The quiet valley of the Trent at Repton, Anchor Church,
Knoll Hills, the long bridge at Swarkestone, the charming little country
town of Melbourne, the wooded beauties of Duffield and Belper, the ozier
beds of Spondon; how often have I trod their fields, their woods, their
lanes, their paths; and how pleasantly the memory of it all comes back to
me now!
In those days fashions and manners differed greatly from those of to-day.
Ladies wore the crinoline (successor to the hoop of earlier times),
chignons and other absurdities, but had not ventured upon short skirts or
cigarettes. They were much given to blushing, now a lost art; and to
swooning, a thing of the past; the "vapours" of the eighteenth century
had, happily, vanished for ever; but athletic exercises, such as girls
enjoy to-day, were then undreamed of. Why has the pretty art of blushing
gone? One now never sees a blush to mantle on the cheek of beauty. Does
the blood of feminine youth flow steadier than it did, or has the more
unrestrained intercourse of the sexes banished the sweet consciousness
that so often brought the crimson to a maiden's face? The manners of
maidens had more of reserve and formality then.
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