Chaperone

“ Are you meaning to stay alone, all un-chaperoned, until this Yankee doctor thinks it is time to let your parents return? Just as like as not there is nothing [75] the matter with your father but a touch of malaria.”
“We had not thought of a chaperone, as we have been so miserable about Father we could not think of ourselves. If we are going to make a living, we won’t need chaperones, anyhow.” ”

“ Tweedie, a Scotch widow, and Miss Green’s companion, or chaperone as the latter lady herself styles her, although Miss Green would probably appear to you something past the age regarding chaperonage. Once upon a time she was very active in the parish, but I suppose I gave her offence about something or other, for her zeal has these many years past subsided into indifference, while the feeling with which she regards me and my daughters must, I fear, be indicated by a harder name. However, poor lady, she does us no harm, and we can forgive her for it,” concluded papa, magnanimously. ”

“ How would you define a chaperon, Cousin David?"
"We don't have them in Central Africa, Miss Rivers."
"Well, a chaperon is a person who should be seen and not heard. And she should be seen by the right people; not by those she is chaperoning, but by the tiresome people who think they ought to be chaperoned. My good Chappie satisfactorily [Pg 75] fulfils these conditions. She is, to all intents, chaperoning you and me, this evening; yet, in reality, she is dining with friends of hers in Riversmead ”

“ It seems that if she could have driven up and taken a groom it would have been good form, but there was some complication about the horses, and to go by rail unchaperoned, even though surrounded by a earful of people, was not to be thought of. I pointed to the asters that must be set out and covered before the sun was high, but she couldn't understand, and went off in a huff.
What a disagreeable word chaperon is at best, and what a thankless vocation the unlisted, active, and very irregular verb 'to chaperon' implies. ”

“ Her pulse quickened under the ardor in his eyes. “God! why am I poor!” He struck one fist impotently in his other palm. “Cannot you understand, my darling, that it hurts me cruelly to see you living here as a paid chaperon when you should reign as queen.”
“Miss Langdon,” called Janet from the doorway. “Our guests are waiting to say good-bye.”
Marjorie, dragged once more to earth, started guiltily for the door, without a glance at her companion. A chaperon had small right to sit in corners with attractive men. ”

“ I came out of it barely alive, and very nearly maimed.’
‘Yes—I don’t think Katherine would make a very excellent chaperon,’ says Mrs. Prior, who likes Crosby, but cordially detests his sister.
‘What a slander!’ cries Lady Forster; ‘easy to see you don’t understand me! I’m a splendid chaperon—a born one. Always half a mile ahead—or else in the rear. One should always be ahead if possible, as it gives the poor creatures a chance of getting up to you in an honourable way, if the enemy should come in sight. Whereas the turning and running back business always looks so bad. ”

“ In selecting a chaperon for a young charge, let parents or guardians be very particular as to the past history of the lady. If she has ever been talked about, ever suffered the bad reputation of flirt or coquette, do not think of placing her in that position. Clubs have long memories, and the fate of more than one young heiress has been imperilled by an injudicious choice of a chaperon. If any woman should have a spotless record and admirable character it should be the chaperon. ”

“ Ten minutes later the last guest had arrived, and Duncan, keeping up a detached conversation with a nervous débutante, watched Marjorie with increasing interest. Her youth might be against her as a chaperon, but her poise and good breeding left nothing to be desired. No sign of awkwardness was discernible in her manner as she stood by Janet’s side assisting her in receiving the guests, and Calderon Fordyce, stopping beside his son, whispered a vehement: “She’ll do.” ”

“ Willoughby's. It was all so irresistibly comical. Cousin Sophy thinks she has a genius for choosing chaperons, and so she has, but fate is too strong for men and gods, not to mention saintly and secluded old ladies. I had scarcely more than entered the drawing-room, and taken my bearings, as cousin would say, when the worst Vandal of the lot is marched up to me, and I—green little girl—thought I must be polite to him and every one else. When I think of it all, I see that my chaperon was like a distressed hen with a duckling that would go into the water. ”

