How Ethel Hollister Became a Campfire Girl | Page 4

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.
CHAPTER IV
A PINK TEA
Although old Mrs. Hollister owned the house and nearly all of the
handsome antique furniture, Mrs. Archie seemed often to forget that
fact, and from her manner one might infer that the lady regarded her
mother-in-law as a sort of interloper. The old lady would allow her to
go just so far, after which she would suddenly pull her up with a sharp
turn and admonish her with such a cutting rebuke that Mrs. Archie
would blush painfully and apologize. But while antagonistic on most
points they each agreed on Ethel. Even Grandmother felt that her
daughter-in-law was wise in trying to fit the girl for the smart set,
where she would have