rl is
carefully chaperoned, the village girl of equal social standing,
intrinsically speaking, is accustomed to go about unconcernedly, either
alone or under the escort of some youth, with whom she makes
engagements to drive, or walk, or row, or attend picnics, without
either of them, as a rule, thinking it necessary to ask her mother to
join them, or even to give her permission, that being taken for
granted, since it has probably never been denied. And the question
naturally arises, Why _should_ it be denied, when the young man is a
trusted chum of her brother, and as safe an escort for her as her own
father would be? It is a very different case from the similar instance
in the city, where the gallant is a comparative stranger, who may or
may not be reliable, and where a conventional world is coldly looking
on.

But, moreover, if this young country girl chooses, she goes alone to a
little evening party a few doors away, or to the evening "meeting" at
the village church, and this same youth, or some other one, escorts her
home in an impromptu fashion. The young lady probably invites him into
the house, if the hour is early and the family are still circled about
the parlor lamp. Or, if it is late, she does not ask him in, but
invites him to call. She does not thank him for his escort, unless it
has been given at obvious inconvenience to himself or others, and is
therefore not so much a matter of gallantry as of neighborly
accommodation. In the latter case she does thank him frankly for his
trouble.

When the young man calls to see her, she receives him with or without
the presence of her mother or other members of the family. She may
invite him to tea, with her mother's serene but passive approval; and,
in fact, the goings and comings of these young people are more like the
comradery of two girls than like the formal association of a young man
and young woman in society.

We are accustomed to call such a code a country code, because of its
almost universal following in small towns and villages. But similar
freedom of association is also observed in city circles outside of the
exclusive bounds of fashionable life. Indeed, some of the fashions
called "countryfied" are equally "cityfied," if we judge by the extent
of the usage. But what has been quite safe and sensible and refined in
the particular instance in the country, may be a most unsafe freedom in
the city, where every circle is constantly being invaded