, the friend, did not in the least like it.
She would not. Can't you imagine the delightful results of a formal
wigging administered by a youngish and austere elder who was not
accustomed to make allowances for the natural dancing instincts of the
young of the human animal? The hot irons that are held forth to scare
may also sear, as those who have ever lain under an unfortunate
exposition of the old Faith can attest.

But it was all immensely interesting--the absolutely fresh, wholesome,
sweet life that paid due reverence to the things of the next world, but
took good care to get enough tennis in the cool of the evening; that
concerned itself as honestly and thoroughly with the daily round, the
trivial task (and that same task is anything but trivial when you are
"helped" by an American "help") as with the salvation of the soul. I had
the honour of meeting in the flesh, even as Miss Louisa Alcott drew
them, Meg and Joe and Beth and Amy, whom you ought to know. There was no
affectation of concealment in their lives who had nothing to conceal.
There were many "little women" in that place, because, even as is the
case in England, the boys had gone out to seek their fortunes. Some were
working in the thundering, clanging cities, others had removed to the
infinite West, and others had disappeared in the languid, lazy South;
and the maidens waited their return, which is the custom of maidens all
over the world. Then the boys would come back in the soft sunlight,
attired in careful raiment, their tongues cleansed of evil words and
discourtesy. They had just come to call--bless their carefully groomed
heads so they had,--and the maidens in white dresses glimmered like
ghosts on the stoop and received them according to their merits. Mamma
had nothing to do with this, nor papa either, for he was down-town
trying to drive reason into the head of a land surveyor; and all along
the shaded, lazy, intimate street you heard the garden-gates click and
clash, as the mood of the man varied, and bursts of pleasant laughter
where three or four--be sure the white muslins were among
them,--discussed a picnic past or a buggy-drive to come. Then the
couples went their ways and talked together till the young men had to go
at last on account of the trains, and all trooped joyously down to the
station and thought no harm of it. And, indeed, why should they? From
her fifteenth year the American maiden moves among "the boys" as a
sister among broth