To begin, then, with the changes to be noticed in' society; changes which we must define if we are to say when and how they came. What are they? The decline and fall of mighty family clans, as clans, and the consequent slackening of the kind of etiquette upheld by them. These are changes. The aristo-crate of the social world, those born to distinguished names and eminent inherited positions, were even thirty years ago holding a ood deal of court. The dictums of certain hostesses carried weight. If young people went to their part-fes and did not behave as became them, they ran an excellent chance of not being asked again, and, if they were not, asked again, they minded it, for the parties' were grand parties and the circle not' so large that their prolonged absences would remain unmarked. possible were done away with, this. Youth that had hitherto been sheltered fought to join youth that had lately been perforce emancipated, or that had never known any thi iancipation, and many went down" before it, Where freedom made for good comradeship and a frank-eyed ing of the world, it was a fine Where it made for lack of considera:
mand ruthless self-assertion, was not, and ix not. Well bred young people, except for the grea ter liberty allowed them, have not changed in general character. But society of is constantly being recruited from young people who are not well bred and do not expecially care to copy the manners of there who are. Where there happen to be enough of the better sort, the tone is kept up—not to the pitch it used to reach, but q 3 much og modern reason dem: Where here are too many of the other sort, "the tone ix lowered. Just from' this, we would still protect the debutante, We think, however, that, while the cruder manifestations of youth's freedom make some youth unattr and cone is tempted to shut it out of polite drawing rooms as one would shut out a badly housebroken puppy, the "evil communications" will be more likely to bring about a reaction than a corruption of all good manners. We may even find the children of these free not so freely Lrought up.
But, about fifteen years ago, quite a Tittle letting down of bars began. The circle grew larger by the entrances of pleasant enough plutocrats, who gave just. as grand parties as those of the old court heads, or grander, and "not. so stiff, my dear." The -young people, even "of the regime cornections, clamoured to go to them and persuaded their elders to be gracious to the newcomers, who were still to be impressed by graciousness from those quarters. Gradually, the ancient rulers suecumbed to death or democracy. Their children saw little reason, their grandchildren none, for picking up fallen sceptre. They had not the character, perhaps, or the courage. At all events, the seeptres rolled away, and the onetime insiders accepted more and more of the one-time outsiders, and with them their manners.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.