Excerpt from Princess<br><br>Hen the idea of a removal to Virginia was first mooted in the family of General Per cival Smith, ex-brigadier in the United States ser vice, it was received with consternation and a perfect storm of disapproval. The young ladies, Norma and Blanche, rose as one woman - loud in denunciation, vehement in protest - fell upon the scheme, and verbally sought to annihilate it. The country! A farm!! The The idea was untenable, monstrous. Before their outraged vision floated pictures whereof the foreground was hideous with cows, and snakes, and beetles; the middle distance lurid with discomfort, corn-bread, and tri-weekly mails; the background lowering with solitude, ennui, and colored servants. Rusticity, nature, sylvan sotudes, and. Were exquisite bound in Russia, with gold letter ing and tinted leaves wonderfully alluring viewed at leisure with the gallery to oneself, and the light at the proper angle, charmingly attractive behind the footlights, but in reality - to the feeling of these young ladies it could be best appreciated by those who had been born to it. In their opinion, they, themselves, had been born to something vastly superior, so they rebelled and made them selves disagreeable hoping to mitigate the gloom of the future by intensifying that of the present.<br><br>Their mother, whose heart yearned over her offspring, essayed to comfort them, casting daily and hourly the bread of suggestion and anticipa tion on the unthankful waters, whence it invaria bly returned to her sodden with repinings. The young ladies set their grievances up on high and bowed the knee they were not going to be com forted nor pleased, nor hopeful, not they. The scheme was abominable, and no aspect in which it could be presented rendered its abomination less; they were hopeless, and helpless, and oppressed, and there was the end of it.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.