The men were the husbands or fathers of the women, and were wholly
without the domestic weight or consequence that belongs to men
living in their own houses. There were certain old bachelors, among
whom were two or three decayed branches of good Boston families,
spendthrifts, or invalided bankrupts. Mr. Evans was practically
among the single gentlemen, for his wife never appeared in the
parlour or dining-room, and was seen only when she went in or out,
heavily veiled, for a walk. Lemuel heard very soon that she had
suffered a shock from the death of her son on the cars; the other
ladies made much of her inability to get over it, and said nothing
would induce them to have a son of theirs go in and out on the cars.
Among these people, such as they were, and far as they might be from
a final civilisation, Lemuel began to feel an ambition to move more
lightly and quickly than he had yet known how to do, to speak
promptly, and to appear well. Our schooling does not train us to
graceful or even correct speech; even our colleges often leave that
uncouth. Many of Mrs. Harmon's boarders spoke bad grammar through
their noses; but the ladies dressed stylishly, and the men were good
arithmeticians. Lemuel obeyed a native impulse rather than a good
example in cultivating a better address; but the incentive to thrift
and fashion was all about him.
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