There is one thing more which goes a long way towards the continued
health of these English ladies, and therefore towards their beauty;
and that is, the quietude and perpetuity of their domestic
institutions. They do not, like us, fade their cheeks lying awake
nights ruminating the awful question who shall do the washing next
week, or who shall take the chambermaid's place, who is going to be
married, or that of the cook, who has signified her intention of
parting with the mistress. Their hospitality is never embarrassed by
the consideration that their whole kitchen cabinet may desert at the
moment that their guests arrive. They are not obliged to choose
between washing their own dishes, or having their cut glass, silver,
and china left to the mercy of a foreigner, who has never done any
thing but field work. And last, not least, they are not possessed with
that ambition to do the impossible in all branches, which, I believe,
is the death of a third of the women in America. What is there ever
read of in books, or described in foreign travel, as attained by
people in possession of every means and appliance, which our women
will not undertake, single-handed, in spite of every providential
indication to the contrary? Who is not cognizant of dinner parties
invited, in which the lady of the house has figured successively as
confectioner, cook, dining-room girl, and, lastly, rushed up stairs to
bathe her glowing cheeks, smooth her hair, draw on satin dress and kid
gloves, and appear in the drawing room as if nothing were the matter?
Certainly the undaunted bravery of our American females can never
enough be admired.
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