GRANDMOTHER HOLLISTER
Old Mrs. Hollister's room was on the third floor back. It was large and
sunny, but considering that she owned the house it was rather peculiar
that she had such an inferior room. She and her sister Susan were the
only children of Josiah Carpenter, a wealthy man living in Akron, Ohio.
Upon his death the girls found themselves alone and heiresses. Alice,
while visiting in New York, met Archibald Hollister, who belonged to an
old and respected family but who was of no earthly account as a business
man. His handsome face won pretty Alice Carpenter. He was not long in
spending nearly all of her fortune, but he really was considerate enough
to contract pneumonia and die before he obtained possession of her
house, which fortunately was in her name and unmortgaged.
She had two sons--John, Kate's father, who lived in Columbus, Ohio, and
Archibald with whom she now made her home. Archibald loved his mother
and begged her to let him pay her rent for the house, but she replied
that if he would pay the taxes and keep the house in repair it would
equal the rent.
Her sister Susan still lived in the same town where they had been born.
She had never married. People told Archibald Hollister that his Aunt
Susan was a millionaire. Every investment that she made was successful.
She had adopted and educated two orphan boys, one of whom had died,
while the other was finishing college, after which he was to become a
lawyer. Aunt Susan seldom wrote of herself. She corresponded with Alice
(Grandmother Hollister) about twice a year, and at Christmas she
invariably sent her a generous check.
Grandmother Hollister and her son were alike in many ways. They were
free from all false pride and privately they considered Mrs. Hollister a
snob, and worried lest Ethel should become one. Archibald seldom
asserted himself, but when he did his word was law. While his wife was
a social climber he was exactly the opposite. He had been known to bring
home the most disreputable looking men--men who had been his friends in
youth and who were playing in hard luck. He would ask them to dinner
without even sending word, and his wife would invariably plead a sick
headache to get rid of sitting with them. She dared not interfere nor
object for she was just a little afraid of him and she realized that in
nearly everything he allowed her to have her own way.
Mrs. Hollister told Ethel privately that both here father and
grandmother were old fashioned. Although living in a handsome house they
kept but one maid. Mr. Hollister's salary was but a little over three
thousand, and at times they had hard work to make both ends meet. Ethel
attended a fashionable school and hardly realized what the family
sacrificed for her. She made many friends among the wealthy girls of the
smart set. Thanks to her mother's skill and taste she was enabled to
dress beautifully, but youth is thoughtless and she was just a little
too self centered to see that her parents were depriving themselves for
her.
Mrs. Hollister gave bridge parties, and once every two weeks a tea for
Ethel. Upon those days she hired two extra maids. It was pitiable to see
how she strove to keep up appearances. There was a young man whose
sister went with the set of girls who came to Ethel's teas. His name was
Harvey Bigelow. One of his sisters had married into the nobility. He had
a large Roman nose and a receding forehead, but Mrs. Hollister was
delighted when one afternoon Nannie Bigelow--his sister--brought him to
the house. He was only nineteen and at college. Ethel disliked him from
the first.
"Why, dear, why are you so rude to Mr. Bigelow? He's a gentleman," said
Mrs. Hollister.
"Yes, Mamma, but I simply cannot endure him," replied the girl. "For one
thing his nails are too shiny, and that shows his lack of refinement. I
don't care if his sister married the King, he's common--that's all."
It was then that Mrs. Hollister would declare that Ethel was exactly
like her father and grandmother.