Combining
a genial charm of manner with as sterile an intellect as it is possible
to attain, he was generally regarded as a perfect example of "the old
school," and this picturesque reputation made him desirable as a guest
at club dinners as well as at the larger gatherings of the various
Southern societies. His conversation, which was entirely anecdotal,
consisted of an elaborate endless chain of more or less historical
"stories." Social movements and the development of civilization
interested him as little as did art or science--for which he entertained
a chronic suspicion due to the indiscretions of Darwin. Change of any
kind was repugnant to his deeper instincts, and of all changes the ones
relating to the habits of women appeared to him to interfere most
unwarrantably with the Creator's original plan. For the rest he had the
heart of a child, would strip the clothes from his back to give to a
friend, or even to an enemy, and possessed an infallible gift for making
a dinner successful.

On Colonel Buffington's right sat Mrs. Hamilton, a very pretty, very
sprightly widow, with her hair coiled into the fashionable Psyche knot,
and the short puffs of her sleeves emphasizing the hour-glass perfection
of her figure. Next to Mrs. Hamilton there was Billy King, who wore a
white flower in his buttonhole and looked like a soldier out of
uniform, and beyond Billy sat Mrs. Crowborough, whom he was trying
despairingly to entertain. She, renowned and estimable woman, was
planning in her mind what she should say at a board meeting of one of
her pet charities on the morrow, a charity which, like all of her
favourite ones, concerned itself with the management and spiritual
elevation of girl orphans. Tall, raw-boned, strung with jet, Mrs.
Crowborough, who had been married for her money, looked as sympathetic
as a moral principle or an organized charity. Unfortunately, for she was
rather heavy in company, Judge Crowborough was obliged by custom to
bring her to dinner; and she came willingly, ins

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

Anonymous may refer to: Anonymus, the Latin spelling, may refer to: