Phemie Frost's ExperiencesStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
General
Phemie Frost's Experiences
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
Fiction
Mercy on me, wasn't there a fluttering when that name rang through the
crowd, as if blown by the trumpet of Fame. I felt myself blushing from
head to foot, my heart rose into my mouth. I clung with feminine
reliance on my cousin's arm, and, thus supported, prepared to endure the
hundreds of admiring eyes bent upon me.
Mr. Greeley came forward. The moment he heard that name he seized the
two whitely gloved hands that I held out to him.
"Miss Frost, of Vermont," says he.
I pressed his hands. I could not speak. A little address, full of
poetry, that I had been thinking over in my mind, melted into chaos. I
could only murmur something about birthdays and long lives. Then some
new people crowded me away, and I felt myself alone long enough to take
a look at the rooms. They were gorgeous with pictures and flowers;
radiant with gas, which fell like August sunshine through a thicket of
vines, and flowers woven in among the burners in the chandelier, and
dropping down half way to the floor.
The marble slabs under the looking-glass at each end of the rooms were
matted over with flowers, and from the top streamed down long feathery
vines which ended in little bunches of red roses that swung loose before
the glass, and left another vine there. Over the doors and windows these
vines and flowers trailed themselves everywhere. Some beautiful pictures
were on the walls. The centre one was of Greeley himself--just like
him--bland and serene, smiling down upon the crowd as if he longed to
shake hands over again.
This picture was just crowned with a mat of white flowers, in which the
year our Greeley was born, and the present year, were woven with bright
red flowers. Down each side the feathery vines trailed and quivered. I
tell you, sisters, it was beautiful.
Before I could take in a full view, people had found out where I stood,
and came crowding round me so close that I had to take in a reef of my
pink silk dress, and they kept Cousin Dempster busy as a bee introducing
them. So many people had read my writings, so many people had been dying
to see me, it was enough to bring blushes to my cheeks and tears to my
eyes. This, said I, is fame--and all Vermont shall hear of it, not for
my sake, but in behalf of the Society.
The rooms had been full of music all the time, but now the toot horns
and fiddles stopped, and I heard the tones of a pianoforte from the
further end of the room, then a voice struck in--loud, clear, ringing.
We pressed forward, people made way for us, and we got into the ring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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