Henry Adams

Name: Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II.
Author: Henry Adams

Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

Summary

“Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II.”, published in 1880, is a work by Henry Adams. It explores elements such as New York, Lee and Skye.

Quotes from Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (Henry Adams)

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Lee found Senator Ratcliffe's grey eyes resting on her face for a moment as they sat down.
Lord Skye was very agreeable, and, at almost any other moment of her life, Mrs. Lee would have liked nothing better than to talk with him from the beginning to the end of her dinner. Tall, slender, bald-headed, awkward, and stammering with his elaborate British stammer whenever it suited his convenience to do so; a sharp observer who had wit which he commonly concealed; a humourist who was satisfied to laugh silently at his own humour; a diplomatist who used the mask of frankness with great effect ”

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Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Lee dashed at her Peonia Giant, who was then consuming his fish, and wishing he understood why the British Minister had worn no gloves, while he himself had sacrificed his convictions by wearing the largest and whitest pair of French kids that could be bought for money on Pennsylvania Avenue. There was a little touch of mortification in the idea that he was not quite at home among fashionable people, and at this instant he felt that true happiness was only to be found among the simple and honest sons and daughters of toil. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Only miserable casuists will ask whether this was fair play on Madeleine's part; whether flattery so gross cost her conscience no twinge, and whether any woman can without self-abasement be guilty of such shameless falsehood. She, however, scorned the idea of falsehood. She would have defended herself by saying that she had not so much praised Ratcliffe as depreciated Webster, and that she was honest in her opinion of the old-fashioned American oratory. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Madeleine never interfered, and always paid the bills.
Before they had been ten days in Washington, they fell gently into their place and were carried along without an effort on the stream of social life.
Society was kind; there was no reason for its being otherwise. Mrs. Lee and her sister had no enemies, held no offices, and did their best to make themselves popular. Sybil had not passed summers at Newport and winters in New York in vain; and neither her face nor her figure, her voice nor her dancing, needed apology. Politics were not her strong point. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ What a thing it is to be a Yankee! What a genius the fellow has for leading a party! Do you see how well it is all done? The new President flattered and conciliated, the party united and given a strong lead. And now we shall see how the President will deal with him. Ten to one on Ratcliffe. Come, there is that stupid ass from Missouri getting up. Let us go."
As they passed down the steps and out into the Avenue, Mrs. Lee turned to Carrington as though she had been reflecting deeply and had at length reached a decision.
"Mr. Carrington," said she, "I want to know Senator Ratcliffe." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Lord Skye was one of the most popular men in Washington. Every one knew that he was a ruthless critic of American manners, but he had the art to combine ridicule with good-humour, and he was all the more popular accordingly. He was an outspoken admirer of American women in everything except their voices, and he did not even shrink from occasionally quizzing a little the national peculiarities of his own countrywomen ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ A certain secret jealousy of the British Minister is always lurking in the breast of every American Senator, if he is truly democratic; for democracy, rightly understood, is the government of the people, by the people, for the benefit of Senators, and there is always a danger that the British Minister may not understand this political principle as he should. Lord Skye had run the risk of making two blunders; of offending the Senator from New York by neglecting his wife, and the Senator from Illinois by engrossing the attention of Mrs. Lee. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Government is not so easy now as it was formerly. There are different customs. There are many men of fair abilities in public life; many more than there used to be; and there is sharper criticism and more of it."
"Was I right in thinking that you have a strong resemblance to Daniel Webster in your way of speaking? You come from the same neighbourhood, do you not?"
Mrs. Lee here hit on Ratcliffe's weak point; the outline of his head had, in fact, a certain resemblance to that of Webster, and he prided himself upon it, and on a distant relationship to the Expounder of the Constitution ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Lee was a very intelligent person. His modest admission of the resemblance gave her the opportunity to talk of Webster 's oratory, and the conversation soon spread to a discussion of the merits of Clay and Calhoun. The Senator found that his neighbour — a fashionable New York woman, exquisitely dressed, and with a voice and manner seductively soft and gentle — had read the speeches of Webster and Calhoun. She did not think it necessary to tell him that she had persuaded the honest Carrington to bring her the volumes and to mark such passages as were worth her reading ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ She was induced to go once to the Capitol and to sit ten minutes in the gallery of the Senate. No one ever knew what her impressions were; with feminine tact she managed not to betray herself But, in truth, her notion of legislative bodies was vague, floating between her experience at church and at the opera, so that the idea of a performance of some kind was never out of her head. To her mind the Senate was a place where people went to recite speeches, and she naively assumed that the speeches were useful and had a purpose, but as they did not interest her she never went again. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ Lee herself as good as said that no position equaHed that of an American Senator?
In ten minutes Mrs. Lee had this devoted statesman at her feet. She had not studied the Senate without a purpose. She had read with unerring instinct one general characteristic of all Senators, a boundless and guileless thirst for flattery, engendered by daily draughts from political friends or dependents, then becoming a necessity like a dram, and swallowed with a heavy smile of ineffable content. A single glance at Mr. Ratcliffe's face showed Madeleine that she need not be afraid of flattering too grossly ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (1880)

“ He would not do the same thing now."
"Why not?"
"He is older, more experienced, and not so wise. Besides, he has no longer the time to wait. Can you see his eyes from here? I call them Yankee eyes."
"Don't abuse the Yankees," said Mrs. ”

Henry Adams

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Quotes from Democracy: An American Novel — Chapter II. (Henry Adams)

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