Speaker 1: This is section thirty three of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty three. Laura soon discovered that there were three
Speaker 1: distinct aristocracies in Washington. One of these, nicknamed the Antiques,
Speaker 1: consisted of cultivated, high bred old families who looked back
Speaker 1: with pride upon an ancestry that had been all was
Speaker 1: great in the nation's councils and its wars, from the
Speaker 1: birth of the Republic downward. Into this select circle, it
Speaker 1: was difficult to gain admission. Number two was the aristocracy
Speaker 1: of the middle ground, of which more Anon number three
Speaker 1: lay beyond of it. We will say a word here.
Speaker 1: We will call it the aristocracy of the parvenus. As
Speaker 1: indeed the general public did official position, no matter how
Speaker 1: obtained entitled, demand to a place in it, and carried
Speaker 1: his family with him, no matter or whence they sprang.
Speaker 1: Great wealth gave a man a still higher and nobler
Speaker 1: place in it than did official position. If this wealth
Speaker 1: had been acquired by conspicuous ingenuity, with just a pleasant
Speaker 1: little spice of illegality about it, all the better This
Speaker 1: aristocracy was fast and not averse to ostentation. The aristocracy
Speaker 1: of the antiques ignored the aristocracy of the parvenue. The
Speaker 1: parvenu laughed at the antiques and secretly envied them. There
Speaker 1: were certain important society customs which one in Laura's position
Speaker 1: needed to understand. For instance, when a lady of any
Speaker 1: prominence comes to one of our cities and takes up
Speaker 1: her residence, all the ladies of her grade favor her
Speaker 1: in turn, with an initial call, giving their cards to
Speaker 1: the servant at the door by way of introduction. They
Speaker 1: come singly, sometimes sometimes in couples, and all was in
Speaker 1: elaborate full dress. They talked two manutes and a quarter
Speaker 1: and then go. If the lady receiving the call desires
Speaker 1: a further acquaintance, she must return the visit within two weeks.
Speaker 1: To neglect it beyond that time means let the matter drop.
Speaker 1: But if she does return the visit within two weeks,
Speaker 1: it then becomes the other party's privileged to continue the
Speaker 1: acquaintance or drop it. She signifies her willingness to continue
Speaker 1: it by calling again any time within twelve months after that,
Speaker 1: If the parties go on calling upon each other once
Speaker 1: a year in our large cities. That is sufficient, and
Speaker 1: the acquaintanceship holds good. The thing goes along smoothly. Now
Speaker 1: the annual visits are made and returned with peaceful regularity
Speaker 1: and bland satisfaction. Although it is not necessary that the
Speaker 1: two ladies shall actually see each other oftener than once
Speaker 1: every few years, their cards preserve the intimacy and keep
Speaker 1: the acquaintanceship intact. For instance, missus A pays her annual visit,
Speaker 1: sits in her carriage, and sends in her card with
Speaker 1: the lower right hand corner turned down, which signifies that
Speaker 1: she has called in person. Missus B sends down a
Speaker 1: word that she is engaged or wishes to be excused,
Speaker 1: or if she is a parvenu and low bred, she
Speaker 1: perhaps sends word that she is not at home. Very good,
Speaker 1: Missus A drives on happy and content. If Missus a's
Speaker 1: daughter marries or a child is born to the family,
Speaker 1: Missus B calls, sends in her card with the upper
Speaker 1: left hand corner turned down, and then goes along about
Speaker 1: her affairs. For that inverted corner means congratulations. If Missus
Speaker 1: b's husband falls downstairs and breaks his neck, Missus A calls,
Speaker 1: leaves her card with the upper right hand corner turned down,
Speaker 1: and then takes her departure. This corner means condolence. It
Speaker 1: is very necessary to get the corners right, else one
Speaker 1: may unintentionally condole with a friend on a wedding or
Speaker 1: congratulate her upon a funeral. If either lady is about
Speaker 1: to leave the city, she goes to the other's house
Speaker 1: and leaves her card with P P C engraved under
Speaker 1: the name, which signifies pay parting call. But enough of etiquette.
Speaker 1: Laura was early instructed in the mysteries of society life
Speaker 1: by a competent mentor, and thus was preserved from troublesome mistakes.
Speaker 1: The first fashionable call she received from a member of
Speaker 1: the ancient nobility. Otherwise the antiques was of a pattern
Speaker 1: with all she received from that limb of the aristocracy afterward.
