At the end of the ends she was a Puritan; belated, misdated,
if the reader will, and cast upon good works for the consolation which
the Puritans formerly found in a creed. Riches and ease were sinful to
her, and somehow to be atoned for; and she had no real love for anything
that was not of an immediate humane and spiritual effect. Under the
shelter of her husband's name the benevolent use of her skill was no
queerer than the charity to which many ladies devote themselves; though
they are neither of them people to have felt the anguish which comes
from the fear of what other people will think. They go their way in
life, and are probably not disturbed by any misgivings concerning them.
It is thought, on one hand, that he is a man of excellent head, and of
a heart so generous that his deference to her in certain matters is part
of the devoted flattery which would spoil any other woman, but that she
consults his judgment in every action of her life, and trusts his sense
with the same completeness that she trusts his love. On the other hand,
when it is felt that she ought to have done for the sake of woman what
she could not do for herself, she is regarded as sacrificed in her
marriage. If, it is feared, she is not infatuated with her husband, she
is in a disgraceful subjection, without the hope of better or higher
things. If she had children, they might be a compensation and refuge
for her; in that case, to be sure, she must be cut off from her present
resource in caring for the children of others; though the conditions
under which she now exercises her skill certainly amount to begging the
whole question of woman's fitness for the career she had chosen.

Both parties to this contention are, strange to say, ladies. If it has
not been made clear from the events and characters of the foregoing
history which opinion is right, I am unable to decide. It is well,
perhaps, not to be too explicitly in the confidence of one's heroine.
After her marriage perhaps it is not even decorous.

PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

A boat's like your own fireside for snugness
All treat ourselves upon a theory
Character of all-compelling lady's-novel hero
Critical spirit of a recent arrival
Delusion that because I was very unhappy I was useful
Divination of her unexpressed desires
Evasion that she never used in behalf of others
Every woman physician has a double disadvantage
Feeble sense of humor ofte