Introduction

 “Their children had more modern minds and manners....young ladies of nineteen and twenty, who had brought from school...all the usual stock of accomplishments, and were now like thousands of other young ladies, living to be fashionable, happy, and merry. Their dress had every advantage, their faces were rather pretty, their spirits extremely good, their manner unembarrassed and pleasant; they were of consequence at home, and favourites abroad.”

                                                                                                       -- Jane Austen, Persuasion
Twin Oaks, Washington, D.C., residence of Chinese Ambassador, c. 1952
Left to right from center: Ron, Jeannette, Lil (back turned), Al (with cigarette)