eminently respectable elderly lady is often discovered to be, in
reality, a giddy, girlish, and inexperienced young thing, the pride of
the village or the darling of the regiment.

So, too, an exceptionally stout and short-winded old gentleman, who
looks as if he had been living too well and taking too little exercise
for the last forty-five years, is not the heavy father, as you might
imagine if you judged from mere external evidence, but a wild,
reckless boy.

You would not think so to look at him, but his only faults are that he
is so young and light-headed. There is good in him, however, and he
will no doubt be steady enough when he grows up. All the young men of
the neighborhood worship him and the girls love him.

"Here he comes," they say; "dear, dear old Jack--Jack, the darling
boy--the headstrong youth--Jack, the leader of our juvenile
sports--Jack, whose childish innocence wins all hearts. Three cheers
for dancing, bright-eyed Jack!"

On the other hand, ladies with the complexion of eighteen are, you
learn as the story progresses, quite elderly women, the mothers of
middle-aged heroes.

The experienced observer of stage-land never jumps to conclusions from
what he sees. He waits till he is told things.

The stage lawyer never has any office of his own. He transacts all
his business at his clients' houses. He will travel hundreds of miles
to tell them the most trivial piece of legal information.