Mrs. Mason

“ Mason, "provided it's harmless. There's jokes and jokes. There's a sort that's better avoided. But I'd sooner laugh than cry over a worry any day. You wouldn't be half such a skinny scarecrow of a woman, if you was to laugh oftener, and glower seldomer over your frets. That you wouldn't."
Mrs. Mason was too useful a woman to be quarrelled with for her plain-spokenness; but certainly, her remarks did not lessen Mrs. Stuart's moodiness.
"That Nancy Dunn is the best and prettiest girl ever I see!" remarked Mrs. Mason. ”

“ Mason; have you finished Mrs. Trimmer’s Fabulous Histories? Indeed we have, answered Caroline, mournfully, and I was very sorry to come to the end. I never read such a pretty book; may I read it over again to Mrs. Trueman’s little Fanny? Certainly, said Mrs. Mason, if you can make her understand that birds never talk. Go and run about the garden, and remember the next lie I detect, I shall punish; because lying is a vice;—and I ought to punish you if you are guilty of it, to prevent your feeling Lady Sly’s misery. ”

“ Observing that Mrs Mason hesitated concerning what answer she should give, the faithful old servant proceeded to enforce the message, by telling her that he was sure it would do them good to see her—"for I am far mista'en, madam," said he, "if they dinna stand in need o' comfort."
"Has any misfortune befallen the family?" asked Mrs Mason, anxiously.
"I kenna, madam," returned the servant, "whether it can be weel called a misfortune; for a marriage may be a vexation to ane's friends that's nae misfortune in the end." "And Miss Stewart has occasioned this vexation, I suppose?" said Mrs Mason. ”

“ At length he became conscious that Lady Rose was gone, and starting up, with a sudden effort of strength, flung open the glass door, which led out upon a flower-terrace, and would have passed through on his way to the cottage, for his brain was all on fire, but that Mrs. Mason stood there chatting to one of the under-gardeners, who was trimming the rose-bushes, while he talked with her.
"Mercy on me!" cried the dame, breaking off her stream of gossip, with a cry of amazement, "if there isn't the young master, looking like the beautiful tall ghost of his own dear self. ”

“ Don't Archie like her?" demanded Mrs. Mason, rising to get the teapot.
No answer to this.
"Well, if I was you, I'd encourage it in every way I could. That's what I'd do," said Mrs. Mason emphatically, rinsing out the teapot. "She's a pretty girl, and a good girl, and she'll make a good wife to somebody some day. That girl's had a training that it isn't many girls get now-a-days. She'll clean up a room in next to no time; and she's first-rate at washing and ironing; and she's a good cook in a plain way. Yes; Mrs. Dunn's a wise mother. She's trained up Nancy to follow in her footsteps. ”

“ I never asked you to sacrifice the old folks—merely said something of how much out of place they might be, and how provoking their ways would become in a house like that we were building in the clouds."
"In reality, Ellen, the house I talked of shall be nothing to the palace I am building for my queen."
Mrs. Mason's eyes flashed triumphantly.
"I am half tempted," she said.
"Ah, my love, be wholly tempted!" he pleaded, with genuine tenderness in his voice. "No woman ever was worshipped as you shall be." ”

“ From these solemn meditations, Mrs Mason was called to witness the reading of the farmer's will. He had performed the duty of an honest man in making it while he was in perfect health; wisely thinking, that if he deferred it till the hour of sickness, he might then neither have the ability nor inclination to give his mind to worldly cares. ”

“ Mrs. Mason's face broke into a smile.
"I like that," she said. "I like a woman that don't pour out a rush of words, like water gallopading out of a spout. 'No' was enough: and you're right to say just that, and not a word more."
Susan privately thought that Mrs. Mason was admiring a virtue to which she had not herself attained.
"Well, but what I was going to say," resumed the other, "what I was going to say to you, was this: If you can help it, don't you let that girl of yours work in the factories!"
"My Nancy work in the factory!" Susan's comely face lighted up with a hot flush. "My Nancy! ”

