Pot-Pourri 223 



the mistakes of those who live in the East. And 

 the absolutism which for so many years sanctioned 

 moral laxity and ignorance, has become now pas- 

 sive rather than active. Men still drink, but they 

 no longer boast of being drunkards ; the illiterate 

 have no hang-dog air as in Europe, but they are 

 quaintly sensible that silence becomes them better 

 than speech ; the loose-livers prefer the by-ways to 

 the roaring thoroughfares. I remember a man who 

 was always prating that he was self-made. A fellow- 

 citizen with a sense of humour finally silenced him. 

 " You are self-made ; yes," he murmured, " and we 

 may concede perhaps that you are as good as God's 

 creatures, hut are you any better ? " 



Public Opinion in the West serves one sauce to 

 the gander and another to the goose. Outside of 

 smart society, it is held to be a sin for a woman to 

 play whist for small stakes, although Progressive 

 Euchre parties for valuable prizes are customary 

 and perfectly proper. In the hamlets and small 

 towns kissing games are played with ardour by 

 church members in good standing, but dancing is 

 tabu. Certain expressions, common enough in Eng- 

 land, are held to be improper west of the Rocky 

 Mountains ; if used at all they should be draped, 

 which to my mind makes them indecent at once, 

 even as a fig leaf makes the nudity of a statue 

 conspicuous. Mr. Anthony Comstock, amongst 

 other things, objected to the cupids so delightfully 

 drawn upon the cover of Life; shortly after a 

 famous cartoon appeared in that paper in which 

 horses, dogs, and all animals were invested with 

 pantalettes. In the West, the stranger and pilgrim 



