My friend came in the other day,before we had left town,and looked round at the appointments of the room in their summer shrouds,and said,with a faint sigh,"I see you have had the eternal-womanly with you,too."
"Isn't the eternal-womanly everywhere?What has happened to you?"
I asked.
"I wish you would come to my house and see.Every rug has been up for a month,and we have been living on bare floors.Everything that could be tied up has been tied up,everything that could be sewed up has been sewed up.Everything that could be moth-balled and put away in chests has been moth-balled and put away.Everything that could be taken down has been taken down.Bags with draw-strings at their necks have been pulled over the chandeliers and tied.The pictures have been hidden in cheese-cloth,and the mirrors veiled in gauze so that I cannot see my own miserable face anywhere."
"Come!That's something."
"Yes,it's something.But I have been thinking this matter over very seriously,and I believe it is going from bad to worse.I have heard praises of the thorough housekeeping of our grandmothers,but the housekeeping of their granddaughters is a thousand times more intense."
