Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1894 — MRS. GADABOUT. [ARTICLE]

MRS. GADABOUT.

A Woman Whose Aim Is to Make Untlmt ly Calls. Mrs. Gadabout is a type of woman who has little to do herself and whose aim appears to be to prevent others from accomplishing any more. Calls at unseemly hours are her pet hobby. If she can only catch a room or a person in confusion, then she is happy, for it furnishes her with a racy topic of conversation when she visits other homes. In a country town she pretends great friendship, and trading on this intimacy, generally comes in at the hack door just at the time When a stranger’s presence is least appreciated. If a cake is a failure, she is sure to be ou hand that day for tea; if the kitchen is in particular confusion, her face looms up in the doorway, find any family trouble that it is the heartfelt desire to keep hidden is sure to be pounced upon by her during one of her ill-timed visits. In country and city alike she surprises the wife in tears, the husband in a temper, and with a poorly concealed delight endeavors to console the one or the other, all the time worming out of them words which will sound very differently when repeated by her at the next house. If anyone were to accuse her of being a gossip, she would deny it most emphatically. She is only anxious for company, that is all. Hers is a gregarious nature, and if she happens in at the wrong time it is her misfortune rather than her intention. But it is not a misfortune at all; it is her stock in trade. She is happy when she stumbles on that other side that is not generally shown, and just so long as idle women exist, just so long will her type flourish on the revelations that come to light in those moments when one thinks the doors are locked and hearts barred against the invasion of strangers. —Philadelphia Times.