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Show THE GENTEEL P00K. "OH, THE PITY OF IT1" ONE EXCLAIMS WHEN CONSIDERING THEM. Straining to Maintain a Position Beyond Their Means An Anecdote About People Peo-ple Who Manage to Get Alonz and Get Along by Managing. Do you know that there is a class of people whouff er and of whom the world never hears? I mean those whom we are apt to call the genteel poor. They are always with us. In my life I have listened lis-tened to a great many queer stories about them, and they are really to be pitied.' They are, many of them, singlo women of uncertain age, who are obliged to live on infinitesimal incomes and with an amount of style. They can't bring their ideas down to the level of their fortunes. for-tunes. They have always been used to certain things, and they must have or at least appear to have them. They can live only in a particular part of town, no matter if the rent consumes the biggest part of their funds, and they must do other things in just proportion. How do they do it? Why, wth an amount of ingenuity in-genuity that would be valuable in a better bet-ter cause. They "manage." That is the word. The genteel poor "manage" to get along and get along by "managing." Take a case that I happen to know about. They were a pair of Bisters who rented apartments. I am not afraid to assert that they lived on samples. They went from one grocer to another and collected, little by little, almost all the things they needed for their meager menage. Sample cans of soup furnished their table at many a midday meal. Their cracker jar was a wonderful mixture of different brands. They did so like a variety, va-riety, they said. Their bonbon dish was replenished in a way that seemed little short of stealing. They would make periodical pe-riodical calls at various confe and at each take a bit of candy frtom the piles that were exposed to view. Hidden in a bag, or in a muff if it was winter, the aggregate of this booty when taken home formed quite a dishful and helped out at their afternoon receptions, which, in accordance with their ideas of hospitality hospi-tality and the traditions of their family, they always gave during the season. I used to wonder how they felt when they knelt on Sundays before that gorgeous gor-geous shrine which they affected and gave the response to that solemn admonition, admo-nition, "Thou shalt not steal," but I fancy they thought it was perfectly legitimate. le-gitimate. They always dressed in black, and I am sure I don't know how they "managed" "man-aged" their wardrobes. I suppose the bargain counters helped them ont, and I fancy their gowns were eometimes made by a very swell dressmaker whom years ago they employed as a seamstress and introduced to their wealthy friends. By this the woman was enabled to get a footing, and no doubt gratitude prompted prompt-ed her to give them some help in the reconstruction re-construction of their wardrobes. But this was long ago. I wonder if the younger sister, who now occupies a position as the wife of a wealthy man, is aware that I know all about the gown she wore when she met the man who emancipated her from the thraldom of petty economy. I doubt it, but I do, and I am going to tell you. The two women had been invited to a dinner given by a swell friend. The elder could not go on account of ill health, but the younger must. Then came the question of what to wear. Everything Ev-erything had been exhausted, and there was no money for a costume. At last, in despair, the younger woman opened a trunk filled with clothing from the rectory rec-tory their childhood's home. She had itl Within its depths there was the black Bilk robe that her father had worn. It was heavy and of beauts ful texture. Its ample folds would make a short skirt and part of a waist. WJiile in a quandary as to what would fill out the deficiency she saw beneath the velvet pall that had covered her father's fa-ther's coffin. It had been the last loving tribute of a sick parishioner. Here were the train and another part of the waist. Did no thought of its association with the dead man or remembrance of the solemn sol-emn service return to her, you ask? Not a bit of it. Beneath it, crumpled up in many creases, was the crape that had draped the altar. Behold what a costume cos-tume was evolved! A long train of velvet vel-vet over a skirt of heavy black silk trimmed trim-med with folds of crape, whose eoiijhfr i DiacKiifess tfervea to make still whiter the neck displayed beneath the decollete corsage. cor-sage. She was elegant indeed, and at the dinner she played her cards so well that Bhe captured an extremely eligible bachelor, bach-elor, and her struggles were over. But think of itl I know you'll say, "Oh, the pity of it!" You have often heard the saying: "God help the rich. The poor can beg." I say the Lord's poor will be taken care of, but pity, oh, pity, the genteel poor! Boston Herald. |