EXTRACTS FROM BELL CAMERON’S DIARY.
NEW YORK, December.
After German Philosophy and Hamilton’s Metaphysics, it is a great relief
to have introduced into the family an entirely new element—a character
the dissection of which is at once a novelty and a recreation. It is
absolutely refreshing, and I find myself returning to my books with
increased vigor after an encounter with that unsophisticated,
innocent-minded creature, our sister-in-law Mrs. Wilford Cameron. Such
pictures as Juno and I used to draw of the stately personage who was one
day coming to us as Wilford’s wife, and of whom even mother was to stand
in awe. Alas, how hath our idol fallen! And still I rather like the
little creature, who, the very first night, nearly choked mother to
death, giving her lace streamers a most uncomfortable twitch, and
actually kissing _father_—a thing I have not done since I can remember.
But then the Camerons are all a set of icicles, encased in a
refrigerator at that. If we were not, we should thaw out, when Katy
leans on us so affectionately and looks up at us so wistfully, as if
pleading for our love. Wilford does wonders; he used to be so grave, so
dignified and silent, that I never supposed he would bear having a wife
meet him at the door with cooing and kisses, and climbing into his lap
right before us all. Juno says it makes her sick, while mother is
dreadfully shocked; and even Will sometimes seems annoyed, gently
shoving her aside and telling her he is tired.
After all, it is a query in my mind whether it is not better to be like
Katy than like Sybil Grandon, about whom Juno was mean enough to tell
her the first day of her arrival.
“Very pretty, but shockingly insipid,” is Juno’s verdict upon Mrs.
Wilford, while mother says less, but looks a great deal more, especially
when she talks about “my folks,” as she did to Mrs. Gen. Reynolds the
first time she called. Mother and Juno were so annoyed, while Will
looked like a thunder-cloud, when she spoke of Uncle Ephraim saying so
and so. He was better satisfied with Katy in Europe, where he was not
known, than he is here, where he sees her with other people’s eyes. One
of his weaknesses is a too great reverence for the world’s opinion, as
held and expounded by our very fashionable mother, and as in a quiet
kind of way she has arrayed herself against poor Katy, while Juno is
more open in her acts and sayings, I predict that it will not be many
months before he comes to the conclusion that he has made a
_mésalliance_, a thing of which no Cameron was ever guilty.
I wonder if there is any truth in the rumor that Mrs. Gen. Reynolds once
taught a district school, and if she did, how much would that detract
from the merits of her son, Lieutenant Bob. But what nonsense to be
writing about him. Let me go back to Katy, to whom Mrs. Gen. Reynolds
took at once, laughing merrily at her _naïve_ speeches, as she called
them—speeches which made Will turn black in the face, they betrayed so
much of rustic life and breeding. I fancy that he has given Katy a few
hints, and that she is beginning to be afraid of him, for she watches
him constantly when she is talking, and she does not now slip her hand
into his as she used to when guests are leaving and she stands at his
side; neither is she so demonstrative when he comes up from the office
at night, and there is a look upon her face which was not there when she
came. They are “_toning_ her down,” mother and Juno, and to-morrow they
are actually going to commence a systematic course of training
preparatory to her début into society, said début to occur on the night
of the ——, when Mrs. Gen. Reynolds gives the party talked about so long.
I was present when they met in solemn conclave to talk it over, mother
asking Will if he had any objections to Juno’s instructing his wife with
regard to certain things of which she was ignorant. Will’s forehead knit
itself together at first, and I half hoped he would veto the whole
proceeding, but after a moment he replied,
“No, provided Katy is willing. Her feelings must not be hurt.”
“Certainly not,” mother said. “Katy is a dear little creature, and we
all love her very much, but that does not blind us to her deficiencies,
and as we are anxious that she should fill that place in society which
Mrs. Wilford Cameron ought to fill, it seems necessary to tone her down
a little before her first appearance at a party.”
To this Will assented, and then Juno went on to enumerate her
deficiencies, which, as nearly as I can remember, are these: She laughs
too much and too loud; is too enthusiastic over novelties; has too much
to say about Silverton and “my folks;” quotes Uncle Ephraim and sister
Helen too often, and is even guilty at times of mentioning a certain
Aunt Betsy, who must have floated with the ark, and snuffed the breezes
of Ararat. She does not know how to enter, or cross, or leave a room
properly, or receive an introduction, or, in short, to do anything
according to New York ideas, as understood by the Camerons, and so she
is to be taught—_toned down_, mother called it—dwelling upon her high
spirit as something vulgar, if not absolutely wicked. How father would
have sworn, for he calls her his little sunbeam, and says he never
should have gained so fast if she had not come with her sunny face, and
lively, merry laugh, to cheer his sick room. Katy has a fast friend in
him. But mother and Juno—well, I shall be glad if they do not annihilate
her altogether, and I am surprised that Will allows it. I wonder if Katy
is really happy with us. She says she is, and is evidently delighted
with New York life, clapping her hands when the invitation to Mrs.
Reynolds’s party was received, and running with it to Wilford as soon as
he came home. It is her first big party, she says, she having never
attended any except that little sociable in Boston, and those insipid
school-girl affairs at the seminary. I may be conceited—Juno thinks I
am—but really and truly, Bell Cameron’s private opinion of herself is
that at heart she is better than the rest of her family, and so I pity
this little sister of ours, while at the same time I am exceedingly
anxious to be present whenever Juno takes her in hand, for I like to see
the fun. Were she at all bookish, I should avow myself her champion, and
openly defend her; but she is not, and so I give her into the hands of
the Philistines, hoping they will, at least, spare her hair, and not
worry her life out on that head. It is very becoming to her, and several
young ladies have whispered their intention of trying its effect upon
themselves, so that Katy may yet be a leader of the fashion.