I finished Marion Harland's guide tonight and I wonder ceaselessly at two things.
1. She is so down on America! Even more than I am. She complains of things in which I am so well-steeped I could not see them for what they were. In particular, American style and cookery. It is true that our food, which we count as so much more generous in portion than the overseas counterpart, is as coarse and indecorous as it is plentiful, but as an American woman I cast up my hands and declare I would rather spend my time on something else.
She makes an interesting point about American women's fashions. In France women wear what looks good on them, and in America women wears what comes off the manufacturing line in the latest style. It is very conformist, and I have to admit I feel it in myself, for I would be embarrassed to wear something that is "out" even if it flattered me better.
2. Harland's other point I feel clearly from last night's experiences. I looked in my journal and discovered that nine months ago I was carrying on about exactly the same thing. The same feelings, the same troubles, and of course the same day's work. She says that a new year or birthday can be deeply depressing for this very reason. Then she goes into some sermonizing about how God makes it worthwhile and I found myself very unconvinced. But I felt assured of at least one thing, for this final portion lent a powerful irony to her whole guide: things don't change in a month or year, nor in a hundred years. The powerful emotions and behaviors she described so well throughout are not dated at all. It is, I declare, just as the world I have experienced, and this book is smart and valuable as it is timeless.