satyr in laced velvet coat and periwig, at the court of Louis the Great,
and paid for the basest purpose; but the grace and the courtesy were
borrowed, like plumage of living hues to deck carrion. They were not a part
of the baseness, and you do not escape dirty water by breaking the vase.
If the older morals were worse than the new, and the older manners were
better, cannot we who live to-day, and who may have everything, combine the
new morals and the old manners?

We can spare some elaboration of form, but we cannot safely spare the
substance of refined deference. If Romeo be permitted to treat Juliet as
hostlers are supposed to treat barmaids, and as the heroes of Fielding and
Smollett treat Abigails upon a journey, they will both lose self-respect
and mutual respect. It was a wise father who said to his son, "Beware of
the woman who allows you to kiss her." The woman who does not require
of a man the form of respect invites him to discard the substance. And
there is one violation of the form which is recent and gross, and might
be well cited as a striking illustration of the decay of manners. It
is the practice of smoking in the society of ladies in public places,
whether driving, or walking, or sailing, or sitting. There are _preux
chevaliers_ who would be honestly amazed if they were told they did
not behave like gentlemen, who, sitting with a lady on a hotel piazza, or
strolling on a public park, whip out a cigarette, light it, and puff as
tranquilly as if they were alone in their rooms. Or a young man comes alone
upon the deck of a steamer, where throngs of ladies are sitting, and blows
clouds of tobacco smoke in their faces, without even remarking that tobacco
is disagreeable to some people. This is not, indeed, one of the seven
deadly sins, but a man who unconcernedly sings false betrays that he has
no ear for music, and the man who smokes in this way shows that he is not
quite a gentleman.