midnight
Who has not met in their long or short run of experience with the modern graduate who `` perfectly idolized '' Tennyson or Byron , who `` raved '' about Shelley 's poetical mysticism , or who was `` fairly enchanted '' with Goethe 's deep romanticism . In some of her peculiar phases she even reckons as items of her illimitable knowledge selections from her `` favorites '' among the French romantics , or the realistic school may be more to her taste . She rolls up her eyes for Mozart and Beethoven and Gottschalk , but her heart thumps for Offenbach , Lamothe or Strauss . To make herself `` interesting '' in society she has `` burned the midnight oil '' over `` David Copperfield , '' `` Dombey and Son , '' `` Jane Eyre , '' `` East Lynne , '' `` Endymion '' and other popular volumes as they gain fame . She can sing snatches from all the finest operas , in Italian , German or French . She can dance the Boston and Rush Polka with unrivalled grace , she can flirt and affect the most becoming airs , she never misses a _ matinee _ or evening performance at the Grand Opera House ; she can do the `` grape-vine '' exquisitely on her silver-plated skates , and can toss the tennis ball with wonderful dexterity . All this relates to the effects of the superficial cultivation that our women are getting in this century .