Boston Neighbours In Town and OutPoor, Agnes Blake
General
Boston Neighbours In Town and Out
Poor, Agnes Blake
Boston (Mass.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories
The Roger Greenway and Eleanor Beecher of ten years ago are so far past
now that I can talk of them like other people. That Roger Greenway
ranked so low in his class at college is only remembered to be cited as
a comfort to the mothers of stupid sons--Roger Greenway, now the coming
man in Massachusetts. Have I not made a yacht voyage round Southern
California, and is not my book on the deep-sea dredgings off the coasts
considered an important contribution to the Darwinian theory, having
drawn, in his later days, a kind and appreciative letter from the great
naturalist? Do I not bid fair to revolutionise American agriculture by
my success in domesticating the bison on my stock-farm in Maine? Have I
not come forward in politics, made brilliant speeches through the State,
and am I not now sitting in Congress for my second term? The world would
be incredulous if I told them that all this was due to Eleanor. She did
not, indeed, know exactly what deep-sea dredging was; but she said I
ought to do something with my yacht, and had better make a voyage, and
write a book about it. She is as afraid, not only of a bison, but of a
cow, as a well-principled woman ought to be; but she said I ought to do
something with my stock-farm, and had better try some experiments. She
is no advocate of women's going into politics; but she said I was a good
speaker, and ought to attend the primary meetings. And when I said the
difficulty was to think of anything to say, she said if that were all,
she could think of twenty things. So she did; and when I had once
begun, I could think of them myself. I have had no military training;
but if Eleanor were to say that she was sure I could take a fort, I
verily believe I could and should.
Not less is Eleanor Beecher of the old days lost in Mrs. Roger Greenway.
As she grew older she grew stouter, which was very becoming to her, as
she had always been of a good height, though no one ever gave her credit
for it. Her complexion cleared up; her hair was better dressed, and
looked a different shade; and she developed an original taste in dress.
She developed a peculiar manner, too, very charming and quite her own.
She showed an organising faculty; and after getting her household under
perfect control, and starting her nursery on the most systematic basis,
she grew into planning and carrying out new charities. The name of Mrs.
Roger Greenway at the head of a charity committee wins public confidence
at once, and, seen among the "remonstrants" against woman's suffrage,
has more than once brought over half the doubtful votes in the General
Court. Every one says that I am unusually fortunate in having such a
wife for a public man, and my mother cannot sufficiently show her
delight in the wisdom of dear Roger's choice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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