I'm sure they must have slept on the sofas or the
tables. I declare it's worse than foolish--it's wicked to have so much
pride," &c.

If those who thus indulged their vanity, only heard one-half of the
observations made by those who accent their hospitalities, or who strive
to get invitations and cannot, they would speedily give up their folly;
but money is the great Juggernaut, at the feet of which all the nations
of the earth fall down and worship; whether it be the coronets that
bowed themselves down in the temple of the Railway King in Hyde Park,
who could afford the expense; or the free and enlightened who do homage
in Mrs. ----'s temple at New Orleans, though perhaps she could not
afford the expense; one thing is clear--where the money is spent, there
will the masses be gathered together. General society is, however, more
sober and sociable, many families opening their houses one day in the
week to all their friends. The difference of caste is going out fast:
the Creoles found that their intermarriages were gradually introducing a
race as effete as the Bourbons appear to be in France; they are now
therefore very sensibly seeking alliances with the go-ahead blood of the
Anglo-Saxon, which will gradually absorb them entirely, and I expect
that but little Trench will be spoken in New Orleans by the year 1900.
Another advantage of the Creole element, is the taste it appears to have
given for French wines. As far as I am capable of judging, the claret,
champagne, and sauterne which I tasted here were superior in quality and
more generally in use than I ever found them in any other city. The
hours of dinner vary from half-past three to half-past five, and an
unostentatious hospitality usually prevails.

Servants here are expensive articles. In the hotels you find Irishmen
almost exclusively, and their wages vary from 2l. 8s. to 10l. per
month. In private houses, women's wages range from 2l. 8s. to 4l.
and men's from 6l. to 8l. the month. The residents who find it
inconvenient to go to the north during the summer, cross the lake to
their country villas at Passe Christianne, a pretty enough little place,
far cooler and more shady than the town, and where they get bathing, &c.
A small steamer carries you across in a few hours; but competition is
much wanted, for their charges are treble those of the boats in the
north, and the accommodation poor in comparison.

When crossing over in the steamer, I overheard a conversatio