reign social topics, they have a wonderful
faculty for generalization.

The fact that many Frenchmen do marry for money is not to be denied, and
the explanation of it is this: We have in France a number of men
belonging to a class almost unknown in other countries, small
_bourgeois_ of good breeding and genteel habits, but relatively poor,
who occupy posts in the different Government offices. Their name is
legion and their salary something like two thousand francs ($400). These
men have an appearance to keep up, and, unless a wife brings them enough
to at least double their income, they cannot marry. These young men are
often sought after by well-to-do parents for their daughters, because
they are steady, cultured, gentlemanly, and occupy an honorable
position, which brings them a pension for their old age. With the wife's
dowry, the couple can easily get along, and lead a peaceful, uneventful,
and happy jog-trot life, which is the great aim of the majority of the
French people.

But, on the other hand, there is no country where you will see so many
cases of _mesalliance_ as France, and this alone should dispose of the
belief that Frenchmen marry for money. Indeed, it is a most common thing
for a young Frenchman of good family to fall in love with a girl of a
much lower station of life than his own, to court her, at first with
perhaps only the idea of killing time or of starting a _liaison_, to
soon discover that the girl is highly respectable, and to finally marry
her. This is a most common occurrence. French parents frown on this sort
of thing, and do their best to discourage it, of course; but rather than
cross their son's love, they give their consent, and trust to that
adaptability of Frenchwomen, of which I was speaking just now, to raise
herself to her husband's level and make a wife he will never be ashamed
of.

* * * * *

The Frenchman is the slave of his womankind, but not in the same way as
the American is. The Frenchman is brought up by his mother, and remains
under her sway till she dies. When he marries, his wife leads him by the
nose (an operation which he seems to enjoy), and when, besides, he has a
daughter, on whom he generally dotes, this lady soon joins the other two
in ruling this easy-going, good-humored man. As a rule, when you see a
Frenchman, you behold a man who is kept in order by three generations
of women: mother, wife, and daughter.

The American will la