p. 346 | The Home Circle

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 29, 1880

The Home Circle.

TOO MUCH OF A LADY.

WHEN Eve in the garden was plucking the rose And enjoying the Eden walks shady, I wonder if ever she turned up her nose, And sighed: I'm too much of a lady! Too much of a lady, dear Adam, to work— A helpmeet was made to be petted; You keep things in order—I really must shirk, Though the fact, dear, is deeply regretted.

To-day she has daughters whose delicate hands Are wholly unfitted for labor; It almost fatigues them to flutter their fans When they languidly call on a neighbor; Their mission on earth is to gossip and dress, And live upon life's sweetest honey, And they haven't a bother or trouble unless Their masculine bank fails in money.

It isn't the loveliest, to be sure, To dabble in cooking and dishes, But never a home was kept tidy or pure By dainty æsthetical wishes. I'm free to confess there is something in life More attractive than putting a stitch in, And many a weary industrious wife Isn't deeply in love with the kitchen.

But duty is duty, and dirt always dirt, And only the lazy deny it; Crocheting is nicer than making a shirt, But man never yet was clothed by it. To sit in a parlor in indolent ease, Till one grows all fragile and fady, Or flounce through the street silly gazers to please Is being too much of a lady.

Too much of a lady to darn up her hose, Or govern her house with acumen; Too much of a lady wherever she goes To ever be much of a woman! The muscles that God made are useless to her, Except to be wrapped up in satin, And as for an intellect—she would prefer A bonnet to mastering Latin.

Too much of a lady to own a grand heart And be a true daughter or mother; Too much of a lady to bear the brave part That ne'er can be borne by another. By fashion of birth, quite too fine for this earth, When it comes to the Judgment's great pay-day, Though the Lord may delight in the lilies in white, Will he smile on "too much of a lady"?