WHAT ANSWER?


Anna E. Dickinson

1868




WHAT ANSWER?




CHAPTER I

"_In flower of youth and beauty's pride._"

DRYDEN


A crowded New York street,--Fifth Avenue at the height of the afternoon;
a gallant and brilliant throng. Looking over the glittering array, the
purple and fine linen, the sweeping robes, the exquisite equipages, the
stately houses; the faces, delicate and refined, proud, self-satisfied,
that gazed out from their windows on the street, or that glanced from
the street to the windows, or at one another,--looking over all this,
being a part of it, one might well say, "This is existence, and beside
it there is none other. Let us dress, dine, and be merry! Life is good,