t her eyes. She objects to the word, not
to the thing. In her way she is a realist. The thing speaks for itself,
it is the truth, whereas the word suggests to her fantastic imagination
the most objectionable ideas.

The French and the American women call on you and, when they think they
have stayed long enough, they shake hands and go. The British matron
'thinks' or 'is afraid she must be about going.'

What you have achieved does not amount to much to make a gentleman of
you in her eyes. If your father is a gentleman, you may be _in_ it; if,
besides, your grandfather was a gentleman, then you will be _of_ it.
The British matron generally belongs to Thackeray's family of snobs.

Her knowledge of French literature is marvellous. She has read or heard
of all the novels of M. Zola, and her verdict is that modern fiction in
France is the abomination of desolation. Edmond About, Andre Theuriet,
Anatole France, George Sand, she does not know.

Two young girls of my acquaintance, both aged about sixteen, were
speaking of the books they had lately read. One mentioned that she had
just finished 'Strathmore,' by Ouida, and that her mother thought it
was quite the sort of novel a young girl could read.

'And what have you read?' she added.

'Last week I read 'L'Ami Fritz,' by Erckmann-Chatrian,' replied the
other girl.

Now, this little idyll is about as proper and moral as the top lines of
school copy-books.

'Oh!' said the first young girl, 'does your mother allow you to read
French novels? Mine never does.'

Truly a strange being, the British matron!

CHAPTER XXIII

THE AMERICAN WOMAN--I

A new coat-of-arms for America--The American woman--Her ways--The
liberty she enjoys--'Oh, please make me an American woman!'

If I were asked to suggest a new coat-of-arms for the United States of
America, I would propose a beautiful, bright, intelligent-looking
woman, under the protection of an eagle spreading its wings over her,
with the motto: _Place aux Dames_--'Honour to the Ladies'; or, if
you prefer a freer translation, 'Make room for the Women.'

The Government of the American people is not a republic, it is not a
monarchy: it is a gynarchy, a government by the women for the women, a
sort of occult power behind the scenes that rules the country.

It has often been said that a wife is what a husband makes her. I
believe that the women of a nation are what the men of that nation make
them. Therefore, h