Speaker 1: This call was paid by Missus Major General fulk Fulkerson
Speaker 1: and daughter. They drove up at one in the afternoon
Speaker 1: in a rather antiquated vehicle with a faded coat of
Speaker 1: arms on the panels, an aged white wooled Negro coachman
Speaker 1: on the box, and a younger darky beside him. The
Speaker 1: footmen Both of these servants were dressed in dull brown
Speaker 1: livery that had seen considerable service. The ladies entered the
Speaker 1: drawing room in full character, that is to say, with
Speaker 1: Elizabethan's stateliness on the part of the dowager, and an
Speaker 1: easy grace and dignity on the part of the young
Speaker 1: lady that had a nameless something about it that suggested
Speaker 1: conscious superiority. The dresses of both ladies were exceedingly rich
Speaker 1: as to material, but as notably modest as to color
Speaker 1: and ornament. All parties having seated themselves, the dowager delivered
Speaker 1: herself of a remark that was not unusual in its form,
Speaker 1: and yet it came from her lips with the impressiveness
Speaker 1: of scripture. The weather has been unpropitious of late, Miss Hawkins,
Speaker 1: it has, indeed, said Laura. The climate seems to be variable.
Speaker 1: It is its nature of old. Here, said the daughter,
Speaker 1: stating it apparently as a fact only, and by her manner,
Speaker 1: waving aside all personal responsibility on account of it. Is
Speaker 1: it not so, Mamma, Quite so, my child, You like winter,
Speaker 1: Miss Hawkins, she said, like, as if she had an
Speaker 1: idea that its dictionary meaning was approve of not as
Speaker 1: well as summer, though I think all seasons have their charms.
Speaker 1: It is a very just remark. The General held similar views.
Speaker 1: He considered snow in winter proper, sultriness in summer legitimate,
Speaker 1: frosts in the autumn the same, and rains in spring
Speaker 1: not objectionable. He was not an exacting man, and I
Speaker 1: call to mine now that he always admired thunder. You remember, child,
Speaker 1: Your father always admired thunder. He adored it, No doubt
Speaker 1: it reminded him of battle, said Laurel. Yes, I think
Speaker 1: perhaps it did. He had a great respect for nature.
Speaker 1: He often said there was something striking about the ocean.
Speaker 1: You remember his saying that, daughter, Yes often, mother, I
Speaker 1: remember it very well. And hurricanes. He took a great
Speaker 1: interest in hurricanes, and animals, dogs, especially hunting dogs, also comets.
Speaker 1: I think we all have our predilections. I think it
Speaker 1: is this that gives variety to our tastes. Laura coincided
Speaker 1: with this view. Do you find it hard and lonely
Speaker 1: to be so far from your home and friends, Miss Hawkins?
Speaker 1: I do find it depressing sometimes, but then there is
Speaker 1: so much about me here that is novel and interesting
Speaker 1: that my days are made up more of sunshine than shadow.
Speaker 1: Washington is not a dull city in the season, said
Speaker 1: the young lady. We have some very good society, indeed,
Speaker 1: and one need not be at a loss for means
Speaker 1: to pass the time pleasantly. Are you fond of watering places,
Speaker 1: Miss Hawkins, I have really had no experience of them,
Speaker 1: but I have always felt a strong desire to see
Speaker 1: something of fashionable watering place life. We of Washington are
Speaker 1: unfortunately situated in that respect, said the dowager. It is
Speaker 1: a tedious distance to Newport, but there is no help
Speaker 1: for it. Laura said to herself Long Branch and Cape
Speaker 1: may are nearer than Newport. Doubtless these places are low.
