e Lord help the American
women! I shall never forget the remark that that most delightful of men
and writers, Oliver Wendell Holmes, made to me some years ago, as we
were talking on the subject of women's dress: 'By the time a French
milliner has been six months in New York she will make you a bonnet to
frighten a Choctaw Indian.' But then, Dr. Holmes was a refined
Bostonian.

The French woman, at an afternoon or evening party, may be as
beautifully and stylishly dressed as you like, there is always about
her dress a certain little touch of simplicity that will make you think
that somewhere in her wardrobe she keeps some frock or gown still more
beautiful, stylish and expensive. Very often at breakfast-time an
American woman will make you think that she has on her very best and
smartest dress. I have seen some at the leading hotels of Jacksonville
and St. Augustine, Florida, with diamond brooches and bracelets at
breakfast. The American woman has a supreme contempt for what is not
silk, satin, velvet or crepe de chine. She generally looks dressed for
conquest. With her it is paint and feathers and hooray all the time! On
board a steamer across the Atlantic she wears silk and fifty-dollar
hats. But, of course, these ladies do not belong to the Olympian sets.

I have mentioned all this because woman's character is very much the
same all over this little planet of ours. Now, of all these women, the
Americans are those who devote most time and spend most money over
their appearance, and as they would be least of all accused of thinking
for one moment how they look for the sake of the men, I say I have
proved my answer to be right, that women do not dress for men.

Indeed, if the end of the world were to witness the presence of two
women only on the face of the earth, each would be discovered striving
to outshine the other and look the better dressed of the two.

CHAPTER XX

THE FRENCH WIFE

Her keenness and common-sense--Her power of observation and her
native adaptability--Her graceful ways--Her tact--Her artistic
refinement--Monsieur et Madame--'Did I hear you knock at my door,
dear?'

The wealthy classes of society in every civilized nation in the world
are so much alike in their manners, habits, and customs, that they
offer very little food to the observer of national characteristics. The
men follow the London fashions, the women the Paris ones. They all
cultivate sport, art, and literat