th occupies a suite of rooms on the second
floor, which he has reserved for himself; but he has handed over the
property to the trustees of the club, who, after his death, will become
the sole proprietors of the house and of all its priceless contents. It
was a princely gift, worthy of the prince of actors. The members are all
connected with literature, art, and the drama, and number about one
hundred.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FLOURISHING OF COATS-OF-ARMS IN AMERICA--REFLECTIONS THEREON--
FOREFATHERS MADE TO ORDER--THE PHONOGRAPH AT HOME--THE WEALTH OF NEW
YORK--DEPARTURE FOR BUFFALO.

_New York, January 11._

There are in America, as in many other countries of the world, people
who have coats-of-arms, and whose ancestors had no arms to their coats.

This remark was suggested by the reading of the following paragraph in
the New York _World_ this morning:

There is growing in this country the rotten influence of rank, pride
of station, contempt for labor, scorn of poverty, worship of caste,
such as we verily believe is growing in no country in the world. What
are the ideals that fill so large a part of the day and generation?
For the boy it is riches; for the girl the marrying of a title. The
ideal of this time in America is vast riches and the trappings of
rank. It is good that proper scorn should be expressed of such ideals.

American novelists, journalists, and preachers are constantly upbraiding
and ridiculing their countrywomen for their love of titled foreigners;
but the society women of the great Republic only love the foreign lords
all the more; and I have heard some of them openly express their
contempt of a form of government whose motto is one of the clauses of
the great Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal." I
really believe that if the society women of America had their own way,
they would set up a monarchy to-morrow, in the hope of seeing an
aristocracy established as the sequel of it.

[Illustration: A TITLE.]

President Garfield once said that the only real coats-of-arms in America
were shirt-sleeves. The epigram is good, but not based on truth, as
every epigram should be. Labor in the States is not honorable for its
own sake, but only if it brings wealth. President Garfield's epigram
"fetched" the crowd, no doubt, as any smart democratic or humanitarian
utterance will anywhere, whether it be emitted from the platform, the
stage,