elt
young and frivolous; and by and by I heard people exclaiming "There's
Liberty--there she is! Bless the dear old girl!"

While I was wondering whether they were talking of a lady, or a ship, I
caught sight of a majestic giantess, obligingly holding a torch up to
light the world. Then I knew it was the Statue which I had read about.

"What do you think of her?" asked Mr. Doremus.

"She's a _grande dame_," I said. "Now I know why your girls hold
themselves so well. They're trying to live up to the Ideal American
Woman. But she isn't as big as I thought she would be. Nothing ever is
as big as you think it's going to be, especially when Americans have
told you about it; for one has been brought up to believe that their
big things are bigger than anybody else's in the whole world."

"So they are," said Mr. Doremus, "only where all the things are big,
you don't notice them, for the high grass. And over there's some of the
grass."

He pointed, and I saw a great number of enormous objects, shaped like
chimneys, and apparently about a mile high, scattered aimlessly along
the horizon, which was a brilliant, limpid blue.

"What are they?" I asked. "Great, strange, factories of some sort?"

"No. Houses where pretty women live, and offices where men make the
money for them to live on."

"You must be joking. Women would be afraid to perch up there in the
sky. Besides, it would take too long to go up and down."

"Nothing takes long in America. And it comes natural to our women to
perch up high. Statues aren't the only things we buy pedestals for,
this side of the porpoise-tank. You just wait and see."

"I don't need to wait to see that American men are nice to women," said
I; "perhaps no nicer than Englishmen, really, only you seem to take a
great deal more trouble. Fancy all the men at Mrs. Van der Windt's
table drawing lots every night for the right to sit by her and the two
Miss Eastmans; I don't believe it would have occurred to Englishmen.
The ones who _really_ wanted to sit there, would have tried to get to
their places first, that's all. I do think it was pretty of you."

"Wasn't it? especially supposing none of us particularly wanted--but
never mind. Talking of pretty things, here are the docks."

They were big enough to satisfy even my expectations, and I wished that
I'd insisted on being taken by someone long ago, to visit the London
docks, so that I might know whether ours were better or worse. One
never th