Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and ConductCorelli, Marie
Religion
Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct
Corelli, Marie
English essays -- 20th century; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
And it is a pity such
an example should be thought worthy of imitation by any woman claiming
to possess the advantage of human reason. But the Chimpanzee type of
female is just now singularly _en evidence_, having a habit of pushing
to the front on all occasions, and performing such strange antics as
call for public protest, and keep the grinding machinery of the law
only too busy. The Press, too, pays an enormous amount of unnecessary
attention to the performances of these more or less immodest animals,
so that it sometimes seems to our Continental neighbours as if we, as
a nation, had no real women left, but only chimpanzees. There are,
however, slight stirrings of a movement among the true “ladies” of
England, those who stand more or less aloof from the “smart set,”--a
movement indicative of “drawing the line somewhere.” It is possible
that there may yet be a revival of “Home” and its various lost graces
and dignities. We may even hear of doors that will not open to
millionaires simply _because_ they are millionaires. Only the other day
a very great lady said to her sister in my hearing: “No, I shall not
‘present’ my two girls at all. Society is perfectly demoralised, and
I would rather the children remained out of it, so far as London is
concerned. They are much happier in the country than in town, and much
healthier, and I want to keep them so. Besides, they love their home!”
Herein is the saving grace of life,--to love one’s home. Love of home
implies lovable people dwelling in the charmed circle,--tender hearts,
quick to respond to every word of love, every whisper of confidence,
every caress. The homeless man is the restless and unhappy man, for
ever seeking what he cannot find. The homeless woman is still more to
be pitied, being entirely and hopelessly out of her natural element.
And the marked tendency which exists nowadays to avoid home life is
wholly mischievous. Women complain that home is “dull,” “quiet,”
“monotonous,” “lonely,” and blame it for all sorts of evils which exist
only in themselves. If a woman cannot be a few hours alone without
finding her house “dull,” her mind must be on the verge of lunacy.
The sense of being unable to endure one’s own company augurs ill for
the moral equilibrium. To preserve good health and sound nerves,
women should always make it a rule to be quite alone at least for a
couple of hours in the course of each day. Let them take that space
to think, to read, to rest, and mentally review their own thoughts,
words and actions in the light of a quiet conscience-time of pause and
meditation. Home is the best place so to rest and meditate,--and the
hours that are spent in thinking how to make that home happier will
never be wasted. It should be very seriously borne in mind that it is
only in the home life that marriage can be proved successful or the
reverse, and, to quote Mr. Lecky once more:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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