Speaker 1: I'll feel my way a little and see. Then she
Speaker 1: said aloud, why I thought that Long Branch there was
Speaker 1: no need to feel any further. There was that in
Speaker 1: both faces before her, which made that truth apparent. The
Speaker 1: dowager said, nobody goes there, Miss Hawkins, at least only
Speaker 1: persons of no position in society, and the president. She
Speaker 1: added that with tranquility, Newport is damp and cold and
Speaker 1: windy and excessively disagreeable, said the daughter, but it is
Speaker 1: very select one cannot be fastidious about minor matters when
Speaker 1: one has no choice. The visit had spun out nearly
Speaker 1: three minutes. Now Both ladies rose with grave dignity, conferred
Speaker 1: upon Laura a formal invitation to call, and then retired
Speaker 1: from the conference. Laura remained in the drawing room and
Speaker 1: left them to pilot themselves out of the house, an
Speaker 1: inhospitable thing, it seemed to her. But then she was
Speaker 1: following her instructions. She stood steeped in reverie awhile, and
Speaker 1: then she said, I think I could always enjoy icebergs
Speaker 1: as scenery, but not as company. Still, she knew these
Speaker 1: two people by reputation, and was aware that they were
Speaker 1: not icebergs when they were in their own waters and
Speaker 1: amid their legitimate surroundings. But on the contrary, were people
Speaker 1: to be respected for their stainless characters and esteemed for
Speaker 1: their social virtues and their benevolent impulses. She thought it
Speaker 1: a pity that they had to be such changed and
Speaker 1: dreary creatures on occasions of state. The first call Laura
Speaker 1: received from the other extremity of the Washington aristocracy followed
Speaker 1: close upon the heels of the one we have just
Speaker 1: been describing. The callers this time were the Honorable Missus
Speaker 1: Oliver Higgins, the honorable Missus patric Horay pronounced oh Relay,
Speaker 1: Miss Bridget pronounced Briget oh Relay, Missus Peter Gashley, Miss Gashly,
Speaker 1: and Miss Emmeline Gashley. The three carriages arrived at the
Speaker 1: same moment from different directions. They were new and wonderfully shiny,
Speaker 1: and the brasses on the harness were highly polished and
Speaker 1: bore complicated monograms. There were showy coats of arms too,
Speaker 1: with Latin mottoes. The coachmen and footmen were clad in
Speaker 1: bright new livery of striking colors, and they had black
Speaker 1: rosettes with shaving brushes projecting above them on the sides
Speaker 1: of their stove pipe hats. When the visitors swept into
Speaker 1: the drawing room, they filled the place with a suffocating
Speaker 1: sweetness procured at the perfumers. Their costumes, as to architecture,
Speaker 1: were the latest fashion intensified. They were rainbow hued. They
Speaker 1: were hung with jewels, chiefly diamonds. It would have been
Speaker 1: plain to any eye that it had cost something to
Speaker 1: upholster these women. The honorable Missus Oliver Higgins was the
Speaker 1: wife of a delegate from a distant territory, a gentleman
Speaker 1: who had kept the principal saloon and sold the best
Speaker 1: whisky in the principal village in his wilderness, and so
Speaker 1: of course was recognized as the first man of his
Speaker 1: commonwealth and its fittest representative. He was a man of
Speaker 1: paramount influence at home, for he was public spirited. He
Speaker 1: was chief of the fire department. He had an admirable
Speaker 1: command of profane language, and had killed several parties. His
Speaker 1: shirt fronts were always immaculate, his boots daintily polished, and
Speaker 1: no man could lift a foot and fire a dead
Speaker 1: shot of a stray speck of dirt on it with
Speaker 1: a white handkerchief with a finer grace than he. His
Speaker 1: watch chain weighed a pound, The gold in his finger
Speaker 1: ring was worth forty five dollars. He wore a diamond
Speaker 1: cluster pin, and he parted his hair behind. He had
Speaker 1: always been regarded as the most elegant gentleman in his territory,
Speaker 1: and it was conceded by all that no man thereabouts
Speaker 1: was anywhere near his equal. In the telling of an
Speaker 1: obscene story, except the venerable, white haired governor himself. The
Speaker 1: Honorable Higgins had not come to serve his country in
Speaker 1: Washington for nothing. The appropriation which he had engineered through
Speaker 1: Congress for the maintenance of the Indians in his territory
Speaker 1: would have made all those savages rich if it had
Speaker 1: ever got to them. The Honorable Missus Higgins was a
Speaker 1: picturesque woman and a fluent talker, and she held a
Speaker 1: tolerably high station among the parvenu. Her English was fair
Speaker 1: enough as a general thing, though being of New York origin,
Speaker 1: she had the fashion peculiar to many natives of that city,
Speaker 1: of pronouncing saw and law as if they were spelt
Speaker 1: sore and lore. Petroleum was the agent that had suddenly
Speaker 1: transformed the Gashlys from modest, hard working country village folk
Speaker 1: into loud aristocrats and ornaments of the city. The Honorable
Speaker 1: Patriarch Oralay was a a wealthy Frenchman from Cork, not
Speaker 1: that he was wealthy when he first came from Cork,
Speaker 1: but just the reverse. When he first landed in New
Speaker 1: York with his wife, he had only halted at Castle
Speaker 1: Garden for a few minutes to receive and exhibit papers
Speaker 1: showing that he had resided in this country two years,
Speaker 1: and then he voted the Democratic ticket and went uptown
Speaker 1: to hunt a house. He found one, and then went
Speaker 1: to work as assistant to an architect and builder, carrying
Speaker 1: a hod all day and studying politics evenings, industry, and economy.
