Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-14

w house party arrived There
would be twenty of them at
least. not counting Wallets and ladies'
maids, so that large as Castle Raa
was the house was full
They were about equally divided as
to sex and belonged chiefly to my
husbands class, but they included
Mr. Eastclff's beautiful wife, Camilla,
and Alma's mother, who, much %
Alma's chagrin, had insisted upon be-
ing invited.
My husband required me to receive
them, and | did so, though l was only
their nominal hostess, and they knew
it and treated me accordingly.
I.should be ashamed to speak of the
petty sights they put upon me- how
they consulted Alma in my presence
and otherwise wounded my pride as
a woman by showing me that | had
lost my own place in my husband $
house.
know there are people of the same
class who are kind and considerate.
guileless and pure. the true nobility OF
their country-women who are de-
voted TO their homes and children,
good-but my husbands friends were
not of that kind.
They were vain and proud selfish,
self -indulgent, thoroughly insincere,
utterly i'll hammered, shockingly III
informed, astonishingly educated
| Capable of speaking several Ian
guages but capable of saying 1;
sensi BILE word in any Of them), living
and iourishing in the world without
religion, without morality, and (if il
Is not a cant phrase to use) without
God.
What their conduct was when out
shooting. picnicking, driving. riding,
motoring and yachting Cfor Mr. East
cliff had arrived in his YACHT. | 10
not know. for doctors orders were
Alma's excuse for not asking me to
accompany them.
But at night they played bridge
(their most innocent amusement,
gambled and drank, banged the piano,
danced Grizzly Bears" sang duets
from the latest musical comedies, and
then ransacked the empty houses of
their idle heads for other means of
killing the one enemy of their exist
ence-Time.
Sometimes they would give enter
tainments in honor of their dogs,
when all the animals Of all the guests
| (there seemed to be whole kennel of
| them) would be. dressed up in coats
of silk and satin with pockets and
pocket handkerchiefs, and then led
downstairs to the drawing room,
where Alma's wheezy spaniel and my
husbands peevish terrier were sup
/ posed to receive them
Sometimes they would give "freak
| dinners" when the guests themselves
would be dressed up, the men in
Women's clothes, the women in men :.
the male initiating the piping treble
Of the female voices, and the female
until. firing Of this foolshness. they
would end up by f1inging the food at
pictures on the walls. the usual pellet
being softened bread and the favorite
target the noses in the family pOr-
! traits. which, hit and covered with a
sprawling mess. looked so ridiculous
as to provoke screams of laughter
The talk at table was generally OF
| horses and dogs, but sometimes II
was of love, courtShip and marriage
| including conjugal fidelity, which was
favorite subject of ridicule, with
both the women and the men
Thus my husband would begin by
saying Che often said it in my hear
! ing) that once upon a time men took
! their wives as they took their horses.
| on trial for a year and a day, and
! really with some women there was
| something to say for the old custom. -
Then Mr.. Vivian would remark that
! 1t was "a jolly good idea by Jove +"
and If he ever married, by the Lord
| that's just what he would do"
Then Mr. Eastclin would say that
| IL "A ridipnln1Ic C11narstitfar, Tho ii.
| woman should have her husband all
! to herself, "as If he were a kind OF
| toothbrush which she could not share
| with anybody else" and somebody
would add that she might as reason
| ably want her dentist or her hair
dresser to be kept for her own use
| only
After that the ladies. not to be left
| behind. would Join in the offhand rat
| tie, and one of them would give 1t as
her opinion that a wife might have
an incorrigibly unfaithful husband,
and yet be well off.
UGH" said Alma one night. shrug-
| ging her shoulders. Think OF a poor
woman being tied for life to an en-
tirely faithful husband"
u adore the kind OF a man who goes
| TO the deuce for woman-Parnell.
| and Gambetta and Boulanger and
! that sort" said a smart" girl OF
! three or four-and twenty. whereupon
! Camilla Eastclift (she was Rus
| siam cried
That's Why the correspondents in
! your divorce courts are SO sharming.
| They're like the villaYns in the plays
| always so -lightfully wicked"
! To Be Continued Monday.