The Way We Live Now.

the French wittily term " nos Cocodes . " To declare that the present tone of theatrical performances , ( on which , however , too much of censure is cast , after all , as well as of childish criticism ) , is clue to the female mind , is positively too ludicrous !

The lighter pieces , of which the " old Fogey" complains are all addressed at "homines , " " ad juvenes , " not "ad fieminas , " but I think that the " old Fogey " under estimates the effect of many admirable performances which do equal credit just now to the taste of the audiences ancl . the talents of our actresses ancl

actors . Ancl what shall Ave say of literature 1 Who are they that read nothing but sporting , sensational , realistic novels , questionable French productions , ancl the idle excrescences of a pernicious dilettanti

school ? Who are they who bind worthless books in gaudy bindings , ancl fill limited book-sheh'es with a brilliant collection of absolute trash ? Our young women—or women generally ] I deny the soft impeachment . Is it not our new male

generation ? Women read , just now , more than men ; think more than men ; and digest the " mental pabulum " more easily and readily ! Let the moral be what it may !

And now as to Hymen . Do women make more mercenary marriages than men ? I fancy not . Indeed , is it not too notorious that with a large proportion of our youth , just UOAV , not what a girl isbut Avhat she hasis the

, , real question at issue ? Is it not , alas , too true that many men marry positively , simply , and solely for money ] Who can react without emotion a little case latel y in Sir James Hannen ' s court , where , on the evening of the marriagethe brave

hus-, band told his Avife that he had only married her for her money , and commenced brutally to ill-treat her ? They say , then , " exceptio probat regulum . " but I fear not , in this particular . It is not so much the women who are

mercenary A'ery often as the men ! Ancl then as regards religion . That our women may love ornate churches , and

cesthetical services , f do not deny—it is the taste of the day , ( ancl good within due limits , )—but it is not they who rush into those wondrous displays—at which an old stager like myself stares in utter astonishment—into foreign teachings , and fantastic gyrations . The truth is , that our

good friend the " old Fogey "—skilful writer as he is , alike in his illustrations ancl his antithesis—has , in a word , summed up that masculine indictment against women

which I have always held to be so unfair ancl so unjust I That a great amount of demoralization is going on just now in Society , I quite concede , but " a qui la faute ? " Not the women I

No , it is simply the fault of the men—old , middle-aged , juvenile ! Yes , there is the veal cause of all our restlessness and discontent , our unhajipiness and evil .

But do not let us use extravagant words , or seek to " pile up the agony . " The fast lives of our young men arc doing an incalculable evil to society and to themselves . But as in another article in this number it has been thought well to allude to the same subject , I say

no nure upon it , except that I would forgive a great deal in all this " ctourderie " of youth , if it was not for that dreadful hypocrisy which is increasing among us—if we did not meet daily those pretentious young Joseph Surfaces , who hold forth in language which , to my old ears , is as untrue as it is revolting .

To hear them talk , you would believe that all women were corrupt and they immaculate ; that they really deplore the license of society and the sad consequences of unbridled luxury , and cold-hearted profligacy , when you knoAV all the while , that their inner lives are an abject mockery of all that is sacred , pure , ancl good !

And so I close as I commenced , tho " fons et origo mali" are not to be found in " Female Influence , " but in that weak-witted , verdant , variable , shallowpated , seini-educatod generation , whose highest merit and dearest longings appear to be , just now , "Folly ' s Regime . Effrontery ' s brazen claim ! "