SPEAK KINDLY.
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BY KATE SUTHERLAND.
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“Gracious, girl!” exclaimed Mrs. Lindley, thrown suddenly off of her guard, and turning, with a frown, upon a young lady who had accidentally trodden upon her dress as she was almost forced down the stairs of the Musical Fund Hall, at the breaking up of a crowded concert.
“I am sorry, ma’am,” said the young lady, gently; “it was entirely an accident.”
“People ought to look where they put their feet!” muttered Mrs. Lindley, frowning another reproof upon the blushing girl; and then, with a dignified toss of the head, resuming her march down the stairs, letting the crowd, that had been momentarily checked in its downward tendency, move on again more freely.
“I should call that a poor specimen of a refined lady,” remarked the gentleman upon whose arm the girl so rudely addressed was leaning, as they gained the street. “I hope we shall not find her a representative of Philadelphia good breeding.”
“Oh, no! I presume not,” was the answer. “New York has plenty just like her; and I would be very sorry if strangers were to estimate all by the standard they afford.”