It Does Not Seem That Anything More Is Needed Than The Consent Of
The Maiden, Who, When She Acquiesces In The Arrangement, Is Called A
"Muffin" - For The Mammas Were "Muffins" Themselves In Their Day, And
Cannot Refuse Their Daughters The Same Privilege.
The gentleman is
privileged to take the young lady about in his sleigh, to ride with her,
to walk with her, to dance with her a whole evening without any remark, to
escort her to parties, and be her attendant on all occasions.
When the
spring arrives, the arrangement is at an end, and I did not hear that an
engagement is frequently the result, or that the same couple enter into
this agreement for two successive winters. Probably the reason may be,
that they see too much of each other.
This practice is almost universal at Montreal and Quebec. On the fine,
frosty, moonlight nights, when the sleigh-bells ring merrily and the crisp
snow crackles under the horse's feet, the gentlemen call to take their
"muffins" to meetings of the sleighing-clubs, or to snow-shoe picnics, or
to champagne-suppers on the ice, from which they do not return till two in
the morning; yet, with all this apparent freedom of manner, the Canadian
ladies are perfectly modest, feminine, and ladylike; their simplicity of
manners is great, and probably there is no country in the world where
there is a larger amount of domestic felicity.
The beauty of the young ladies of Canada is celebrated, and, though on
going into a large party one may not see more than two or three who are
strikingly or regularly beautiful, the tout ensemble is most attractive;
the eyes are invariably large and lustrous, dark and pensive, or blue and
sparkling with vivacity.
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