He has found out all about it, and about its founder
or inventor. It's quite impressive to hear him talk.
And if he must do something for himself, I don't see why
his egotism shouldn't as well take that form as another.
Combined with the paint princess, it isn't so agreeable;
but that's only a remote possibility, for which your
principal ground is your motherly solicitude.
But even if it were probable and imminent, what could
you do? The chief consolation that we American parents
have in these matters is that we can do nothing.
If we were Europeans, even English, we should take some
cognisance of our children's love affairs, and in some
measure teach their young affections how to shoot.
But it is our custom to ignore them until they have shot,
and then they ignore us. We are altogether too delicate
to arrange the marriages of our children; and when they
have arranged them we don't like to say anything,
for fear we should only make bad worse. The right
way is for us to school ourselves to indifference.
That is what the young people have to do elsewhere,
and that is the only logical result of our position here.
It is absurd for us to have any feeling about what we don't
interfere with."
"Oh, people do interfere with their children's marriages
very often," said Mrs. Corey.
"Yes, but only in a half-hearted way, so as not to make
it disagreeable for themselves if the marriages go on in
spite of them, as they're pretty apt to do.
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