ON FEMININE TASTE IN RURAL AFFAIRS. 



453 



took in concerns which necessarily so much 

 eng-.ged his time and attention ; and how 

 the country would be divested of that dull- 

 ness and ennui, so often complained of as in- 

 separable from it, when a cordial and practi- 

 cal interest is taken in the concerns which 

 belong to rural life. I meant also to show — 

 and this and many other examples, which 

 have come under my observation, emphati- 

 cally do show — that an interest in, and fami- 

 liarity with, even the most humble occupa- 

 tions of agricultural life, are not inconsis- 

 tent with the highest refinements of taste, 

 the most improved cultivation of the mind, 

 and elegance, and dignity of manners, un- 

 surpassed in the highest circles of society." 



This picture is thoroughly English ; and 

 who do our readers suppose this lady was? 

 Mr. CoLMAN puts his fingers on his lips, 

 and declares, that however much he may 

 be questioned by his fair readers at home, 

 he will make no disclosures. But other 

 people recognise the portrait ; and we un- 

 derstand it is that of the Dcjchess of Port- 



ILAND. 



Now, as a contrast to this, here is a little 

 fragment — a mere bit — but enough to show 

 the French feeling about country life. It 

 is from one of Madame de Sevigne's charm- 

 ing letters ; and, fond of society, as she 

 was, she certainly had as much of love of 

 the country as belongs to her class and sex 

 on her side of rhe channel. It is part of a 

 letter, written from her country home. She 

 is writing to her daughter, and speaking of 

 an expected visit from one of her friends : 



*' It follows that, after I have been to see 

 her, she will come to see me, when, of 

 course, I shall wish her to find my garden 

 in good order ; my walks in good order — 

 those fine walks, of which you are so fond. 

 Attend also, if you please, to a little sug- 

 gestion enpassa7tt. You are aware that hay- 

 making is going forward. Well, I have no 

 hay-inakers. I send into the neighboring 

 fields to press them into my service ; there 

 are none to be found ; and so all my own 

 people are summoned to make hay instead. 

 But do you know what hay-making is ? I 



will tell you. Hay-making is the prettiest 

 thing in the world. Vou play at turning 

 the grass ooer in a meadow; and as soon as 

 you know that, you know hoiv to make hay^ 



Is it not capital ? We italicise her de- 

 scription of hay-making, it is so Franc^aise, 

 and so totally unlike the account that the 

 Duchess would have given Mr. Colman. 

 Her garden, too ; she wanted to have it 

 piU in order before her friend arrived. She 

 would have shown it, not as an English 

 woman would have done, to excite an in- 

 terest in its rare and beautiful plants, and 

 the perfection to which they had grown, 

 under her care, but that it might give her 

 friend a pleasant promenade. 



Now we have not the least desire, that 

 American wives and daughters should have 

 anything to do with the rough toil of the 

 farm or the garden, beyond their own 

 household province. We delight in the 

 chivalry which pervades this whole country, 

 in regard to the female character, and which 

 even foreigners have remarked as one of 

 the strongest national characteristics.* But 

 we would gladly have them seize on that 

 happy medium, between the English pas- 

 sion for everything out of doors, and the 

 French taste for nothing beyond the draw- 

 ing-room. Everything which relates to the 

 garden, the lawn, the pleasure-grounds, 

 shoul J claim their immediate interest. And 

 this, not merely to walk out occasionally 

 and enjoy it, but to know it by heart ; to 

 do it, or see it all done; to know the his- 



* M. Chevalier, one of the most intelligent of recent 

 French travellers, says, in his work on tiiis country — '"Not 

 only does the American meclianic and farmer relieve, as 

 much as possible, his wife from all severe labor, all disa- 

 greeable employments, but there is also, in relation to them, 

 and to w^omen in general, a disposition to oblige, that is un- 

 known among us, even in men who pique tliemselves upon 

 cultivation of mind and literal y education." * * * # 



"We buy our wives with our fortunes, or we sell our- 

 selves to them for their dowries. Tlie American chooses 

 her, or rather he offers himself to her for her beauty, her 

 intelligence, and the qualities of her heart; it is the only 

 dowry which he seeks. Thus, while we make of tliat which 

 is most sacred a matter of busine.ss, these traders affect a 

 delicacy, and an elevation of sentiment, whicli would have 

 done honor to the most perfect models of chivalry." 



