"Not necessarily. They would still be needed, but they would do the thinking about what would best suit the style of their respective customers; and the latter would be left free of that special task, to devote their minds to their own interior furnishing."
"Ah, you describe a second Utopia, or the golden age. A few in each generation might reach that clear, chill region of sublime thought; but the rank and file of womankind, and perhaps of mankind, would despise them as cranks."
"But if they had something vastly better than the respect of the careless and uncultured, need they mind what these would say?"
"Possibly not; but in most women's hearts there is an innate love of adornment, and the art they will not relegate very willingly to others."
"I did not think you cared so much for dress."
"You and Mr. Winthrop are putting the strongest temptations in my way, and then expect that I shall calmly turn my dazzled eyes inwards upon the unfurnished, empty spaces of my own mind."
"You seemed to care almost too little for elegance of attire, I thought."
"What the eyes do not see the heart never longs for. But glossy velvets, shimmering silks, with colors perfected from the tints of the rainbow; laces that are a marvel of fineness and beauty; and gems that might dazzle older heads than mine, thrown recklessly in my way, could any young creature fond of pretty things turn away from them, with the indifference of a wrinkled philosopher? I should have staid at Oaklands, and saved my money for the Mill Road folk."
"You must have the temptation, if you are to have the credit of overcoming it."
"Is there not a wonderful petition left for us by One who knows all things? 'Lead us not into temptation.'"