Marriage -- Fiction; Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“Oh, nobody; I just felt it in my bones. Well, Mrs. Skinner has a new
and original fad—that woman is clever! She has seen the automobile
fad, and the fancy–ball fad, and the monkey–dinner fad, and the
dining–on–board–the–Emperor’s–yacht fad, and the exclusive–school
fad, and the exclusive–theatrical–performance fad, and the
marrying–of–a–daughter–to–a–belted–earl–like–a–thief–in–the–night fad.
She has done horse shows and yacht races and dinners to the Ambassador,
and now she has outfooted New York and Newport, and left Chicago at
the post. She has a private chapel, and she’s going to have a private
chaplain!”
“Oh, Lord, you dreamed it!”
“No, I didn’t, Richard, my dear. You see, the Jim Skinners”—Mrs.
Luttrell pronounced it as if it were “jimskinners”—“were originally
honest Methodists; but these people shed their religion along with
their old clothes and plated forks. And now Mrs. Jimskinner has become
Mrs. James Van Cortlandt Skinner and an ardent Episcopalian, and so
has Gladys Jimskinner, and Gwendolyn Jimskinner, and Lionel Jimskinner,
and Harold Jimskinner, and I believe that woman has set her heart on
having what she calls an Anglican archbishop in these United States.”
“If she has, I know it was you who put the microbe in her head.”
It was a chance shot, but it hit the white. “I think I did, Richard,”
meekly replied Mrs. Luttrell. “Mrs. Jimskinner—I mean Mrs. James Van
Cortlandt Skinner—was urging me to join the Order of St. Monica; that’s
an order in which widows pledge themselves not to get married again. I
told her there wasn’t the least reason for me to join, for, although
I’ve never told my age to any living person, I hardly consider myself
on the matrimonial list any longer. And then Mrs. Van Cortlandt Skinner
told me of the various beautiful brand–new orders in the Church, and
said she thought of getting an order founded for one of her boys; the
other would have to marry and perpetuate the family. And I suggested a
contemplative order with a nice name, like the Order of St. Werewolf.”
“Oh, Sara!”
“Yes, I did. I told her St. Werewolf was much respected in the Middle
Ages; one heard a good deal of him; and she swallowed the wolf and
the saint at one gulp. She said she rather liked the notion and might
build a beautiful monastery on her estate on the Hudson, and whichever
one of her boys she decided to indulge in a life of celibacy she would
have made the first superior. And then I said—now, Richard, don’t be
rude—I said how much simpler all these delightful things would be if
we only had an archbishop like the Archbishop of Canterbury; and Mrs.
Van Cortlandt Skinner said that she had often longed for an archbishop
and had always thought that the development of the Church in America
required one; and then I caught Senator Thorndyke’s eye—we were coming
out of church—and I ran away.”
“You wicked old woman! What will you do next!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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