The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-12

| Ntcu say tlat poverty is the cause
of my anxietics? When. indeed my
dear Louisa, for the past thirty years
has 1t not been for you as we'll as for
me. Il source Of humiliation?
When YOU married do you remember
how wisely we talked? We thought
perhaps that you had not enough to
live in America. Did we ever dream
that the time would come when the
prosperity of new Italy would drive YOU
from Rome to Ancona, there To max, "A
last stand against being driven into
the very Adriatic?
Prosperity! | still read in the news
| papers-on the rare occasions when
do read thsm-hymns in praise f pros
perity. | wonder If the writer's ever
stop to think how It's tide has sub
merged honest people with rcarts and
intelligenCes and a wish tu make some
| thing Of life for themselves and for
others.
Until my niece Mary Camc-that's
what has happened more of 1t ltcr-I
was in a way resigned, Contentcd. in
fact. | had always enough To- eat.
c.othes To keep me warm and a roof over
my head, two, in fact. one here In Fifty
seventh street and one in Bellevue ave-
nue. at Newport. It's true that when |
went abroad | couldn't go on private
leviathan still I bore that. | couldn't
afford the upera. and only rarely the
theatres Still | was physical COM
Portable, warmed and fed at least. and
! could read over my fathers and my
grandfathers books. even buy new
ones for. oddly enough. books are al
most the only things which haven't
gone up beyond reach Sometimes I |
see "A wonderful kind Of divine justice |
in thus giving MS, after all. the free |
dom Of the great and noble past; tenn |
pering the wind, in short in spite of all |
their accurscd prosperity.
AZ say. ! was content. although one |
couldn't help mctimcs rcsrctting that |
one was absolutely unknown. forgotten.
in a city whore ones ancestors had |
been since its very beginning. in "A |
state whore five times We have given |
them Governors. in country where. not |
to count Senators and Ambassadors.
nee at least we gave them their Presi-
dent, and not the worst they've had |
They forget that now. OF course
have few friends: it would he silly To-
pretend ] haven't.
They come To- see mo in my old fash
Toned awning room. NTH. ! actually hc-
lieNe. the only shabby carpet on its
iiu r in all New York and with chairs
roNcr'dowIth, I'm sure the only hrocadc
in the town that has grown faded in
tae place where ii now stands. But |
am no longer in society. II sounds
absurd. hut IL is actually true. Now
I've a niece To take out | find there's
nowhere o.takc her My dear. when
ne remembers New York at the be-
thinning of the century-hut It's better
Ter our peace Of mind that we
shouldn't.
Mary's here. That's the great present
fact. She's my brother Jacks girl. and
pretty, well hammered girl she proves
10 he She's charming with me and un-
consciously she puts on me the oh,iga-
ion To do something for her, to rouse
myself and To- emerge from my shell. or
NY philosophers tub in Fifty-sevonth
street.
Need ! say she comes penn.less- no.
iollarlcss, as they always say now?
lack was never hand at making
money and used sometimes 10 he glad
t had "A romantic flavor ~ the old
ch""l: sim If he was to deprive us Of
us dear self by spending his life n the
philippines h" might perhaps better
ave succeeded in amassine more than
'l' p'llNA , lllsill'll NJ l'dN ~ MARY l nat
s about what | have, and now that
he's with me perhaps economies can l."
little less strict. But We are still;
"pelessly submerged,
Mary doesn't mind 1t, but the odd
hing that has happened is in my own
rain. For years | have lived in com
lrte Indifference toward fash nnab.e
Jew York. Now. suddenly it seems to
le not quite 10 he taken lying down"
: the English used To- say. that "A Van
should be excluded. that
~ niece Mary should not be- for what
: worth, in the smartcst society
An old family should still he vigorous
nough To adapt Itself to- the changes
the worlds civilization a. they come.
nd We might, II seems To me. at least
'ach them how To use all this great
calth more worthly. II was once
Iblesse, now II ought To- Ice richesse
)lige' II money is now absolutely the
le essential thing in order that one may
: good American and have some part