you were
sitting with a lady, he would shake hands with her and begin a
conversation, ignoring your existence, although you may have been his
guest at dinner the night before, or he yours. This was also a tenet of
his creed borrowed from trans-Atlantic cousins, who, by the bye, during
the time I speak of, found America, and especially our Eastern states, a
happy hunting-ground,--all the clubs, country houses, and society
generally opening their doors to the "sesame" of English nationality. It
took our innocent youths a good ten years to discover that there was no
reciprocity in the arrangement; it was only in the next epoch (the list
of the three referred to) that our men recovered their self-respect, and
assumed towards foreigners in general the attitude of polite indifference
which is their manner to us when abroad. Nothing could have been more
provincial and narrow than the ideas of our "smart" men at that time.
They congregated in little cliques, huddling together in public, and
cracking personal old jokes; but were speechless with _mauvaise honte_ if
thrown among foreigners or into other circles of society. All this is
not to be wondered at considering the amount of their general education
and reading. One charming little custom then greatly in vogue among our
_jeunesse doree_ was to remain at a ball, after the other guests had
retired, tipsy, and then break anything that came to hand. It was so
amusing to throw china, glass, or valuable plants, out of the windows, to
strip to the waist and box or bait the tired waiters.

I look at the boys growing up around me with sincere admiration, they are
so superior to their predecessors in breeding, in civility, in deference
to older people, and in a thousand other little ways that mark high-bred
men. The stray Englishman, of no particular standing at home no longer
finds our men eager to entertain him, to put their best "hunter" at his
disposition, to board, lodge, and feed him indefinitely, or make him
honorary member of all their clubs. It is a constant source of pleasure
to me to watch this younger generation, so plainly do I see in them the
influence of their mothers--women I knew as girls, and who were so far
ahead of their brothers and husbands in refinement and culture. To have
seen these girls marry and bring up their sons so well has been a
satisfaction and a compensation for many disillusions. Woman's influence
will always remain the strongest lever that