Worldly Ways and Byways | Page 4

some of the more
obvious foibles and inconsistencies of our American ways. If a stray bit
of philosophy has here and there slipped in between the lines, it is
mostly of the laughing "school," and used more in banter than in blame.
This much abused "world" is a fairly agreeable place if you do not take
it seriously. Meet it with a friendly face and it will smile gayly back at
you, but do not ask of it what it cannot give, or attribute to its verdicts
more importance than they deserve.
ELIOT GREGORY
Newport, November first, 1897

CHAPTER 1
- Charm
WOMEN endowed by nature with the indescribable quality we call
"charm" (for want of a better word), are the supreme development of a
perfected race, the last word, as it were, of civilization; the flower of
their kind, crowning centuries of growing refinement and cultivation.
Other women may unite a thousand brilliant qualities, and attractive
attributes, may be beautiful as Astarte or witty as Madame de
Montespan, those endowed with the power of charm, have in all ages
and under every sky, held undisputed rule over the hearts of their
generation.
When we look at the portraits of the enchantresses whom history tells
us have ruled the world by their charm, and swayed the destinies of
empires at their fancy, we are astonished to find that they have rarely
been beautiful. From Cleopatra or Mary of Scotland down to Lola
Montez, the tell-tale coin or canvas reveals the same marvellous fact.
We wonder how these women attained such influence over the men of
their day, their husbands or lovers. We would do better to look around
us, or inward, and observe what is passing in our own hearts.
Pause, reader mine, a moment and reflect. Who has held the first place
in your thoughts, filled your soul, and influenced your life? Was she the
most beautiful of your acquaintances, the radiant vision that dazzled
your boyish eyes? Has she not rather been some gentle, quiet woman
whom you hardly noticed the first time your paths crossed, but who
gradually grew to be a part of your life - to whom you instinctively
turned for consolation in moments of discouragement, for counsel in
your difficulties, and whose welcome was the bright moment in your
day, looked forward to through long hours of toil and worry?
In the hurly-burly of life we lose sight of so many things our fathers
and mothers clung to, and have drifted so far away from their gentle
customs and simple, home-loving habits, that one wonders what
impression our society would make on a woman of a century ago,

could she by some spell be dropped into the swing of modern days. The
good soul would be apt to find it rather a far cry from the quiet
pleasures of her youth, to "a ladies' amateur bicycle race" that formed
the attraction recently at a summer resort.
That we should have come to think it natural and proper for a young
wife and mother to pass her mornings at golf, lunching at the club-
house to "save time," returning home only for a hurried change of toilet
to start again on a bicycle or for a round of calls, an occupation that
will leave her just the half-hour necessary to slip into a dinner gown,
and then for her to pass the evening in dancing or at the card-table,
shows, when one takes the time to think of it, how unconsciously we
have changed, and (with all apologies to the gay hostesses and graceful
athletes of to-day) not for the better.
It is just in the subtle quality of charm that the women of the last ten
years have fallen away from their elder sisters. They have been carried
along by a love of sport, and by the set of fashion's tide, not stopping to
ask themselves whither they are floating. They do not realize all the
importance of their acts nor the true meaning of their metamorphosis.
The dear creatures should be content, for they have at last escaped from
the bondage of ages, have broken their chains, and vaulted over their
prison walls. "Lords and masters" have gradually become very humble
and obedient servants, and the "love, honour, and obey" of the marriage
service might now more logically be spoken by the man; on the lips of
the women of to-day it is but a graceful "FACON DE PARLER," and
holds only those who choose to be bound.
It is not my intention to rail against the short-comings of the day. That
ungrateful task I leave to sterner moralists, and hopeful souls who
naively imagine they can stem the current of an epoch with the barrier
of their eloquence, or sweep back an ocean of