town and they certainly had q
lot Of money. taking all the family
connections together: still, they did
not pride themselves on these quali-
hcations.
1T isn't that" Ethel said once in
burst of confidence to a friend. TITS
ing family in town. really! We are
not humdrum!"
Ethel was girl with a certain
amount Of lank. posterish style about
her. an Ethel Barrymorish face and a
college degree. When she had re-
turned home after her graduation
Ethel Immediately inquired for a list
Of the poor families of town, insisted
on starting boys club and announc-
ed that the vacant lots were to be
beautified.
1t was thus she interpreted her
duties and opportunities in the town
of her birth. She said Millersville
needed a reviving influence and an
"a AoAAoA A1Ah0 OChAhQ ~ " u0tclOp ll6
possibilities and she refused to Join
the Longfellow Literary society as an
other way Of being interesting. The
sooner Millersville got over that sort
Of thing the better 1t would be. she
said.
The young people were decidedly
uncomfortable about Ethel. Her faith
er was the president Of the biggest
bank In town and owned stock in
nearly every important enterprise, to
say nothing Of his farm lands through
out the state. You can't sniff and pass
by the daughter Of a man like that,
soothing your wounds by calling her
stuck up and silly. The others suf-
fered in her presence. wondering II
she accounted them interesting or
mentally herded them among the
| goats.
There was no doubt about the Ling.
lers as family were out Of the ordi-
nary. They had meals when the fam.
lily happened to want them, not at set
and regulated times. and they had a
tennis court in the grassiest part Of
their front lawn. instead Of a row of
stif flower beds.
Also II they felt like sitting up all
night and making US sleep in the day
time. they did 80. and they did not
put on winter hannels Oct 15. regard
less Of the temperature. They didn't
believe in aannels at all.
OF course, Ethel was asked every
where. II she was at a party 1t was
known as social success and II she
wasn't the daily paper merely ran a
two-line item with no headlines. Peo-
pie suffered from her presence and
also from her absence and could never
quite make up their minds which of
the two evils was the worse.
None Of the young men Of Millers-
vile dared to single Ethel out. be-
cause they were afraid Of her. They
called on other girls who had also
been away to school and lived in COM
Portable mansions. but Ethel was diff.
ferent. Always they writhed when
they conversed with her. under the
sense that she did not ind them inter
esting. She had a way Of sweetly
making them sensible of their own
limitations. Naturally. she was an OBJ
ycCl VI ucopoAEiu8 dQu1lIoIOu 10 tueIu.
There certainly was q fascination
about her looks and the way she wore
her clothes. and In spite Of her top
loftical air she had a distracting dim
pie in each cheek. Everybody knew
there wasn't q man in town good
enough for Ethel Lingler's notice.
When Oscar Farwell went there to
enter the leading law arm the girls,
of course. talked him over. They
asked Ethel what she thought of him.
She raised her eyebrows a mere trife
and smiled gently.
'Mr. Farwell," she said. "is absolute
ly impossible. These breezy. self-sure
individuals always proove to be OF
common stock. He strikes me as an
exceedingly conceited. ordinary young
man and not in the least interesting" :"
Whereupon the listening girl rejoic-
ed greatly. for they secretly admired
this same young Farwell and had been
afraid Of Ethel's fancying him.
She snubbed him serenely and con-
descendingly on all occasions. but he
did not retire. abashed. as had all the
other young men Of Millersville. At
first she seemed to be an object of
amused surprise to him. Then he set-
tied down to the task of getting ac-
quainted with her. totally ignoring her