upon the number of beautiful young wives present. They know
the situation is all wrong, but they are sure they cannot either fight
the wrong, or put it right; and in the meantime their particular ball
will not increase the evil very much. Not fifty years ago it was the
young beauties that were considered and looked after, and the
gentlemen asked to an entertainment were asked with reference to the
unmarried girls; for it was understood that any married women present
would, of course, be wrapped up in their own husbands. Then a wife
accepting attentions from one young man after another would have
aroused the contempt and disapproval of every man and woman present.

Vanity in the first place leads young wives to flirting, but grosser
motives soon follow. For whatever other experiences matrimony brings,
it generally stimulates a woman's love of money; and the married siren
soon makes her "followers" understand that she is "a very practical
little woman, and does not care for a sonnet, or a serenade, or a
bouquet of fresh flowers." A summer's cruise in a fine yacht, a seat
on a coach, an opera box, a jewel, dinners, drives, and luncheons, are
the blackmail which the married flirt expects, in return for her
sighs, sentiment, and advice.

It is indeed curious to note the change of fashion in this respect.
Let any one turn over the novels of half a century ago, and he will
see that the favorite plan for compromising a woman's honor was to
induce her to accept the loan of money, or the gift of jewels. If the
unfortunate heroine did so, no novelist would have dared to offer an
apology for her. But this age of luxury and laxity has exploded the
scrupulous delicacy of the Evelinas and Cecilias of the old tales, and
the splendidly free feminine Uhlans of our modern society laugh to
scorn the prim modesty of the Richardsonian standard. They assert, if
not in words yet by their actions, the right of a woman to make her
fascinations serviceable to her.

Some married women contend that their flirtations are absolutely
innocent friendships. But in all stations of society it is a dangerous
thing for two people of the opposite sex to chant together the litany
of the church of Plato. The two who could do it safely would be the
very two who would never dream of such an imprudence. Those who enter
into "friendships" of this kind, with what they think are the most
innocent intentions, should sharply arrest themselves as soon as they
are "t