Mere solemnity is both an ugly and a futile thing, and
nothing is duller than a constant enforced earnestness. I remember a
dear old celibate professor of mine who, having met a number of
self-consciously intellectual women, became so annoyed that at last
when asked whether he did not rejoice in the higher education of women
he broke out with the sentence, "No! I don't like clever women--I like
silly girls." The story may be apocryphal. The man at least was human
enough to have said it. All that I am pleading for is that men and
women should cease to hide from one another the deeper interests and
concerns that really are present in their lives--that they should not
merely play together but should also think together.
As to the detailed manners and customs which should control comradeship
I claim no authority to speak dogmatically, and, as I have said, I am
sure the rising generation will have to settle these things for itself.
I am at least sure that both the stately coldness of Lady Vere de Vere
and the familiarity in which dignity is forgotten are fatal.
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