Modern thought complicates LIFE immensely, doesn't it? But I always feel that it is my duty to give the best in myself to these problems. Someone must help Evolution evolve. Someone must be unselfish enough to give the cosmos new marks to come up to. And who but the serious thinkers are willing to sacrifice themselves? Well, we finally decided to do every room in the house differently -- each one to fit a mood, you know. There's one room now I call "Aspiration," where I go for my little spiritual examinations. And the next room beyond that is "Resolve." And then there's a room I call "Brotherly Love," where I go to think out how to help the masses. For of course I haven't lost my interest in sociological problems. In fact I'm having some new dresses made -- simple, quiet looking things, you know -- for the express purpose of visiting the very poor in and asking them questions about themselves. Though I must admit that since helping the war sufferers came into fashion friendly visiting has rather gone out. MAMA IS SO MID-VICTORIAN WE'VE been taking ;up Hedonism lately -- our Little Group of Modern Thinkers, you know -- and it's wonderful, just simply WONDERFUL! Though Mamma -- poor dear Mamma is so hopelessly old fashioned; -- has entirely the wrong idea about it. "Hermione," she said to me the other evening, after the little talk, "WHAT did the lecturer call himself?" "He's a Hedonist," I said. "Indeed!" she said, "and what sort of modern impropriety is Hedonism? Is it something about Sex, or is it something about Psychics?" I simply couldn't speak. I just gave her a look and walked out of the room. It is absolutely useless to attempt to explain anything to Mamma. She is so Mid-Victorian! And Mid-Victorianism has quite gone out, you know. Really. The loveliest man gave us a talk on the Mid-Victorian recently, and when he was done there wasn't a one of us that didn't go and hide our Tennysons and Ruskins. Although I always WILL like "Come into the Garden, Maud." But he did it with such HUMOR, you know. Isn't a sense of humor a perfectly WONDERFUL thing? A sense of humor is a sense of proportion, you know -- he brought that out so cleverly, the anti-Mid-Victorian man did. Though so many people who have a sense of humor are so -- so, well so QUEER about it, if you get what I mean. That is, if you know they have one, of course you're naturally watching for them to say humorous things; and they're forever saying the sort of things that puzzle you, because you have never heard those things before in just that way, and if you DO laugh they're so apt to act as if you were laughing in the WRONG place! And one doesn't dare NOT to laugh, does one? It's really quite unfair and unkind sometimes! Don't you think so?