are soon lifted up to--attics. It is still true that great deeds bring
humanity nearer heaven!

Therefore, my reader, deem it not trivial that I have paused so long
over the Allens' party. It is philosophical to trace great events and
phenomenal human action to their hidden causes.

There were also diffident men and maidens who descended into the
social arena of Mrs. Allen's parlors, as awkward swimmers venture into
deep water, but this is fleeting experience in fashionable life. And
we sincerely hope that some believed that the old divine paradox, "It
is more blessed to give than to receive," is as true in the drawing-
room as when the contribution-box goes round, and proposed to enjoy
themselves by contributing to the enjoyment of others, and to see
nothing that would tempt to heroic conduct at Tiffany's the next day.

When the last finishing touches had been given, and maids and
hairdressers stood around in rapt politic breathlessness, and were
beginning to pass into that stage in which they might be regarded as
exclamation points, Mrs. Allen and her daughters swept away to take
their places at the head of the parlors in order to receive. They
liked the prelude of applause upstairs well enough, but then it was
only like the tuning of the instruments before the orchestra fairly
opens.

Mrs. Allen, as she majestically took her position, evidently belonged
to that class whom pride petrifies. Her self-complacency on such an
occasion was habitual, her coolness and repose those of a veteran. A
nervous creature upstairs with her family, excitement made her, under
the eye of society, so steady and self-controlled that she was like