Speaker 1: Soon enabled him to start a low rum shop in
Speaker 1: a foul locality, and this gave him political influence in
Speaker 1: our country. It is always our first care to see
Speaker 1: that our people have the opportunity of voting for their
Speaker 1: choice of men to represent and govern them. We do
Speaker 1: not permit our great officials to appoint the little officials.
Speaker 1: We prefer to have so tremendous a power as that
Speaker 1: in our own hands. We hold it safest to elect
Speaker 1: our judges and everybody else in our cities. The ward
Speaker 1: meetings elect delegates to the nominating conventions and instruct them
Speaker 1: whom to nominate. The Publicans and their retainers rule the
Speaker 1: ward meetings for everybody else hates the worry of politics
Speaker 1: and stays at home. The delegates from the ward meetings
Speaker 1: organize as a nominating convention and make up a list
Speaker 1: of candidates, one convention offering a Democratic and another a
Speaker 1: Republican list of incorruptibles, and then the great meek public
Speaker 1: come forward at the proper time and make unhampered choice,
Speaker 1: and bless Heaven that they live in a free land
Speaker 1: where no form of despotism can ever intrude. Patrick O'Reilly,
Speaker 1: as his name then stood, created friends and influence very fast,
Speaker 1: for he was always on hand at the police courts
Speaker 1: to give straw bail for his customers, or establish an
Speaker 1: alibi for them in case they had been beating anybody
Speaker 1: to death on his premises. Consequently, he presently became a
Speaker 1: political leader and was elected to a petty office under
Speaker 1: the city government. Out of a meager salary, he soon
Speaker 1: saved money enough to open quite a stylish liquor saloon
Speaker 1: higher up town, with a faraoh bank attached, and plenty
Speaker 1: of capital to conduct it with. This gave him fame
Speaker 1: and great respectability. The position of Alderman was forced upon him,
Speaker 1: and it was just the same as presenting him a
Speaker 1: gold mine. He had fine horses and carriages now and
Speaker 1: closed up his whiskey mill. By and by he became
Speaker 1: a large contractor for city work, and was a bosom
Speaker 1: friend of the great and good William M Weade himself,
Speaker 1: who had stolen twenty million, six hundred thousand dollars from
Speaker 1: the city, and was a man so envied, so honoured,
Speaker 1: so adored, indeed, that when the sheriff went to his
Speaker 1: office to arrest him as a felon, that sheriff blushed
Speaker 1: and apologised. And one of the illustrated papers made a
Speaker 1: picture of the scene and spoke of the matter in
Speaker 1: such a way as to show that the editor regretted
Speaker 1: that the offense of an arrest had been offered to
Speaker 1: so exalted a personage as mister Weed. Mister O'Reilly furnished
Speaker 1: shingle nails to the new court house at three thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a keg and eighteen gross of sixty cent thermometers
Speaker 1: at fifteen hundred dollars a dozen. The Controller and the
Speaker 1: Board of Audit passed the bills, and a mayor who
Speaker 1: was simply ignorant but not criminal, signed them. When they
Speaker 1: were paid, mister O'Reilly's admirers gave him a solitaire diamond
Speaker 1: pin of the size of a Filbert in imitation of
Speaker 1: the liberality of mister Weed's friends. And then mister O'Reilly
Speaker 1: retired from active service and amused himself with buying real
Speaker 1: estate at enormous figures and holding it in other people's names.
Speaker 1: By and by, the newspapers came out with exposures and
Speaker 1: called Weed and O'Reilly thieves. Whereupon the people rose as
Speaker 1: one man, voting repeatedly, and elected the two gentlemen to
Speaker 1: their proper theater of action, the New York Legislature. The
Speaker 1: newspapers clamored, and the courts proceeded to try the new
Speaker 1: legislators for their small irregularities. Our admirable jury system enabled
Speaker 1: the persecuted ex officials to secure a jury of nine
Speaker 1: gentlemen from a neighboring asylum and three graduates from Sing Singh.
Speaker 1: And presently they walked forth with characters vindicated. The legislature
Speaker 1: was called upon to spew them forth, a thing which
Speaker 1: the legislature declined to do. It was like asking children
Speaker 1: to repudiate their own father. It was a legislature of
Speaker 1: the modern pattern. Being now wealthy and distinguished, mister O'Reilly
Speaker 1: still bearing the legislative honorable attached to his name. For
Speaker 1: titles never die in America, although we do take a
Speaker 1: republican pride in poking fun at such trifles sailed for
Speaker 1: Europe with his family. They traveled all about turning their
Speaker 1: noses up at everything, and not finding it a difficult
Speaker 1: thing to do either, because nature had originally given those
Speaker 1: features a cast in that direction. And finally they established
Speaker 1: themselves in Paris, that paradise of Americans of their sort.
