I declare it's worse than foolish--it's wicked to have so much pride," &c.
If those who thus indulged their vanity, only heard one-half of the observations made by those who accent their hospitalities, or who strive to get invitations and cannot, they would speedily give up their folly; but money is the great Juggernaut, at the feet of which all the nations of the earth fall down and worship; whether it be the coronets that bowed themselves down in the temple of the Railway King in Hyde Park, who could afford the expense; or the free and enlightened who do homage in Mrs .-- --'s temple at New Orleans, though perhaps she could not afford the expense; one thing is clear--where the money is spent, there will the masses be gathered together.

General society is, however, more sober and sociable, many families opening their houses one day in the week to all their friends.

The difference of caste is going out fast: the Creoles found that their intermarriages were gradually introducing a race as effete as the Bourbons appear to be in France; they are now therefore very sensibly seeking alliances with the go-ahead blood of the Anglo-Saxon, which will gradually absorb them entirely, and I expect that but little Trench will be spoken in New Orleans by the year 1900.
Another advantage of the Creole element, is the taste it appears to have given for French wines.

As far as I am capable of judging, the claret, champagne, and sauterne which I tasted here were superior in quality and more generally in use than I ever found them in any other city.

The hours of dinner vary from half-past three to half-past five, and an unostentatious hospitality usually prevails.
Servants here are expensive articles.