themselves as mysteries upon the same stage could be so distinctly and
sharply identified that all mankind should recognize them at the day of
judgment. They were not so remarkable in the nature as in the degree of
their offense; for the mystery that any man should keep his seat in a
horse-car and let a woman stand is but too sadly common. They say that
this, public unkindness to the sex has come about through the ingratitude
of women, who have failed to return thanks for places offered them, and
that it is a just and noble revenge we take upon them. There might be
something advanced in favor of the idea that we law-making men, who do not
oblige the companies to provide seats for every one, deserve no thanks
from voteless, helpless women when we offer them places; nay, that we
ought to be glad if they do not reproach us for making that a personal
favor which ought to be a common right. I would prefer, on the whole, to
believe that this selfishness is not a concerted act on our part, but a
flower of advanced civilization; it is a ripe fruit in European countries,
and it is more noticeable in Boston than anywhere else in America. It is,
in fact, one of the points of our high polish which people from the
interior say first strikes them on coming among us; for they declare--no
doubt too modestly--that in their Boeotian wilds our Athenian habit is
almost unknown. Yet it would not be fair to credit our whole population
with it. I have seen a laborer or artisan rise from his place, and offer
it to a lady, while a dozen well-dressed men kept theirs; and I know
several conservative young gentlemen, who are still so old-fashioned as
always to respect the weakness and weariness of women. One of them, I
hear, has settled it in his own mind that if the family cook appears in a
car where he is seated, he must rise and give her his place. This,
perhaps, is a trifle idealistic; but it is magnificent, it is princely.
From his difficult height, we decline--through ranks that sacrifice
themselves for women with bundles or children in arms, for old ladies, or
for very young and pretty ones--to the men who give no odds to the most