“THE DECAYED GENTLEWOMAN.”

Western Star, Issue 787, 27 October 1883, Page 6 (Supplement)

“THE DECAYED GENTLEWOMAN.”

The truth is that the decayed gentlewoman, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is simply helpless ; she knows so little, and the traditions in which she has been bred permit of her going about nothing in the right way- There are, of course, exceptions ; but the rule is that they try to compete _ with men and women who have made literature, or art, or teaching the business of their lives, and meet the fate of amateurs. Every profession (men declare) is over-stocked ; how, then, can those who begin to practise one, without any preliminary training or experience, expect to succeed ? There are doubtless capital female writers, actors, and artists. But it will be found that they have taken to the business early, or have received systematic training, or owe their success to causes outside themselves, or in very rare cases possess exceptional talents for the work. This, unfortunately, cannot be said of the majority of decayed gentlewomen, aud in most instances they take to what they are best fitted for. Their great desire is to do something “ genteel,” something that will not compromise their position, something that the sympathetic world, will not hear of. This won’t do. We buy the poor painted screens, and give absurd prices for the painted pots, but we cannot go on doing so, when for the same price we may have the choice of the finished toil of artists. We admire amateur work as amateur work, though it is absurd to suppose that if it is offered for sale it must be treated to peculiar or exceptionally tender criticism. Again, the moment there is a real demand for any of the pretty things ladies make, “ the trade” enters the market, and sweeps into the limbo of failures the poor amateurish efforts of the decayed gentlewoman and other feeble well-born folk. The finest specimens of flower-painting on terra-cotta exhibited in London are well known to be the work of an exDanish Cabinet Minister’s wife and daughter. These ladies are, however, not amateurs ; they are professed painters of long experience, as a glance at their groups of “ bloomster” at once tells the practised eye, But though the girls who essayed to handle the burin and the “ composing-stick” easily attain a certain degree of skill, they rarely became perfect. They were always thinking of marriage, when they would abandon their temporary occupation. With a man it is different. Marriage, or its prospects, is to him the. : stimulus to perfection. But to the decayed gentlewoman this reasonable hope can never be a vanished illusion if she is at all on the safe side of 60; and if not, then she has been thrown too late on the world ever to attain anything like a marketable skill in the many little arts by the practice of which she is deluded into the belief of being able to make a living. The gift horse is not looked in the mouth, at least until the donor’s back is turned. Amiable, devotees may embroider altar-cloths at East Grinstead, aud work slippers for the curates of Arcadian parishes. But when these gauds are offered for sale it is discovered that, though, much admired as presents, like the books sent with the author’s compliments, they are less appreciated when weighed against so much hard coin of the realm. —The World.