orth while are talking of; they know through that
best society which likes a cup of their tea all the aesthetic gossip of
the day; they are part of the intellectual movement, that part which
neither the arts nor the letters can afford to ignore; they help to make
up the polite public whose opinions are the court of final appeal."

"They strike us," we said, stubbornly, "as rather romantic."

"Ah, there you are! Well, they _are_ romantic--romantic like a gentle
poem, like an idyllic tale; but I deny that they are romanticistic.
Their whole lives deal with realities, the every-other-day as well as
the every-day realities. But the lives of those others who make all life
costly by refusing their share of its work dwell in a web of threadbare
fictions which never had any color of truth in this country. They are
trying to imitate poor imitations, to copy those vulgar copies of the
European ideal which form the society-page's contribution to the history
of our contemporary civilization."

We were so far moved as to say, "We think we see what you mean," and our
friend went on.

"Speaking of civilization, do you know what a genial change the tea-room
is working in our morals and manners? There are many interesting phases
of its progress among us, and not the least interesting of these is its
being so largely the enterprise of ladies who must not only save money,
but must earn money, in order to live, not cheaply, but at all. Their
fearlessness in going to work has often the charm of a patrician past,
for many of them are Southern women who have come to New York to repair
their broken fortunes. The tea-room has offered itself as a graceful
means to this end, and they have accepted its conditions, which are
mainly the more delicate kinds of cookery, with those personal and
racial touches in which Southern women are so expert. But there are
tea-rooms managed by Western women, if I may judge from the accents
involuntarily overheard in their talk at the telephone. The tea of the
tea-room means lunch, too, and in some places breakfast and dinner, or
rather supper, on much the plan of the several Women's Exchanges; but
these are mostly of New England inspiration and operation, and their
cooking has a Northern quality. They, as well as the tea-rooms, leave
something to be desired in cheapness, though they might be dearer; in
some you get tea for fifteen cents, in others a no better brew for
twenty-five. But they are all charmingly pe