wives, widows, or _divorcees_, you rarely think of
inquiring, and you may enjoy their friendship for years without knowing
whether they have a living lord or not.

[Illustration: A TELEPHONE AND TICKER.]

Mrs. Blank, as I say, is a most fascinating specimen of America's
daughters, and to-day I find that Mr. Blank is also very much alive, but
that the companions of his joys and sorrows are the telephone and the
ticker; in fact it is thanks to his devotion to these that the wife of
his bosom is able to adorn European society during every recurring
season.

American women have such love for freedom and are so cool-headed that
their visits to Europe could not arouse suspicion even in the most
malicious. But, nevertheless, I am glad to have heard of Mr. Blank,
because it is comfortable to have one's mind at rest on these subjects.
Up to now, whenever I had been asked, as sometimes happened, though
seldom: "Who is Mr. Blank, and where is he?" I had always answered:
"Last puzzle out!"

* * * * *

Lunched to-day in the beautiful Algonquin Club, as the guest of Colonel
Charles H. Taylor, and met the editors of the other Boston papers, among
whom was John Boyle O'Reilly,[1] the lovely poet, and the delightful
man. The general conversation turned on two subjects most interesting to
me, viz., American journalism, and American politics. All these
gentlemen seemed to agree that the American people take an interest in
local politics only, but not in imperial politics, and this explains why
the papers of the smaller towns give detailed accounts of what is going
on in the houses of legislature of both city and State, but do not
concern themselves about what is going on in Washington. I had come to
that conclusion myself, seeing that the great papers of New York,
Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago devoted columns to the sayings and doings
of the political world in London and Paris, and seldom a paragraph to
the sittings of Congress in Washington.

In the morning, before lunch, I had called on Mr. John Holmes, the
editor of the Boston _Herald_, and there met a talented lady who writes
under the _nom de plume_ of "Max Eliot," and with whom I had a
delightful half-hour's chat.

I have had to-day the pleasure of meeting the editors of all the Boston
newspapers.

* * * * *

In the evening, I dined with the members of the New England Club, who
meet every month to listen, at