OURSELVES, AND OTHERS 201 



law are grasped less rigidly on this side so 

 far. Formal invitations are not de rigueur for 

 the assembling of congenial guests ; and the 

 grace of hospitality is perhaps nowhere in 

 the world beheld in such perfection. The 

 well-bred American hostess possesses in the 

 highest degree the art of drawing out the 

 very best of which her guests are capable. 

 The least brilliant of them is conscious of 

 her desire that he should appear to good 

 advantage rather than that she herself should 

 shine. Added to all this, there is a tolerance 

 of differing views, a freedom from narrowing 

 'fads of the hour,' distinctive of a society 

 composed of persons drawn from various 

 sections of a great and varied country. 

 They have no possible excuses for dulness 

 or monotony. 



Indeed, it may even appear at times as if 

 the American people were a conglomeration 

 of as many incongruities, inconsistencies, and 

 surprises as there are nationalities in its 

 make-up. Yet deep down at bed-rock there 

 lies but one soul, it is declared, animating 

 the mass, and which on occasion, provided 

 the occasion be mighty enough, will speak 



