Edith Wharton Quote
Don't tell me, Mrs. Archer would say to herchildren, all this modern newspaper rubbishabout a New York aristocracy. If there is one,neither the Mingotts nor the Mansons belong toit; no, nor the Newlands or the Chiverses either.Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers werejust respectable English or Dutch merchants,who came to the colonies to make their fortune, and stayed here because they did so well. Oneof your great-grandfathers signed the Declaration, and another was a general on Washington's staff, and received General Burgoyne'ssword after the battle of Saratoga. These arethings to be proud of, but they have nothing todo with rank or class. New York has alwaysbeen a commercial community, and there arenot more than three families in it who can claim an aristocratic origin in the real sense of theword.
Don't tell me, Mrs. Archer would say to herchildren, all this modern newspaper rubbishabout a New York aristocracy. If there is one,neither the Mingotts nor the Mansons belong toit; no, nor the Newlands or the Chiverses either.Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers werejust respectable English or Dutch merchants,who came to the colonies to make their fortune, and stayed here because they did so well. Oneof your great-grandfathers signed the Declaration, and another was a general on Washington's staff, and received General Burgoyne'ssword after the battle of Saratoga. These arethings to be proud of, but they have nothing todo with rank or class. New York has alwaysbeen a commercial community, and there arenot more than three families in it who can claim an aristocratic origin in the real sense of theword.
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