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Men's Wives by William Makepeace Thackeray
page 72 of 235 (30%)

Another point of sentiment, and one curious to speculate on. Have
you not remarked the immense works of art that women get through?
The worsted-work sofas, the counterpanes patched or knitted (but
these are among the old-fashioned in the country), the bushels of
pincushions, the albums they laboriously fill, the tremendous pieces
of music they practise, the thousand other fiddle-faddles which
occupy the attention of the dear souls--nay, have we not seen them
seated of evenings in a squad or company, Louisa employed at the
worsted-work before mentioned, Eliza at the pincushions, Amelia at
card-racks or filagree matches, and, in the midst, Theodosia with
one of the candles, reading out a novel aloud? Ah! my dear sir,
mortal creatures must be very hard put to it for amusement, be sure
of that, when they are forced to gather together in a company and
hear novels read aloud! They only do it because they can't help it,
depend upon it: it is a sad life, a poor pastime. Mr. Dickens, in
his American book, tells of the prisoners at the silent prison, how
they had ornamented their rooms, some of them with a frightful
prettiness and elaboration. Women's fancy-work is of this sort
often--only prison work, done because there was no other
exercising-ground for their poor little thoughts and fingers; and
hence these wonderful pincushions are executed, these counterpanes
woven, these sonatas learned. By everything sentimental, when I see
two kind innocent fresh-cheeked young women go to a piano, and sit
down opposite to it upon two chairs piled with more or less
music-books (according to their convenience), and, so seated, go
through a set of double-barrelled variations upon this or that tune
by Herz or Kalkbrenner--I say, far from receiving any satisfaction
at the noise made by the performance, my too susceptible heart is
given up entirely to bleeding for the performers. What hours, and
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