“ Kettles are uncommon perverse articles," said Mrs. Mason. "I'm in no sort of a hurry, so it don't matter—not in the very least. But perhaps you're expecting company, in which case I'd best make myself scarce, seeing I'm not come by invitation."
Mrs. Mason knitted and smiled as she talked, showing no bodily inclination to budge.
"I'm not expecting no company," said Mrs. Stuart, with the intonation of a deeply injured woman.
"How's Archie to-day?" asked Mrs. Mason.
"He's well enough," said Mrs. Stuart.
"Fine-looking young fellow he does grow, to be sure! ”

“ The clock strikes six, and the boy, more mindful of his own tea than his neighbour's ailments, slips on his jacket and goes home. The last customers dawdle out with a grunt intended for a salutation. Mrs. Mason is softly heard to snore. And all the while Annie Mason—all the colour vanished from her wholesome face—stands with her hands clutching her dress, gazing down at the man, who still examines the herring with a self-conscious awkwardness. ”

“ Mason died. We didn't go there any more then, and I asked Rose what the reason was, and she said Mrs. Mason was poor now, and ma had 'cut her;' and when I asked her what she cut her with, she only laughed, and said she believed I didn't know any thing. But since then I've learned what it means."
"What does it?" asked Mary, and Jenny replied: "If a person dies and leaves no money, no matter how good his folks are, or how much you like them, you mustn't know them when you meet them in the street, or you must cross over the other side if you see them coming ”

“ Then he followed Aunt Mary to the bedroom—Mr. Kent carrying his little daughter to his own chamber, where he determined she should stay till they started for home.
When he returned to the sitting-room, all was confusion. Mr. Mason was bringing in a tub for a warm bath, while his wife held Joseph's head, crying as if her heart would break.
"It's just what I always told you," she exclaimed, sobbing. "You've killed him with your heavy blow. Oh, dear! I can't bear it."
"You had better be calm, Mrs. Mason," said the doctor. "There will be a great deal to do for the sick boy." ”

“ The servants testified that no one had called during the afternoon and Marian Mason testified that no one had been in that part of the house except herself. Mrs. Mason came in just before dinner and dressed hastily. She locked the jewel-case without looking at it, and put it in the cabinet where it was always kept. She did not employ a maid. No one except herself and her husband were in the room during the night. ”

“ At this time my flat was run by a good woman who was an excellent cook. She was also a widow, but that did not matter so much. I explained to Mrs. Mason so far as I could do so discreetly the state of affairs, and she at once became intensely interested. She also became slightly disapproving. She let me see clearly that she considered that I had not done enough. My suggestions as to luncheon were waived aside imperiously. “Leave it to me, miss,” said Mrs. Mason. “I know what illness is. I shouldn’t wish to seem to boast, but there are few families has had as much illness as mine has. ”

“ He was quite ignorant of all those lighter, more evanescent forms of conviviality attached to being somebody's son, brother, or cousin. At last, however, as he reminded himself, he was to discover what it was to be the nephew of somebody's husband. Mrs. Mason was to teach him the meaning of the adjective domestic. It would have been hard to learn it in a pleasanter way. Mason felt that he was to learn something from his very idleness, and that he would leave the house a wiser as well as a better man. ”

“ Mason was not a severe moralist; but she was quite too sensible a woman to wish to demoralize her nephew, and to persuade him to trifle with his future,—that future of which the war had already made light, in its own grim fashion. Nay, she loved him; she thought him the cleverest, the most promising, of young men. She looked to the day when his name would be on men's lips, and it would be a great piece of good fortune to have very innocently married his uncle. Herself a great observer of men and manners, she wished to give him advantages which had been sterile in her own case. ”

“ I cannot think so industrious a person as she would take up with a man both poor and idle. But you never know what a woman will do," sighed Mrs. Mason, who had known something of heart-troubles in her youth, and could sympathize with other unlucky women. "Excuse me; I must not stand here gossiping." And the good lady went about her house affairs.
A few moments later I was hurrying down town to my office, when I overtook Miss Jorgensen and Mr. Hurst. ”

