r there are many on watch, and information
may drop in during the night) to write the article, which in any case
is highly coloured, and as antecedents are scanty and the public
_must_ not be disappointed, plausible ones are invented.

Anyhow, next morning articles appear, possibly to the effect that the
lovely and talented Mrs., or Miss, A. B. landed yesterday from the
Cunard steamer, and took up her abode at the Fifth Avenue Hotel,
where spacious rooms had been previously secured. That the editor,
from exceptional sources of information, is able to lay before his
readers the following short sketch of the talented artiste's previous
life, and that it will be his endeavour to supplement this by more
facts on the morrow. Then follows a biographical history from the
cradle upwards, closing with the _menu_ of yesterday's dinner. Too
much is not said in this first notice, the subject must not be
exhausted, and materials for further articles are reserved. Poor
Mrs., or Miss, A. B., at breakfast that morning, reads much about
herself of which she had been previously ignorant!

But this is only the beginning of the campaign. The next day, thanks
to the chambermaid, the waiter and others, a more or less accurate
list of the wardrobe appears, the jewels she wore the previous day,
and those still in the jewel-case, what time she got up, what she ate
at breakfast, where she went in the day, how well the hat she wore
suited the dress, what a lovely colour her hair is, how her fringe
(if she had one) gave her a childish grace, how (if she had none)
wisely she acted in discarding that woful fashion, and what a
patrician look the absence of it gave to her lovely face, &c., &c.
From early morn till she goes to bed (the description kindly halts
there) her movements are recorded, and on morning No. 3 the public
are informed that Mrs., or Miss, A. B. slept well, and awoke with a
fresh colour to add to her other charms!

I need not dilate more. The excitement is kept alive by daily
notices. Paper vies against paper in describing and commenting on her
European antecedents and her life since she landed, until some new
star appears, or until, often the case, the poor lady, in spite of
the press assertions that all this homage delights her, is fairly
driven out of New York. Some, alas! cannot seek safety in flight,
their avocations oblige them to remain; such, it can only be hoped,
grow callous, until, the subject being well threshed out an