addle themselves on you longer than you want them;
so you might as well go to the party with the rest of us."

"And besides, you know," said Mrs. Wilcox, "all our young people will
go, whether we go or not. Your Tom was at my house yesterday; and he
is going with my girls: they are all just as wild about it as they can
be, and say that it is the greatest fun that has been heard of this
summer."

In fact, there was not a man, woman, or child, in a circle of fifteen
miles round, who could show shade or color of an invitation, who was
not out in full dress at Mrs. John Seymour's party. People in a city
may pick and choose their entertainments, and she who gives a party
there may reckon on a falling off of about one-third, for various
other attractions; but in the country, where there is nothing else
stirring, one may be sure that not one person able to stand on his
feet will be missing. A party in a good old sleepy, respectable
country place is a godsend. It is equal to an earthquake, for
suggesting materials of conversation; and in so many ways does it
awaken and vivify the community, that one may doubt whether, after
all, it is not a moral benefaction, and the giver of it one to be
ranked in the noble army of martyrs.

Everybody went. Even Mrs. Lennox, when she had sufficiently swallowed
her moral principles, sent in all haste to New York for an elegant
spick and span new dress from Madame de Tullegig's, expressly for the
occasion. Was she to be outshone by unprincipled upstarts? Perish the
thought! It was treason to the cause of virtue, and the standing order
of society. Of course, the best thing to be done is to put certain
people down, if you can; but, if you cannot do that, the next best
thing is to outshine them in their own way. It may be very naughty
for them to be so dressy and extravagant, and very absurd, improper,
immoral, unnecessary, and in bad taste; but still, if you cannot help
it, you may as well try to do the same, and do a little more of it.
Mrs. Lennox was in a feverish state till all her trappings came from
New York. The bill was something stunning; but, then, it was voted by
the young people that she had never looked so splendidly in her life;
and she comforted herself with marking out a certain sublime distance
and reserve of manner to be observed towards Mrs. Seymour and the
Follingsbees.

The young people, however, came home delighted. Tom, aged twenty-two,
instructed his mother that Folling