As to Virginia Delaware, daughter of the baker, John Dahlen, in St.
Louis, she started out in life with the deliberate intent of being a
lady, knowing very well that this is America, where all things come to
him or her who does not wait. In some way, as has been said, she had
achieved graduation at a famous school where the art of being a lady is
dispensed. She had, indeed, even now and then seen a lady in real
life; not to mention many supposed ladies in theatrical life, playing
the part as to them seemed fit, and far better than any lady could.
III
The soul finds its outward expression in the body. The ambition shapes
the soul. It was wholly logical and natural that, having her
particular ambition--that of many American girls--Virginia Delaware
should grow up tall, dignified, beautiful, composed, self-restraining,
kindly, gracious; these being qualities which in her training were
accepted as properly pertaining and belonging to all aristocrats. We
have already seen that, put to the test, in the midst of our best
aristocrats--those who frequent the most highly gilded and glazed
hotels in New York--she was accepted unhesitatingly as of the charmed
circle, even by the head waiters. Had you yourself seen her upon the
Chicago streets, passing to her daily occupation, you also in all
likelihood would have commented upon her as a rich young woman, and one
of birth, breeding and beauty. We have spoken somewhat regarding the
futility of mottoes and maxims in the case of an ambitious man. As
much might be said regarding their lack of applicability to the needs
of an ambitious woman. Virginia Delaware would have made her own
maxims, had she needed any; and had she been obliged to choose a coat
of arms, she surely would have selected the Christian motto of "Onward
and Upward."
IV
The best aid in any ambition lies in the intensity of that ambition.
We all are what we really desire to be, each can have what he really
covets, if he will pay the price for it. In her gentleness with her
associates, in her dignity and composure with her employer, in her
conduct upon the street and in the crowded car, in all situations and
conditions arising in her life, Virginia Delaware diligently played the
part of lady as best she comprehended that; because she had the intense
ambition to be a lady. She continually was in training. Moreover, she
had that self-restraint which has been owned by every woman who ever
reached any high place in history. She kept herself in hand, and she
held herself not cheap. Likewise, after the fashion of all successful
politicians, she cast aside acquaintances who might be pleasant but who
probably would be of little use, and pinned her faith to those who
promised to be of future value. Such a woman as that can not be
stopped--unless she shall, unfortunately, fall in love.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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