"
"Solomon said: Much study is a weariness of the flesh."
"Solomon was an intellectual dyspeptic. But granting that it is a
weariness, it is something that pays well for the weariness."
"If all the world were to come to Mr. Winthrop's way of thinking, it
would be a sad thing for the dressmakers."
"Not necessarily. They would still be needed, but they would do the
thinking about what would best suit the style of their respective
customers; and the latter would be left free of that special task,
to devote their minds to their own interior furnishing."
"Ah, you describe a second Utopia, or the golden age. A few in each
generation might reach that clear, chill region of sublime thought; but
the rank and file of womankind, and perhaps of mankind, would despise
them as cranks."
"But if they had something vastly better than the respect of the careless
and uncultured, need they mind what these would say?"
"Possibly not; but in most women's hearts there is an innate love of
adornment, and the art they will not relegate very willingly to others."
"I did not think you cared so much for dress."
"You and Mr. Winthrop are putting the strongest temptations in my way,
and then expect that I shall calmly turn my dazzled eyes inwards upon
the unfurnished, empty spaces of my own mind."
"You seemed to care almost too little for elegance of attire, I thought."
"What the eyes do not see the heart never longs for. But glossy velvets,
shimmering silks, with colors perfected from the tints of the rainbow;
laces that are a marvel of fineness and beauty; and gems that might
dazzle older heads than mine, thrown recklessly in my way, could any
young creature fond of pretty things turn away from them, with the
indifference of a wrinkled philosopher? I should have staid at Oaklands,
and saved my money for the Mill Road folk.
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