The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-16

! was Mortified. and struck dumb for
| Il moment by one of those shocks We re-
| ceivc from time To time in that great
social world we are apt To think 50 much
of and by which we are often reminded
| of its hollowncsS. What a fate, and
what an end for the life companion of
/ this young woman who had strivcn with
success that she might want for nothing.
and who's" very efforts in her behalf
were the cause of his premature death.
There is similar flavor of hear,lcss-
ness in another story heard from my
friend Miss Robbins. She had been en-
Gagged short time before to dine with
very dear friend. But on the eve of the
| dinner she heard Of the serious Illness
of her own sister in Baltimore. and she
called mp her friend 10 tell her that the
cable said her sister was desperately i'll.
| that they were about 10 oprrat" upon
her with It'll" hope of success. and that
of course she. Miss Robbins. must give
/ up her engagement for that night.
Her friend gave expression over the
/ telephone TO what was almost a shrek
Of despair. what on earth am | to
do" she exclaimed. You will break mp
The whole party. Can't YOU make nm
effort TO Gomez After all. your sister
may not die tonight -
Overcome 10y this revelation of her
| friends worldlincss Miss Robbins. rs
/ she told me- realized the power of the
| world of fashion and of social ambition
To turn the head and harden the heart
of one who had entered il rs n really
lmiahlc woman. Her story reminded
me of n similar experience and ] told her
! how | was once AZ luncheon party
whcr" we were all waiting for one of the
| guests. Il charming young woman of the
inner set Of New York society. but who
had been somewhat spoiled aS a girl by
| the p"tting Of her family. The pctting
/ had been continued by the man she mar
ricd. but her little pcculiaritics were
we'll understood and allowances were
made for her on account of her many
good qualities. our hostess. however
| having waited for twenty minutes was
rather annoyed. and she AT last deter
mined to wait no longer. We were just
sitting down accordingly when the late
. conner was at last announced.
20, YOU must excuse mo for bcn. so
| late. she exclaimed. but have been 10
the most lovely funeral | have ever seen
in my life. All th" very SmartcSt people
there and who should sit next 10 me
but Eliza Williams. And dear, she gave
me such nudges as people came in that
she nearly knocked me of my seat.
was afraid others might see il. But it
1 was such fun and for time We both
forgot the corpse and VIII, we were
there"
We all could not help ourselves and
the whole table broke into a roar Of
laughter 1t was the most cheerful ac-
count of a funeral any of MS had ever
heard.
| HAVE often been struck 10y the anal
l ogy which seems 10 exist between the
in1l a,,,I, ,ith
Guilty from one social plane to another
and the explorer making his way through
mOraSS, jungle. and forest To attain the
| height of some great range of mountains
! in the wilderness. Others again are
born in the serene air and need never be
exposed to the dangers below unless they
seek them by descending. The morally
Great among these remain always on the
heights and welcome the traveller from
below who has kept his eyes and his as
prations fixed upon the peak. The
u,orally small are those who descend and
instead of helping those aspiring To leave
he swamp stretch out their hands only
TO thrust them back into it. For these
there is no excuse. They themselves are
free from the temptation to snohhcry.
and it is a crude sclfshncss and n nat
ural malovolcnce which alone enable
them To become snobs. But they are the
most hopeless SnobS of all. such n snoh
think was that Duke of Grafton who
twitted Lord Chancellor Thurlow in the
house of peers with his lowly origin.
Thackcray himself was the victim of
| another.
The great writer once gave dinner 10
three or four men all of literary tastes:
| and one of whom was recently created
peer. Thackeray had produced n couple
of bottles of a very choice Madeira and
they had come to the end of the second