white young lady can ally herself to him in matrimony, without bringing
upon her the anathemas of the community, with scarcely an exception,
and rendering herself an almost total outcast, not only from the society
in which she formerly moved, but from society in general.

Such is American Caste,--the most cruel under the sun. And such it is,
notwithstanding the claims set up by the American people, that they are
Heaven's Vicegerents, to teach to men, and to nations as well, the
legitimate ideas of Christian Democracy.

To digress a moment. This Caste-spirit of America sometimes illustrates
itself in rather ridiculous ways.

A beautiful young lady--a friend of mine--attended, about two years
since, one of the most aristocratic Schools of one of the most
aristocratic Villages of New York. She was warmly welcomed in the
highest circles, and so amiable in temper was she, as well as agreeable
in mind and person, that she soon became not only a favorite, but _the_
favorite of the circle in which she moved. The _young gentlemen_ of the
village were especially interested in her, and what matrimonial offer
might eventually have been made her, it is not for me to say. At the
close of the second term, however, she left the school and the village;
and then, for the first time, the fact became known (previously known
only to her own room-mate) that she was slightly of African blood.
Reader,--the consternation and horror which succeeded this "new
development," are, without exaggeration, perfectly indescribable. The
people drew long breaths, as though they had escaped from the fangs of a
boa constrictor; the old ladies charged their daughters, that should
Miss ---- be seen in that village again, by no means to permit
themselves to be seen in the street with her; and many other charges