Speaker 1: They stayed there two years and learned to speak English
Speaker 1: with a foreign accent, not that it hadn't always had
Speaker 1: a foreign accent, which was indeed the case, but now
Speaker 1: the nature of it was changed. Finally they returned home
Speaker 1: and became ultra fashionables. They landed here as the honorable
Speaker 1: Patriarch Aurolay and family, and so are known unto this day.
Speaker 1: Laura provided seats for her visitors, and they immediately launched
Speaker 1: forth into a breezy, sparkling conversation with that easy confidence
Speaker 1: which is to be found only among persons accustomed to
Speaker 1: high life. I've been intending to call sooner, miss Hawkins,
Speaker 1: said the honorable Missus Orolay, But the weather's been so horrid.
Speaker 1: How do you like Washington? Laura liked it very well. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Missus Gashley, is it your first visit? Yes, it was
Speaker 1: her first all. Indeed, Missus Orlay I'm afraid you'll despise
Speaker 1: the weather, Miss Hawkins. It's perfectly awful, it always is.
Speaker 1: I tell mister Orlay, I can't and I won't put
Speaker 1: up with any such a climate. If we were obliged
Speaker 1: to do it, I wouldn't mind. But we are not
Speaker 1: obliged to, and so I don't see the use of it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's real pitiful the way the children pine for Peris.
Speaker 1: Don't look so sad. Brigette, my chare poor child. She
Speaker 1: can't hear Paris mentioned without getting the blues, missus Gashley, Well,
Speaker 1: I should think so, missus Orlay. A body lives in Paris,
Speaker 1: but a body only stays here. I don't on Paris.
Speaker 1: I'd rather scrimple on ten thousand dollars a year there
Speaker 1: than suffer and worry here on a real decent income.
Speaker 1: Miss Gashley, Well, then I wish you'd take us back. Mother.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I hate this stupid country enough, even if
Speaker 1: it is our our dear native land. Miss Emmeline Ghashly,
Speaker 1: what and leave poor Johnny Peterson behind? An airy genial
Speaker 1: laugh applauded this, Sally. Miss Gashley, sister, I should think
Speaker 1: you'd be ashamed of yourself, Miss Emmeline. Oh, you needn't
Speaker 1: ruffle your feathers. So I was only joking. He don't
Speaker 1: mean anything by coming to the house every evening, only
Speaker 1: comes to see mother. Of course, that's all general laughter,
Speaker 1: Miss g prettily confused, Emmeline. How can you, missus g
Speaker 1: let your sister alone, Emmeline, I never saw such a tease,
Speaker 1: missus Overlay. What lovely corrals you have, Miss Hawkins, Just
Speaker 1: look at them, bridget Dear, I have a great passion
Speaker 1: for corrals. It's a pity they're getting a little common.
Speaker 1: I have some elegant ones, not as elegant as yours, though,
Speaker 1: but of course I don't wear them now, Laura, I
Speaker 1: suppose they are rather common. But still I have a
Speaker 1: great affection for these because they were given to me
Speaker 1: by a dear old friend of our family named Murphy.
Speaker 1: He was a very charming man, but very eccentric. He
Speaker 1: always supposed he was an irishman. But after he got rich,
Speaker 1: he went abroad for a year or two, and when
Speaker 1: he came back, you would have been amused to see
Speaker 1: how interested he was in a potato. He asked what
Speaker 1: it was. Now you know that when providence shapes a mouth,
Speaker 1: especially for the accommodation of a potato, you can detect
Speaker 1: that fact at a glance when that mouth is in repose.
Speaker 1: Foreign travel can never remove that sign. But he was
Speaker 1: a very delightful gentleman, and his little foible did not
Speaker 1: hurt him at all. We all have our shams. I
Speaker 1: suppose there is a sham somewhere about every individual. If
Speaker 1: we could manage to ferret it out, I would so
Speaker 1: like to go to France. I suppose our society here
Speaker 1: compares very favorably with French society, does it, not, missus overlay,
Speaker 1: missus O, Not by any means, Miss Hawkins. French society
Speaker 1: is much more elegant, much more so, Laura, I am
Speaker 1: sorry to hear that. I suppose ours has deteriorated of
Speaker 1: late missus O very much. Indeed, there are people in
Speaker 1: society here that have really no more money to live
Speaker 1: on than what some of us pay for servant hire.
