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MADEMOISELLE CORMON.
In nearly all the second-class prefectures of France there exists one salon which is the meeting-ground of those considerable and well-considered persons of the community who are, nevertheless, _not_ the cream of the best society.

The master and mistress of such an establishment are counted among the leading persons of the town; they are received wherever it may please them to visit; no fete is given, no formal or diplomatic dinner takes place, to which they are not invited.
But the chateau people, heads of families possessing great estates, in short, the highest personages in the department, do not go to their houses; social intercourse between them is carried on by cards from one to the other, and a dinner or soiree accepted and returned.
This salon, in which the lesser nobility, the clergy, and the magistracy meet together, exerts a great influence.

The judgment and mind of the region reside in that solid, unostentatious society, where each man knows the resources of his neighbor, where complete indifference is shown to luxury and dress,--pleasures which are thought childish in comparison to that of obtaining ten or twelve acres of pasture land,--a purchase coveted for years, which has probably given rise to endless diplomatic combinations.

Immovable in its prejudices, good or evil, this social circle follows a beaten track, looking neither before it nor behind it.