osition, and, I fear, of somewhat impaired digestive powers. And she
was lamenting, not boisterously, but in a subdued, conversational
manner, that the good old days were gone, 'the days of Chivalry,' when
my lady had her nice little _boo-dwah_ (for the life of me, I didn't
know whether that was something nice to eat or to wear; but I have since
learned that it is something French, and spelt, _b-o-u-d-o-i-r_,) and
was waited upon by handsome pages, and took her airing on a dappled-gray
palfrey, attended by trusty and obsequious grooms; when Sir Knight,
followed by his sturdy henchmen, rode forth in gay and gaudy attire,
with glittering helmet and cuirass, and entered the lists, and bravely
fought for his fair lady's fame. She spoke with fervid eloquence, and
with a glibness that betrayed a very recent perusal of the
tournament-scene in _Ivanhoe_. I was about to reply, and say something
in behalf of modern chivalry; but just then a gentleman claimed her hand
for a quadrille that was forming, and my remarks were cut short.

If my readers will bear with me, I will attempt to tell them what I was
going to say to my romantic young friend. The days of chivalry are _not_
gone. Let me remark that this assertion does not apply to the blatant,
nigger-driving article that whilom flourished in Dixie, for that is
about 'played out,' though they still rant and prate about the 'flower
of chivalry.' At Fort Lafayette, there is an herbarium of choice
specimens (rather faded and seedy) of that curious 'yarb;' and at the
old Alton Penitentiary, and at Camp Douglas, Chicago, there are
collections, not so choice and a great deal more seedy. Though
Simon--not he of other notoriety, but another man--Simon Bolivar
Buckner, a sweet-scented pink of Southern chivalry; though he must have
his little fling at us, and call General Grant 'ungenerous and
unchivalrous,' it does not strike me with stunning force that he,
ingrate that he is, and traitor to the government that educated him, is
exactly the one to teach us what chivalry is, or how it ought to treat
vanquished rebels. No, the days of chivalry are _not_ gone. While the
base counterfeit that has so often been thrust upon us by Southern
braggadocios, and indorsed by Northern sneaks and doughfaces, has been
detected, and, thank God! is being thrown out as fast as shot and shell
can knock it out, there never was a greater abundance of the genuine
metal than there is now and here in this land of ou