"I have often, in the course of my family-history, seen the day
when I have heartily wished for the strength and ability to manage my
household matters as my grandmother of notable memory managed hers. But
I fear that those remarkable women of the olden times are like the
ancient painted glass,--the art of making them is lost; my mother was
less than her mother, and I am less than my mother."
"And Marianne and I come out entirely at the little end of the horn,"
said Jennie, laughing; "yet I wash the breakfast-cups and dust the
parlors, and have always fancied myself a notable housekeeper."
"It is just as I told you," I said. "Human nature is always the same.
Nobody ever is or does more than circumstances force him to be and do.
Those remarkable women of old were made by circumstances. There were,
comparatively speaking, no servants to be had, and so children were
trained to habits of industry and mechanical adroitness from the cradle,
and every household process was reduced to the very minimum of labor.
Every step required in a process was counted, every movement calculated;
and she who took ten steps, when one would do, lost her reputation for
'faculty.' Certainly such an early drill was of use in developing the
health and the bodily powers, as well as in giving precision to the
practical mental faculties.
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