HOOPS AND CRINOLINES. 43 



should have chewed my pigtail till I died ; " or as if, 

 through some anatomical freak of nature, women's waists, 

 bust, and head, in the United States, had been set on the 

 wrong way, and their " bustles," instead of their " stom 

 achers," been on before ; or that they looked over their 

 heels instead of over their toes to see if an admirer ap 

 proached them at unawares. In a short time I recovered 

 from my perplexity on finding that the mistake originat 

 ed from the fulness of the dress being made to stick out 

 to the front of the figure instead of behind, and that it 

 was this strange method of personal decoration that in 

 duced the supposition that women in the United States 

 were perpetually " hind before." Some of the ladies I 

 saw were very pretty, and there were some dangerous 

 " twin invaders of domestic peace " in the shape of feet 

 and legs (I have a strong suspicion that female America is 

 famous for them) that made me mentally draw comparisons. 

 But, England, dear old England ! be not jealous ; for, by 

 all that a soldier and gentleman holds dear in leg and 

 foot, you were not outdone, and in teeth, speaking collect 

 ively or nationally in that particular, you stand unrivalled. 

 In this passing glance at the social arrangements of 

 the United States there is a fact which I approach with 

 sentiments of the greatest delicacy, because it treats of a 

 state of society which, while it is very beautiful, is never 

 theless one that opens a wide door to abuse as well as to 

 a state of Lynch law, from which, however useful at 

 times, civilisation in any country should be exempt. I 

 allude to the great liberty given to girls as to their un- 

 chaperoned communication and association with men. 

 They are permitted to attend balls without a chaperon^ 

 and to ride, drive, and to walk without them a state of 

 things immensely comfortable, and to the recipients of 



