Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl Sister of that "Idle Fellow." By: Jenny Wren |
---|
![]()
(Sister of that "IDLE FELLOW.") BY JENNY WREN. NEW YORK
HURST AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
CONTENTS. CHAPTER. I. ON LOVE. II. ON BILLS. III. ON POLITICS. IV. ON AFTERNOON TEA. V. ON DRESS. VI. ON CHRISTMAS. VII. ON THE COUNTRY. VIII. ON TOWN. IX. ON CHILDREN AND DOGS. X. ON CONCERTS. XI. ON DANCING. XII. ON WATERING PLACES.
CHAPTER I. ON LOVE. "Love is of man's life a thing apart;
'Tis woman's whole existence."
So sings the poet, and so agrees the world. Humiliating as it is to
make the confession, it is undeniably true. "Men and Dress are all
women think about," cry the lords of creation in their unbounded
vanity. And again, we must submit and agree to the truth of the
accusation; at any rate, in nine cases out of ten. Fortunately I am a
tenth case; at least, I consider myself so. I don't dispute the
"dress" imputation. I am very fond of dress. Nearly as fond of it as
the twenty year old youth, and saying that, I allow a good deal. But
very few of my thoughts are given to the creature "man"! I do not
think him worth it. As my old nurse used to say, "I never 'ad no
opinion of the sex!" Do not conclude, however, that because of my statement that I am a
disappointed, soured old maid, for I am nothing of the sort. I am on
the right side of twenty five, and I have never been crossed in love;
indeed, I have never even experienced the tender passion, and only
write from my observations of other people; thus taking a perfectly
neutral ground in speaking of it at all. One never hears that Adam fell in love with Eve, or that Eve was
passionately attached to Adam. But then, poor things, they had so
little choice it was either that or nothing. Besides, there was no
opposition to the match, so it was bound to be rather a tame affair.
For my part, I pity Eve, for Adam was, I think, the very meanest of
men. When he was turned out of the garden, what a wretch he must have
felt himself! and how he must have taunted his poor wife! Weak men are
always bullies. But " revenons à nos moutons ," I am wondering who was the first
person to fall in love! Cain might have done so with his mysterious
wife; history does not say. But certainly there is always some
attraction in mystery, so such a thing is possible. I wonder whence
that extraordinary woman sprang! Neither do we hear much of Noah's domestic experiences, but I should
conclude on the whole that they were not happy. No man could be
endured for forty days shut up in the house, no business to go to,
nothing to do, always hanging about, his idle hands at some mischief
or other, and last, but not least, a diabolical temper, displayed at
every turn! Why, I cannot endure one for a week! My only wonder is
that the female population of the Ark did not rise up in a body and
consign their lords and masters to the floods. Poor men, they deserve a little of our pity too, perhaps; for if Mrs.
Noah and her daughters in law at all resembled their effigies in the
Noah's Arks of the present day, they were women to be avoided, I
think. So that, after all, it must have been Jacob who set such a very
foolish example; because we could not count Isaac, his being so
extraordinary and isolated a case, when he fell in love with his own
wife! Therefore I think we owe Jacob a great many grudges. He was the
inventor of the tender passion, and since his time people have begun
to follow his example long before they come to years of discretion,
simply because their parents did so before them, and they think they
are not grown up, that they are not men, unless they have some love
affair on hand. Some get married at once, some wait a long time, and some do not marry
at all. These last are, I think, generally the happiest, for this
so called love lasts for only a very short time, and neither husband
nor wife are long before they console themselves with someone else's
affection to make up for what is wanting on the part of the other... Continue reading book >>
|
Genres for this book |
---|
Essay/Short nonfiction |
Literature |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Jenny Wren |
Wikipedia – Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl Sister of that "Idle Fellow." |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|