American girl marries, she
retains hers). In France the wife is the friend and confidante of her
husband and often his mistress. In England she is the mistress of the
house only. And this is not always a sinecure; for she becomes
something more than a house-keeper in point of rank, but at the same
time something less, if we consider that no wages are due to her and
that she cannot give notice to leave.

In England the wife is the partner of her husband at home only. In
France she is his partner in business. It is she who keeps his books
and his cash-box, and neither was ever entrusted to better
guardianship.

An Englishman gives his wife so much a month for housekeeping and so
much for dressing and pocket money. One morning he tells her they are
going to remove to a sumptuous home. She did not know he was making his
fortune. Or maybe he will tell her at breakfast: 'I have lost
everything. We must go to Australia and start a new life.' She did not
know they were on the way to ruin; so she merely replies: 'Very well,
John. Give me time to put on my hat.'

When things are prosperous and matrimonial life happy, the Englishwoman
makes the best of wives. Her mission, which she understands so well, is
to cheer her husband in the comfort of his home and make him forget the
worry, annoyance and heartburnings that beset him out of doors in his
public, professional or commercial life; to provide for him a retreat
in the soothing atmosphere of which he can find rest and renovated
strength; to do the honours of his house with that liberality, that
provident and large-hearted hospitality, which is only to be found in
England. Such is the mission of the English wife. 'The companions of
John Bull are beautiful, healthy girls, perhaps a little too bold;
virtuous wives, perhaps a trifle too respected; excellent mothers,
perhaps a little too neglected; above all, women whose ingenious
attention to all the minor comforts of existence can turn the humblest
cottage into a little palace of order, cleanliness and well-being.'[1]

The more I examine the constitution of the English family, the more
deeply convinced I become that it is the very pedestal on which stand
solid the prosperity and the greatness of the British Empire.

[1] 'John Bull and his Island.'

CHAPTER XXII

THE BRITISH MATRON

The English woman the most charming of women--The British the most
ridiculous one--English and British--The British matron