faces and figures, just glorious men; the other third, dwindling gradually to a rather brutal typed Mexican; and even though their dress was the rough miner’s, with great boots, all were freshly shaven and smart, and all had a “gun” in their belt, although it is against the law to wear one concealed.  But grim death lurks near all the time.  Numbers were presented to us, and in no court in Europe could one find more courtly ease of manner or sans gene.  Octavia and I are “crazy” about them.

There is no class here; it is the real thing, and the only part we have seen yet of America where equality is a fact.  That is, it is the man who counts, not any money or position, only his personal merit; and the Senator says if they are “yellow dogs” they sooner or later get wiped out.  It is a sort of survival of the fittest, and don’t you think it is a lovely plan, Mamma?  And how I wish we had it in England.  What heaps could be cleared away and never be missed!

There was a Master of Ceremonies who called out the dances, and not more than ten or twelve couples were allowed to dance each time, two-steps and valses, and without exception it is the finest dancing I have ever seen,—­the very poetry of Motion.  Nothing violent or rude, or like a servants’ ball at home, although they held their partners a little more clasped than we do, and the woman’s hands both on the man’s shoulders, and sometimes round his neck. (Tom says he means to introduce this style at Chevenix the next ball they have.  Think of the face of the County!) But in spite of their funny holding, or perhaps on account of it, there is a peculiar movement of the feet, perfect grace and rhythm and glide, which I have never seen at a real ball.  One could understand it was a pure delight to them, and they felt every note of the music.  They treated Octavia and me with the courtesy fit for queens, and some of them told us delightful things of shootings and blood-curdling adventures, and all with a delicious twinkle in the eye, as much as to say, “We are keeping up the character of the place to please you.”  We did enjoy ourselves.  The Senator says this quality of perfect respect for women is universal in the mining camps.  Any nice woman is absolutely safe among them.  I think there ought to be mining camps to teach men manners all over Europe.  You will feel I am exaggerating, Mamma, and talking a great deal about this, but it is so marked and astonishing; all have that perfect ease and poise of well born gentlemen (the Harry manner, in fact) completely without self consciousness.  I suppose they get drunk sometimes, and probably there are riotous scenes here, but I can only tell you of what we saw, and that was people happy, and behaving as decorously as at a court ball.