“ He stooped and felt the turf. "Even the lawn's drenched. Crossing the meadow you'll be ankle-deep in dew. You must promise never to go home across the meadow when you dine with us."
He spoke, chiding her as if she had been a mutinous child, and with so much anxiety that she laughed.
"You see, you have become rather precious to me," he added.
Though the month was July she that night was all April, half tears, half laughter. The smile passed from her lips and she raised her hands to her face with the swiftness of one who has been struck. ”

“ Mason of these arrangements, and was pleased to have her approval.
From this moment his strength began rapidly to ebb, and the shattered fragments of his long-resisting will floated down its shallow current into dissolution. It was useless to attempt to talk, to beguile the interval, to watch the signs, or to count the hours. A constant attendant was established at his side, and Mrs. Mason appeared only at infrequent moments. The poor woman felt that her heart was broken, and spent a great deal of time in weeping. Miss Hofmann remained, naturally, at Mrs. ”

“ The plan of the work is one common to most juvenile fiction of the period. Caroline and Mary, being motherless, are placed under the care of Mrs. Mason, a lady of obtrusive wisdom and goodness, who shadows their infant lives, moralizes over every insignificant episode, and praises herself with honest assiduity. If Caroline is afraid of thunderstorms, Mrs. Mason explains that she fears no tempest, because “a mind is never truly great until the love of virtue overcomes the fear of death.” If Mary behaves rudely to a visitor, Mrs. Mason contrasts her pupil’s conduct with her own. ”

“ The deep sofas, the low, luxurious chairs, the voluptuous statuettes, and the rich curtains hanging from deep and ornamental screens of metal-work made a fitting frame for the lovely woman who was the mistress of the establishment. Mason, a young but wealthy man of affairs, had clearly spared no pains and no expense to meet every want and every whim of his beautiful wife. ”

“ While in Paris I visited Mrs. Mason, widow of James Mason, deceased. Mr. Mason was formerly a member of the Arkansas Senate and Sheriff of Chicot County. It will be remembered by old residents that the death of Mason's father, an old bachelor and rich planter, who died intestate, caused a suit at law of great interest and importance. It was an exciting trial, as many thousands of dollars were at stake in the issue. The fatherly care he had ever evinced for the education of his children (James having been educated in France and Martha at a Northern college) ”

“ Every one seems to have accepted the philosophy of the irrepressible Ninon, who "returned thanks to God every evening for her esprit, and prayed him every morning to be preserved from follies of the heart." If a young wife was modest or shy, she was the object of unflattering persiflage. If she betrayed her innocent love for her husband, she was not of the charmed circle of wit and good tone which frowned upon so vulgar a weakness, and laughed at inconvenient scruples. ”

“ One hand on her brown bosom rests, Rising and falling with every heart-beat Of the delicate, slow-swelling breasts. A lily, proud, all color of amber and wine, Waves peerless there, by right divine Queen o’er the moment and place. As the wind bends her coaxingly, Brushes softly the maiden’s white hand— That falls with an idle grace, Listlessly closed at her side— With a rippling touch, such as the tide, Rising, leaves on a summer day, On the quiet shore of some peaceful bay. ”

“ Mason lives in her own tenement, in a quiet part of the city; and besides myself, has usually three or four other boarders, generally teachers, or poor young authors—some person always of the class that, having few other pleasures, makes it a point to secure rooms with a fine view of the bay. When Miss Jorgensen came to us, we were a quiet, studious, yet harmonious and happy family; so well satisfied with our little community that we did not take kindly to the proposed addition to our circle when Mrs. Mason mentioned it. Neither did our landlady seem to desire any change ”

“ Mistress Mason, I do not come in the night and shake you out of your own bed, for to give you a taste of the cold floor, which yet is not, I promise you, so cold as the street into which you would turn this poor diseased man.' And then he fell to coaxing of me till I consented for to send a mattress and a warm rug to the stable for this pestilent old man, who I warrant you was not so sick as he did assume to be, but had sufficient cunning for to cozen Master Basil out of his money. ”