After that the finest gentleman was content to carry a silver watch- The first gold watches were an article of jewelry, becoming only to wealthy and fiishionable ladies. Old gentlemen, at the close of the last century, carried a tall, gold-headed cane, and, generally, a gold snuti' box, from which they were ever ready to offer a sociable pinch to an acquaintance. They held on to the very last against the abolishment of the cue or pig-tail, and clung to the large silver buttons, which were once a mark of wealth and dignity. These buttons were often made of coins -- quarter-dollars being used for the coat and " eleven penny bits " for the vest and breeches. Spectacles were rarely used, even by the aged ; a young man or woman wearing glasses was something unheard of; our fathers had keener and stronger eyes than we.

The Revolution brought about a greater simplicity ' of manners ; the "coarse" element came in after- [ wards when the power of money " began to be felt. ] The Duke de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt, writing | about the social life of the Americans some time after the Revolution, remarks : " Luxury is very high there, especially at New York and Philadelphia, and makes a dangerous progress every year. . . . There are some persons who surpass their neighbors, already too far advanced, in luxury ; these injure the manners of the country. ..." He adds that luxury is much less prevalent in the country towns, but is continually increasing, and often out of proportion with wealih.