Miss Esther Summerson sitting in the boxes, the "image imprinted on
his 'art" was that of the cynosure of neighboring eyes, stately among
stately towers and ancestral trees. But doubtless when Mr. William
Guppy, as lovers will, abandoned himself to blissful dreams of the
possible home that should grow out of his lofty passion, it was
another vision that he saw; it was the high-born Helen coming down to
breakfast in a sweet morning-cap, a neat-handed Phillis. For love,
which soars and sings, also builds its nest. The one instinct is as
deep and sure as the other. The cynosure of worshipping hearts and
eyes is but the romantic aspect of Phillis: and because she is so
lofty and so lovely will she be the miracle-worker in the household.
The secret sorrow of a thousand homes is that the lady of the towers
and battlements does not prove in fact to be also the neat-handed
Phillis.

Indeed, it is a kind of national complaint and lamentation that the
neat-handed Phillis is disappearing altogether. This is the
significance of the servant-girl question. This is the root of the
alarming conviction that Phillis is changing into Biddy, whose fit
epithet is not neat-handed. This is the meaning of the cry for
bread--light, sweet, well-baked bread; not the clammy dough which is
served to a despairing land. This is the reason of the wondering
question, What has become of roast meat? and of the melancholy
conviction that henceforth baked beef is to replace the juicy sirloin
of tradition, history, and elegant literature.

Of the accomplished and intelligent young women who honor the Easy
Chair at this moment with their attention, of course the immense
majority can broil a steak to a turn, or mix the airiest bread, or
boil potatoes as new-fallen snow. But there are some unfortunates who