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Show WASTED DIGNITY. <br><br> Amiable and affable manners are never out of propriety anywhere, and are rarely put out by circumstances. The cause is different where there are class distinctions, requiring one to vary his manners according to the people he meets - and the mistakes made are sometimes awkward enough. A correspondent of the Philadelphia Bulletin tells a story from St. Petersburg. <br><br> Lady Dufferin went to court to be presented to the czarina. On arriving at the Winter Palace she was shown into an ante-room, as she thought, where an aged lady, whom she took to be a mistress of ceremonies, was seated on an ottoman. The lady motioned her to a place beside her, and entered into conversation, but in a frigid Russian style. The handsome Irishwoman, with the Hamilton blood in her veins, has a little pride of her own, and thinking the Muscovite waiting-woman was rather patronizing to the wife of an ambassador, assumed a "stand-off" air on her side. The ceremonious dame because more ceremonious and almost haughty. At length she asked, - <br><br> "Have you seen my daughter lately?" <br><br> "Pardon me, madame," said Lady Dufferin, "I fancy we do not move in the same circle. Pray, who may your daughter be?" <br><br> The answer led up to a tableau. "The Duchess of Edinburgh," said the stately old female, who was no other than the Empress of Russia herself. |