Speaker 1: Still I won't say, but what some of them are
Speaker 1: very good people and respectable too, Laura. The old families
Speaker 1: seem to be holding themselves aloof from what I hear,
Speaker 1: I suppose you seldom meet in society now the people
Speaker 1: you used to be familiar with twelve or fifteen years ago,
Speaker 1: missus O, Oh no, hardly. Ever, mister O'Reilly kept his
Speaker 1: first rum mill and protected his customers from the law
Speaker 1: in those days. And this turn of the conversation was
Speaker 1: rather uncomfortable to Madame than otherwise, honorable missus Higgins is
Speaker 1: francois health good now, miss Lay missus O, thankful for
Speaker 1: the intervention. Not very A body couldn't expect it. He
Speaker 1: was always delicate, especially his lungs, and this odious climate
Speaker 1: tells on him strong now after Parie, which is so mild,
Speaker 1: missus h I should think so, husband says, Percy'll die
Speaker 1: if he don't have a change, and so I'm going
Speaker 1: to swap round a little and see what can be done.
Speaker 1: I saw a lady from Florida last week, and she
Speaker 1: recommended Key West. I told her Percy couldn't abide winds
Speaker 1: as he was threatened with a pulmonary affection. And then
Speaker 1: she said, try Saint Augustine. It's an awful distance ten
Speaker 1: or twelve hundred mile, they say. But then in a
Speaker 1: case of this kind, a body can't stand back for trouble,
Speaker 1: you know, missus O. No, of course that's off. If
Speaker 1: Frossois don't get better soon, we've got to look out
Speaker 1: for some other place or else Europe. We've thought some
Speaker 1: of the hot springs, but I don't know. It's a
Speaker 1: great responsibility and a body wants to go cautious. Is
Speaker 1: Hildebrand about again, Missus Gashley, Missus g. Yes, but that's
Speaker 1: about all. It was indigestion, you know, and it looks
Speaker 1: as if it was chronic, and you know I do
Speaker 1: dread dyspepsia. We've all been worried a good deal about him.
Speaker 1: The doctor recommended baked apple and spoiled meat, and I
Speaker 1: think it'd done him good. It's about the only thing
Speaker 1: that will stay on his stomach. Nowadays we have doctor Shovel. Now,
Speaker 1: who's your doctor, Missus Higgins? Missus h Well, we had
Speaker 1: Doctor Spooner a good while, but he runs so much
Speaker 1: to emetics, which I think are weakening, that we changed
Speaker 1: off and took doctor Leathers. We like him very much.
Speaker 1: He has a fine European reputation too. The first thing
Speaker 1: he suggested for Percy was to have him taken out
Speaker 1: in the back yard for an airing. Every afternoon with
Speaker 1: nothing at all on, missus O and missus G what
Speaker 1: missus h as true as I'm sitting here, and it
Speaker 1: actually helped him for two or three days, it did, indeed,
Speaker 1: But after that the doctor said it seemed to be
Speaker 1: too severe, and so he has fell back on hot
Speaker 1: foot baths at night and cold showers in the morning.
Speaker 1: But I don't think there can be any good, sound
Speaker 1: help for him in such a climate as this. I
Speaker 1: believe we are going to lose him if we don't
Speaker 1: make a change. Missus O. I suppose you heard of
Speaker 1: the fright we had two weeks ago last Saturday. No,
Speaker 1: why that is strange, But come to remember you've all
Speaker 1: been away to Richmond. Frossois tumbled from the skylight in
Speaker 1: the second story hall clean down to the first floor.
Speaker 1: Everybody mercy, missus O. Oh yes, indeed, and broke two
Speaker 1: of his ribs. Everybody, what, missus O, Just as true
Speaker 1: as you live. First we thought he must be injured internally.
Speaker 1: It was fifteen minutes past eight in the evening. Of course,
Speaker 1: we were all distracted in a moment. Everybody was flying
Speaker 1: everywhere and nobody doing anything worth anything. By and by
Speaker 1: I flung out next door and dragged in doctor Sprague,
Speaker 1: president of the medical University. No time to go for
Speaker 1: our own doctor, of course, And the minute he saw Francois,
Speaker 1: he said, send for your own physician. Madam said it
Speaker 1: as cross as a bear too, and turned right on
Speaker 1: his heel and cleared out without doing a thing. Everybody,
Speaker 1: the mean, contemptible brute. Missus O, well, you may say it.
