The philosophy of Jake Haiden (late Jacob K. Huff) : $b selected from the columns of the Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania : with a biographical appreciation by his friend Henry W. ShoemakerHuff, Jacob K.
Philosophy
The philosophy of Jake Haiden (late Jacob K. Huff) : $b selected from the columns of the Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania : with a biographical appreciation by his friend Henry W. Shoemaker
Huff, Jacob K.
American essays; Huff, Jacob K., 1851-1910
Girls are so prone to over-estimate their usefulness and greatness and
social prestige. The average girl of eighteen or twenty is always “It” in
her own estimation. And if she is a city-bred girl she sets a very low
estimation on the young man from the country. “He is too slow,” or “too
much of a jay,” no odds how sincere he may be. She prefers the flashy,
dashing, frivolous city-bred bubble who is always bursting with light wit
and shady insinuations. The traveling man is her ideal, whether she knows
anything about his character or not.
A story just reached me through a mysterious channel about two rather
pretty, well-dressed but flippant school teachers, who went from a
Pennsylvania city to a nearby country village to teach in the local
school. They felt country life a bore at first because traveling men
seldom came that way. So, by way of making country life more tolerable,
they began to cultivate the acquaintance of the neighborhood boys. Some
of these they flattered and smiled upon and encouraged, and in return
were treated often to candies, fruits, and were escorted to card parties
and country dances and given a good time. When sleighing season came two
of the rustic swains, who earned the munificent sum of three dollars
per week, chipped in and hired a two-horse outfit at the cost of four
dollars, and invited the two young teachers to take a ride with them and
eat supper at a famous chicken and waffle resort at the far end of the
valley.
The girls pretended to be delighted, and the party drove off gaily amid
cheers and the jingle of bells. When the hotel was reached, where an
elaborate and expensive supper had been ordered in advance, the gay,
giddy teachers jumped out of the sleigh and ran into the warm parlor,
while the unsuspecting young men drove around to the stable to see that
the horses were properly attended to. In the parlor the girls met a gay
party of young folks, of aristocratic tastes and manners, from their home
city, who knew the two teachers. “Who brought you here?” inquired one
of the city girls, to which one of the deceitful and shameless teachers
responded: “Oh, a couple of country prunes—a pair of dubs brought us.
Gee, but they are slow and jayish.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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