Again I say, wait awhile.
There are girls who could be perfectly happy in the position you picture
for yourself with Ernest, but not you.
Better hide your ideal in your heart than shatter it on the unswept
hearthstone of the commonplace.
Better be in your lover's life the unattained joy, than ruin his
happiness by discontent.
It is less of a tragedy for a man to hear a woman say "I cannot go with
you," than to hear her say "I cannot stay with you."
To Miss Jane Carter
_Of the W.C.T.U._
And so, my dear Jane, I have fallen from my pedestal, in your
estimation. Yet, having carefully regarded myself in the mirror, and
finding no discolorations, and feeling no wounds or contusions, I think
my pedestal must have been very near the earth, else I would be
conscious of some bruises.
And now, Jane, to be frank, I am very glad to be off my perch.
I do not want to dwell upon a pedestal.
It necessitates a monotonous life, and it is an unsocial position.
I prefer to walk on the earth, among my fellow creatures.
You were greatly shocked, I saw, when I told my little Russian guest
that she might light her cigarette in my boudoir.
Pages:
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245