Part Three: Irene

The early morning woke everyone with buckets of sunshine. The fat little squirrels gathered their nutmeats, always careful to keep out from under the feet of the servants making ready the spacious lawns and gardens for the grand party to come in just a few hours.

Yesterday, all the grounds were mowed, pruned, trimmed and tidied. Today, the sun and the squirrels are having their way and who would want it otherwise? The sun lazily spreads it's delicious warmth, while the squirrels perform a play of antics, hopping and jumping through the azaleas and the rhododendron, up the hickory and over to the black walnut, testing and tasting what they don't hide in winter nests.

The tents were set up yesterday; elegant white and blue striped canopies with great blue flags flying. Tables and chairs were casually scattered about. There were croquette hoops and badminton nets. One tent, next to the formal garden, was set up with a few decks of poker cards, some brandy snifters and a box of imported cigars for some of the older gentlemen.

Irene, beautiful and charming, strolled the grounds. She chattily greeted each of her guests with a cocktail in one hand and an unlit cigarette in a holder in the other.

"Millicent, darling, so good of you to come. Now that you and Charles have that motor car, I'm soooo looking forward to seeing the two of you more often.

"Oh, Sarah, come meet my sister, Millicent. She and her husband have just purchased a new motor car and it has me positively distracted. It overwhelms me to think about travel without having to wait for the locomotive. Well, I must say the locomotive was much better than having to feed and water the horses and wait for their whims along the way, but with the motor car, we can speed along at fifteen miles to the hour! I dare say the human race has advanced to the highest of heights in our very lifetime.

"If you want to know what I think, I believe we've reached the ultimate good life. Five years ago, we'd never have thought to even dream of travelling thirty miles in two hours. And now, it's a fact of life!

"Now, dears, let's go browse the gardens, shall we? The peonies and the gladiolas did dreadfully this summer, but you simply must see the beautiful chrysanthemums. I never thought I'd like an Old English garden, the structure of it always put me off before. But adding the flowers has made all the difference. The colors take away that plain, stoic look.

"Oh, look, there's Cook. He puts so much effort into these little parties. But things are so unbelievably easier for him now. I can remember when even the smallest dinner party took up so many days of his time, even with all the extra help we could hire for him. But, now things are different.

"Electricity!, that's what I say. It's been a godsend to him. And all the new kitchen appliances we have now made work so much easier for dear Cook that we can let him have an entire day off each week!

"Oh, there's my sweet puppy! Come to Mommy, Hugo. You know, dears, I would never take him in the motor cars like some people do with their dogs. I've heard the speed is enough to do a dog's heart severe damage and I'll not have that.

"And have you heard the talk about those aero-planes? Well, I don't believe a word of it. Just imagine! Something as heavy as a house carrying people around in the air! Why, ten men couldn't pick it up and they expect us to believe the air can carry it? Nonsense. Motor cars and electricity are one thing, but that aero-plane business is quite a bit of imagination, if you ask me."