In the Globe yesterday, the M-Bomb and Maria Sacchetti wrote this long and interesting profile of Drew Faust. The dominant theme is that Faust was composed and mature from an early age—the letter-writing to Eisenhower was hardly an isolated example.

The part of the piece I most enjoyed delved into Faust’s childhood. Knowing that Faust went to prep school, I knew that hers couldn’t have been such a hardscrabble existence. Turns out that Faust grew up with extraordinary privilege.

Catharine Drew Gilpin was born on Sept. 18, 1947 , in New York City to the former Catharine Mellick , a New Jersey socialite, and McGhee Tyson Gilpin , a Princeton graduate from Virginia who became a thoroughbred horse breeder. Her parents, who met on a fox hunt, lived near New York before she was born.

[Blogger: Her parents met on a fox hunt? Fabulous. You can’t make this stuff up.]

The family later moved near Millwood, in Clarke County, Va. Known as “Drewdie,” she was raised mainly at Lakeville Farm , a white farmhouse on hundreds of acres with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At Scaleby , their grandmother’s estate nearby, she and her three brothers swam in the pools and read by the fire in the Georgian mansion, with crystal chandeliers and a ballroom on the top floor.

[Blogger: The pools, plural?]

“The Gilpins are to Clarke County what the Kennedys are to Hyannisport,” said Paul Jones , a retired school principal who once worked with Faust’s uncle. “You would go by Scaleby and look at how the other half lived.“

Great stuff.

Here’s a question: Would a young woman from that background today go in Faust’s direction, living a life of hard work, leadership, and accomplishment? Or, as part of America’s money culture, would she follow the Paris Hilton model?

(Hint: This is not so much a question about feminism as it is one about American cultural decline.)