Speaker 1: I was nearly out of my wits by this time,
Speaker 1: but we hurried off the servants after our own doctor
Speaker 1: and telegraphed mother she was in New York, and rushed
Speaker 1: down on the first train. And when the doctor got there,
Speaker 1: lo and behold you. He found Francois had broke one
Speaker 1: of his legs too. Everybody, goodness, missus O, yes, So
Speaker 1: he set his leg and banged it up, and fixed
Speaker 1: his ribs, and gave him a dose of something to
Speaker 1: quiet down his excitement, and put him to sleep. Poor thing.
Speaker 1: He was trembling and frightened to death, and it was
Speaker 1: pitiful to see him. We had him in my bed.
Speaker 1: Mister Overleay slept in the guest room, and I laid
Speaker 1: down beside Francois, but not to sleep, bless you know.
Speaker 1: Bridget and I set up all night, and the doctor
Speaker 1: stayed till two in the morning, bless his old heart.
Speaker 1: When Mother got there, she was so used up with
Speaker 1: anxiety that she had to go to bed and have
Speaker 1: the doctor. And when she found that Francois was not
Speaker 1: in immediate danger, she rallied, and by night she was
Speaker 1: able to take a watch herself well. For three days
Speaker 1: and nights, we three never left that bedside, only to
Speaker 1: take an hour's nap at a time, and then the
Speaker 1: doctor said Francois was out of danger. And if ever
Speaker 1: there was a thankful set in this world, it was us.
Speaker 1: Laura's respect for these women had augmented during this conversation.
Speaker 1: Naturally enough. Affection and devotion are qualities that are able
Speaker 1: to adorn and render beautiful a character that is otherwise
Speaker 1: unattractive and even repulsive. Missus Gashley, I do believe I
Speaker 1: should have died if I had been in your place,
Speaker 1: Missus Raley. The time Hildebrand was so low with the pneumonia,
Speaker 1: Emmeline and me were all alone with him most of
Speaker 1: the time, and we never took a minute's sleep for
Speaker 1: as much as two days and nights. It was at Newport,
Speaker 1: and we wouldn't trust hired nurses. One afternoon he had
Speaker 1: a fit and jumped up and ran out of the
Speaker 1: portico of the hotel with nothing in the world on
Speaker 1: and the wind a blowing like ice, and we after him,
Speaker 1: scared death. And when the ladies and gentlemen saw that
Speaker 1: he had a fit, every lady scattered for her room,
Speaker 1: and not a gentleman lifted his hand to help the wretches.
Speaker 1: Well after that, his life hung by a thread for
Speaker 1: as much as ten days, And the minute he was
Speaker 1: out of danger, Emmeline and me just went to bed,
Speaker 1: sick and worn out. I never want to pass through
Speaker 1: such a time again. Poor dear Francois, which leg did
Speaker 1: he break? Missus ralay, missus O. It was his right
Speaker 1: hand hind leg. Jump down, Francois, dear, and show the
Speaker 1: ladies what a cruel limp you've got yet from Sois demurred,
Speaker 1: but being coaxed and delivered gently upon the floor, he
Speaker 1: performed very satisfactorily with his right hand hind leg in
Speaker 1: the air. All were affected, even Laura, but hers was
Speaker 1: an affection of the stomach. The country bred girl had
Speaker 1: not suspected that the little whining ten ounce black and
Speaker 1: tan reptile, clad in a red embroidered pygmy blanket and
Speaker 1: reposing in Missus o'verleigh's lap all through the visit was
Speaker 1: the individual whose sufferings had been stirring the dormant generosities
Speaker 1: of her nature. She said, poor little creature, you might
Speaker 1: have lost him, Missus o Oh, pray, don't mention it,
Speaker 1: miss Hawkins, it gives me such a turn. Laura and
Speaker 1: Hildebrand and Percy are they? Are they like this one?
Speaker 1: Missus g no Hilly has considerable sky blood in him.
Speaker 1: I believe Missus h. Percy's the same, only he is
Speaker 1: two months and ten days older and has his ears cropped.
Speaker 1: His father, Martin Farquhar Tupper, was sickly and dyed young,
Speaker 1: but he was the sweetest disposition. His mother had heart disease,
Speaker 1: but was very gentle and resigned, and a wonderful ratter.
Speaker 1: As impossible and exasperating as this conversation may sound to
Speaker 1: a person who is not an idiot, it is scarcely
Speaker 1: in any respect and exaggeration of one which one of
Speaker 1: us actually listened to in an American drawing room. Otherwise
Speaker 1: we could not venture to put such a chapter into
Speaker 1: a book which professes to deal with social possibilities the
Speaker 1: authors so carried away had the visitors become, by their
Speaker 1: interest attaching to this discussion of family matters, that their
Speaker 1: stay had been prolonged to a very improper and unfashionable length.
