A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 130: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

128 A LADY BACHELOR. our own happiness. Do you know why 1 am so positive and indignant? IJ’ll tell you: I have a cousin; she was engaged; her affianced died; she resolved never to marry; she has adhered to her resolution, and 1 have been a wit- ness of the actual social persecutions she has been called upon to face, simply because she chose to be faithful to a memory, and not offer a half love forafull one. If she had my courage, she would not be put down. She loves social life, but has met with so many rebuffs, her motives have been so persistently misinterpreted, she has lost all courage, and is settling down into a quiet old maid, with- holding herself from all the enjoyments of life open to young girls, and at least she is as young as they are, only she is not seeking a husband; but you would think, from the talk, that she was seeking to capture every man she is introduced to. ’ Eloise had remained silent, but she fully appreciated every word spoken by the spirited young miss who had be- come her champion and the champion of her sex. On the day following the incidents related, 1 noticed a change in the attitude of the girls in the hotel toward my little study. One brave girl had confronted the torrent of prejudice, and had, to a certain extent, turned the stream aside, and indicated how different conditions might be if all people were just and kindly toward those who, through misfortune or choice, dare maintain their independence. Unfortunately for Eloise, Miss Teft went away; her sojourn at the hotel had been but a passing one. She went to Newport, and the moment she had gone the old annoyances and slights were renewed; but Eloise was pre~ Gomichbooks (E@)