Don't tell me," Mrs. Archer would say to her
children, "all this modern newspaper rubbish
about a New York aristocracy. If there is one,
neither the Mingotts nor the Mansons belong to
it; no, nor the Newlands or the Chiverses either.
Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were
just respectable English or Dutch merchants,
who came to the colonies to make their fortune, and stayed here because they did so well. One
of your great-grandfathers signed the Declaration, and another was a general on Washington's staff, and received General Burgoyne's
sword after the battle of Saratoga. These are
things to be proud of, but they have nothing to
do with rank or class. New York has always
been a commercial community, and there are
not more than three families in it who can claim an aristocratic origin in the real sense of the
word.
children, "all this modern newspaper rubbish
about a New York aristocracy. If there is one,
neither the Mingotts nor the Mansons belong to
it; no, nor the Newlands or the Chiverses either.
Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were
just respectable English or Dutch merchants,
who came to the colonies to make their fortune, and stayed here because they did so well. One
of your great-grandfathers signed the Declaration, and another was a general on Washington's staff, and received General Burgoyne's
sword after the battle of Saratoga. These are
things to be proud of, but they have nothing to
do with rank or class. New York has always
been a commercial community, and there are
not more than three families in it who can claim an aristocratic origin in the real sense of the
word.
( Edith Wharton )
[ The Age of Innocence ]
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