She is harmony, and all
objects should be in their places ready for, and matched to, their
uses.
We all know that there is substantial reason for the offence we feel
at defect in any of these ways. A woman who wants purity, modesty and
harmony, in her dress and manners, is insufferable; one who wants them
in the arrangements of her house, disagreeable to everybody. She
neglects the most obvious ways of expressing what we desire to see in
her, and the inference is ready, that the inward sense is wanting.
It is with no merely gross and selfish feeling that all men commend
the good housekeeper, the good nurse. Neither is it slight praise to
say of a woman that she does well the honors of her house in the way
of hospitality. The wisdom that can maintain serenity, cheerfulness
and order, in a little world of ten or twelve persons, and keep ready
the resources that are needed for their sustenance and recovery in
sickness and sorrow, is the same that holds the stars in their places,
and patiently prepares the precious metals in the most secret chambers
of the earth. The art of exercising a refined hospitality is a fine
art, and the music thus produced only differs from that of the
orchestra in this, that in the former case the overture or sonata
cannot be played twice in the same manner.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312