How much wiser, you say, and indeed we all say, is that other young
woman who has chosen the part of content. She has come to terms with
the universe. She is not for ever gadding about in search of something
which she has not got, and which not one person in a hundred round
about her has got. She has said: ‘The universe is stronger than I am. I
will accommodate myself to the universe.’
And she acts accordingly. She makes the best of her lot. She treats
her body in a sane manner, and she treats her mind in a sane manner.
She has perceived the futility of what is known as pleasure in circles
where they play bridge and organise charity fêtes on the Field of
the Cloth of Gold. She has frankly admitted that youth is fleeting,
and that part of it must be spent in making preparations against the
rigours of old age. She seeks her pleasure in literature and the arts
because such pleasure strengthens instead of weakening the mind,
and never palls. She is prudent. She is aware that there can be no
happiness where duty has been left undone, and that loving-kindness
is a main source of felicity. Hence she is attentive to duty, and
she practises the altruism which is at once the cause and the result
of loving-kindness. She deliberately cultivates cheerfulness and
resignation; she discourages discontent as gardeners discourage a weed.
She has duly noted that the kingdom of heaven is ‘within you,’ not near
the band at the expensive restaurant, nor in the trying-on room of the
fashionable dressmaker’s next door to the expensive restaurant, nor in
the _salons_ of the well-advertised great. Her life is reflected
in her face, which is a much better face than the face of the social
butterfly. Whatever may occur--within reason--she is armed against
destiny, married or single.