s from the right source, and in
a time astonishingly short you find yourself at home. This has been
time out of mind Virginian custom; and as Richmond is but a condensation
of all that is Virginian, it prevailed here as well. If the stranger
did not give himself up to the whirl and yield himself, "rescue or no
rescue," to the lance of the unmarried, he could find, behind the
_chevaux de frise_ of clashing knitting-needles, the most genial
welcome and most whole-souled hospitality.

"Stupid party last night--too full," criticised Wyatt, as he lounged in
my room one morning. "You seemed bored, old man, though I saw you with
Nell H. Desperate flirt--pretty, too! But take my advice; let her
alone. It don't pay to flirt."--The ten years between the captain and
myself were to _my_ credit on Time's ledger--"It's all very well to
stick up your pennon and ride gaily into the lists to break a lance
with all comers. Society cries _laissez aller!_ and her old dowagers
shower _largesse_. Presto! my boy, and you find your back on the grass
and your heels in the air. But I've some steady-going cousins I want to
introduce you to. Suit you exactly."

Confound the boy! Where did he get that idea? But I was introduced to
the "steady-going cousins" and to me now the Richmond of memory begins
and ends in their circle. The jovial, pleasant family dinner around the
old-time board; the consciousness of ready welcome to the social
fireside, or partake of the muffin at eight, or the punch--brewed very
near Father Tom's receipt--at midnight. Then the never-to-be-forgotten
coterie of the brightest women of the day under the shaded droplight,
in the long winter evenings! And none were excluded by the "steady
goers" because they had committed matrimony. They did quantities of
work that season; baskets of socks, bales of shirts and boxes of
gloves, in numbers marvelous to see, went from that quiet circle to
warm the frozen hands and feet, keeping watch and ward for them. And
the simple words of cheer and love that went with them must have warmed
hearts far colder than beat under the rough shirts they sent.

And never did the genial current of talk--sometimes chatty, sometimes
brilliant--flag for a moment. The foremost men of government and
army were admitted, and I doubt if ever the most ardent of the
unmarried--wilting in the lancers, or deliquescing in the _deux
temps_--found very much more genuine enjoyment than the "easy goers,"
over their dis