“ I made myself a chapman when very young, in great hopes of being rich when I became old but fortune was fickle and so was I; for I had not been a chapman above two days, until I began to consider the danger of deep ditches, midden-dubs, biting dogs and boggles in barns, bangster wives and weet sacks; and what comfort is it, to ly in a cows oxter, the length of a cold winter night ”

“ The chaperons of the present day are very easy-going people—or, perhaps I ought to say, that the young ladies of the present day have a certain Yankee go-a-headishness which very much lightens the chaperon's responsibility. In point of fact, the London chaperon has dwindled into a formula, and no doubt she will soon be improved off the face of society. ”

“ For the chapmen have awakened and have striven, the two young ones together, and then the two young with the old because of his bitter mocks. But now they be got to the road again, and though we be most like to prevent them at a place of refuge, yet wise will it be to leave as little as may be to chance-hap. ”

“ An unmarried lady, unless she be a maiden-lady of a recognised age and standing, cannot act as an orthodox chaperon; but, on the other hand, a young married lady could do so with the greatest propriety, as could a brother from the age of eighteen; of other relatives it is not necessary to speak.
Young ladies are now frequently asked to dinner-parties without a chaperon, a hostess constituting herself chaperon for the occasion. ”

“ I hearing the fear they were in, cried to them not to be frighted, for was not the devil, but a poor chapman, who could not get quarters the last night; a foul fa’ thy carcase, Sir, for our jock is through the midden dib, dirt and a’ thegither; he who went last came back again, the other ran into the house and told what he had seen. The goodman and his wife came running, he with the grape in his hand, and she with the Bible, the one crying out, Sandy, is’t true that the deil was in the barn? na, na, said she, it's but a chapman, but poor Jock has gotten a fright wi' him. ”

“ From that moment, in fact, whoever saw the Baroness de Thaller would also see Mlle. Cesarine following in her wake.
A girl of fifteen, discreet and well-trained, is a convenient chaperon; a chaperon which enables a woman to show herself boldly where she might not have dared to venture alone. ”

“ Because of these prejudices current concerning the idea of chaperonage, because of this mode of considering the subject, characteristically American, it is all the more necessary that the line should be sharply drawn as to the occasions where the consensus of usage and good sense declares a chaperon to be indispensable. The sense of the best American conventionalities, broadly speaking, is that a young woman may have greater liberty in her father’s house than elsewhere. ”

“ No, said I, you lousie dog, I'll sell you none, if there's any on the ground, seek them up and stap them in a beast's arse: but if ye were a man, I would burn you in the fire, tho' it be in your own house, but as you are a poor taylor and neither man nor boy, I'll do nothing but expose you for what you are. O dear honest chapman, cried his wife, ye maunna do that and I'se gie you cheese and bread. No, no, you thieves, I'm for nothing but vengeance; no bribes for such. So as I was lifting my pack, there was a pretty black cat which I spread my napkin over ”

“ On the morning, the old matron got up first, and ordered up the house, then told me to rise now, for chapman and every body was up; then she asked me if I had an use of laughing in my sleep? Yes, said I, when I see any daft like thing, I can look and laugh at it, as well sleeping as waking: A good preserve us, said she, ye're an unco body, but ye need nae wait on our porrage time, I'se gie you cheese and bread in your pouch, which I willingly accepted, and away I came. ”

“ At once Nell fired up. "Not at all," said she. "No one who doesn't want to, need go; but those who do, will. All favorably inclined hold up their hands."
Up went Mr. Starr's, and Lady MacNairne slowly followed his example. Whether it is that she wishes to be with her nephew because she's fond of him, or whether she thinks highly of her duties as our chaperon; anyway, she generally comes with us if he does. I hated displeasing Mr. van Buren; but when Nell said, "Phil, you'll stick by me, won't you?" ”

“ Mamma having been so much before the public, I have also had my responsibilities in the profession, for"—with a laughing glance at her mother—"I have frequently acted as her chaperon when she has had engagements at a distance from home."
"'Chaperon!' That is rather good, Helen," Mr. Jerome here dryly interposed, and bending a pair of twinkling eyes upon madam. "Well, you do look almost youthful enough to need a chaperon; Alexander was saying only a few moments ago he thought you and Dorothy must be sisters." ”

