Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1921-04-21
ILLUSTRATIONS BY IRWIN FLYERS.

10 By Irwin r1fhitS' lWAW/M M
after his return to the hOmely realities
of Bingville. The shrewd intuitiOns
of Mrs. Bing alarmed her. SO Phyllis
and John were packed off to private
schools so that the good woman would
be free to look after the imperiled
welfare of the lamb of her flock-the
great ]. Patterson. She was really
worried about him. After that, she al
ways went with him to the city. She
was pleased and delighted with the
luxury of the great hotels, the cos
tunes, the d@ner parties, the thea
tiers, the suppers, the cabaret shows.
The latter shocked her little at first.
They went out to a great country
house, near the city, to spend a week
end. There was dinner party on
Saturday night. One of the ladies got
very tipsy and was taken upstairs.
The others repaired to the music room
to drink their coffee and smoke. Mrs.
Bing tried a cigarette and got along
with it very well. Then there was an
hour of heart to heart, central Euro
pean dancing while the older men sat
down for a night of bridge in the Ii
brary. Sunday morning, the young
people rode to hounds across country
While the bridge party continued it's
session in the library. 1t was not eX-
aCtly a restful weekend. j. Patterson
and his wife went to bed as soon as
their grips were unpacked on their re-
turn to the city and spent the day
there with aching heads.
While they were eating dinner that
night, the cocktail remarked with the
lips Of Mrs Bling: I'm getting tired of
Bingville"
ooh, of course, it's a picayune
place" said J. Patterson.
ITS so provincial !" the lady ex-
claimed.
Soon, the oysters and the entree
having subdued the cocktail, she ven
tured: But it does seem to me that
New York is an awfully wicked
place"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Goddess" she answered. "The drink
ing and gambling and those Dances"
That's because you've been brought
up in a seven-by-nine Puritan village"
J. Patterson growled very decisively.
"Why shouldn't people enjoy them
selves? We have trouble enough at
best God gave us bodies to get what
enjoyment we could out of them. It's
about the only thing we're sure of,
anyhow"
1t was a principle of Mrs. Bling to
i agree with J. Patterson. And why not?
| He was a great man. She knew it as
| well as he did and that was knowing
it very well indeed. His Judgment
had been right-triumphantly and
overwhelmingly right. Besides, it was
| the only comfortable thing to do. She
had been the type of woman who reads
those weird articles written by grass
widows on "How to Keep the Love of
Husband"
SO it happened that the Bings be-
| gan W COHSJIuCl Il llIIlc SOu W suit
| their own tastes and Maidstone
about as traCtable as a toy dog. They
withdrew from the Congregational
| church and had house parties for sun
| dry visitors from New York and Ha-
| zelmead every week end.
Phyllis returned from school in May
with a spirit quite in harmony with
| that of her parents. She had spent
| the holidays at the home of friend
in New York and had learned to love
the new dances and to smoke, although
that was a matter to be mentioned
only in whisper and not in the pres
ence of her parents. She was a tall,
handsome girl with blue eyes, blonde
hair, perfect teeth and complexion,
and almost q perfect figure. Here
she was, at last; brought up to the
point of a coming-out party.
1t had been curious and rather
! unfortunate bringing up that the girl
had suffered. She had been the pride
Of mothers heart and the occupier
Of that position is apt to achieve great
success in supplying mothers friends
with topics of conversation. Phyllis
had been flattered and INDUCED. Mrs.
Bing was entitled to much credit. hav-
ing been born of poor and illiterate
parents in small village on the Hud-
son little south of the capital. She
was pretty and grew up with longing
for better things. j. Patterson got
her at bargain in an Albany depart
ment store where she stood all day
behind the notion counter. "At bar
gain" it must be said, because, on
the whole, there were higher values
in her personality than in his. She
had acquired that common Bertha
Clay habit of associating with noble
lords who lived in cheap romances
and had taste for poor but honest
girls. The practical J. Patterson hated
that kind of thing. But his wife kept
a supply of these highly favored nov
els hidden in the little fiat and spent
her leisure reading them.