SOCIAL DIFFERENCES. 73 



that would look on and see two women fight like that. But, 

 indeed, you d never see American women fighting so. If it 

 is a disgrace to us that we have made our women unnaturally 

 childlike, it is no honour to you that yours can be so unnatu 

 rally brutish.&quot; 



&quot; But, my dear sir, that was a tinker s wife !&quot; 



&quot; So it was, and I should perhaps have confined the 

 application to your lower classes; I certainly have never 

 seen any want of true refinement among your well-bred 

 ladies.&quot; 



&quot; But they do tell strange tales of your fine ladies. I sup 

 pose you have seen the legs of pianos put in pantalettes ?&quot; 



&quot; Oh yes, frequently ; and do you know the other day, 

 at the residence of the Honourable Mrs. &quot; 



&quot; Hall 1 The family are on the Continent.&quot; 



&quot; Yes ; I did not see the ladies ; but will you believe me, 

 sir, their modesty is so great, that the arms of their chairs 

 are all in muslin sleeves, as well as their piano body, legs, 

 and all veiled like a Turk s wife, so you would not know 

 what it was.&quot; 



&quot; Oh, to keep the dust off it it must have been.&quot; 



&quot; Undoubtedly.&quot; 



&quot; Ah ! you mean that such was also the case with those 

 you have seen in America V 



&quot; Of course. It never occurred to me that they were cov 

 ered for any other reason. I have no doubt that if your friend 

 told you that they were, he was made the subject of a practi 

 cal joke. If not, he kept worse company than I ever fell among 

 when he was there ; and it is as unfair for you to draw a gene 

 ral conclusion with regard to our ladies, from his experience 

 in a vulgar family or two, as it would be for me to describe 

 your ladies as coarse and brutal from the conduct of the 

 tinker s wife.&quot; 



PART II. 4 