“ Chichester Barnard’s “business engagement” had not prevented his dancing attendance upon another girl—and she, Marjorie Langdon, was to be that girl’s official chaperon.
[Pg 37]
CHAPTER V
GIVE AND TAKE “Does everything look in order in the dining-room, Duncan?” inquired Mrs. Fordyce anxiously, on her son’s entrance, laying down the magazine she was reading.
“Of course it is, dear mother,” he replied, sitting down on the lounge beside her. “You can always trust Perkins to arrange the table decorations to the Queen’s taste. Why so anxious tonight?” ”

“ However numerous they may be, the price of everything is known to them; and such is their idea of probity, that pilfering is quite unknown amongst them. They are entirely trusted by their parents from their earliest years; even when they blossom into young women, chaperons are never a necessity ”

“ Next morning when I came in, the goodwife began to pray for herself and all that she had, saying, It's Wednesday through a'the warld and good be between me and you chapman, for ye're either a witch or a warlock, or something that's no canny, for ye witcht our sowens last night, were very good when I left them, tho I did not prie them, and I wish'd them as for they gaed mad, rag'd out the pot, belling and bizzing like barm, I thought they wad run out to the barn to you ”

“ The goodman ordered me the pottage-pot to lick; for, says he, it is an old property to chapmen. Well, I had no sooner begun to it, then out came a great big mastiff-dog from below the bed, and grips me by the breast, then turns me over upon my back, and takes the pot himself. Ay, ay, said the goodman, I think your brother pot-licker and you cannot agree about your breakfast! A well, said I, goodman, you said that pot-licking was a chapman's property, but your dog proves the contrary. So away I comes, and I meeting the good wife at the door, bid her farewell for ever. ”

“ Says the chapman: "Nay, Carline, not so fast; how shall ye go safer than with us, ten weaponed men to wit? And safe thou shouldst go, dame, whereas thou bearest with thee so great a treasure." Said the third and youngest of the chapmen: "Go with us ye needs must till we have seen thy damsel safely set in good hands: or what do ye with her?" Said the Maiden: "O my masters, this is my fostermother, and to say sooth the only mother that I have known; it is with all my will that I go where she leadeth, I pray you let her do her will." ”

“ If a chaperon is bright and cheery, sympathizing in the enjoyment of the young people, and avoiding making her presence a bar upon innocent gayety, she need be no drawback to the pleasure of the expedition. On the contrary, most young men and302 women will feel a security and sense of comfort from having some one along to take the responsibility of the conduct of the party that they could never know were there no chaperon present. ”

“ Being permitted to lie in the spence beside the goodman's bed, the good wife being very hard of hearing, she thought that every body was so, for when she went to bed, she cried out, A how hearie, isna yon a brave moderate chapman we hae here the night, he took just seven soup o' our sowens, and that fill'd him fu', a dear Andrew man, turn ye about, an' tak my cauld a-se in your warm lunchoch. ”

“ Young girls for whose sole benefit and protection the chaperon exists (she does not exist for her own pleasure, youthful opinion to the contrary notwithstanding) , have infinitely greater freedom from her surveillance than had those of other days, and the typical chaperon is seldom seen with any but very young girls, too young to have married friends. ”

“ At last, I prevailed with a wife, if her husband was willing, to let me stay, she would, and sent me to the barn to ask him; and I meeting him at the barn door carrying in strae for his horses, I told him his wife had granted to let me stay, if he was not against it; to which he answered, If I should lie in his midden dib, I should get no quarters from him that night; a wheen lazy idle villains turns a' to be chapmen, comes through the country fashing fouks, ay seeking quarters ”

“ Master Jim Curtis and Master Mike Waters, but particularly Master Curtis, are amusing themselves by chaffing, or, according to their pronunciation, "charfin," Master Bill Sims. Chaffing, translated into intelligible language, signifies, "quizzing," "rallying," or "persiflage" Thus understood, it will at once be recognised as a species of intellectual diversion often indulged in by those moving in good society. No one, for example, who has paid attention, either temporary or permanent, to a young lady, can be otherwise than aware of this fact. "Chaffing," indeed, is a very venerable recreation. ”