The San Francisco call., 1898-12-25
SIOUX WAR PARJY ON THE TRAIL

of us tell?"
 Seated nearly opposite me was a young man who might have stepped out of a Gibson picture book, divinely athletic, smooth-faced and perfectly protiled, altogether a most gratifying specimen of manhood. such as no coun- try in the world could have produced except America or England. We were really rhapsodical my friends and l, over his superb appearance and had quite decided that he was in truth the ideal if little too perfect for the typ
 ical American man, when To! he screwed up his eye in some incompre-
 henSible fashion and adjusted therein monocle. Immediately 1 lost interest. l thought of what an equal rights lady had said of certain California Sena- tor: What pity that such magnifi- cent head should have sU little in it. This was Thanksgiving, it was an American occasion, and although l had not responded as vigorously as l might have done to the star-spangled banner lady, 1 had at least wanted to look at things of American suggestiveness. Accordingly I turned my attention from the gentleman with the monocle and centered it on a superbly costumed lady who was chattering in very high key in true American fashion. There Is no denying 1t, the American lady is spoiled by her rasping, irritating voice. This accusation is an old one, l know full well. I resented it for long time myself. but comparison with the ladies of other nations has proven that it is not unjust. At all events this lady was we'll worth staring at. Her gown was truly Partisan, her diamonds were truly American. But the words that were waited across the table were as damp ening to my ardor as the monocle had been. You know we have an owl in our coat of arms" she explained to the proud of it because it is the bird of wisdom
 "Ah, my lady fine, my would be Lady We're de We're" I inwardly exclaimed, why did you not choose for your in- signia the good. old, strutting turkey gobbler for which your New England ancestors showed such sensible pref erence? Then Thanksgiving day would be your own peculiar festival and to- night We should all be rejoicing in your heraldry. But is this an American af- fair, 1 asked myself, amid regrets. With a lady talking about her coat of arms and gentleman wearing mon- ocle seated right before me, it was nec- eSsary to turn elsewhere for Sugges- ton of Americanism. An, I found it, Two ladies, one here and one there, had their elbows on the table. This from the European point of view is a sure method of identification. The foreign CTS maintain stoutly that it is a na- tional habit of American ladies to put their elbows on the table, which seems to them the very height of vulgarity must confess that I do not see any thing so terrible in this habit, granting that it is a universal custom among us. Perhaps it is not as elegant as it might be. but at least it Is no worse than put ting the knife in the mouth, which the Germans do invariably, nor so bad as using ones mouchoir at the table, which a polished Frenchman will do with a very elegant flourish. A young American lady whom l met this summer in Germany told me in very droll way of her experience at swell dinner party which she had attended not long before. During the course of the din- ner she had been frequently shocked by the free use of the knife by the guests She was beginning to doubt the elegance of the circle to which she had been invited when some sort of soft, creamy cake was served. There was nothing in sight for the transpor- tation of this confection but the in- struments which nature had provided and a knife. She was in grave doubt about which of the two 1t was expected