Chapter I: Preface: Extravagance at College

BRAINS AND BRAWN

HAZING

THE SOUL OF THE GENTLEMAN

THEATRE MANNERS

WOMAN'S DRESS

SECRET SOCIETIES

TOBACCO AND HEALTH

TOBACCO AND MANNERS

DUELLING

NEWSPAPER ETHICS

FROM THE EASY CHAIR By George William Curtis

CONTENTS

EDWARD EVERETT IN 1862

AT THE OPERA IN 1864

EMERSON LECTURING

SHOPS AND SHOPPING

MRS. GRUNDY AND THE COSMOPOLITAN

DICKENS READING [1867]

PHILLIS

THOREAU AND MY LADY CAVALIERE

HONESTUS AT THE CAUCUS

THALBERG AND OTHER PIANISTS [1871]

URBS AND RUS

RIP VAN WINKLE

A CHINESE CRITIC

HOLIDAY SAUNTERING

WENDELL PHILLIPS AT HARVARD [1881]

EASTER BONNETS

JENNY LIND

THE TOWN

SARAH SHAW RUSSELL

STREET MUSIC

A LITTLE DINNER WITH THACKERAY

CECILIA PLAYING

THE MANNERLESS SEX

ROBERT BROWNING IN FLORENCE

PLAYERS

UNMUSICAL BOXES

THE ACADEMY DINNER IN ARCADIA

FROM THE EASY CHAIR By George William Curtis MDCCCXCIV

CONTENTS PAGE The New Year 1 The Public Scold 10 National Nominating Convention 16 Bryant's Country 23 The Game of Newport 31 The Lecture Lyceum 39 Tweed 47 Commencement 60 The Streets of New York 69 The Morality of Dancing 76 The Hog Family 81 The Enlightened Observer 88 Ralph Waldo Emerson 94 Henry Ward Beecher 110 The Golden Age 119 Spring Pictures 126 Proper and Improper 130 Belinda and the Vulgar 137 Decayed Gentility 142 The Pharisee 149 Lady Mavourneen on Her Travels 155 General Sherman 162 The American Girl 166 Annus Mirabilis 174 Statues in Central Park 186 The Grand Tour 193 "Easy Does It, Guvner" 203 Siste, Viator 208 Christendom vs. Christianity 216 Francis George Shaw 222

FROM THE EASY CHAIR By George William Curtis MDCCCXCIV

CONTENTS PAGE HAWTHORNE AND BROOK FARM 1 BEECHER IN HIS PULPIT AFTER THE DEATH OF LINCOLN 20 KILLING DEER 28 AUTUMN DAYS 37 FROM COMO TO MILAN DURING THE WAR OF 1848 43 HERBERT SPENCER ON THE YANKEE 56 HONOR 65 JOSEPH WESLEY HARPER 72 REVIEW OF UNION TROOPS, 1865 78 APRIL, 1865 88 WASHINGTON IN 1867 94 RECEPTION TO THE JAPANESE AMBASSADORS AT THE WHITE HOUSE 102 THE MAID AND THE WIT 112 THE DEPARTURE OF THE GREAT EASTERN 120 CHURCH STREET 127 HISTORIC BUILDINGS 140 THE BOSTON MUSIC HALL 151 PUBLIC BENEFACTORS 162 MR. TIBBINS'S NEW-YEAR'S CALL 169 THE NEW ENGLAND SABBATH 178 THE REUNION OF ANTISLAVERY VETERANS, 1884 185 REFORM CHARITY 193 BICYCLE RIDING FOR CHILDREN 204 THE DEAD BIRD UPON CYRILLA'S HAT AN ENCOURAGEMENT OF "SLARTER" 210 CHEAPENING HIS NAME 214 CLERGYMEN'S SALARIES 221

LITERARY AND SOCIAL ESSAYS By George William Curtis

CONTENTS

EMERSON

HAWTHORNE

THE WORKS OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

RACHEL

THACKERAY IN AMERICA

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

LONGFELLOW

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

WASHINGTON IRVING

PRUE AND I By George William Curtis

CONTENTS

A WORD TO THE GENTLE READER.

MY CHATEAUX.

SEA FROM SHORE

TITBOTTOM’S SPECTACLES.

A CRUISE IN THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.

FAMILY PORTRAITS.

OUR COUSIN THE CURATE.

TRUMPS A Novel By Geo. Wm. Curtis 1861

CONTENTS