This adherence to the midday meal must have been the weak point in the armour in which the old order encased itself.

For there the first breach was made.

New Yorkers, returning from visits to Europe, hooted at the primitive noon repast of their youth.

At first what were called the "foreign airs" of these would-be innovators were treated with derision.

But they persisted, and by slow stages three o'clock became the extra fashionable hour for dinner.