Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/140

116 not a little of that civilized vandalism which would cut out from its frame the superb painting of a landscape and replace therein a practical and entirely accurate map of the same landscape.

These wealthy families swept out, too, the old social customs of this city, setting up elaborate formalities and impoverishing standards of dress and entertainment.

The recognized leader was Mrs. LeConte Dean, the wife of a nail manufacturer of vast wealth. Her receptions were the society events. Indeed, it has been said that recognition by this newly rich importation determined one's social status.

The Van Bartans were another of these wealthy families coming directly from the city of New York. The father had founded gigantic iron mills from which he had gathered a princely revenue. Upon his death, the wife, a grim woman of frightful prejudices, had continued to maintain their country place in sumptuous, albeit rather frigid, elegance. They had one child, Gerald Van Bartan, an utterly worthless young man of extravagant