Speaker 1: But they suddenly recollected themselves now and took their departure.
Speaker 1: Laura's scorn was boundless. The more she thought of these
Speaker 1: people and their extraordinary talk, the more offensive they seemed
Speaker 1: to her. And yet she confessed and asked that if
Speaker 1: one must choose between the two extreme aristocracies, it might
Speaker 1: be best on the whole looking at things from a
Speaker 1: strictly business point of view. To herd with the parvenu,
Speaker 1: she was in Washington solely to compass a certain matter,
Speaker 1: and to do it at any cost, and these people
Speaker 1: might be useful to her. While it was plain that
Speaker 1: her purposes and her schemes for pushing them would not
Speaker 1: find favor in the eyes of the antiques. If it
Speaker 1: came to choice, and it might come to that sooner
Speaker 1: or later, she believed she could come to a decision
Speaker 1: without much difficulty or many pangs. But the best aristocracy
Speaker 1: of the three Washington castes, and really the most powerful
Speaker 1: by far was that of the middle Ground. It was
Speaker 1: made up of the families of public men from nearly
Speaker 1: every state in the Union, men who held positions in
Speaker 1: both the executive and legislative branches of the government, and
Speaker 1: whose characters had been for years blemishless, both at home
Speaker 1: and and at the capital. These gentlemen and their households
Speaker 1: were unostentatious people. They were educated and refined. They troubled
Speaker 1: themselves but little about the two other orders of nobility,
Speaker 1: but moved serenely in their wide orbit, confident in their
Speaker 1: own strength, and well aware of the potency of their influence.
Speaker 1: They had no troublesome appearances to keep up, no rivalries
Speaker 1: which they cared to distress themselves about, no jealousies to
Speaker 1: fret over. They could afford to mind their own affairs
Speaker 1: and leave other combinations to do the same or do otherwise,
Speaker 1: just as they chose. They were people who were beyond reproach,
Speaker 1: and that was sufficient. Senator Dilworthy never came into collision
Speaker 1: with any of these factions. He labored for them all
Speaker 1: and with them all. He said that all men were brethren,
Speaker 1: and all were entitled to the honest, unselfish help and
Speaker 1: countenance of a Christian laborer in the public vineyard. Laura concluded,
Speaker 1: after a reflect to let circumstances determine the course it
Speaker 1: might be best for her to pursue as regarded these
Speaker 1: several aristocracies. Now, it might occur to the reader that
Speaker 1: perhaps Laura had been somewhat rudely suggestive in her remarks
Speaker 1: to missus Overlay when the subject of Chlorals was under discussion,
Speaker 1: But it did not occur to Laura herself. She was
Speaker 1: not a person of exaggerated refinement. Indeed, the society and
Speaker 1: the influences that had formed her character had not been
Speaker 1: of a nature calculated to make her so. She thought
Speaker 1: that give and take was fair play, and that to
Speaker 1: parry an offensive thrust with a sarcasm was a neat
Speaker 1: and legitimate thing to do. She sometimes talked to people
Speaker 1: in a way which some ladies would consider actually shocking,
Speaker 1: but Laura rather prided herself upon some of her exploits
Speaker 1: of that character. We are sorry we cannot make her
Speaker 1: a faultless heroine, but we cannot for the reason that
Speaker 1: she was human. She considered herself for superior conversationist. Long ago,
Speaker 1: when the possibility had first been brought before her mind
Speaker 1: that some day she might move in Washington society, she
Speaker 1: had recognized the fact that practiced conversational powers would be
Speaker 1: a necessary weapon in that field. She had also recognized
Speaker 1: the fact that, since her dealings there must be mainly
Speaker 1: with men and men whom she supposed to be exceptionally
Speaker 1: cultivated and able, she would need heavier shot in her
Speaker 1: magazine than mere brilliant society nothings. Whereupon, she had at
Speaker 1: once entered upon a tireless and elaborate course of reading,
Speaker 1: and had never since ceased to devote every unoccupied moment
Speaker 1: to this sort of preparation. Having now acquired a happy
Speaker 1: smattering of various information, she used it with good effect.
Speaker 1: She passed for a singularly well informed woman in Washington.
Speaker 1: The quality of her literary tastes had necessarily undergone constant
Speaker 1: improvement under this regimen, and as necessarily also the duality
Speaker 1: of her language had improved. Though it cannot be denied
Speaker 1: that now and then her former condition of life betrayed
Speaker 1: itself in just perceptible inelegancies of expression and lapses of grammar.
Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty three,